Top wo Nerae! GunBuster

Top wo Nerae! GunBuster

In the very near future, a race of huge, insect like aliens is discovered traveling the galaxy. These aliens seem dedicated to the eradication of the human species as it takes its first steps away from the solar system, and they are getting closer and closer to Earth. Humanity has responded by developing spacegoing battleships and giant fighting robots. These robots are piloted by the best and brightest of Earth's youth, picked from training schools around the world.

The story begins in the year 2023, not long after the first battles with the aliens, and centers on young Noriko Takaya. Although Noriko's father was a famous Captain in the space fleet who was killed during one of the first battles of the war, her own talents as a pilot are questionable. Nonetheless, she has entered a training school. Through the series Noriko, joined by the beautiful and talented Kazumi Amano, will fight to overcome the trauma of war, the doubts of her peers, and her own lack of confidence.

(Source: AniDB)

Official Streaming Sources

  • Type:OVA
  • Studios:Gainax, Studio Fantasia, Bandai Visual, Victor Entertainment, Discotek
  • Date aired: 7-10-1988 to 7-7-1989
  • Status:FINISHED
  • Genre:Action, Drama, Mecha, Sci-Fi
  • Scores:77
  • Popularity:38668
  • Duration:28 min/ep
  • Quality: HD
  • Episodes:6

Reviews

planetJane

planetJane

Spoilers below. ----------- *"As long as you live, tomorrow will come."* *Gunbuster* is both the last relic of another era and the progenitor of an entire lineage of anime that draw from it to this day (*Neon Genesis Evangelion*, its own sequel *Diebuster*, and *Gurren Lagann* being just the most famous of these). It's not an anime with much company in that regard. Usually, singular works of media like this either begin a new period for their medium or bring one to a close. *Gunbuster* manages to do both, and in a way, actually watching the thing makes that all the more surprising, this is after all the trial-by-fire of an at the time unknown Studio Gainax (and, bless them, their forgotten collaborators at Studio Fantasia), as well as the show whose gratuitous partial nudity infamously inspired the term "gainaxing". But make no mistake; *Gunbuster* is an etched-in-the-tablets classic, perhaps even more influential--if less loudly so--than its angstier nephew *Neon Genesis Evangelion*, and with the cynical eyes of the 21st century it can be a little hard to see why (I suspect that this may be a part of why its sequel *Diebuster* was made in the first place). *Gunbuster* begins as a mecha-themed parody of *Aim For The Ace!*, moves through a pastiche of *The Forever War*, and ends with a black and white, esoteric, theme-lead ending to rival *A Space Odyssey*. Not much out there covers this much tonal and narrative ground in such a short time. Yet, in what is both the OVA's greatest strength and its biggest, most glaring flaw, *Gunbuster* does not do much deep-delving as far as character goes. *Gunbuster* is a story told in broad strokes, in shadows, and in part by implication. Noriko is a rock-solid protagonist, but at the same time her actual personality is broadly-defined enough that it has inspired Shinji, Nono, and Simon The Digger, characters different enough in outlook and traits that aside from all largely coming from the same company's works, you'd be hard-pressed to find much in common between any of them. Character development (for Noriko and everyone else) is brisk, broad, and straightforward. Noriko starts out as kind of a wimp but by the end of the story is brave enough to sacrifice ever seeing anyone on Earth ever again for the sake of the human race. Her partner Kazumi starts out as cold and distant but by the end of the series is close enough to Noriko that she makes that sacrifice with her, this sort of thing. *Gunbuster* is very consistent on one point though, and that is its theme, which is so blunt that it might be better described as a moral; you can't save the world without sacrifice. Over *Gunbuster*'s three hour runtime, our heroines save the human race multiple times, and at each turn they are asked to give more, which they do. Relationships are shed like a winter coat--Noriko's best friend ages into an old woman in her absence, her first crush is a casualty, on Kazumi's side her affection with their mentor the Coach grows into a romance that she too is forced to leave behind. Both of them lose a close friend at the series' end as the (ridiculously named) character of Jung Freud makes her exit, and then finally the both of them leave all they've ever known behind, flung 12,000 years into the future by time dilation, with only each other for company. Hideaki Anno was not yet the mastermind behind *Neon Genesis Evangelion* when he directed *Gunbuster,* and while his touches are obvious with a closer examination, on first watch especially *Gunbuster* has a sort of grandiose anonymity to it. Less like something that was made and more like something that coalesced out of the memories of otaku who watched and loved reams of super robot and sentai shows throughout the 70s and 80s, but we have to be careful to not remove the artists from their art, because looked at with a more thoughtful eye the seeds of what would make *Evangelion* what it was were planted here in the show's darker moments, especially the second half, as the unusual-for-the-genre hard sci-fi elements set in and become a vehicle for genuine tragedy. That love is still there, but filtered through a very adult worldweariness. But it's not *just* that, really. Because *Gunbuster* does end, in its own way, on a happy note. A bittersweet ending that is less bitter than it might first appear. Our heroes arrive back to earth, twelve thousand years after their departure, and for a moment, they are greeted with a dark ball of rock, an earth that appears lifeless. Then, just as they begin to mourn humanity, lights flip on, slowly at first and then more quickly, forming a pattern--the distorted words "WELCOME HOMЭ"--revealing that their sacrifices haven't been for nothing. That ray of light to puncture what would've been a *truly* bleak ending is what makes *Gunbuster* work. There were darker dusks and brighter dawns on the horizon for Studio Gainax and the hordes of successors and imitators their work would spawn, but much of it ultimately traces back here; Noriko and Kazumi, in what remains of the combined Gunbuster, being hailed as heroes by their beloved planet and knowing it was all, in a sense, worth it.

