While Gunbuster's final mission destroyed the space monsters' star system, the intergalactic war still
continues. Earth's only hope lies in the hands of "TOPLESS", an elite mecha group with children
possessing supernatural powers and new Buster Machines. Among their ranks is a rookie named Nono and
the ace pilot Lal'C - whom Nono looks at as a "big sister". Together with their teammates Nicholas and
Chiko they must aim for the top and protect all of mankind from the wrath of the space monsters.
(Source: Anime News Network)
Some things need to stand alone. Sequels are a gamble, especially when the time gap between original and sequel grows and grows. They tend to be put under more scrutiny than their predecessors, as they not only have to deal with standing tall as installments in their own right, but they need to provide merit as a sequel to a product that never needed one. The trickiest prospect involved is the anniversary sequel, as that is where you’re most likely to enact the gambit. Some projects of this nature can pay off in a way that respects the original and becomes its own product, perhaps even succeeding it in the process. However, not everyone can do a Turn A Gundam, and instead, some make Diebuster. Put it simply, it fails both ways. As a series, it features mediocre at best and largely uninteresting characters, half-assed power-up moments, and tons of convoluted and barely explained sci-fi superpower bullshit & worldbuilding. When the highlight in terms of memorable character moments was a rape attempt, you know you’ve failed, and you abandon an important sci-fi element of the original in the process, you know you’ve fucked up. As a sequel, it is almost insulting. The writers made a completely different type of show -a mediocre one at that- a sequel to Gunbuster. It would be like making Aldnoah.Zero the sequel to Macross. As such, everything about the already poorly-crafted and convoluted world-building (galaxy building?) is brimming with incompatibility. Buster machines are now biomechanical machines that can only be piloted by people with some hereditary superpower gene rather than robots that take skill for any able-bodied person in general to pilot. They each come with different powers including the ability to freeze space creatures in space with quantum temperatures, and controlling and turning other ships into creatures to use during battle via psychic powers or something akin to that. They have colonized entirely new planets with futuristic military technology, yet transportation technology and all things not inherently related to war against space creatures has yet to advance beyond 2004 -the year this OVA first aired- until the finale outright contradicts that. The finale also proves that it takes place during a specific portion of the original’s finale, as if to self-destruct while getting its idol caught in the explosion. Additionally, whereas Gunbuster used real, hard science for its science fiction, Diebuster uses pseudoscience superpower nonsense. This and more serve as only a taste of how incompatible (for lack of a better word) the world-building is, and why crafting a coherent world is always important. Otherwise, we get two pieces that just cannot fit. There’s also the fact that the mere existence of the events in Die -even discounting the monumentally awful finale- ultimately sully the finale of the original Gunbuster, as not only did it end phenomenally, but it did so in a way in which no real sequel could be warranted. This isn’t even touching on the worldbuilding element; Gunbuster ended so conclusively that to continue would be to retroactively take back part of the point of the finale. This show really should have been its own thing. It would have been a mediocre at best show, but better a mediocre separate celebration installment than a show that accidentally knocks over its predecessor’s grave, especially when said predecessor became one of the two foundational anime of its studio. However, it would probably require heavy rewrites towards the end in particular. After all, the more it goes on, the worse it gets, peaking in its concluding episodes in terms of sheer atrocity, as the show stops caring almost entirely and ends up outright ruining the ending of the original. To cover the positive -read: superficial- aspects of this asteroid, the music is better than last time, and the visuals are still mostly well-crafted. Even with the awful mech designs excessive amounts of usually terrible CGI, the show’s visuals are worthwhile. The character designs are fine enough -particularly that of Nono- and the action animation is smooth, kinetic, and kept track of extremely well...as long as the characters aren’t running. It may not hold up compared to the immaculately detailed and stylized predecessor of yore, but disregarding that leaves you with visuals that were on par with that best at the time, at least animation-wise. The sense of scale is quite large, to add on top of that. Lastly, the music is honestly a tad superior than the original, at least when it isn’t remixing tracks. The OP and ED themes are ok and the background music is serviceable, though that is all I can praise. Ultimately, the more this show goes on, the more horrible a sequel it becomes. As if it wouldn’t be a bad enough show on its own, it just had to throw a classic series under the bus in a drunken attempt at paying homage and joining a franchise. Barring the prospect of bastardizing a returning cast, Diebuster commits every sin a sequel can commit -including ones I never thought were possible- and ends up shattering itself into pieces upon its obnoxious attempts at trying to send-up and one-up. On its own, it's a mediocre turned bad show too ambitious for its own good. As a sequel, it is so...so much worse. Way to go Gainax, producing the worst thing in your mainline repertoire to celebrate 20 years!
