“Because My Friends Love Me, I Had A Blind Date With Gunbuster”

First and foremost, I think I made a really long-ass review here. Anyhow, on with the post.

I had to admit. My affair with a particular 6-episode mecha series, showcasing beautiful girls in aerobics outfits piloting mechas to save the world was something short to inevitable. Our little game back in our Turn-X-mas Party our leader (who loves Binchou-tan unconditionally) called MunitoXMunita (sort of an exchange series review as I see it) led me to my fated encounter with Gunbuster. I couldn’t see it any other way but an act of love.

[Episode 1]

Episode 1 introduces the show’s heroine, Takaya Noriko, daughter of the captain of the first space fleet to set out into space to counter aliens which was tragically decimated. Noriko, now a freshman in an academy for mecha pilots, has a dilemma: her lack of talent for piloting. After being saved from schoolbitches, she meets Amano Kazumi, the school’s idol, topping the school’s curriculum; she was a natural prodigy. The next day the students were rounded up as an exercises in choosing earth’s finest youth to join the space fleet. Amano already has a sure slot, and the other was rumored to be for a third year. To her surprise the next day, it was Noriko who was chosen to partner Kazumi, causing the other girls to rupture with jealousy for a no-talent like Noriko. Harassment ranged from doodling graffiti on her mecha to putting tack on her seat to outright talking shit about her, something Kazumi couldn’t take.

Finally Noriko confronted Coach Ohta (who happens to be a survivor from her father’s fleet), the man responsible for choosing her, saying she’s no-good at all. Coach responds to this by leading Noriko to where Kazumi trains, and she sees the ace wearing iron sandals, running hard to a high flight of stairs. Noriko was finally enlightened– it wasn’t talent that propelled Kazumi to being an ace; she persevered. In a course of days she want to intense training under Coach’s wing (in her fetching pilot clothes) and she turned to be quite a pilot, and finally respected by the other students.

Yet, one girl wasn’t happy at all– Kashiwara Reiko thought she would be in Takaya’s shoes. She challenged Noriko in a duel which she fiercely directed. Noriko was decked due to her confusion once it was crunch time. Remembering Coach’s words, “You feel with your body, think with your head, and judge with your heart”, she shut down her monitor and sensors. This provoked her opponent to deliver her final blow, but with excellent timing, judgment and control,Noriko mustered an “Inazuma Kick” to defeat Reiko, a feat that can never be done by an amateur. With that incident, which a lot of people saw, including Kazumi and Coach, Noriko was finally revered by the school, before her and Kazumi’s venture into space.

Mind me saying this shot is particularly sexy.

First Opinion (At this point I’ve only watched this episode):

It appeared to me, right from the start of the first dialogue, right from the first scene, as a very innocent and touching story. From the remark that she wants to be a space pilot so she can be with her father, I felt love from Noriko’s character. And she kept to that promise even after her father died. I’m sure if that happens to somebody with such a wish, she’d shatter. I’m sure at that time she has realized the kind of world her dream would bring, that it may bring melancholy, despite the pride. Yet she doesn’t feel like her father died, rather she felt like he’s just there somewhere in the oblivion of space. Personally, and honestly, I would die to have a daughter like Takaya Noriko, who would look up to me and who would believe in what I work for. It was heart-warming that I wanted to just sit and tear.

After the brief info, Takaya Noriko appeared to me as a Yui-ish character at the start. She’s clumsy, innocent, and easily quite the genki type too, yet there’s self-doubt. But when she faces a tough adversary she becomes aware and confident. While Amano hasn’t struck me yet, she might after a while, because I see something deeper in her.

Oh, as for the cool-cat of the episode, it’ll have to be him:

There are two things that made me fall in love this episode, the first is Noriko. The second is the concept of mecha control. Disclaimer: I know the story’s fictional, as well as some concepts, but it made perfect sense.

The show depicts the phrase “being one with the frame” in a rather calisthenic way. Mecha control is something I’ve been fascinated with for years, and one thing I can say about it is that it’s complicated. Gundam and Macross makes it look so easy.

Gunbuster shows an accurate depiction of mecha control that it made sense. The thing is that the time line of the story being close to ours; it made me feel like the mecha with see in the show can be achievable with our current technology. It was believable and never absurd. It’s not the same as Evangelion wherein the mind is the medium of control. It’s not the same as driving a car, like in Eureka Seven (though that show explained how a LFO works, it wasn’t that believable— so disclaimer said because it’s fictional). Though Inazuma Kick was a bit of a peek outside of the box, or rather quite a feat, Gunbuster satisfies the true concept of mecha control— that it’s serious fuckin’ business. It’s hard to imagine you doing a triple midair somersault, tumble, do swordplay and such with just two joysticks and a few buttons… or maybe a keyboard, just like Fabulous Lelouch does it.

