Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 Kidō Senshi Gandamu: Dai 08 MS Shoutai) is an OVA series in the Gundam franchise that takes place in the Universal Century timeline.

Plot Summary
Set in U.C. 0079 in the jungles of Southeast Asia during the One Year War. The Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon are fighting a brutal guerrilla war for control of the area and its resources. Zeon's best hope for victory in the region rests with an experimental Mobile Armor and its pilot, Aina Sahalin. Meanwhile, the Earth Federation Army receive reinforcements in the form of Ensign Shiro Amada, newly named commander of the 08th MS Team. Aina and Shiro know each other from a mutual rescue in space, but when Shiro discovers that Aina is in fact the pilot of the Zeon mobile armor he is arrested for treason.

The Federation offers Shiro one chance at redemption: He must take the 08th MS Team deep into Zeon held territory to find Zeon's hidden base. With the Zeon backed into a corner, and the Federation dependent on Shiro and his team for victory, the star crossed lovers must decide where their true allegiances lie: with each other, or with their respective sides.

Production
The series was produced and animated by Sunrise and first took shape in 1995. During it's first six episodes, it was directed by Takeyuki Kanda and written by Akira Okeya. After Kanda died on July 27, 1996 in a car crash. , Umanosuke Iida took over and directed the last six episodes of the series which were written by Hiroaki Kitajima. This resulted in delays in releasing the later OVA episodes. Kunio Okawara returned as a mechanical designer after just working on Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and continuing to work on After War Gundam X.

Compilation Films
The series was compiled into a film that added new footage that provides information filling in the events between episodes 8 and 9 and was released in Japanese theaters alongside Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz Special.