Out of all the fears that lurk in the back of our minds, there are some that are obvious… From spiders, darkness and the unknown to more everyday occurrences like violence, death, and the constant threat of insectoid invaders from outer space. But there’s one fear that people often overlook, and it’s one that can completely consume your life… The fear of absolute solitude. Not having a past, not having a future, just being alone, with nobody to look out for you but yourself. For some people, this wouldn’t be so bad… After all, as it’s been said, there’s no feeling freer than having nothing left to lose. But to Nono, a spunky girl surviving by the skin of her teeth on the planet Mars, there’s nothing cool or ideal about it. Having spent an unknown and potentially unfathomable amount of years living on her own, traveling the expansive red desert without a home to go back to, without any memories to tell her who she is, or any future to look forward to, the only comfort she has in the middle of the night is her head full of dreams, and her ambition to one day become a famous pilot and save humanity from the insidious alien threat! However, like most people in modern day times, she’s only able to live out her dreams through fantasy while working a dead-end job for wages that she can just barely survive off of. Working in a diner that’s populated mainly by truckers and washed-up space pilots, her dreams of outer space adventures are the only thing saving her from the looming threat of assault from her patrons. Thankfully, when that threat becomes fully realized, so does her dream! An ace mecha pilot from the elite interstellar military known as Fraternity, who is ironically female, crash lands right in the middle of the diner, saving her(whether intentionally or not) and unknowingly offering her the once-in-a-lifetime chance to hitch a ride into space and live out her dreams! Well, that’s what she wants to do, but there’s a catch; The pilots of Fraternity are called Topless, not because they’re shameless exhibitionists, but because they have some sort of ESP power, so it’s like there’s no lid on their minds to hold in their powers. Yeah, that’s stretching it, but hey YOU try to explain why they’re called that. Nono, who is revealed to be a robot, doesn’t have this ability, but as it turns out, she might just have potential far exceeding those who can. In 2004, Studio Gainax released two anime to commemorate their 20 year anniversary; One of them was This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, a full-length TV series that massively disappointed, and Aim for the Top Diebuster, the sequel to their debut OVA Aim for the Top Gunbuster, and it only takes a cursory glance at both shows to figure out which one got the most attention from the production team. This Ugly was going to be an easy, dumb title full of nudity, so they didn’t need to waste too much money to make it successful… Diebuster, however, was going to be a sequel to a 20 year old anime that had a massive army of loyal and highly protective fans behind it, was much more of a risk, and in light of this, the amount of money they poured into this title is immediately apparent upon the first few minutes of the first episode. I haven’t seen every single Studio Gainax anime… Give it a few more years, I definitely will be able to brag about this at some point… but from what I’ve seen, Diebuster is by far the best looking anime I’ve ever seen from them. Yes, that includes Evangelion, at least by a little. To be fair, at least in terms of it’s characters, Diebuster is on the more cartoony side of the scale. Honestly, they look more like Fooly Cooly characters than Gunbuster characters, which I guess is just the look the company was pushing back then. It’s a huge step away from Gunbuster, but I think there are a few reasons it’s worth forgiving. First of all, the most colorful and cartoony character IS the sunny, happy-go-lucky robot girl, which allows the distinction to make a small bit of sense. Everyone else, even those with alternate skin and hair color options, look far more down to earth, and the few who don’t are given so little screen time it doesn’t really matter. Second, the outdated character designs of 1984 wouldn’t mesh at all with the beautifully drawn and exquisitely detailed backgrounds they’d be placed in. Before the first appearance of the show’s title in the first episode, I was already on Facebook gushing about how gorgeous it looked. I don’t think there’s a single shot in Diebuster that I wouldn’t want to watch on loop so I could fantasize about living in it, save for maybe the scarier war scenes. There are so many layers on screen at any given time that you almost don’t know where to look… The characters aren’t always in the foreground, because sometimes that space will be reserved for lens flares, or a small cross section of whatever they happen standing in front of. After that, depending on the environment, the remaining layers can be used to show an entire world of activity in the background of outer space, or the crushing loneliness of an open plain. It’s not impossible for an anime to look as alive and immersive as Diebuster does, but it is rare, and I want to think this is the only time Gainax has ever pulled it off. The use of lighting also helps, seeing how once we leave Mars in episode 1, the bulk of what we see from there on is shrouded in shadow, which perfectly complements the bright and bouncy Nono, who’s childish antics and outgoing personality are