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New Mobile
Report Gundam Wing DVD: Operation 8
Operation 8 features the same menus as
Operation 7. Starting with a short clip of "Operation
Meteor," then the Gundam Wing logo, the menu is from inside
the cockpit of Wing Zero. Rhythm Emotion plays in the background
while footage from the intro plays in a single gridded
viewscreen.
Once again, no character or mech bios. Instead, we get some background info and pictures of the Sanc Kingdom. Nothing new really, just the same stuff they'd been repeating since about episode 5 when Relena's foster father died. Still, nice. The trailers are listed at the bottom of the page. The insert is pretty much the same as always. A summary for each of the disc's five episodes with a corresponding image from each episode and a wire frame model of the featured mobile suit, Noin's Taurus, with its specs surrounding it. The ads on the back are for Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Vol. 1, The Big O Vol. 1, Crest of the Stars Vol. 1: To the Stars, Escaflowne Vol. 6: Fate and Fortune, and Angel Links Vol. 1: Avenging Angel.
In the face of an incredible Romefeller offensive force, Relena Peacecraft surrenders herself to the Romefeller Foundation and dissolves the Sanc Kingdom. Hiiro, under the influence of System Epyon, continues fighting mobile dolls in the forests long after the battle has ended. Meanwhile, Relena is taken to the Foundation headquarters and Noin and Quatre escape into outer space. Zechs Merquise arrives too late to save the Sanc Kingdom, but Wing Zero and Epyon meet for the first time. After both pilots lose to their suits' systems following a short battle, Hiiro hands Epyon over to Zechs and takes Wing Zero for himself. In space, Duo finds Trowa working at a circus and without a memory. When he later finds Quatre, he mentions it and Quatre is reunited with the friend he thought he killed. Trowa joins up with Quatre despite his lack of memory, and Duo later joins the three of them (Trowa, Quatre, Noin) and the Peacemillion. Back on Earth, Romefeller has made Relena Peacecraft the chief representative of the Romefeller Foundation and with her first act as such, Queen Relena dissolves all national borders and announces the birth of a single nation, the World Nation. In outer space, a revolution takes place that sees the death of Chief Engineer Tsubarov and the colonies' acquisition of OZ's incomple space battleship, Libra. The White Fang, as the revolutionaries call themselves, makes contact with Milliardo Peacecraft and makes him an interesting offer...
If one were to divide Gundam W up into several eras, Operation 8 would see the close of the Sanc Kingdom era and the beginning of the final era of the series, the World Nation vs. the White Fang. Though no one episode on this disc stands out as particularly wonderful against the backdrop of the rest of the series, it is, overall, a solid DVD. If you've already seen the entire series and are just collecting some of the best episodes, you'll probably want to skip over this. Still, not a bad addition to a Gundam library.
Disc Theme:
The Sanc Kingdom.
Episodes:
Sanc Kingdom's
Collapse; Zero vs. Epyon; The Birth of Queen Relena; Trowa's
Return to the Battlefield; A New Leader.
Extras:
Trailers for The Big
O; Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team; Escaflowne; Mobile Suit
Gundam 0080
Info and images on the Sanc Kingdom.
Insert with episode summaries and info on Noin's Taurus.
Uncut English voice tracks, original Japanese voice tracks with
(or without) English subtitles
Written by Dash.