Creative, Dynamic, Innovative, Stuff With IceLondonlaunch, UK -Jul 23, 2007A client’s simple request for a winter wonderland theme and ice bar let…

The show is somewhat of a parody in many aspects. The name itself is an homage to shoujo sports manga Aim for the Ace! The dynamic of a girl that looks up to her "onee-sama" also comes from Aim for the Ace! And of course you have all your giant robots doing workouts in the beginning, your Toren Smiths, and your insane intergalactic large-scale space battles. But I found all of that to be very mild and never found it to say "Hey look! This is a parody of something!" It fit itself nicely into the much more serious real plot of the show. I thought it was a great touch.

The last episode was NOT made black and white because of budget reasons. This is what Anno had to say about that at the 1996 Anime Expo:

"ANNO: When you have color, you have an extra dimension of information. Color would have gotten in the way of the sense of scale we wanted to portray with the black hole bomb. Also — no one had ever done it before."

As for the other comments about the slow start, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the same way. The first two episodes are about average and give you a poor initial impression. However, I feel that episodes 3, 4, 5 and especially 6 more than make up for the slower first two. They are where all the praise and acclaim emanate. Group that together with one of the best endings you’ll ever find in ANYTHING and you have yourself one fine series.

*looks at newly purchased Gunbuster DVDs* Uh oh…I’m feeling the urge…

"Ode to Gunbuster"

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/R5Central/~5/20482790/R5_Central__A_Few_Words_Ninja_Consultants.mp3

Well, I suppose the mecha are fairly amusing too. They reminded me of Go Nagai’s Mazinger Z and that whole “Kaijuu” genre of randomly invading aliens! Though I’d say Gunbuster is more of a homage to than a parody of certain anime genre.

Perhaps the more you watch Gunbuster, the more redundant the first couple of episodes become? Since they are clearly there for character building, you really don’t need to see them once you know Noriko et all. I must admit I’m quite partial to melodramatics, especially when we have “underdog” characters with tragic pasts. I can’t help but cheer them on.

>> “Also, I thought it odd that you didn’t mention the black and white animation in the last episode.”

I did, re-read the 4th paragraph.

I know they’re a parody, but they really come off as average and shallow– perhaps that’s because I was never __really__ into cheesy mecha shows, at least not enough that I’d really get in to a parody. And although the bits you mention– the "boyfriend" being lost in space, Noriko lying on her bed etc– work well, they’re still surrounded by a lot of high melodrama that never played off quite as well for me– all the stuff with coach, and the romance, and Noriko’s self-doubt– besides the endlessly scantily clad bouncing boobs….

I always had the sneeking suspicion that Anno started this thinking he wanted to make a goofy big-knockers parody, and changed his mind part way through.

And … well, the second half __is__ great– once they get in to the real costs of what these women are doing, the human cost, well… then the show gets much more interesting to me. Also, I thought it odd that you didn’t mention the black and white animation in the last episode– a decision purportedly made because of budget constraints, but which I thought added a very interesting directorial touch. It’s quite dramatic, and an interesting shift.

Anyways, for all my complaints, it’s a fun ride, and well worth watching. I wish more "classics" were reviewed online in blogs, rather than endlessly blogging new subpar shows.

Thanks for the insightful review.

The sci-fi aside, I think the reason why Gunbuster is regarded as such a classic is because of the characterization. By the end of the six episodes we pretty much know Noriko inside out. While the first episode may seem fairly superfluous, it lays important dramatic foundations and defines the key relationships between the protagonists. For me that is what Hideki Anno is best at, building utterly captivating characters. For example, I’ve only seen Gunbuster once, but I still remember the shot of Noriko laying in her darkened bedroom, back to the camera with a "Nausicaa" poster pinned to her wall. Such images are worth a thousand lines of dialogue and really burn themselves into my memory.

@Chris and daRAT: I’ll try to summon up the energy to write about Diebuster too, though the truth is that I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the original series. The last three episodes are exceptional and showcase some wonderful animation (I especially enjoy how it eventually ties in with the original series), but I found the first three were somewhat superficial and lacking in dramatic tension. Episode 4 was probably my favourite since it gradually builds up this horrible tense of impending doom; the reawakening of the Uchuu Kaijuu (and especially that horrible sound it makes) was a grotesque sight to behold.