quite literally designed to shine in the darkness, both in terms of the artwork and in terms of the bleak tone of the story. The immersive background also helps distract you during those rare moments when the animation maybe isn’t as fluid as it is elsewhere, which is already a sparse problem. The CG is also used to perfection here, and it pops up frequently, in all sorts of background and foreground layers. You’re not just going to be impressed by the fleets of ships that the Fraternity owns, you’re going to be impressed by vast expanses of space they’re existing in. I’ve praised several anime in the past for having beautiful looking paintings represent space, but in Diebuster, space is ever moving and ever evolving like an organism all it’s own. In shots that combine layers of CG with layers of traditional animation, it looks freaking unbelievable. The same can be said for weather effects and the way they visually affect the characters on-screen, as well as lazers, light beams and any other special effects the script may call for. You could almost call this a spiritual predecessor to Gurren Lagann, if it didn’t also surpass that series. Characters, whether in action or idling between missions, are animated perfectly, with a wide and very graceful range of motion, capped off by fully expressive and photogenic faces. Gainax has never been the best company when it came to managing budget issues, so for Diebuster, I’m going to assume they didn’t HAVE any budget issues, and whether or not that’s the case, it worked out amazingly for them. While Kohei Tanaka is not a name you’d generally hear associated with Gainax… Honestly, he’s much more well known to the One Piece crowd, although I’m a much bigger fan of his work on Bastard… He did compose the score for two of Gainax’s projects, those being both Gunbuster and it’s sequel, Diebuster. This is probably why there are so many Gunbuster songs that wound up being reused in Diebuster, and in some surprisingly smart and subtle ways. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first season’s OST, but the tunes that are shared by both shows are used much better this time around. Tanaka is generally known for his grand, sweeping ballads, but he’s also known for using rock and roll and electric tracks in order to rack up the intensity of a fight scene. Honestly, though, the music in this show isn’t exactly memorable… You won’t be humming along to any of it’s tracks on the way to work… But they work splendidly in the moment, and you will enjoy them when you’re watching the show. The opening, Groovin’’ Magic, is far more memorable, and I challenge you not to get it stuck in your head. It’s received some criticism on two different fronts, with one saying that it’s just a piece of Jpop fluff, and the other saying it’s just a mish-mash of clips from the show. To the second I say, have you never watched a Gainax show before? They do that all the time. Most of Gainax’s anime properties have openings that use original animation to bookend long slots of random out-of-context clips. Diebuster does this too, and while the original animation basically consists of silhouetted characters walking, it’s still a lot of fun to watch. The song has a sort of light, funky sixties pop feel to it, which was a great choice considering what kind of person the main character is… Nono is an idealistic dreamer, a sunny flower child who brings ideals of pacifism and humane priorities to a war zone full of cynics and jaded veterans, challenging the way they think. this is very much her theme song, but that’s not to say the ending theme doesn’t also resonate with her. It does, but it runs a little deeper, to the darker feelings she keeps hidden from everyone, as well as her firm resolve to put on a smile for their sake. It’s a great soundtrack overall, and a huge improvement over that of the first season. Actually, as it turns out, improvements upon the first show can be found all over the place in this one. Now, I originally thought Gunbuster was okay, a good show overall, if not problematic in a lot of areas. It’s characters were weakened by it’s insistence on setting aside time it didn’t have to spare for the sake of explaining things we didn’t need to know, showing us things we didn’t need to see, and exploring several dead end plot points that wound up adding nothing to the important areas of the story. As a result, thing got overly complicated, and we sacrificed any depth the main characters or the badly explained one-note villains could have had in exchange for footnotes like “dolphins with helmets were connected to the development of extrasensory perception.” It probably wasn’t fair of me to blast it for being outdone by a later series, particularly in the area of developing it’s main character, but I stand by my belief that newer anime can be both superior products and useful comparative tools to older anime, and since Gainax already improved upon several elements of their inaugural series through Evangelion, they had a golden opportunity to seal the deal with their 20th anniversary piece. There really aren’t very many ways to connect Diebuster to Gunbuster as a canon sequel, although they apparently exist in the same universe with a massive time gap in-between, so it works a lot better to consider this series as a reimagining of an older concept. And yes, Diebuster features a vast improvement in terms of narrative and execution. On the surface, it’s story is very simple. It follows an innocent and untainted main character