PlatinuMan

PlatinuMan

Gunbuster is a sci-fi/mecha title by Studio Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno. It’s a futuristic title initially set in the year 2023, where high school age students are enrolled in training camps to learn how to pilot fighting robots. The reason? A swarm of alien creatures determined to eradicate humanity is heading towards Earth. Among the students enrolled in the Okinawa training facility are Noriko Takaya, a girl who lost her father in a space battle against these creatures a few years prior, and Kazumi Amano, a top-of-class mech fighter that sports a mature personality. The series focuses on these two as they aim to enter the Top Squadron, a space center where the best candidates from each school are sent to fight against the incoming alien force. Furthermore, the training coach at Okinawa, Kouichirou Oota, has his sights on the two girls to be part of the Gunbuster mech, a robot being developed to be the most powerful tool that the human race has to defeat the alien threat! The plot to Gunbuster isn’t anything that will surprise a viewer. The show has its sci-fi jargon and giant robots, as we follow Noriko as she rises the ranks of robot klutz to space fighting master. In between these moments is where Gunbuster shines. The show laces themes of trust, overcoming fear and, most importantly, the passage of time within its episodes. Hideaki Anno’s style seems to focus in more on the emotions of Noriko and Amano, trying to get the audience in sync with their ecstatic highs and crushing lows. Watching Noriko train herself to be a better fighter in Episode 1, growing above the cruel scorn and actions of her classmates, is a good example of this. Later in the series, Amano and Noriko have to rise above personal events for humanity’s tomorrow. Love and loss need to take a balance to what’s at stake. One could call it a bit dramatic at times, but I never got the feeling that Anno and the writing staff put in a breakdown for the sake of it. It’s the way of seeing the complete picture of Noriko and Amano. If Noriko were bubbly and naïve while Amano remained her mature (albeit slightly judgmental) aura, we’d really only see one side to the story. Anno’s later project, the controversial Neon Genesis Evangelion, would push these emotional concepts to a histrionic extreme – for now, it serves as a bit of grounding to characters that wish to soar beyond the stars. Anno also seems to put a few references to things he was interested in into the show to make it feel a bit more personal. Is it a coincidence that Noriko Takaya shares the same name with her voice actor Noriko Hidaka? What about Jung Freud’s name, which evokes famous psychoanalysts Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud? With these personal “easter eggs” placed in the show, Gunbuster was more like Anno’s short passion project than a mecha show. Though a passion project can make for an interesting watch, there lies the main problem with Gunbuster – its running time. With only 6 episodes, Anno struggles to find a balance between what he wants to say and the main story of the show. As a result, these elements get rushed. Some moments that were supposed to be endearing never really made a full impact with me. Take a look, for instance, at Commander Oota’s motivational speeches to Noriko – they have a rushed delivery, compacting a lot of “believe in yourself” speech into a short time span. Some characters like Jung Freud, despite being a “main” character, are more of an acquaintance than someone I could really connect with the main cast. I appreciate the show for what it did in its timespan, but at the same time, 1 or 2 more episodes (or, at the least, a Director’s Cut) could’ve fully unlocked what the show wants to get across. The animation for Gunbuster is very good. It has a few moments of repeated animation, but for the most part conveys a scene and its emotions well. Gainax wasn’t the powerhouse studio it would become, so the amount of effort put into the action scenes can sometimes be astounding. The anime has a look that’s definitely of its time (the girls’ outfits being leotards being one example), but it again reflects a certain level of personal investment the staff at Gainax put into it. Call the costumes and bath scenes lecherous, but they seem more like the animators having fun than trying to make a full-blown ecchi title. The one complaint I have has to do with Noriko’s eye design, which isn’t so much round as amorphous. Though the level of detail found in the eyes are good, the look of them feels a bit off. This is more of a personal complaint than a problem – I’m not too accustomed with the look. The soundtrack is what seals the deal for Gunbuster making its full impact. Kouhei Tonaka, the man behind the music of Gunbuster, blends together a mix of 80’s pop music clichés with dramatic strings to create the emotional drive for key scenes in the show. The training montage, for instance, has a Chariots of Fire sounding piece accompanying it while battle scenes mix in horns with a piano backing to give a sense of power with poignancy – an orchestra of emotion in a small package. It is definitely one of the anime’s highlights. The OP and ED follow suit with a cute 80’s pop sound, perfect for the show’s time. The V.A.’s were hand-in-glove for their roles and the voices matched the look and tone the characters set out. Overall, I give Gunbuster a 6.0 out of ten. It’s not perfect, but I don’t think it really strove out to be. It’s a show made by fans of the genre for fans of the genre. This level of honesty in popular anime isn’t always seen and I can appreciate it when I see it. If you’re a fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion or character-focused shows, you’ll find a lot to love here. Sci-fi enthusiasts may also enjoy it for the time/space dialogue present within the show. Those who think Gunbuster is just a prototype for Evangelion may just change their minds upon viewing it. Do you like or dislike this anime? If you haven't watched it, are you encouraged to watch it or not? Leave a comment on my profile telling me what you think of the anime and/or my review. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!

ThyMrMan

ThyMrMan

I would have to say that Gunbusters has the building blocks necessary to make a very good character driven mech show. It is something that really wanted to do more than it had the episodes to do, and therefor suffers a fair bit. Character development that had major effects on motivations and repercussions on characters, gets shoved into a 20 minute period that you end up not really caring about. While the story itself is fairly basic and easy to understand, overcome personal challenges and pilot big mech to defeat aliens while suffering at points along the way and in the end win the war. The characters are the largest casualties of the short 6 episode run time Gunbusters was given. Character arcs and development end up being forced into 10-20 minute segments in an episode. And feels really awkward at times with how quickly characters change in their beliefs and grow. You end up with characters like Smith, who gets 1 episode and has repercussions for another episode. But during this time I kept getting the idea that Noriko and Smith were supposed to have spend weeks together and even might have developed some feelings for each other, but that was never shown or given any time. Or Jung, who goes from somebody who dislikes Noriko and Kazumi and has this rivalry with them at the beginning of the episode, to having a decent friendly relationship with them by the end of the episode. But then will suddenly have moments when the rivalry shows up again randomly, for seemingly no reason for one scene. And then goes back to being good friends and hanging out with them, it just makes her character feel very disjointed. At one point it seemed like they wanted a conflict to develop between Kazumi and Noriko over how much time Noriko was spending with Coach, based around Kazumi being jealous of how attention Coach has always given Noriko. But it lasted about 10 minutes and was resolved without any issue. I did like the artwork and animation throughout the show, and thought it looked pretty good. At times you could see the shots they reused from other episodes, or issues were they forgot to finish drawing a scene. But never once did I think it looked bad, it just looked fairly good. Episode 6 also had a rather unique style that got used so they could finish the show the way they wanted to. When it kinda turned into a slideshow of single shots of various fights and events occurring throughout the final push, and did a really good job of showing the fight without actually animating everything. The story I feel wasn't all that special, but was good enough for the time given. The new pilot Noriko with a famous dad, who isn't that good a piloting. Improves over the course of the show to become better, being driven at times by revenge and also a wish to stop the enemy and saving everybody on Earth. While improving she gets assistance from the various characters, and finally grows enough to be able to pilot the ultimate mech that gets used to save the day. The enemy they are fighting never really gets developed in any way, it is just a mindless enemy they are trying to defeat before it gets to Earth. By the end I enjoyed my time with it, but am left wishing it had more time to tell it's story. Because 6 episodes just wasn't enough to tell the full story them wanted to and develop these characters in the meaningful ways they wanted to. But I would still say go ahead and watch it if you feel like watching an old decent mech show.

