Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War In The Pocket A six episode OVA series from 1989 that was really good for what it was. It tells a small story very well and was an easy watch in an afternoon. There are no real good or bad guys, classic with Gundam, and it has a pretty tragic end. The only issue is the main character is a child who is indifferent to the destruction and chaos of war and is just fascinated with the soldiers and mobile suits. I found it hard to sympathize with Alfred, he's not annoying like the other kids in Gundam but he's stupid and everything bad that happens in this show is directly his fault. If you don't mind a story of an innocent kid with a big imagination who's sick of his Mom nagging him than War In The Pocket is great. But I personally didn't like that Alfred was the main focus and I thought he was a bother. That said they handled this really well and by having the story unfold from his perspective it makes it unique.
This OVA has a weird tone. It has kids being kids while people are dying and there are battles going on in the colony. There is a lot of blood in this OVA and war destruction imagery. Only at a few points does Alfred realize what's going on but he quickly ignores it and moves on. I did like most of the other characters like Christina and Bernie. These characters show they are not clear cut good or bad guys, just people fighting for the side they're on. The series is great at depicting this since you can view the Federation as bad for building Gundams on a neutral colony and Zeon as bad for...well...being the antagonists of the franchise. I honestly thought Alfred was the villain since his actions lead to all the deaths.
You really don't get a lot of cool stuff in this OVA either. It's really a story about people in the colony more so than cool robots fighting. The first scene in the show gives you a bit of a false impression, it looks a lot cooler than it's going to be. That said this OVA is awesome when it does have Sci-Fi parts. The tech and the Mobile Suits themselves look awesome. The Kampfer looks stunning, only 80's mechs could look this cool. and the Alex, while a bit too bulky for my tastes is a neat suit as well that is like a prototype Newtype Gundam with the 360 cockpit. All that stuff was fantastic I love how this OVA looked. The character designs were decent as well, Christina's red hair really made her stand out.
I watched the dub and it was actually really good. Almost everyone did a great job, it was certain a high quality work. Even Alfred was done well and was never annoying vocally. The OP song was not very good and the OP sequence was just a boring scrolling image. The super 80's soundtrack doesn't help dramatic moments. There is good 80's soundtrack and then late 80's soundtrack when things got way too cheesy.
I suppose I'm being a little too hard on this OVA, I have to say it was an enjoyable watch. It will connect with you if you like this angle since it is a really well done series with a tight contained story. The kid just pissed me off, he wasn't as bad as Katz and Hathaway but I just expected something different from this series I suppose. As a side story this OVA does well and it has some pretty cool bits.