As the White Base finally settles on Earth, the Federation crew are faced with the challenge of making it across Zeon territory in one piece to make contact with Federation command! But when some of the refugees request to be set down in Zeon territory, a ceasefire must be declared.
We continue our journey through Mobile Suit Gundam with Five Thoughts on the eighth episode, ‘Winds Of War!’ Will you be able to survive?
1. Finally, Earth
It’s taken eight episodes, but the White Base has finally reached Earth! I loved the moment in the opening scene of the episode with mother and son as she introduces the baby, who was likely born on Side 7, to what Earth is. Her story is an important one throughout the episode and we return to here a few times. It also lead into an interesting moment with Amuro as he reminisces about his mother. This is the second time in as many episodes that Amuro’s mother has been brought up, so I’m going to assume they’ll be reunited soon enough in one form or another.
2. The Conflict Of Civilian And Military
Now on earth, the show follows up on last week’s plotline of the refugees on White Base wanted to set foot on Earth. While Lt. Reed, Bright and the rest of the crew devise a plan for getting through the “Great” Canyon without being overwhelmed by the Zeon forces, the woman from earlier and a group of refugees want to be left where they are so she can make it to her husband’s hometown.
There’s a moment here where Reed lashes out at her, calling her selfish for wanting to raise her child on Earth. He sees it as a disruption of their military operation. It’s such a weird dissonance between the two sides because just as Reed calls her selfish, he cannot see past his own plans to empathise with her. God, this show is still so relevant.
3. The Connection Of Fed And Zeon
I don’t have a whole lot to say about this episode plot-wise, because it was pretty standard fare in that department, but there’s so much I want to talk about in regards to the little moments of the show. This episode is structured around a ceasefire both sides agree on in order to ferry refugees from the White Base to safety of a nearby town. There’s a moment where Fraw Bow and the small boy from the episode’s opening wave out of the window to the Zeon escort and they wave back. It’s a touching moment that reminds you of the humanity underlying the conflict and one that occurs a few times throughout the episode.
However, that all falls apart when Amuro’s plan to sneak behind enemy lines in the transport is uncovered by the Zeon escort and Amuro is forced to shoot them down. While they survive, Amuro has no way of knowing that and must assume he’s killed them in order to keep his position safe.
There’s a quiet sense of regret that comes from death in war, when both sides know it could easily be prevented if either could just walk away, and it’s something Amuro’s been dealing with a lot so far.
4. War Is Hell
This was, I’d say, this first episode to really show the extent of the One Year War and it was honestly fucking harrowing. Sure, prior episodes have banked on the excitement of seeing giant robots fight other giant robots and tanks in order to make it to safety, but this episode brings it together with an all out assault on the White Base that they barely walk away from. We see Kai, who’s usually so full of flippant snark as to be the most irritating of the crew, have to deal with real combat for the first time while piloting the Guncannon. It’s hard not to feel for him as he’s thrust into such a conflict beyond his control.
And, to cap it all off, we see the mother and son from the beginning of the episode patching up the Zeon pilots that Amuro shot down while a battle rages in the distance. With beamrifle blasts sparking through the sky, the woman is informed that the crater she is standing is all that remains of the very town she was looking for. It’s, like I said, harrowing. What I was expecting was some cheesy robot action and what I got was a poignant look at the destruction war causes and how it can’t dull the underlying humanity.
Continued below5. At Attempt At The Dub
I have a confession to make: I almost watched this episode dubbed. Before this episode, I was exclusively watching the subbed version of the series, but I’ve been finding it difficult to not only find the time, but the energy to focus on the subs and take notes at the same time. My attention isn’t the greatest and I get restless pretty easily so watching things with subtitles requires my full attention, but having to pause and take notes every few minutes breaks that. With each episode, I’ve found it frustrating to set aside the time to watch the show.
In my naivety, I thought a solution for that was to watch the dub and see what that’s like. Big mistake. Within a few minutes I could tell how horrendous the dubbing was and had to switch back. Now, I’m not going to sit here and lambast anyone for watching dubbed anime, but this is just not one I could stick with for another forty episodes.