Grassman

Grassman

In this universe humans have mastered the technology capable to travel at light speed and warp objects through space. However, humanity is challenged by a species of space-traveling aliens which sole purpose is rid the universe of humans. The brightest and strongest students around the world are tasked with the job of piloting giant robots and joining alongside the army and its battleships to fend of the aliens. Throughout the series we will watch along as Noriko struggles to overcome the death of those she loves, her lack of self-esteem, and of course, the invading alien army. ~~~__Spoilers Ahead__~~~ img(https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/images/encyc/A466-3421515833.1469091384.jpg) # Story and Characters Mainly due to its short run-time, _Gunbuster_ is not able to develop its character's personalities and motivations as thoroughly as other series in the genre have done. Nevertheless, the show is able to tell a compelling story about sacrifice, relationships, and self-worth. It doesn't limit itself by explaining all of the details, but instead decides to take big leaps in space and time (literally and figuratively) to tell a more grandiose story than a detailed character study. Our main protagonist, Noriko Takaya, starts at out as a weak and emotionally unstable pilot. The death of her father and the constant harassment from other students have made her think of herself as worthless in combat, even if she has a desire to avenge her father. However, through hard work and support from Kouichirou Oota (I will be referring to him as Coach), Noriko is able to train herself to be able to pilot the mobile suits (and the Gunbuster) expertly. These first episodes revolve around this narrative, common in sports anime. One about overcoming your own self-doubt and proving others your abilities, an underdog story. We can even see a change in spirit from Noriko's past bully, Reiko, as she now admires her for her dedication and skill. Now she has been given a place in the Luxion, but she will still need to overcome the death of her father and find motivation in her duty to protect Earth. The middle portion of the show focuses on establishing the motivations and relationships between our main characters. Kazumi and Jung, although rivals, do not see each other as enemies and are able to develop off each other. Even if they are both looking for Coach's love, no two people can live the same life and they try not to fight each other. However, they do not treat Noriko as an equal. She still has no experience in real space combat and is not trusted by the rest of the pilots to a point were Kazumi rejects being her partner. Enter, Smith Toren, an eccentric guy that offers a helping hand to the defeated Noriko. He is a light of hope in Noriko's life, and this causes her to fall in love with him. Sadly, Smith is killed in their first and only battle together due to Noriko's inability to support her partner, caused by her self-doubt. Smith's death serves as the catalyst for Noriko's development. She decides to not let anyone else die because of her and to trust in her own abilities. This resolve is what permits her pilot the Gunbuster and save her friends in a battle against the aliens and regain the trust of her team. This section of the story can be the most empowering for the characters and the viewer a like, for we see the biggest change in all of the characters involved. However, the various times Kazumi and Jung change between liking and disliking Noriko is confusing and troublesome. Even so, these problems are minor due to the strong finale of the series. The last events of the series focus on sacrifice and duty. Kazumi and Noriko have now in front of them the hardest task yet, defeating the space aliens once and for all: humanity's last effort to survive. Our heroines will have to sacrifice themselves to detonate the Gunbuster 3 (a blackhole bomb) and end the space aliens. These two have sacrificed so much to accomplish their missions thus far, and now they will have to do so again. Everyone they know and/or love will die in 12,000 years they spent traveling back to earth. However, it will not be in vain, they have sucesfully protected humanity. It is in the last episode that the idea that maybe humanity should not aspire to survive, and simply submit to the aliens. Maybe humanity should not disturb the universe with its problems, and let the universe remain peacefully? This theme is not developed to its own potential and it serves mostly to provide Kazumi with a form of conviction, not wanting to technically commit suicide by submitting to the aliens. It would have been interesting to see our characters struggle with this question a little more. I should also mention how expertly _Gunbuster_ is able to use its setting and premise to explore with various concepts and themes, instead of just being a facade for another story. It is true that mecha anime isn't really about the robots fighting other big creatures/robots, but the mechas are a medium to tell a compelling story with exciting fights. However, _Gunbuster_ is much more than just that. Only mediocre shows are not able to exploit its setting/premise to its full potential. Gainax used the idea of traveling at light speed and the theory of relativity to create character drama and emotional (mostly bittersweet) scenes. As previously discussed, our place in the universe is also questioned. Also, even if all of the technology used in the show may seem impossible to re-create, the creators made sure to give just enough scientific explanations to everything (except the actual Gunbuster) to make believable; even if they utilized out-dated concepts such as the aether. This is most notable in the black hole bombs, spaceships, warp, and light speed travel. I should briefly mention that the dialogue was pretty decent. It was simple, yes, but it didn't hurt the show in my opinion. img(http://i.imgur.com/bz22q.jpg) > Welcome Home # Animation and Sound The sound department isn't anything great, but is competent at least. The soundtrack didn't stick with me unlike other shows from Gainax or in the mecha genre, such as Mobile Suit Gundam. However, the mix between instrumental (typical of sci-fi, especially the use of trumpets) and synth tracks was pretty nice. In regards to sound effects and voice acting, I cannot really say much since I am not experienced in noticing what is good and what is bad sound effects/voice acting. Nevertheless, the real highlight of the show is in its animation and visual directing. Even if it appears to be "just another mecha anime", its characters, settings, and robots/spaceships are unique enough to differentiate itself. The space battles are cool and enjoyable, but are not the best in the genre when compared to stuff like Gurren Lagann and Gundam. Its cinematography and visual directing are fantastic and I was surprised, it surpassed my expectations. The animators and director were able to convey so much information and emotion even without any dialogue. Tension, sadness, anger, joy, excitement, relief, etc. All of these emotions could be felt solely from its visuals. One notable scene would be in episode 3 were Noriko is unable to help Smith. The shot compositions and angles make the viewer feel out of place and incapable of doing nothing, we are truly placed in our protagonist's point of view without utilizing a first person point of view. It is a great parallel to the later battles were the camera moves more freely and we see Noriko being more active, a good representation in her change in character. Another important scene would be the triumphant return of our heroines to Earth, were they are greeted by a display of lights with the message: "Welcome Home". It is the perfect ending for such an important episode. The stylised black-white coloring of the episode made the space battles very memorable and strengthened the emotion when the colors rushed in during the final scene. Also the director was able to use the animation of the show to cleverly expand its themes and foreshadow future events. The space scenes did not feel like the animators simply placed the characters in outer space. At times space felt beautiful but hostile, our heroes just a small speck in the vastness of the universe. Other times our heroes were in control, they had the upper hand and were the arbiters of the universe and their own destiny. The Luxion gives a certain high-school vibe to the viewer, this is done mainly to increase how relatable the story is and I do not see it as a problem. If you want to know an example of the foreshadowing I mentioned before, you should look at the scene were Kazumi pleads to Coach to not be so selfish. He is playing a board game alone, hinting that he is playing a game of his own (he is hiding something). Also there is a charm hanging from the ceiling, which is shown to have two sides. One side is cleverly colored red, a representation of Coach's disease. The fan-service and nudity in the show is an aspect that should not be ignored. Although it can hurt some viewer's experience, I did not take any problem with it. It didn't feel forced when the girls were shown naked or almost-naked. However, their uniforms are a bit weird. img(https://www.rightstufanime.com/images/productImages/814131019486_anime-gunbuster-movie-altB.jpg) # Conclusion _Gunbuster_ is a must-watch for any mecha anime or Gainax fan, if only for its importance in Gainax's history. However, it is still a great piece of work. One that should be praised by its incredible cinematography and captivating story. It is impresionable how it is able to explore many themes such as self-worth, rivalry, love, sacrifice, space travel, and our place in the universe in such a short period of time. Even if it isn't able to develop its characters completely and has issues in its middle section, I still fully recommend anyone to watch this anime.

