The animation moves like nothing else from '91, every mobile suit duel is painted with a precision that makes modern TV look lazy. Gato's obsession with a war that's already over mirrors your own need to keep watching, even as the plot fractures halfway through and stops making sense. The soundtrack and mechanical design carry you through the collapse, which means you're not watching a story so much as you're experiencing 13 episodes of pure visual momentum and sound design refusing to let you look away.

Three years after the One Year War ended, peace is broken by the Delaz Fleet, a rogue band of Zeon remnants loyal to the late dictator Gihren Zabi. Their ace, Anavel Gato, once known as the Nightmare of Solomon, slips into the Federation's Torrington base in Australia and makes off with the Gundam GP02A Physalis, a prototype carrying a nuclear warhead. Rookie pilot Kou Uraki takes the controls of the other prototype, the GP01 Zephyranthes. Backed by Anaheim Electronics engineer Nina Purpleton and the crew of the new carrier Albion, he sets out to recover the stolen machine and keep another war from starting. The result is a mecha OVA of science fiction adventure and drama.