Gundam 0080 is an eye-opener for those who are new to mecha anime and those who aren't familiar with older animation styles. It doesn't look much like today's anime, but it carries the same quality. There are typically two things to expect in a mecha anime: lots of action and heated drama. The first volume of Gundam 0080 has neither of these, and yet proves to be interesting.

The story begins as Zeon forces close in on what should be a laboratory, in search of a prototype mobile suit the Federation is testing. The lab is unfortunately heavily defended, and the Feds escape. The rest of Vol 1 takes place in a neutral colony, where the Feds are suspected to be hiding the prototype. At the center of this story are three characters: 10-year-old Alfred Izuruha (Al), Bernard Wiseman (Bernie, a Zeon soldier), and Chris, Al's neighbor who has just returned from Earth to do government work. Most of the story is told through Al's point of view. Al meets Bernie when Bernie gets shot down in a mobile suit fight. Bernie finds that Al's camera holds data that would help Zeon. The data gets him promoted to special forces, and he ends up on the colony again, and he meets Al again. Bernie is charged with watching over Al, so that Zeon's being there remains secret. He meets Chris as she clocks him in the back of the head with a baseball bat near Al's house, thinking he was a prowler. Here, we find out that she's actually a memeber of the federation forces, as a data collector. This volume served as a staging exercise for events to come. Very little action took place, but it seems pretty safe to say that there will be plenty in the next volume.

The characters look more real than those in modern anime. But then again, I didn't have to tell you that.	10-year-old Al. His obsession with mobile suits are the cause of this adventure.

The music in this first volume is for the most part a prime example of good old-fashioned 80's cheese. By contrast, the opening and ending songs are actually pretty good. Aural quality on this DVD is excellent, boasting 5.1 channel audio for both the Englsh and Japanese tracks. The English dub is actually pretty well-done, but not exceptional.

Early Japanese animation is an interesting case-study, in that its styles did not vary so greatly from American styles as they do today. Before the elegant and colorful character designs, before the Belldandys, Sakura Shingujis, Sailor Moons and Faye Valentines, and before the explosion of chibi goodness, the designs were more conservative, with characters having normal proportions and hair-colors. While not as pretty as newer character designs, those in Gundam 0080 have a certain intoxicating realism to them, making the characters extremely easy to relate to (Note: while not an early anime, Gundam 0080's style of character design goes back several years). Al is the model innocent and eager child which reminds you of the way things used to be, and you become attracted to either Chris or Bernie, depending on your gender and orientation. These are the kind of characters you can talk about as if they are actual people you know, and this is largely because of how they're drawn. The animation itself is great for its time, but is of course eclipsed by most modern work. The video transfer was done very well. The picture is for the most part clean and movement is smooth.

Extras on the DVD are numerous, including textless opening and ending sequences, 4 commercials for the show, a mobile suit encyclopedia containing information on 7 different mobile suits, and trailers for 3 other Bandai-distributed anime shows.

Though the first volume of 0080 is mostly staging, it leaves you wanting to find out what happens in the lives of Al, Bernie, and Chris.

Distributor: Bandai
Creator: Sunrise
Released: 1989

Video Quality: A-
Audio Quality: A
Presentation: B+
Content: B-
Overall: B