TheRealKyuubey

TheRealKyuubey

In the distant future of 2006, Mankind had only recently made it’s first steps towards exploring the vast reaches of space. Well, that, or it’s 2016 and we haven’t even set foot on Mars yet, you can pick which world line sounds cooler. Anyway, with huge advancements in our understanding and manipulation of quantum physics, we’ve managed to evolve our technology to the point where we can effortlessly cruise through our own Solar System, from the Milky Way to the outer reaches, to new and as-of-yet unidentified planets lurking right outside the range of our telescopes. But as we begin to take our greedy first steps outside of our own cozy little system, we make a much more sobering discovery… Giant space bugs have been destroying entire systems by laying eggs in their stars, which gives a whole new meaning to sunny-side up. Among their first targets was the fleet being led by The Luxion, which was in turn piloted by the heroic Admiral Yuzo Takaya… A man who gave his life to make sure his entire crew could make it home safely. This cowardly 2015 ambush orphaned his daughter Noriko, who decided on the spot that she would follow in his footsteps, and train to become a pilot herself, so that she could either find him and save him, or in the worst case scenario, avenge his death. Now, alongside her perfectionist senior classmate Kazumi Amano, a soviet pilot named Jung Freud and their gruff Coach, it’s up to Noriko Takaya to overcome her deeply rooted inferiority complex and realize her destiny as the hero of the human race, who… If she succeeds… Will remember her even 12,000 years in the future! It’s easy to look at an anime from the eighties and pick on it for looking sub-par. I’ve done it myself, despite the vast differences that exist between then and now in terms of budget, technology and artistic resources. The reason I do this is that even back then, it was entirely possible for an anime to look really damn good, and Gunbuster is one of the most reliable examples of this. There are plenty of static shots in this show where there’s no movement on screen save for the flapping lips of the featured characters, because of course there are, but between these shots, there is not one piece of motion in this show that looks cheap or stilted. The animation is consistently fluid, save for perhaps one or two nude scenes that the animators got a little clumsy at. But hey, we’re talking about Gainax here, an it’s believable that most people on staff wouldn’t know what a naked woman looks like. That’s not to say the series doesn’t show it’s age, of course… The space battles and mecha action are so well-animated that they hold up pretty well even today, but the art style is firmly rooted in it’s time. Characters look far more realistic in proportion than the moe-models of today, despite the enlargened eyes on our teenaged protagonists. The mechs are nothing to write home about, as they look disappointingly bland compared to even the existing mechs of it;s time, especially with Gundam preempting it by almost ten years. The military uniforms are pretty authentic looking for the men, and the leotards the girls where strike an impressive balance between being sexy enough for viewers, but also just barely professional enough to not be distracting from the tone. The aliens, when you actually see them, look awesome, and are by far the visual wonder of the series. The music was composed by Koihei Tanaka, and the soundtrack as a whole is awesome. The main voice actors pooled together to sing quite a few original songs for the series, including the opening theme Active Heart and insert songs like the electrifying fight theme Fly High. Unfortunately, the instrumental compositions are a little bit bland and easily forgettable, as I’m pretty sure I’ve heard them all in other shows, either repeated verbatim across the Gainax library or tweaked for similar shows. The opening song is awesome, but I’m afraid the accompanying video is mostly a collection of shots from the show, and there’s little to be said about that. There really isn’t any dub to speak of, although I’ve heard rumors of one coming, but the sub is more than serviceable on it’s own, with a lot of great acting and emotion behind each performance. Most of the cast members have very impressive credits to their names. One of the unique joys of reviewing older anime is that you get to compare it to all the titles that came afterwards, and figure out what ways it affected the genre, as well as how many titles it may have inspired. Gunbuster, like many of Gainax’s early projects, actually inspired quite a few anime over the past 28 years. There are two ways an anime can show inspiration… Well, actually there are more than that, but only two of them are presently relevant. The first is when an anime becomes really financially successful, so a bunch of other studios try to rip it off to copy it’s success. There are many examples of titles that tried to do this to Madoka Magica, Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, Berserk, Haruhi Suzumia and Evangelion, to name a few. But then there are other examples, when an older anime is really heavily flawed, and the shows it influences actually manage to improve upon it in unimaginable ways. Two years ago, I mentioned this was the case with that train wreck His and Hers Circumstances, so… Where does Gunbuster lie? Well, for starters, let’s look at the title that I feel borrowed the most from Gunbuster… Battle Athletes Victory. Yeah, I know you were expecting me to say Evangelion, but we’ll get to that later. Gunbuster starts off with a very simple story… We have a teenage girl who enlisted with a training program so she could one day ascend to Outer Space and follow in the footsteps of their deceased parent. She encounters hard times, and doubts her abilities, which are noticeably behind where they should be. An older rival with top-tier grades is miffed by this, and says some things that shake our heroine down to her foundation. She learns how to improve through hard work, and winds up leaving her best friend behind to travel into outer space with her rival, whom now has more respect for her. This is literally the plot of Gunbuster’s first episode, and Victory’s first TEN episodes. Yes, the first episode of Gunbuster has the exact same plot as the first ten episodes of another series that bears some other striking similarities to it, all the way down to the student’s athletic attire. So which approach worked better? Well, I’ll try not to talk too much about Battle Athletes Victory too much, as I’m planning to review it in the future, but suffice to say, the story and characters have infinitely more meat attached to them than they did in the original, and even though it’s ten times the length, very little of it could be called filler. It had several extra characters, each one unique and important in their own way, to the point that even the heroine’s rival had her own rival, as well as a heart breaking backstory that explains her to a T. This is to say nothing of the heroine herself, whose plight is far more compelling. Noriko and Kazumi aren’t bad characters by far, but if I’m being completely honest, there isn’t much to them. We know that Kazumi is prideful and headstrong, and her doubt in Noriko serves the main character’s development, but that’s it. We don’t know her family, her history, her drive, her dreams, her outlook on life… All of which are clear with Victory’s Jessie Gurtland. Noriko is a bit more developed, but after she’s told to work hard and not give up, she just instantly starts doing so and improving. There’s a bit of realism to this, as the elapsed time shows that improvement isn’t an immediate thing, but there’s little to no psychological complexity to it. Akari Kanzaki had a far deeper problem, as her inferiority wasn’t a mere complex, but a security blanket. By convincing herself that she was incapable of succeeding, she was sabotaging herself. She had an excuse not to try, and thus she had an excuse not to fail. She had to hit rock bottom before her best friend was able to beat some sense into her, and even at that point, she still wasn’t done developing, because said friend had become her new security blanket, which left her beyond devastated when that blanket was no longer available to her. Yes, the obstacles Noriko had to overcome were very clearly defined, and her improvement was paced well within the episode, but it was also incredibly vague, and the fact that almost every single training animation in the first episode had NOTHING to do with space combat didn’t help. Victory went there, and portrayed the character with a kind of intimacy that no amount of fanservice can deliver. But is it fair to judge a 1988 series by a set of standards that wouldn’t be established for almost ten years? Yes and no. No, because obviously the medium of story-telling has to evolve over time, but also yes, because Battle Athletes Victory didn’t cause the problems in Gunbuster, it just called attention to them. Nobody jumps to defend Snow White and Cinderella just because modern Disney movies tend to contain more active and complex princesses… Yes, they were fine in