There's a lot of popular "classic" anime to choose from, but older fans (that is, much older than me) will hold value in "classic" series that the modern otaku has never heard of. One such franchise is the Japanese OVA series "Gunbuster," made in 1988 by studio Gainax. Gainax is better known today for shows like "Neon Geneis Evangelion," "FLCL" and "Gurren Lagann," but "Gunbuster" was one of their first original productions, a sci-fi mech series involving a young woman as the robot's pilot. Today, the OVA is difficult to get your hands on; the easiest manner to see it is to watch the compilation film, "Gunbuster - The Movie," which comes in and out of availability on home video in America.But this review isn't about the original OVA. It's about the sequel OVA: "Gunbuster 2," also known as "Diebuster" (confusing, as the show itself uses both titles interchangably). Released sporadically between 2004 and 2006, it was made by Gainax to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio. There's also a movie version of it, also made available in America (albiet slightly more difficult to get a hold of), but being a more recent series, you can still find copies of the original OVA on DVD. You can buy the standard complete set in a single case, or you can purchase the single volumes, each with only two episodes per release, out of print from premium distributor Honneamise, but still easy to find for under $5 each. Purely for the price, I chose the later.While being familiar with the original "Gunbuster" series is helpful, as this OVA makes more than a few direct references to it, "Gunbuster 2" is also so drastically different that it should be treated as a separate entity. Gainax found their unique style of gung-ho emotion and stylish action some time after the original OVA was released, and that updated mentality is front-and-center in "2." It might be best described as a mashup of those three shows Gainax is famous for: "Evangelion," "FLCL," and "Gurren," despite "Gurrent" being released later (in fact, a few references help prove a fan theory that "FLCL" might be set in the same universe). If you've seen and enjoyed those three shows, and you know how rare that type of show is, even in anime, then "Gunbuster 2" should have just been added to the top of your next-to-watch list.Being a high-concept sci-fi comedy/romance/drama in subtitled-format, the show immediately brought memories of sitting in the back of my University's anime club, being exposed to seemingly random shows with fellow students. Aside from the rampant use of nudity, "Gunbuster 2" would be a great choice for group viewing, and even then, it appears with such bizarre intentions that a mature audience might be ok with it. Set thousands of years in an alternate future, it follows a pink-haired girl named Nono who runs away from home to realize her dream of becoming a space-pilot for the human race's Army, defending citizens from the rush of intergalactic alien monsters. A bit clumsy and with no real experience, she has a hard time at first, but then meets Lal'C, a real pilot, a teenage girl. She explains that only "Topless," a word used to describe young pilots with metaphysical powers that stem from their emotional brains, a power that is only available for a handful of teenagers to harness and drive large robots named after French-numbers. Nono misunderstands, and by the first episode, rips off her shirt and drop-kicks a massive alien monster into submission. Thanks to Nono's can-do spirit, insisting that "hard work and guts" will be enough to make wishes come true, she's unofficially become part of the Fraternity space force. Also, we learn that Nono met Lal'C on a cultivated-version of Mars, not Earth. Also, Nono is a robot, not a human. Surprises like this come quickly on a whim.
If "Gunbuster 2" has a weak point, it is in the story. It is good, and after a major plot twist in the second half, an attentive viewer will be fully invested in the fates of the characters. But like every element of the show, it's rushed across the six-episode length, not quite having time to develop everyone fully. And too often, logic is thrown out the window, both to cause character drama, or to defeat the enemy by simply punching it harder. At one point, an entire planet is thrown into a monster to try to beat it, and that's not even the final episode! This style of writing is used for both quick-paced comedy and geniune drama, and often with such a straight face that I struggled to be fully on board with it, even if it was successful from a purely emotional perspective. Even with the fate of the universe at stake, this is really a story about the friendship (or more) between Nono and Lal'C, and the pressures of expectations when at the top, or when struggling desparately to get there - in THAT, we have a story that fans will fondly remember, regardless of the sci-fi context. And there are just enough references to the old show that a newcomer would be aware that something was missing, had they watched "Gunbuster 2" first, preventing it from being truly stand-alone... and somehow, watching an anime from 1988 probably won't seem exciting to fans watching a show from 2004."Gunbuster 2's" production values are fair, but not quite at the extreme levels of quality they've shown here and there across other shows. The visual design is the most interesting, using distinct and attractive character and mecha designs, but generally seems a bit too "busy" on the screen. The animation is often limited, only occasionally coming alive during intense action scenes: even then, the frame rate is purposely reduced, giving us glimpses of cool poses as a robot punches and kicks through a monster. Taken as a whole, the show looks impressive, but perhaps needed better direction and less ambition. The music and Japanese voice acting matches all manner of emotion the show throws out.The "Gunbuster" series is about as obscure as classic anime can get. For the uninitiated, it's worth watching through "Gunbuster 2" to get a sense of what the themes are all about, even if the frantic style doesn't look at all like the original OVA that started it. Despite it's complexity, being a short OVA makes it a little more accessible, and it's always a treat to discover something that has the punch-the-sky spirit Gainax has become known for.