getting the opportunity to live out her dreams, struggling, and ultimately becoming more than the sum of her parts through unexpected and unorthodox means, while changing the people around her in the process. There are little to no deviations from her journey, and the fact that it’s her journey above all else is never in question. Everything that happens in the series is either related directly to her, or directly related to the Fraternity group and surrounding characters in ways that will affect her down the line By using this much tighter sense of focus, Gainax is able to explain the plot and setting to us through her, as we learn what she learned, while at the same time getting us invested in her story. With Nono performing this role, there’s little to no need for exposition, although Gainax still crowbars it in with their subtitles. Unfortunately, Diebuster isn’t so much an improvement as it is the exact opposite of Gunbuster in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Whereas Gunbuster spent a lot of time telling you very little, Diebuster sounds way too little time telling us way too much. There wasn’t very much happening in Gunbuster that was very important, which made it feel a little boring, but there’s way too much important shit going on in Diebuster, making it feel way too overwhelming and confusing at times. To be fair, this doesn’t actually start happening until episode 4, as I think everything was paced really nicely up until that point. Past episode 4, however, the story and plot become extremely difficult to follow, with important revelations being dropped like hot potatoes, new characters being introduced just to be killed off after mere seconds worth of collective screentime, which is apparently supposed to feel tragic, but I had to watch episode 4 three times just to catch what that tragedy even was, let alone why all the remaining Topless were lying in hospital beds with protective headgear on. It made sense when I was finally able to wrap my head around it, and the scenario I’d been missing was even written better than I thought, but that still doesn’t excuse such shoddy pacing. But that’s all fine, because the characters get appropriate time devoted to their arcs and individual developmental journeys. Well, I say that, but just because time’s being devoted to them doesn’t mean what we’re being shown is going to hold up. As much as I loved her, and she is an incredibly fun and likeable character, Nono is kind of a Mary-Sue. There’s some subtle depth to her, when you compare her lonely past on Mars to her refusal to compromise her principals in Fraternity, but most of the time it barely resonates with her character in any meaningful way, and after spending half the series as an upbeat Lego brick, her transformation into Jesus happens on a dime. She’s too perfect, she’s always right, and when you get right down to it, she’s… well, she’s Robin Williams. I shouldn’t be too upset about that, as her perfect nature was an integral part of episode 3, which was so perfect it made me cry, but that wasn’t her episode… It was the episode of another pilot named Tycho Science(real name, not joking), who’s backstory and resolution are without question the most memorable thing about this story. And she doesn’t even manage to make an impact beyond that episode. Which leaves the final main character, L’Arc Mellik Mai, who is probably the best one in terms of development. She starts out the series as a battle-hardened, no-nonsense warrior, the top of her class and the undisputed lord of the kill count. Meeting Nono gradually warms her heart and forces her to open up over time, resulting in her becoming more expressive as well as a few other spoilers. But I honestly can’t help but feel that she got a bit too much screen time. for a relationship between two characters to feel strong, it has to become strained at some point so it can mend and become stronger than before, which does happen in Diebuster between her and Nono… In what has to be the worst way possible. I’m going to spoil this, so skip to the next paragraph if you really don’t want to know how this all falls apart. Basically, she catches a pilot she has a thing for attempting to rape Nono, and her first words are “Why not me?” Which… I just… no. She turns her back on both of them, because how DARE he try to rape another, and how dare she BE that other, and oh dear God I’m going to vomit. I know I spent a lot of space talking about Diebuster’s flaws, but it really is a fun show. Much like the first season, a lot of it’s best qualities can be found in it’s space battles, and in this season, none of them ever feel wasted or pointless. We know what the goal of every fight is, we know what’s at stake, and when the enemy suddenly becomes unimaginably strong, we know how and why it happened. There’s a sense of progression on both sides, with the humans discovering new technology, and the bugs becoming immeasurably powerful just when we think we’re about to overcome them, even though what they are and why they want to kill us still hasn’t been established. There’s a lot less fanservice than in the first season, as instead of bathing scenes forced in for no reason, everything that happens in this series… nudity included… Serves a strict narrative purpose, whether it’s Nono being cleaned after being rescued from Mars or characters contemplating their issues while alone in the bath, and even then, everything’s shot tastefully… Not to censor, but at the same time, not to