their own time, but times have changed, and you’re far more likely in today’s era to see those films judged by today’s standards. Likewise, the main characters of Gunbuster are nothing but chump change compared to the ones from Victory. And yes, you can blame the six episode format for this… Well, four episodes and a two-part conclusion that was literally an after-thought… But just because development and pacing issues can be excused, doesn’t mean they should be forgiven, especially when we’re coming to the part of this review where we’re going to have to take off our nostalgia goggles and admit a hard, sad truth to ourselves… Gunbuster just isn’t very good. Yeah, I’m sorry, but it still has numerous problems that a limited episode count can’t be blamed for. The story is competently told for the most part, but as it goes on, it keeps on hitting more and more problems, as the cracks in it’s writing become clearer and clearer. There are so many missed opportunities that other shows would have jumped on without hesitation, especially if it meant adding dramatic depth to the story and plot. In episode 2, we’re introduced to the third girl in the main cast, who we’ll be referring to as Russian Asuka, because another reviewer already called dibs on calling her Prototype Asuka. She challenges Kazumi to battle, causing them to go awol and accidentily discover a very unnerving secret about the military. The three of them get put on probation for this, and despite all of the material a good writer could have squeezed out of not only that secret but even the probation situation, neither plot point is ever brought up again. One sloppy looking nude bathing scene later, all is forgotten. The story would not have changed even a little bit if they’d never been caught, or were just let off the hook completely, or if their discovery had been a bunch of lost frisbees on top of the ship’s roof, nothing would have changed. And remember when I brought up Evangelion? Well, episode three is the poor man’s Kaoru episode. And for the record, the original Kaoru episode was ALREADY the poor man’s Kaoru episode. In the space of about half of an episode, Noriko meets a dude, gets conveniently dumped by Kazumi, and then finds herself overwhelmed in combat when her love interest and current combat partner dies as a result. Feeling guilty for this (As she damn well should), she sits out the next battle, even though she’s suddenly exactly the soldier they need to save everyone. She picks herself up by her bootstraps, joins the fight, saves the day, and it all feels so empty. The story is so rushed that we know about as much about Noriko’s love interest as we did about her rival… Nothing. Hell, even Shinji’s bullshit “I love myself now” shtick was more compelling than Noriko just getting her act together out of nowhere because the plot demanded it. But the space fighting is cool, right? All of the mecha action is intense and awesome, right? Yes. Yes it is. I’m not much of a mech fan, never have been, but the sci-fi backdrop and fast-paced mecha action had me watching at full attention even when I was bone-tired. The action is the heart and soul of Gunbuster, and it’s by far where it shines the brightest. It’s also the part of the show that should, by all means, have least amount of explanation possible poured into it. Unfortunately, Gainax didn’t get this memo. See, there’s a good reason science fiction isn’t supposed to be rooted in science fact… It would be too freaking boring if it made sense. Using Star Wars for an example, nobody cares how a ship can slow down in outer space… What we do care about is who our heroes are, why they are the way they are, and where their journey is going to take them. Gunbuster does the exact opposite of this, by developing the science and technology of this world, and giving everything else minimum effort. Between each episode in the DVD box set are mini episodes where chibis of Noriko and Kazumi dump exposition that’s full of big words but don’t mean a single damn thing. It keeps going on and on from there, sounding progressively regressive in it’s sanity until it’s finally suggested to us that Space Travel can be greatly improved by harnessing the power of ESPers and dolphins wearing space helmets. No, I am not making up a word about that, but here’s the strange thing… These details were so incomprehensible from the beginning that nobody really complains. Viewers before then had already given up trying to make sense out of ANY of the things Gunbuster has to say about it’s own universe, so why not dolphins? These spurts of insanity could be used as a running gag, but that’s not the kind of sense of humor Gunbuster had. Remember how there was a lot of training in the first episode that had nothing to do with space battles? Push-ups and running laps in giant mech suits, marching up and down huge flights of stairs in lead sandals? That was intentional. That was Gainax’’s honest attempt at a joke. That’s its sense of humor in a nutshell. Didn’t laugh? Me neither. Even the villains are described half-assedly, as attacking the human race because our existence is meaningless to the universe. Not a threat, mind you, but just meaningless. I really hope that was just a character describing his own theory, because there is no way Gainax would be stupid enough to make that canon… And yet there’s no disproving it. Oh, and don’t point to that one ‘military secret,’ because we can’t prove that predates the attacks. So yeah, we’re just innocent victims, here. Guess what? Villains without understandable motives are boring. At least Starship Troopers offered up the possibility that the bugs were provoked. I’m no physicist, but from what I’ve heard, the only part of it Gunbuster gets right is the time disparity between those traveling at lightspeed and those on Earth, as it’s a plot device used a few times, especially in the final two add-on episodes. It’s an interesting idea to say the least, and it’s used well at first, up until the final two episodes, where it breaks down into an excuse to explore new futures without having to age the how young protagonist. The new futures, by the way, bring abrupt, out of nowhere developments like… Kazuki being in love with their Coach! Her and Noriko’s robots can combine! Yeah, I hate to say it, but the final two episodes don’t even really need to be there. At the end of episode four, a charming little blurb tells us that while two final episodes have been confirmed, the only things they’d come up with were the two titles. And the story was largely over at that point, so moving forward, the only way to really round out two new episodes was to repeat the plot two more times… With minor, spoiler differences. In a way, you can kind of tell that Gunbuster was created by a group of otakus just barely starting to find themselves as story-tellers. They even made their main character identify as the “Ultimate Otaku,” a designation that amounts to a few posters on her wall and the visual of her calling out the names of her attacks, presumably because it was the only way to make her feel relatable to them. I don’t want to come down too hard on it, as it was only their second project, and their first financial success, and they DID expand a lot of it’s ideas several years later with Evangelion. It’s a very amateurish piece of work, which makes sense, because they were amateurs at the time. It’s a very important title in their history, so I still highly recommend you check it out. Gunbuster was originally available stateside by Image Entertainment, with a very boxy DVD set that was released in 2007. It’s since gone out of print, but you can still find it floating around online for about fifty bucks, unless you get really lucky like I did. It’s set for a re-release in May by the company Maiden Japan, who’ll be releasing it in movie format. Yes, they somehow trimmed the three hour series into a 95 minute movie, and no, I haven’t seen it, so I have no idea how well it’ll hold up. A sequel series is also available on DVD, but since I haven’t seen Diebuster myself, I have no idea what it is or how it ties into the series. The manga by Kadocha is not available stateside. Earlier in this review, I said Gunbuster wasn’t very good, and I stand by that assessment. If you’re a die hard fan of it, I apologize, but I only saw it recently, and I don’t have the benefit of nostalgia goggles. That’s not to say it’s a bad show, of course… Honestly, I enjoyed it. If you can ignore how bare bones the writing is, it has a very simple story, and while the characters are closer to constructs than people, they’re still likeable. The final two episodes, while a little pointless, are more of exactly what this series delivers on the hardest… Great action and decent animation. Unfortunately, the animation is one of the only things about it that doesn’t feel dated, and even with that issue removed, it tends to feel a bit mediocre. It’s still an okay series, and it’s engaging enough to keep me awake where other shows wouldn’t. Not only would I recommend it to people, hell, I’d watch it again. It’s one of Gainax’s best shows, even if that honor is slowly becoming more dubious. I give Gunbuster a 6/10.

