Mobile Suit Gundam has become famous for exploiting war and despite ultimately preaching the values of peace and harmony; the irony is that most fans tune in to see broken bones and twisted metal.

Thankfully free of the shackles of being a commercially-driven TV series, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket is a powerful and underplayed alternate look at the One Year War (originally depicted in the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series) told from the perspective of an naive 10 year old bystander who like most young boys, is in love with the valour and technology of war, but unaware of the hardship, atrocity and tragedy it also brings.

Set in the final days of the One Year War, a small team of hardened Zeon soldiers sneak into an apparently neutral space colony (known as Side 6) that is said to be secretly developing a new and all powerful Federation mobile suit.
Amongst this team of ragtag soldiers is Zeon new boy Bernie Wiseman, a kind hearted and enthusiastic rookie pilot hungry to experience combat, perhaps recklessly so.

To the initial horror of his comrades, Bernie quickly befriends 10 year old colony native Al; a young kid in love with the concepts and tools of war. Bernie and Al spent a lot of time together, meeting new friends and dreaming of fighting Federation mobile suits but as the days fly past and the planned assault on the Federation base draws near, it slowly becomes obvious that a tragic confrontation of friends-turned-enemies is unavoidable.

War in the Pocket is a good example of the expansive scale of the Gundam (Universal Century) universe; as a fan of the original stories, it was fascinating to see likable human personalities appear on the side of the usually vilified Zeon army. This is but the first sign that War in the Pocket has intentions not to tell us a story of heroes and villains, but of men and women helplessly pulled into war more as a point of principal than a macho heroic gesture. I don’t feel that any prior experience of the Gundam universe is required to enjoy this; it is a completely stand alone short series, peppered with minimal mobile suit action but is by and large a story about how war effects us all, it can be cruel and indiscriminate and that even people with the best of intentions can end up inflicting great tragedy.

So be sure to understand that this is not your typical Gundam series, it is an underplayed and personal walk through a child’s loss of innocence. This is reflected in the animation, which in keeping tone with the story understandably takes a realistic and gritty route. Unfortunately, the musical soundtrack is mostly cheap Japanese electro-pop which while does shine in some scenes, is mostly inappropriate and cheesy.

In Summary

Far from being fan-service for Gundam fanatics, War in the Pocket is a sophisticated and sober look at war from the perspective of a few naïve and idealistic boys. From the very first episode, you will feel this stand alone story tugging at your heart strings but far from being emotionally manipulative, War in the Pocket takes a look at war from a neutral personal stand point; concluding that in the heat of battle, there are no true winners, only losers and those who survive.