exploit. Even the early shot of Nono ripping off the chest of her shirt was meant to be an homage to the first season, which Diebuster does clearly have a lot of respect for, even if it doesn’t look like it at times. Aim for the Top: Diebuster! is available from Eastern Star Studios, which… Like a star… Is a bright spot in an expansive empty space of no fucking releases. This DVD set came out stateside nine years after the series came out proper, and after only three years since, it’s so far out of print that you can’t actually get it on Amazon. It’s cheap enough on Ebay, as I got my copy for about twenty-five dollars, but yeah, I have no idea why it’s been so sparsely released. An anime film, Gunbuster vs. Diebuster, is much easier to find, as it was released more recently. A single volume manga that ran in the magazine Dragon Age Pure is not available stateside. So, how does Studio Gainax’s 20th anniversary OVA series hold up? Well, considering their other offering was a collaboration with Madhouse that brought little other than pretentious ramblings and barrels of bare boobies to the table, I’d say this one turned out rather nicely. It has surprisingly little to do with the original Gunbuster aside from some terminology and the visual of a robot running on a treadmill… I’d nitpick, but considering that she also eats, sleeps and has a heart, sure, why not… It actually feels a lot more like a few other Gainax properties. I already made the comparison to FLCL, in regard to it’s colorful and cartoony character designs and over-all artistic aesthetic, but it also incorporates a lot of Evangelion, especially in the way that the pilots interact with each other. Oddly enough, though, it kind of also feels a lot like Gurren Lagann, which wouldn’t come out until three years later. I won’t go too specific, but it even ends with the imagery of a drill! So yeah, it works way better as a representation of what Gainax was between the late nineties and the mid-oughts than it does as a direct sequel. Much like Gunbuster, it has a lot of problems, but over-all, it’s a pretty fun experience. I give Diebuster a 6/10.
__This review is meant for people who have already watched Gunbuster and Diebuster. I'm not gonna spend time reviewing events, but simply getting right into the meat of things. Watch them both first, then come back.__ Whenever I see people discussing Gunbuster and its sequel title, Diebuster, most of it usually comes down to Gunbuster being this classic must-watch anime done by Hideaki Anno, but rarely ever about it's sequel. And when I do hear people mention Diebuster, it usually ends up being that its level of quality is generally lower than its prequel. Of course, if you look at my anilist, you'll see I don't really agree with this line of thought or opinion, but rather find Diebuster to be generally a much better experience in comparison. I do respect and enjoy both individually, yet also as a pair. As "in a pair", I mean that Diebuster does not work if it were not its sequel to Gunbuster, and vice versa, Gunbuster does not work as well if it were not for the details that Diebuster adds. And there are many links between the two that are more than simply just story wise, but thematically and in a meta context. As Gunbuster is a kind of swan song towards Real Robot mecha shows and Gainax's own, Diebuster is a swan song towards Super Robot mecha shows and Gainax's own output, after and before Gunbuster, it included. This doesn't really mean that that exact genre stopped existing after these shows released, but that era has been long gone, and it simply acts as a passing of the torch between the media that defined that era and towards the new ones. Which, hey, is what Diebuster is about! Diebuster is about many things, but one part I want to emphasize more than anything is that it is very clearly a transition of the old towards the new, how things can improve and change thanks to the effort new blood is able to bring about, and the people that attempt to delay that change. Much of the cast dismisses the Topless and their abilities, continuously believing their old ways, those that are shown in Gunbuster as reliable, are better than the ways the new generation brings about, despite all the accomplishments which were shown. That kind of stagnation fucks them over, and it becomes the responsibility of the new generation to bring about change and improve on the old. And Nono is the postergirl of this. She loves "Nonoriri", idolizes her in fact, to the point she takes her own mannerisms and ideals to heart, while also evolving on those strategies and ideals into a newer form. There are other ways to see what Diebuster really means, and maybe it doesn't really mean anything, but it is also how I see it, and hopefully how many others see it as well. This is how Diebuster works thanks to Gunbuster. Diebuster is the natural evolution of Gunbuster, it is a freak combination of the old we saw in Gunbuster and the new we see in Diebuster, and it continuously evolves and changes thorought the series thanks to the new we see and their efforts to improve and change. This, coupled with the fact its some of the best animation we've seen from Gainax, as well as some superb character writing and music with a lot of meaning behind each episode and each character, makes for a worthy, if not better, sequel to Gunbuster. It passes the torch while celebrating the old and what is to come, and it does it in such a way that shook me to my core, and made me fall in love with it.