ObscuringHazel

ObscuringHazel

First off I want to say I legitimately enjoyed Gunbuster. Quite a bit in fact, which is why I'm giving it the _positive_ rating of 5.7 (you'll see why later). This review is gonna be pretty loosey goosey eating a sandwich because I don't care that much about it I just kinda want to get my thoughts out and warn people who think Gunbuster is gonna be some crazy epic or masterpiece of the mecha genre or something like that. ___ Minor Spoilers Below ___ Gunbuster is a show full of great ideas that is strangled to death in its extremely short 6 episode length. There's a lot to like about the show (especially if you're a fan of mecha) but everything is just whizzing by way too fast to latch on to anything and get invested. The show follows Noriko whose dream is to become a robot pilot like her late father and fight against monsters in space. What kind of monsters? I don't know, wish the show told me more about them. They look kinda like bugs. img500(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gunbuster/images/9/95/Space_Monsters.gif/revision/latest?cb=20150829160627) The whole show has about a million or so moments like this where you're thinking: >I sure wish I knew what the fuck was going on right about know so I could actually give a shit about it but Gunbuster consistently disappoints. If you've ever watched Garzey's Wing it feels pretty in line with that except with some poor sci-fi thrown in. The technology is poorly defined, there's so much jargon that I can't understand 1/3 of the words said about anything to do with the ships or robots, and what real concepts are used (i.e. time dilation) are done completely wrong. None of the sci-fi comes even close to breaking the show for me though. What it really comes down to is the pacing. There is a whole 24 episodes worth of story, concepts, and characters here but it just doesn't fit into 6 episodes. My favorite example of this is episode 4 which I'll break down for you in serious and great detail in the paragraph below. In episode 4 Noriko has failed fighting in space and her partner died (her partner who she met for the first time, fell in love with, and went into battle with in the span of one episode). She decides to get stronger and starts training. Then Jung, who was chill with her before, suddenly gets pissy because Noriko is the one who's gets to ride ~~the coach's dick~~ in gunbuster and not her and then they go fight in space, Noriko gets PTSD, they go back and Jung and onee-sama (yeah I don't remember her real name) get in a cat fight. Then onee-sama goes to complain to coach that it's not fair that noriko gets to ride ~~the dick~~ in gunbuster and she doesn't (yeah I made the same joke because that's actually pretty much what she's talking about) and how he should use her to "exact his revenge" or something (idk wtf she's talking about here). THEN they get attacked by the bugs and Noriko is held back because she sucks and Noriko cries and someone dies (I don't think we were supposed to care about her) and everything's going so bad, they've lost 42% of the robots until HOLY SHIT IT'S GUNBUSTER. Noriko gets in the super robot (which I think they only mentioned the existence of once before in like episode 1 and it's super secret or something yet somehow everyone including regular soldiers know about it) and kicks some bug thorax and she gets stabbed by the big bug but she electrocutes it and the day is saved aw yeah. This is easily at _least_ 3 good episodes worth of content that is crushed into a pitiful 25 minutes and serves as a perfect microcosm of what the experience of this show is as a whole. It's extraordinarily hard to give any shits at all when everything is rushing past at mach 17. This extratone-speed pacing ruins just about everything the show has to offer. "How did Noriko go from little bitch who can't even be in space to insane super robot pilot badass in like 2 days (or was there some weird timeskip that was never telegraphed to the viewer)?" "Is Jung bipolar?” “Why does the coach have a japanese style room on a spaceship? I'm tired of seeing this, it’s pretty much a cliche at this point.” These are the questions that this incredible pacing makes you ask yourself. It's not even an incredibly entertaining speed it's just somewhat boring at times. Not all the time, but some times (the battles in particular because it's impossible to care about any of the characters, if you can call them that). The first episode is pretty entertaining because of the pacing though. Now in spite of all this hate so far I'd say that Gunbuster is worth the watch and I did have a decent amount of fun watching it. Gunbuster is packed full of great ideas (the time dilation, the PTSD, humanity is just a virus in the galaxy, blowing shit up with black holes, last episode in black and white, I could go on.) but they aren't given the room they deserve to breathe. It feels bloated and incredibly rushed and definitely could have used another dozen episodes or so to fully flesh out its universe. Now you could watch this seriously as a mecha fan to witness the history and progression of your favorite genre, LIKE A NERD. Or you could watch this for the meme(?), have a good time, and enjoy the fanservice (and that's how I'd recommend you watch it). I'm including this in the review because I just want to say: more shows should do fanservice like this show. This is both the best and least intrusive fanservice I've ever seen. It (somehow) really adds character to the show and I feel the show would legitimately be worse without it. The characters just happen to be wearing pretty skimpy suits to pilot the mechs and also Noriko just really likes chilling in her underwear (also there's a bath scene but it's pretty normal). It's a great way to stay low key but also be really appealing (_but I'm just a stupid 20-something-year-old calling DRAWINGS of high-schoolers hot so you should just ignore this whole review because I'm obviously a pedo, reported for sexism. Not to mention that Noriko is well over 18 by the end of the show_). It also helps that it's an ova and can show raw nips (make what you will of that sentence). ___ example of fanservice to break up the text: ~!img300(https://i.imgur.com/0E1xJFb.png)!~ ___ (I hate these lines just pretend that this goes all the way across) So all in all my actual score for the show is 5.5 but I added 0.2 because Noriko is, ah, let's say, well endowed (but not too well endowed. goldilocks zone, baby). So final score 5.7/10 ~!I'm also using the ultra advanced technique of the dark arts of reviewing, theorized by toothlesshawkins and pioneered by gintokee, setting the review score at 100 so skimmers will upvote it. Time to get hella street cred. If you actually read the review then thanks, yes I know it's pretty awful. Do tell me about it.!~

Endranii

Endranii

Watching Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster was a strange endeavour. It was like drinking strange looking "drink" made by your 8 year old cousin just to realise that it's actually pretty dope. Like the amount of strange and seemingly random things that were put into it actually ends up making a strangely enticing flavour, that's how it felt to watch this little show. Random, non the less enjoyable one, especially if you enjoy seeing all the current tropes but done "oldstyle". ~~~img400(https://i.imgur.com/Ne5luEA.jpg)~~~ Just imagine that the very first episode is literally written like a typical sport drama series. No, really. The first episode is literally oldschool sport school drama but with cute girls and one'samas training and running in mechas. Yes, instead of cute girls doing push ups you have cute girls piloting mechas that are doing push-ups or mechas running laps around the school football pitch. Bizarre. Baffling. Even ridiculous. Now add some shoujo drama between girls looking up to beloved one-sama and you have 1st ep of gunbuster. Just riciculous fun, hell you would think that it's some kind of new anime made to ridicule all the anime tropes just to then realize that it's actually coming from an 88 show. ~~~img400(https://i.imgur.com/fTepemN.jpg)~~~ Now, one would think that it's all gonna be fun and roses as the show is gonna keep on making fun of all the tropes within it. And yet, when it comes to the other part of the show it will hit you with astoundingly hard sci-fi. So hard that making switch to it can actually become quite a problem considering the swings from funny trope filled segments of cute girls doing stuff into this hard and realistic sci-fi landscape. ~~~img400(https://i.imgur.com/xCc9uMO.jpg)~~~ Like, I'm gonna be honest. I dropped my guard during episode 2 and had really hard time figuring if the show is serious or not when it comes to how it portrayed "time" and it's technology. On one hand I knew that what they are saying sounds familiar and should make sense but on the other hand considering how frivolous the show was in previous episode it was easy to just disregard as something random and "in-universe". Even more when you never heard about time-dilation. Yes, this anime properly makes full use of this little bad boy, and oh did it made me question my sanity considering last time I heard about it in high-school. ~~~img400(https://i.imgur.com/xXT062E.jpg)~~~ What's more there is lot of such small things here, the whole anime is riddled with such little details that will make you smile the moment you notice them. Like it's really clear that a lot of love went into creating this little show even if it doesn't seem like it at first glance. Even German names for soviet astronauts make sense, after all part of them are from friggin DDR(East Germany). See? Totally makes sense. Or how do you secure more funding for your space army? You strike a deal with corporations so that the mechas they sponsor will fly around in Adidas and Puma paint jobs, like damn I was laughing like stupid when I saw Adidas sponsored mechas. ~~~img400(https://i.imgur.com/HhuBsIE.jpg)~~~ As for animation, it's pretty good considering what I expected from such old show. Hell if I'm gonna be honest this show have better and more detailed animation style than many currently airing ones. I'd even say the animation fluidity is better than some of the current shows. And the depiction of sci-fi stuff? Very good, especially the cockpits and space opera. Though unfortunately apart from the main Gunbuster the rest of mecha is of an older more round and bulkier design which is a shame considering that everything else is pretty good while they are just bog standard design. Worth of note is also the last episode, which while not entirely to my liking was a fun take on inserting more pathos into the whole story. ~~~img550(https://i.imgur.com/xeCc9oH.jpg)~~~ One thing that I should also address when speaking about animation is the fan service. It's actually mixed bag. It was pretty good most of the time or at least the situations where it was mostly presented. And that comes from someone who's generally not a fan of ecchi harems etc. But in this show the situations with it felt natural and in place. Big part of it being that nudity felt like something most normal and that it would be strange to make a big deal out of it. Unfortunately on the other side the fan service had to rear it's ugly head in the uniform design, which to be frank was little bit annoying considering the rest of the setting. Another minus was "fan service" in last episode. Imagine the most important fight, one that will decide the fate of all humanity just to see the MC rip her uniform during the climax. Yes, she just goes and rips part of her uniform revealing her bosom. Tbh I'm fully aware of the significance of this action and how it was portraying determination of this young girl. Determination to give up her life and rip her heart out so that her ideals can live on. But to me it felt way to abrupt, giving me a feeling of a last one fan service scene. Which in hindsight was just me being incapable of properly connecting with her due to time constraints of this short ova.Thus actually snickering during the scene. And now finally story. Which is, well... As good as it can be considering the amount of screen time the show got. It gets to all the important points. Though at times it comes of as comedy rather than drama(R.I.P Smith I will remember your 5 minutes of screen time fondly), but with how little time they had to tell this "epic" tale it's no wonder that a lot of parts had to be skimmed on so that they can manage to pack it all up in just 6 episodes. Honestly, given 6 more episodes to flesh out everything and It would most likely be a very good anime, one that would be remembered by way more people. Especially considering how amazing the Sci-fi parts are. The whole dealing with "time" and consequences of life choices segments were also pretty good. The threat and how they dealt with it was also great point of this series(RiP Jupiter). Unfortunately the more interpersonal drama between main cast was the weaker link of the series, clearly trying to just hit of the important plot points no matter how break neck the speed. But all in all I didn't mind it considering it meant that the Sci-fi parts had more time to shine. ~~~img400(https://i.imgur.com/XrMNy9i.jpg)~~~ So, well, all in all I did enjoy it for what it was. Had a great laugh and saw some interesting things. Good/Very good - 7.5/10

