Story 9/10 – Both Gunbuster’s kinda follow one another. Though each season has a different set of characters and since technically the first season ended, the second one had a new beginning. They say it’s recommended to watch the first Gunbuster that came out in 1988, but I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary. Though it would explain the ending of the second season of Gunbuster rather effectively. I have to say that it is inefficient for me to combine 1 and 2 together since I feel the story of the first season made more sense, had more of an overflow and was just ‘better’. As it goes, it’s in the early 21st century, insectoid organisms are invading the galaxy, searching for new stars to house their young. Mankind’s only defense lies with space cadets. The daughter of a celebrated admiral killed in battle, with their skill and the power of the mecha known as GunBuster, they must help fight to protect the galaxy from total annihilation. Sounds dramatic and intense right? Well that’s the overall story of the first season.
Now the second season is about Nono, a clumsy young girl living in the backwater countryside of Mars, dreams of becoming a space pilot. But when Nono witnesses a real space pilot called Topless, and her brutal fight with one of the invading space monsters, she discovers that it may not be so easy. With guts and effort her only recourse is to fight back against hordes of space monsters.
If you are familiar with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, who are the makers of Gunbuster, it has the same plot. The universe is in danger and the people of the milky way galaxy on a planet called Earth save it…..in a very HUGE battle that breaks the laws of physics and reality. Now I feel I’m giving this show a little more credit than it’s worth. 9 is pretty much saying it’s good, but it’s very original and ridiculous. But coming from the late 80′s so it’s creative in its own way.
Characters 9.5/10 – The story isn’t anything new, but the characters were. In the first season, the daughter/main character and her “rival/ally” was commendable. What is nice about the first season of Gunbuster is they explain and thoroughly detail the difficulty, hardship, and work that is involved in dealing with a mech. I truly enjoyed the characters as they felt…real? They were mature, held responsible for the safety of the galaxy, but yet childish since they were still teenagers.
Animation 9/10 – The first most important detail to take here is that the first season was released in 1988, the same time as Akira, which was a movie. They both have a huge resemblance to each other, that’s how superb Gunbuster was. Sure it’s not like today’s, but if it is a problem such as it’s too ‘old’ then I would encourage to throw those feelings out the window for this series. The second season was magnificent as well. Again, similar to Gurren Lagann, the explosions, action scenes, was well implemented. Part of enjoying both Gunbuster’s is the animation, nothing to disregard on that category. My only complaint would be the CGI. It just looked too CGI for it to look good, but thank god they didn’t use much of it.
Overall 9.25/10 – I started to watch the second season first since I dislike the old fashioned style of anime of the 80′s to the mid 90′s. I was warned to watch the first season first and I decided to give it a shot. Boy was I glad I did. The first season was magnificent and only made the second season much better to enjoy. This is one of the few shows that takes the imagination of space to a new level. The first Gunbuster strongly reflected on the concept of space travel and it’s effect on time. Very fun stuff, the second season was strong on the human ability to colonize and travel around the solar system. As a huge fan of astronomy and the idea of space travel, it all just added to the enjoyment of the show for me. Now this show is pretty serious, barely no humor can be gathered from both Gunbuster’s, but at the same time it is RIDICULOUS! So just a heads up. Laws will be broken and perhaps a few “pfff’s” or “yea right’s” will happen. I can’t go much on about the series since their is only 12 episodes altogether, but ALOT does happen! Highly recommend.
Side note: This anime has 3 names in total: Aim for the top! and Diebuster are also the same anime.
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