WARNING: This review contains spoilers. Diebuster kind of has 2 separate story arcs, the first going from episode 1 to 4, and the second from 5 to 6 (mirroring Gunbuster). I'll place my focus on the first arc because it's the most epic, and I still have some trouble understanding the second one. In the world of Diebuster you have Topless, who are teenagers/young people with innate power allowing them to pilot Buster Machines (powerful mechs that are able to defeat the enemy aliens or whatever). Non-Topless can't pilot Buster Machines, so they have more trouble dealing with the aliens, and this is where you have conflict with adults that are stubborn and want to fight the aliens in their own way, not relying on Topless, seeing them as a threat, despite them being far more capable. Here we can already observe a metaphor for the common theme of leaving the future up to the younger generations instead of obsessing over traditions that don't provide any effective results. You can see some of this in TTGL, which highlights just how much of a TTGL prototype Diebuster is. Another prominent theme is the loss of potential after growing up. When they become adults, Topless lose their powers, so they have a constant anxiety of having to get things done before they grow up, before they lose their power. We're also shown a couple of characters who lose or have lost their Topless powers, and the frustration and despair that it causes them. It's almost like they think their life is over once they grow up and lose their powers. So we have the protagonist, Nono. Nono dreams of becoming a Buster Machine pilot, looking up to some unknown entity "Nonoriri" (who we later find out is Noriko, protagonist of Gunbuster), but she is a robot, not Topless, not even human, meaning she doesn't have the inherent "talent" needed for piloting one, but we see her keep trying to bargain into getting a Buster Machine. img220(https://i.imgur.com/sth5Z0N.png) I want to make a quick throwback to Gunbuster. In the first episode we're shown the protagonist, Noriko, being frustrated due to being a bad robot pilot. She looks up to her talented senpai, but she can't match her at all. Her coach teams her up with this senpai, but Noriko goes crying to him, complaining that she has no talent and is nowhere near apt for the task. So her coach tells her to follow him, and what he shows her is her senpai training, running up and down stairs wearing metal shoes. He tells Noriko that her senpai is as skilled as she is not because she's talented, but because she did the effort to get there, and that is what Noriko should be doing too (cue training montage). Worth noting is that the machines in Gunbuster don't require any special powers to pilot. img220(https://i.imgur.com/ctDvDp7.png) Back to Diebuster. We see Nono struggling to reach her dream of piloting a Buster Machine, and on episode 4 she's told there might be an abandoned Buster Machine on Pluto, so she goes looking for it along with one of the side characters, Casio, who was formerly a Topless. Meanwhile, a space kaijuu awakens in Titan and shit starts going down and people dying, nobody seems able to do anything. Nono and Casio reach Pluto, and as they're moving towards the Buster Machine they would supposedly find, they have the following exchange: >Casio: Piloting a Buster Machine is a frightening thing. >Once you pilot a Buster Machine, your heart is captivated by it. >Is that what you really need right now? I don't think so. >For us... Buster Machines are all we have. >When we lose that power, we can't find any other point in living. >It must have been the same for that Nonoriri person, too! > >Nono: No, you're wrong. Casio starts getting more desperate, saying he's going to pilot the Buster Machine himself, but as they walk a bit more, they find but an unsalvageable wreckage of the Buster Machine they were supposed to find. img220(https://i.imgur.com/KXMczxI.png) Casio loses all hope, but as they're surrounded by space "monsters", Nono awakens as Buster Machine No. 7, teleports to Titan, and what's probably the most iconic scene of this OVA takes place. As Nono starts obliterating the enemy, she gives the following speech: >Nono was truly a fool! Whether you have a Buster Machine or not is irrelevant! Those who just sit there wishing they had a Buster Machine will never reach the Top! And that's because, only those who believe in their own power to the very end hold true power within them! I'm sure that a real Buster Machine pilot... a real Nonoriri... has a Buster Machine in her heart! img220(https://i.imgur.com/DwKDDOd.png) This is where I think Diebuster climaxes. Nono is saying that, it doesn't matter whether you have talent or not, whether you're young, or past your prime, simply wishing to be something you aren't or have something you don't have isn't going to do anything, it's nothing but a waste of time. But as long as you keep that dream in your heart, and apply enough guts and effort, you can do anything. I'll admit it's kind of ironic since you could consider Nono as "talented" in a way (which is explored in the next 2 episodes), but the same message is echoed at the end when Lal'C loses her Topless powers, yet manages to keep piloting her Machine (while simultaneously doing a Gunbuster throwback). img220(https://i.imgur.com/RN6QKBF.png) I hope you can see how Diebuster is not only incredibly inspirational, but also much more of a sequel to Gunbuster than most people who give it shit seem to think. It's taking the same themes, re-exploring them, and re-telling them for a new generation (or why not, the old generation that thinks they got left behind). So the question is, do YOU have a Buster Machine in your heart?