saulgoodman

saulgoodman

#~~~__Spoilers ahead. Skip to the end for a short, spoiler-free review.__~~~

webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/2a25202b73d3a29c0156ad9cdce3a901.mp4) ___ #~~~__Time stops for no one__~~~ Another preliminary warning: I'm not a mecha *otaku*. Sorry, not sorry. Experiencing *Gunbuster* after *Evangelion* and *Gurren Lagann* was a retroactive whiplash. Moreso than the *joshi kosei* fan-service, Noriko being the blueprint for Gainax's future mecha pilot protagonists was eye-catching. Heck, the entire OVA felt like an unfinished prototype for its future shows. That is, its splotches of character turmoil and blunt nature. Note to differentiate character turmoil and character development. In its 6 episode time-frame, *Gunbuster* short-distances intricate character development. Jung Freud has some sort of rivalry with Amano, challenges her, becomes friends, rinse-and-repeat in a shorter cycle with Noriko afterwards. Amano's taciturn attitude at Noriko melts when she witnesses her successfully piloting the Gunbuster. I don't hate it though, because *Gunbuster* itself is an unapologetic blazing star. Short-lived as they are, Noriko's conflicts and resolutions aren't useless detours from the heart of her character. *Gunbuster* scrutinizes Noriko's insecurity as a pilot and trauma after Smith's death-in-service, streaking through these delicate conflicts with glorious battles and orchestra, these points foundations for the likes of Shinji and Simon. Noriko's final and most grandiose conflict; the disparity between her and those holding Father Time's hands on Earth; is scrutinized with silent, delicate inference and consideration of past episodes. The hypertensive, romanticized school life built in the first episode with Noriko being bullied, her training montage and fight with an envious *ojou-sama* concluding with their friendship, acts as an anchor for the Noriko acting awkwardly with the aged Amano, referring to her with militant respect rather than endearing "*one-sama*". The tonal transition during the early half seems to be a primary target for *Gunbuster*'s flaws. A picturesque 70s *ojou-sama* drama in fashion of *Aim for the Ace!* and *Glass Mask* flying into a space opera of time dilapidation certainly was a glare, something Anno crafts better in *Evangelion*, but nonetheless I felt it fit the strained narrative towards the end. Even as everyone else passes by her in the passage of time, treasured memories of days past persist in her heart and give strength to live and fight in a separate time. The flaring shift from underdog wimp to savior of mankind, glistening with youth and fervor, isn't exactly tight writing, but the sentiment is felt to the core. webm(https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/6a3c544de6d11b2b7ce42b33bc6ae193.mp4) Though, sure enough, what I've described can understandably be interpreted as dime-a-dozen imperfections. Perhaps the whiplashing, yet fitting tonal shift is rather unchecked script writing, the bull-dozing character development punctuated by grandiose mech battles ultimately rushed character writing. Still, in reference to either or, *Gunbuster*'s a radiance of potential and inspiration. Anno took his baby steps in his first director gig, and his shit wipes are to remember. Each episode is punctuated by distinction; the first episode a silly *Aim for the Ace!* clone, the second episode Jung's introduction and Noriko horrified by her late father's dead ship, the third episode Smith's influence on Noriko's character, the fourth episode Noriko's lowest point and subsequent blazing climax piloting the Gunbuster, the fifth episode apostrophizing the horror of time dilapidation when Noriko returns to Earth, the final episode a testosterone-inducing one full of screams and shirt-ripping, and the ending one of optimistic and bitter. The intertitles and thoughtful cinematography that'd be cemented in his future works, and of course, the grey-scale, muted palette of the final episode. Feelings may vary, but it's difficult to deny the heart and creative direction wringed from *Gunbuster*. Superficial as it sounds, my perspective on older OVAs have tilted towards a positive direction now. While the production value, from the attention-to-detail in key animation and technical designs to the magnificent orchestra, is aesthetically pleasing, it's moreso the gushing passion the staff has put into it that one can infer even 30 years after the fact. As affected by *rigor mortis* as present-day Gainax is, *Gunbuster* etches itself strongly in my mind, as much as Noriko and Amano's blazing sacrifice for humanity millennia later. ___ #~~~__A pose cemented in history.__~~~
img420(https://i.imgur.com/YtA59Sa.jpg) ___ #~~~__Conclusion__~~~ Contrary to my prejudiced thoughts prior, *Gunbuster* is far from a relic stashed in Gainax's attic. Pretty and *shoujo* as the character designs are, it's ablaze with burning passion and creativity. Where *Evangelion*, *Gurren Lagann* and perhaps many other mechas yet unknown to me have siphoned inspiration from, *Gunbuster* delivers an interesting sci-fi/space opera plot and coats of character conflicts for its underdog protagonist. As you'd expect from a mere 6 episode frame, though, not all of its potential see full nurture. *Gunbuster* blazes through conflicts with climaxing fights in space and orchestra crescendos, valuing mesmerizing pathos over paced, complex writing. And it succeeds in being ever-so straight-forward, ultimately a pedestal for its lone protagonist pilot and her transition from; hackneyed as it sounds; zero to hero. As blazing as the writing is, the passionate production matches its sentiment. However, like the writing, they don't exist in a vacuum of simple combustion. The key-animation is more than eye-candy, the technical designs more than grand, the cinematography and choreography more than awesome, the music more than climaxing; they're the results of passion and symbolic of the sentiment behind it all. Like one's old lady or man, *Gunbuster* isn't perfect but I love the imperfections it wears on its sleeves.

SenNkA

SenNkA

Mecha does not interest me, Mecha does not make me cry, Mecha is boring and I don't understand it. And then Gunbuster came and showed me how to love Mecha. SPOILERS!!!! Noriko and Amano are picked to be pilots of giant fighting robots. While Amano trains hard everyday to work her way to the top, Noriko apparently gets picked because her dad was a pilot too. Not only has she work twice as hard, deal with having fingers pointed at her, but she takes one hit after another. The girls leave, travelling through space and time, dealing with new relationship while the old friends grow older without them. Even after coming back to Earth it's clear that this planet is not where the girls belong anymore... 1) Prepare your tissues This old mecha tells a beautiful story, and the characters are going through some tough times. Whether is Noriko who is dealing with stuff at school and at home, or Amano's relationship, whether we're talking about the character of Smith (who's tragedy was highlighted) or Kimiko Akai (who's sadness needed to be read between the lines), the emotional aspect of this OVA is extremely strong and makes you love the story even more. Let's be honest - what anime has a black & white episode just to underline how sad everything is going to be? 2) The old aesthetic Gunbuster is beautiful. From the character design, to overall aesthetic, this anime is perfectly done and animated. Some of the newest show have worse quality than this old gem! The screen is a bit cut, which only adds to the feeling of travelling in time. 3) The invisible enemy I understood how the characters were made and I loved how problematic things could became for them. They were human, they were ordinary, dealing with stuff you and/or I could be dealing with. But when it came to robots and fighting in space, the drama fell flat. Maybe I didn't understand it, but I wasn't sure who or why they're fighting... So it felt like they were fighting an invisible enemy for the sake of screwing with the girls even more. 4)Not enough time to shine This is the original series, and the sequels aren't following this story. And that's okay, because Gunbuster ended on a great note with most of things closed. However, 6 episodes was not enough! Some things happened out of the blue, some things were forgotten and some great scenes or fights had no value because the story just showed bits of them. Reiko for example could make a great villain. Her fight with Noriko was very interesting and the desperation in her voice and madness in her eyes told us how much she wanted to be picked! But she didn't... And then we find out that she is a coach of new pilots in that very school. Surprised? Well, me too. Conclusion: recommended ?

