Mobile Suit Gundam: 0083 Stardust Memory is fucking brilliant because it was made to last.
When I first watched it, I was frustrated by Kou's many weaknesses. He yelled too much, cried too much, never stood up for himself and, in the end, I wasn't really sure why I should like him when there were so many cooler characters in the very same series. South Burning, Kelly Layzner, Anavel Gato...shit, even Eiphar Synapse and John Kowen were more interesting than Kou. So were Bernard Monsha and Chuck Kieth, Mora Bashit and even Neuen Bitter, who appeared in only one episode (episode 4, when Gato escaped to space from Kinbaraid Base in Africa). He was, in my opinion, the least interesting character in the show and he was also the protagonist.
But then, something weird happened. Every time I showed the series to a friend, I saw something I hadn't seen before, understood something I didn't perceive the previous time and as a result, I kept re-evaluating my opinion of the series.
Nowadays, i think it's a remarkable Gundam series and a wonderful bridge to Zeta. It contextualizes the Titans' fascist politics, serves as the coda for the Zabi era Zeon (the Zeons that followed were all something different. with different purpose and different attitudes, while sharing some of the basic principles) and the three Von Braun episodes are some of the best Gundam has to offer when it comes to the very complex social attitudes between earthnoids, spacenoids and lunarians. With an economy of time, the characters of 0083 are all well crafted, vivid and endearing characters that really compliment each other very well and, together, they tell an extremely compelling story about the nature of conflict and the specter of war that simply refuses to let go of humanity's heart.
There is this great scene at the end of the 12th episode where Cima has stormed Delaz' ship and taken control of the bridge. Cima has betrayed the Delaz Fleet and intends to turn Delaz over to the Federation because she's bitter at Zeon over her dissident status and of how she feels like an outsider. She's a pirate playing at Zeon loyalist and biding her time until a better offer comes along, which eventually happens courtesy of Federation high command. They have money and she can be bought.
Gato arrives at the Gwadan (Delaz' ship) and discovers Cima's treachery. Delaz, looking out through the viewports of the bridge and seeing how three years of long planning, suffering and hardship to achieve a specific end are about to be undone by this one betrayal. He knows that the Federation is prepared and he can't do anything to change the situation since Cima is literally holding a gun to his head. Gato, in the Neue Ziel mobile armor, floats helplessly before the ship because he has so deified Delaz that he sees him as the leader Zeon needs to survive.
Delaz tells Gato to go and ensure the success of Operation: Stardust. He knows that his life is over, one way or another, and he knows that if Zeon is meekly shepherded into submission, then the way of life they want to live and the change they want to bring about is doomed. In the first episode, he prevented Gato from going back out into the Battle of A Baoa Qu because, at that time, they needed to survive to keep the flame alive. He knew Gato would die a pointless death so he demanded that he suffer and endure the shame of defeat so that they could rise again. But three years later, Delaz now realizes that the only way for Zeon to remain alive as an idea that can find residence in human consciousness is for those loyal to him to sacrifice themselves showing their quality and to prove to the Federation that not even death will kill the ideal of spacenoid freedom. Gato is still unsure, so Delaz begins to say 'Seig Zeon' as a means of inspiring him, but he's shot by a furious and unhinged Cima, who knows that if Gato somehow succeeds, she'll get nothing from the Federation.
I really love that narrative juxtaposition, and it shows just how carefully constructed this series was. It is as precise a distillation of the complex humanity of Gundam as influenced by the politics of the Earth sphere as I have ever seen.
On a technical level, 0083 wasn't just a passion project by its storytellers and animators. The animation, character and mecha designs and the soundtrack still absolutely hold up. In terms of aesthetics, they were building something to last, and it's clear they crafted it as though they were making an opus. To this day, OP 2, Men of Destiny sung with powerful vocal conviction by MIO, remains my favorite OP in anime history. Nothing has even come close for me.
Ironically, despite my glowing praise, it's still not my favorite Gundam. That will always be the original TV series, which I believe is the superior version of those events over the movie trilogy, which I dismiss as a truncated and unsatisfying experience. Followed by Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt, which may be the most mature interpretation of Gundam that has ever been made on a number of levels. 0080 is still great, but oddly enough it doesn't hold up as well as 0083. I really feel Sunrise reached a turning point as an animation studio with 0083.
An interesting note about 0083's soundtrack. When they went back to remaster it for BD, they brought the cast back to re-read all their lines and they added all new sound effects. As good as the remaster is, I still think the original voice track is the superior version. The Gundam movie trilogy also had a second read for the voices and they also significantly changed toe OST from the first release of the movie trilogy, too. I consider the original movie trilogy frustrating but the remaster sounds so different and unappealing to me because of how strongly married I feel some of the OST is to specific scenes that I find it unwatchable.
Also, Akio Otsuka as Anavel Gato is not only perfect casting, it's an immortal performance.
The manga Gundam 0083: Rebellion is a Gundam: The Origin style reinterpretation of Stardust Memory. It's a really neat revision to the original story, adding in all kinds of characters from other Gundam series, such as Oliver May and Monique Cadillac from MS Igloo, Karen Miller from 08th MS Team: Miller's Report and a few other notables. It's also noteworthy for the variations and liberties it takes with the original story, such as expanding Cima's back story, Nina's social circle and position at Anaheim and even having Kelly survive to become Kou's co-pilot in the GP-03. When he meets up with Gato again on the battlefield, they have a very cool interaction that was well worth the buildup.
Sorry to word vomit on you. I just...really love Gundam and understand it on a vastly different level these days. My blog is mostly a Gundam blog now. I'm writing a really in-depth analysis of Char Aznable as portrayed through the lens of Origin that I have a couple of small press publishers looking at (can't really talk about that). They want to see how it all turns out and how long it is before they get serious but it could see a print release as a series of essays if all goes well. And if they don't want to publish it, I might just do it myself.