Spoilers! __TL;DR: Diebuster is a bold announcement by Gainax that being Topless is the direction Gainax is headed. Making this a sequel to Gunbuster is the clearest and most gratuitious way possible to announce that it's time for out with the old, and in with the new. Does that make me like Diebuster more? No; it's a strange show that stands on shaky legs on its own and completely falls apart burdened by the legacy of Gunbuster, but on some level, I do get it.__ _If you appreciated Gunbuster and its conclusive ending, pass on this. If you've never watched Gunbuster though, there are certainly worse shows to spend 6 episodes on. Mostly only recommended for Gainax enthusiasts. The aesthetic and design might appeal to fans of FLCL._ --- My feelings on Diebuster are much more complex than that of Gunbuster; whereas Gunbuster was admittedly difficult to ingest but very stunning when reflected on and taken as a whole, Diebuster is nonsensical and banal enough to take in easily but leaves little to look back on, comprised of several good parts mixed in with many, many things that don't really add up to a satisfying sequel. I think the primary reason for this is that __Gunbuster is a fascinating product of experimentation with the mecha genre as a whole, whereas Diebuster is really only a step forward for Gainax itself.__ In Diebuster you can clearly see how Gainax's approach to mecha anime has evolved since Gunbuster and Evangelion and begun to take on the shape it would use for Gurren Lagann, but I think the issue is that the middle-ground in this transitionary phase really just isn't as satisfying as either. It doesn't have as much of Gunbuster's rigorously detailed science fiction and avant-garde psychological aspects, nor does it have the same caliber of absurd, laws-of-the-universe-defying power of Gurren Lagann. __This show marks the transition from the experimental, thoughtful, and grounded to the inspiringly heartful and gratuitous, but doesn't really succeed at drawing me in with either.__ I think that having Diebuster be a sequel to Gunbuster makes sense in terms of Gainax's history, but does a disservice to Diebuster, which I think I would enjoy more as its own property. Case and point, the only part of this show that actually struck me at any emotional level was the finale wherein we see Gunbuster's return home from Lal'C's perspective. __I can't help but feel that Noriko and Kazumi would be disappointed to find humanity in the state its in: resigned to its own solar system, technologically regressed, seemingly devoid of the spirit of progress and survival they fought for, and somehow much more vulnerable and cowardly than the comparatively stubborn warrior-race they hail from.__ Diebuster mostly only feels like a sequel to Gunbuster in the few moments where nods or references to Gunbuster are included. With Gunbuster, I really enjoyed how clear it was that incredible amounts of attention to detail were given to the fictional scientific principles, as well as how much effort was put in to make sure these principles were enacted consistently, such as how they made it clear how that various characters were travelling through time at different rates, which of course becomes essential to a lot of the character development and the finale. The cute Gunbuster science lesson shorts are great evidence of this detail. __While Diebuster's science lessons also attempt to infuse the phenomena in the show with scientific jargon, it still stands that the Topless powers and the strange-looking Buster Machines just don't feel right in the Gunbuster universe.__ Annoyingly, I think that Diebuster still gets away with this by placing the show 12,000 years after Gunbuster; in that vast span of time it's entirely conceivable that humanity developed strange new technologies that are unrecognizably different than those used during Gunbuster. Still, it bugs me. Alongside the complete absence of comprehensible reference to the passage of time despite travel all throughout the solar system, Diebuster didn't impress me as much as Gunbuster in this specific aspect. Only a few new things in this show make any amount of sense when applied retroactively. As annoying as it is that Topless powers barely fit with the universe, it is possible that Noriko and Kazumi possessed some version of this power that made them the chosen pilots for Gunbuster despite Noriko's obvious shortcomings and the greater skill of many of her fellow pilots. Perhaps a little-known fact, we do also have hints of supernatural powers referenced in the Gunbuster science lessons, as the powers of "ESPers" were required for the highly advanced travel systems of the flagship used in the Gunbuster finale, so Topless powers aren't entirely outside the