KapoloZ

KapoloZ

In my discovery of the work of the Ova affecting the aneurysm, I have always seen beautiful and excellent works from time to time, but I have found a buried treasure that no one has noticed, and a few of his witnesses, and for me, I see this Ova as one of the most beautiful development I have ever seen, Ova GunBuster.   The Alpha consists of six episodes produced in 1988 by the GAINAX studio, whose work was highlighted by Neon Genesis Evangelion, Re: Cutie Honey and Medaka Box, the Ova by the directors of "Hideaki Ano" and "Kazoya Tsuromagi". It tells the story of this Ova about "Noriko Takaya", who is trained to reach outer space to eliminate the Luxion Monsters, telling that her father died while fighting in space when she was young, continuing her journey with her friends and increasing her confidence in her strength and self. Although the story seems simple, the Oracle's events are better with each episode you see, the story is one-sided and gives each person an important role in delivering and promoting the event, the plot was good and strengthened, and the narrative method was also good with each episode, that is, each episode is better than the other in terms of events and their evolution. The characters had an important role to play in driving and promoting events, which we must know before we can see, and we know that every figure has a role to play in the evolution of events with each episode. • "Noriko Takaya," who strives to protect humanity against Luxion Monsters in outer space and is trained to control the machine with her trainer, Coshiro Ota, who was the primary supporter of Noriko, has developed significantly, especially in the fourth episode, where she ended herself by trusting in her power far from crying for as long as she could. • "Kazumi Amano" is a close friend of Noriko's and has been gifted in the control of machines and an important supporter of Noriko throughout her space trip until the last cream at the end of the Ova. The level of personal drama has been remarkable, making the story more beautiful and prosperous than we've known so much about the characters, both the president and the side.   Speaking of drawing and moving, the way of drawing backgrounds and designing characters was beautiful and perfect, and with each episode growing productive progress, the drawing of the future world was one of the most beautiful, until the fight in the fifth episode was smooth and had beautiful visual touches, music was beautiful and I liked to hear "Fly High" during the fifth episode. One of the downsides in this Ova is the sights of a little nude that, frankly, are not based on this side but for the purpose of the followers, but you can overlook it as I have overlooked it during the viewing. ( Spoiler ! ) One of the wonderful endings I have seen in the Ova or any work in my life is that when Takaya and Kazomo saw the planet Earth after the success of their mission within the Jupiter planet, they saw that the Earth welcomed them "welcome back" to the light of the world. This shows that the sacrifice for humanity is beneficial, namely, cultural, technological and human progress in general, and that the world will not forget their sacrifice for safety. It is one of the most dramatic and influential endings I have ever seen. With regard to the second part, called "DieBuster," I haven't seen it yet and I hope it's the same level as GunBuster, because the aliens' opinions said the story was normal or medium with a good production force. It's definitely one of the development I'm not gonna forget, and I can re-see anytime, it's just six episodes, that you're gonna enjoy the dramatic beauty of one or two sessions, and you're gonna be advised to watch these oafs with high quality and a perfect translation with a big screen and a glass of cold water, and if you do that, watch the ova and enjoy what he's offering you.

SelimTheDemonLord

SelimTheDemonLord

Gainax is a monolith in anime history. You would find no one to dispute that. The studio produced arguably one of the most influential anime ever, Neon Genesis Evangelion, to mass acclaim. So it’s no surprise that the studio has garnered a cult following due to its legacy. But for this review and series, I approach it as someone who respects and appreciates the legacy of the company but is not particularly a fan of any of their works. So I stand removed from the “Gainax can do no wrong” crowd and seek to view Gunbuster as its own piece of media, independent of Gainax's accomplishments on other projects and Gunbuster’s theme influences for the studio’s projects moving forward. So to commence this review frankly, this series is irredeemably appalling, and I cannot recommend it to anyone. Here’s why. __The pacing/writing__ I’ll begin with what I consider to be the most irredeemable failure of the story, and that was in its structure and pacing. Things went by way too quickly, with minimal reasoning or connection, leading to me being in a constant state of bewilderment while watching. A good example is episode 3. In the space of 15 minutes, the protagonist interacts with a guy, falls in love, he dies in space, she’s traumatised by this and cannot go into space anymore, and she makes a vow to never cry again, and then proceeds to cry in this episode and every one after... I couldn’t believe what I was watching; I still can’t believe it even... And as a consequence of this pacing, there was never a real moment to actually understand the main characters or care about them in any shape or form. The show does an exceptional job of keeping your head spinning and realising that none of these characters have any depth or real personality whatsoever. Even conceptually, nothing ever links together in a logical, coherent way in Gunbuster. It’s almost like every character and idea is communicating in a different language; there's just this really odd disconnect, which I have to assume is a result of both poor writing and inadequate use of the runtime. __Shameless product placement__ This might be more of a debated topic, as this is likely how Gainax was able to in part fund the production for the series, but since Gunbuster is a piece of shit, I rather they didn’t get the bag. In some cases, advertising can be an additive to world-building, like real-world advertisements in sports video games. But in this sci-fi futuristic "epic," I found it removed any semblance of investment I had in the world, as I had to shake my head at how shameless Gainax was in placing products in the centre of a frame. Off the top of my head, there were ads from Pepsi, Japan Airlines, and Seiko clocks (this one was less egregious), but I’m certain there’s likely more I’m blanking on. This point is more of a nitpick, I confess, but it took away from my experience watching the series, so I believe it is worth addressing. __Gainax… please…__ Holy shit There is way too much teenage nudity in this series, which is incredibly uncomfortable. I had to skip through quite a few scenes because of this, but fortunately or unfortunately, there was zero reason for these scenes to exist in the narrative other than to be fanservice. Yep, gross… __Positives!?__ Ok, so I’ve gone pretty hard on this series, and deservedly so, but are there any redeeming qualities? Well, the series isn’t quite a 1/10; I’ll give it that. It has some decent music, fun corny 80’s tropes, and some visually interesting animation in some areas (although, on a serious note, if you somehow still want to watch the series, be aware that there are multiple potentially photosensitive epileptic-inducing scenes; this did air the Pre-Porygon incident after all). But do any of these positives actually add up to a series worth watching? Nope. __A seriously lacking execution__ The heading here sums it all up. There were some ideas with potential, like the whole time disconnect of time and space between characters, interfering with their relationships. But the execution was so lacking in depth, like everything else, that I felt nothing but confusion and frustration, which I highly doubt was the intended effect. So I feel that this series really came apart before anything was even animated. All in all, I cannot in good faith recommend this to anyone, and I have to believe that this is primarily enjoyed by Gainax fans, as the MAL score is way too high for what this series actually is. So seriously, please save yourself a precious two hours.

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