Gunbuster

I rarely deliver 10 out of 10s. Such a work must be ambitious, highly produced, realistic, relateable, emotional. Essentially flawless. So when I say Gunbuster is great, it comes from the bottom of my heart. Its the best anime I've watched, and even beats almost all movies I've seen.

At first, Gunbuster seems like standard fare. Hostile aliens have entered our galaxy, so the nations of Earth must prepare for battle. Noriko is an inexperienced high school student, forced to be something more by a stern, biased coach. Can she succeed - or even survive - in the vast vacuum of space? Alien invasion stories have been done dozens of times, but none are as focused on character, nor have such a perfect aesthetic.

Despite technically a mecha/super robot anime, there are surprisingly few fight scenes. Its a character-driven series, where we see Noriko deal with her hardships and mature. The other characters are also very solid, likable, and three-dimensional. Nobody is annoying or contrived. When they succeed, you are cheering in your seat. When they are devastated, it feels like a jackhammer to your heart.

If you're a fan of 80s/90s anime, Gunbuster's animation is among the best. Especially the detail! The attention on spaceships, mechs, consoles, and aliens is great. If you loved the art of Cowboy Bebop, you should love this. And the score! The pop and "space opera" pieces excellently convey the tone. Gunbuster has the rare moments where the actions and emotion on screen synch perfectly with the soundtrack in our ears. I couldn't image the best moments of the series without this!

I cannot recommend Gunbuster highly enough. Its short length (6 episodes) means you have little to lose, but so much to gain. Its emotional, beautiful, even awesome...and the only movie/anime/television series to make me cry. An unmatched masterpiece

This anime is typical of the style used in many cheesy 80's production due to the upheaval in the economy at the time, but dawns on the hard working, yet peanut paid animators.

With most Space anime, there is only one goal is foccuss-- to engage the enemy in combat noisily, and take 'em down with an outrageously rapid feat of lighting shows. I've forgotten the story, but it revolves around the human race pitted against an alien invasion fleet in some 300 years hence, using the latest and greatest in combat technolodgy to tear then up good.

The story is moderate, and not at all garbage, but at times the fragile,sentimental side of things can really get under your skin...like when the girls are continously sobbing in their cheesy, skimpy spandex costumes. The best bits are the action sequences though.

The character design isn't that hot, but the mecha sequences are something else; with fluent, well drawn, carefully painted cels. The organic alien design is also unique as well, despite they're mostly slowly progressing cardboard cutouts. In the later part of the series, the colour is dropped to black and white for some unknown reason, maiking the 'watchability' of the anime go from strength to strength, but consistantly holding a drab atomsphere.

You have to give the studio credit for the epic, thought-provoking,and highly origional ending though. One solid fact I can hold about this show is that the exeptional quality of the animation is always consistant. A good watch ***6/10***

This anime is a must-see for fans of Evangelion. It's an earlier work of Anno Hideaki, but his unrestrained, dramatic style is quite in place. Also, those who didn't like Evangelion might find this release to bit slightly more palatable. Gunbuster is rather unique to sci-fi anime in that it's actually based on real science. In fact, the show has several little "Science Lesson" interludes explaining the physics behind some of the events in the movie. One of the big dramatic points in the film is the relative passage of time at speeds near that of light. The series does a wonderful job of dealing with the imaginably traumatic experience of leaving earth on a six month mission traveling near the speed of light and returning to an Earth where ten years have passed. The main character remains age 17 or 18 throughout the entire series while almost all of the other characters age considerably. Be warned, this show is heavy on the sap at times. It also has a couple of the most wholly unmerited breast shots that I have ever seen. I found it fairly easy to ignore the skimpy uniforms and boo-hoo scenes, because the series is otherwise very good, but viewers with a low sap tolerance might want to stay away from this one. On an interesting note, Gainax, as always, managed to run out of money in the last couple of episodes. However, they managed to use black and white film and still action sketches to produce a good resolution anyway. The ending is a bit silly, but it left me with such a good feeling in my gut I couldn't help but love it. Gunbuster is, in my opinion, one of the finest pieces of Anime around.

'Gunbuster'/'Aim for the Top' is rightfully considered a SciFi anime classic. While the epic space opera plot is somewhat reminiscent of Space Battleship Yamato, the show certainly has its unique flavour. Although the first one or two episodes are not all that serious as one may expect, the last few are a masterpiece of suspense and emotional impact. That said, the show is often sappy and even campy, somewhat one-dimensional, and certainly predictable.

Featuring two female leads is something I didn't expect from a Mech-centred anime of the late 80s. However, except for the final episode, one of those characters has an emotional breakdown at least once per episode that may very well be described as overly hysteric. Also, the women's uniforms consist of a cropped T-shirt on top of a high-leg swimsuit. Make of that what you will.

While the show features no graphic violence nor anything sexual, there is a surprising amount of bare breasts in Gunbuster. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when at the series' emotional high point one of the characters dramatically tore at her uniform and one of her boobs flopped out. C'mon, guys.

So, in total, there are more than just a few points where by modern standards you'll have to rub your neck in mild embarrassment. Other than that, Gunbuster is a surprisingly good show.

(This is based on the modern English dub, which is quite good.)

Viewed on: HiDive (via VRV).

Sci-fi epic that follows a young girl who goes from a bumbling recruit to being a key figure in defending Earth & humanity from an alien threat (one that killed her father, a starship captain, years prior) by piloting the "GunBuster" (an experimental giant robot, naturally).

The animation is absolutely stellar & it seems to have some great character arcs and narrative themes (I like that space travel has the consequence of time flowing differently for those going into deep space, so while only a few months/a year has passed for the main heroine, school friends she left behind on Earth become parents & middle aged during her return trips), but a lot of what are supposed to be powerful moments are absolutely ruined by the pacing. As mentioned in the header I viewed the film version, which was hobbled together by chopping up & condensing the original six episode miniseries, and it absolutely shows in the end product. Unfortunately the film version is the only one currently available in the US on modern platforms/media (as far as I'm aware), and while it's still a pretty cool sci-fi action adventure in that form (hence the 7), I think it'd truly be something great in it's original form.