Diebuster OVA

Diebuster is the follow-up to Gunbuster. I watched this with same group of friends that I saw Gunbuster with and I can say that this time I enjoyed it as much as they did. This sequel is not so much a continuation of the original story, but an update/retread. It shares some common elements with the original OVA like the flight suit design and the general direction of the story, but mostly the film does its own thing. Diebuster is standard anime material, a young girl named Nono runs away from home to the a military where the mech pilots are chosen by the natural presence of supernatural abilities. Nono is lacking in that department but still manages to infiltrate the group. From there on, things grow more intense resulting in an insane space showdown that pretty much blows up the whole universe.

As an OVA based on a 6 episode series (that I've never seen), it is somewhat apparent there is less time to focus on the character development. Taking those 6 episodes and turning it into a film, the movie misses a lot of the emotional storylines and watching how these heroines got from point A to to point B in becoming talented pilots (or at least that's what I've been told). Like Gunbuster, Diebuster isn't a serious sci-fi series there's plenty of comedy (most notably the abuse of an old dog) and tons of fanservice material (including a retread of the shirt ripping scene from Gunbuster) and there's plenty of crazy nonsense to make you laugh (luckily the science lesson interludes don't make a reappearance). Anyway, I liked this one better than Gunbuster. The overall goal of the film is accomplished by showcasing two cool storylines and I think fans of the original who haven't seen this will definitely enjoy it. I think I'll try to catch the proper series so I can get the full story.

Gunbuster OVA

I watched this with some friends the other day and I have to say I enjoyed it. The basic plot follows Takaya Noriko, a young girl who always wanted to be a pilot like her father, who was killed in space during an alien attack. Noriko is chosen from her academy along with Kazumi, a more experienced student to represent Japan in the war against the same alien force who killed her father. Gunbuster is an unusual but fun anime. I guess it doesn't hurt that just about everything most people want in an anime is in here. Its got giant mecha, great animation, science, humor, romance, action, and a cute main character...and the boob shots don't hurt either, though I think that was played more for laughs (at least it was in my group of friends).

I kept notice odd similarities between this and Evangelion, and it turns out that Gainax Studios produced this as well making Gunbuster something of the prototype for. It starts out as a mostly-silly parody of girl's sports anime and standard aliens attack the Earth stories, but develops into so much more that it is worth seeing through to the end. The characters are what drive Gunbuster as the characterization is very strong and fully-realized throughout the story. The characters complament the surprisingly substantial story and its attention to sci-fi details is commendable. I guess its also worth noting that producers actually went out of their way to explain the various sci-fi effects and how they work within the universe they've created. Throughout the film were these somewhat humorous science lessons that deal with the physics behind some of the technology used in Gunbuster and while I didn't care to much for it, it was a nice touch. I enjoyed Gunbuster, though not as much as some of my friends did. I say it is a good creative twist on a classic genre and good film for mecha anime fans.