Anime Review: Gunbuster

Review Gunbuster Written by Warpshadow Rating very good/ excellent

I have found that out of all the anime formats I find that Oavs tend to be difficult to make well (not that I actually make anime it is just that I have seen a ton of crappy Oavs). However there is little that a good Director, in this case Hideki Anno, can't do.

Noriko's father was a captain of a star ship. When that ship was destroyed in combat with aliens Noriko vowed to go into space herself. She has a tough time at the academy where she trains as a mecha pilot but everything turns around when she has a fateful encounter with an older student Kazuma Amano. It comes to a suprise to her when her coach decides to place the two of them on the team of pilots who hope to save the human race from the aliens that killed Noriko's father.

Gunbuster is one of the best Oavs that I have ever seen. The format of a six episode Oav is used very well as each of the episodes has it's own subtle theme as it transforms from an innocent sports drama to a truly epic robot fight. There is a fair amount of hard science thrown in as the issue of time dialation when one travels near the speed of light plays an important role in the show. The plot does feel slightly rushed but fast pace of the show is one of it's charms. Gunbuster is currently only available on VHS so finding it may be a bit hard but worth doing buying if you can find it.