scope of Gunbuster's canon. Humanity's abandonment of degeneracy technology, warp capability, and technological progress in favor of hiding in their solar system also closes an obvious question from Gunbuster, namely, why wasn't humanity capable of recovering the Gunbuster crew with 12,000 years to prepare? Wouldn't technological progress have developed sufficiently to do so? The answer, apparently, is no. __The most enjoyable part of this whole show by far is Nono herself. Goofy, earnest, kind, and full of hard work and guts, her enthusiastic personality and animation are a joy to watch when contrasted with the dull characters she's surrounded by. Her zeal for life and heroism are great fun, but that positivity is basically all squandered because she spends the whole show getting put down and abused by the people around her. __ Literally not until the moment before she's gobbled up by a singularity does Lal'C, much less anyone else, finally treat as an equal rather than discarding her without hesitation to pursue their own selfish goals. Nono is the embodiment of the spirit and resolve that Noriko fought to attain in Gunbuster, and pretty much no one else in this show even comes close to truly understanding that or earning the right to follow in Noriko's footsteps. Her bartender boss puts down her dreams; the very first robot pilots we see at the bar essentially sexually assault her; Lal'C brushes Nono's admiration and attempts at friendship off and treats her likes shit; Tycho spends her whole episode (why did she get an episode to herself, by the way?) being a douche because she sees Nono as an inferior rival for the right to pilot the new Buster, and even after Nono gives her a pep talk that helps her leave her hang-ups behind and awaken the Buster, she seemingly reverts to ignoring Nono for the rest of the show instead of being supportive; Nicola tries to rape her (then gets to join the army after for some reason, like no one cares that he did that?); Casio peeps on her in the shower like a pervert then subsequently casts her goals aside on Pluto in order to follow his selfish and vain mission to become a Topless Buster pilot again; and pretty much all of the other essentially irrelevant characters in the show generally just treat her like garbage until she ends up being the apparent savior of humanity. __For as loveable as they made Nono, she really got the short end of the stick, and it isn't fun to watch.__ It's not even like anyone had a valid personal reason to be dicks either; just greed, immaturity, and downright evil. People were rude to Noriko too, but at least she worked out those dramatic tensions with people and got a happy ending. Nono got the short end from tragic start to tragic finish. __It does warm my heart though that Nono is the byproduct of a much earlier, more hopeful humanity's reverence for Noriko, clearly designed to be the Gunbuster crew's heroic and spirited successor.__ Seeing as how Nono is Buster Machine #7, and the latest model used in Gunbuster was #3, it's likely she was created not long after the battle at the core. It's just a shame that she ends up being such an outcast. I like to imagine that they also designed a Buster after Kazumi. Of the few things in this show I genuinely appreciated besides Nono, I did enjoy how the regression of humanity is made palpable by making the original Gunbuster space monsters incomprehensibly powerful and practically indestructible by comparison, to the point that humanity barely stands a chance against one of the things, much less the tens of billions faced in Gunbuster. Didn't really care for their ugly screaming sound effect, but that's a minor point. I do find it a strange choice for a sequel, however, that humanity faces a much, much weaker enemy instead of a more threatening one. Finally, I do appreciate how the whole premise of being Topless is just a big, hilarious reference to Noriko tearing her shirt off in the Gunbuster finale in the moment she removes Gunbuster's first degeneracy generator to activate the blackhole bomb. From the name alone, it's very clear what sort of principles being Topless is really meant to embody: namely, that Gainax absolutely loves making girls rip their clothes off when they power up. __In this regard, I think it makes sense to consider Diebuster to be a bold announcement by Gainax that being Topless is the direction Gainax is headed: "yeah, this is nothing like Gunbuster, but it's what we want our future to look like, so we hope you stick around to see it." Making this a sequel to Gunbuster is the clearest and most gratuitious way possible to announce that it's time for out with the old, and in with the new. Does that make me like Diebuster more? No, but on some level, I do get it.__