[Episode 2]

Okay, now they’re arrived to their main vessel, the Exelion, wherein they’ll do a 7-month prep before the space war. They met the feisty Jung Freud, who had an instant rivalry with Kazumi. During an exercise, Jung, Kazumi and Noriko separated from the squad. Kazumi and Jung immediately engaged in combat as Noriko tried to stop them. They didn’t notice they’ve strayed too far from the squad to a classified vessel for studying alien corpses. Noriko sees this and immediately goes into a tantrum. Despite knowing this, Coach cannot put the two into detention because it’ll just waste time. Meanwhile, the bridge has pick up signal of an unidentified object along the Perseus Belt, moving in sub-lightspeed. Kazumi and Noriko have been chosen to pursue the object with Coach. Before the mission, they find out Jung actually quite a charming person as they encountered her in the bath house. They’ve been told about the time lag though (a second in subspace is like a 6 hours or something, I can’t remember). In their intersection with the object, they determined that it was Luxion, Capt. Takaya’s ship. On impulse, Noriko boarded the ship to find her father. The active date in Luxion says it’s only been two days since the war started. She find the main bridge but find out it’s already been destroyed; she cries in despair. Coach immediately retrieves her just before Kazumi decelerated to get back to the fleet. They made it back safely and there waited a party for their return. They’ve only been in subspace for such a short time, but 6 months have already passed since. Jung tried to console the depressed Noriko, but she ran in tears, lamenting about her father and the dream she left with him.

Second Opinion

Episode 2 was really something I looked forward to. It’s only customary to me to expect the second episode to have more hype than the first. It satisfied that need of mine with the space combat I’ve seen with manual mechas, and there’s this delicious science bit about going into sub-lightspeed warping. The sexy 70’s aerobics outfits they still were in space did leave me concerned though, considering how easy it is to (accidentally) open a mecha’s hatch. And oh, the uncensored happy bath time was Mighty Fine, GAINAX .

[Episode 3]

As Exelion warped its way to Leaf-64 (a star quite similar in age as our Sun), Noriko’s swept into an uneasy turmoil. Kazumi relinquishes acknowledging her as a partner, yet she found love at a peculiar time in Smith Toren– only to have him gone and lost in space in their first encounter with the aliens, her first sortie. Tragedy ensues. Melancholy ensues. A new hope is rising, and the true enemy reveals itself.

[Episode 4-5]

Noriko proves her worth as she piloted Gunbuster on its maiden sortie to save everyone: Exelion, Jung, and Kazumi from demise. She burdens the miracle of saving mankind.

10 years have already passed in Earth yet it was barely a few months for Noriko and the crew. She finally graduates with Kazumi. She’s already 22 Earthyears-old. She encounters an old friend, and realized mankind hoping for the future. Kazumi braces on her not-so-reciprocated love (for Coach). Coach braces on thin lifeline. The world braces as Noriko and Kazumi (on board Busters 1 & 2) used Exelion’s reactor as an artificial blackhole bomb to decimate an armada of invaders; Earth’s final defense.

[Episode 6: BlackXWhite]

15 years have passed since the Solar System’s Final Defense. The late Coach Ohta lived on in the character of Ohta Kazumi, who decided to stay in Earth to teach. Man’s final plea for a miracle, man’s final card– Buster 3, a blackhole bomb with the shrunken Jupiter as its core; Kazumi burdened to take it to Earth’s final fleet, to the center of the galaxy. Noriko awaited. The two reunited. Noriko’s wish to return to Earth after this trial. Then, the decisive battle.

In the final moment, after countless waves of aliens, the Buster 3 fails to detonate; a miracle fails to shine. Yet Noriko sacrifices to re-initiate the detonation, and Kazumi stuck with her until the end. Using Buster 1’s reactor, the detonation was successful. As the two escape the implosion, as everything turns to a blur, Noriko’s wish to see everyone again never faded.

After having traveled in subspace for 12,000 Earth years, the two have finally reached home. Hope seemed to have left them after seeing neither a sign of civilization– Until a sudden pattern of lights from Earth saying “Welcome Home” (though had misspelled hiragana) shined to them. In tears of bliss, Noriko bids Gunbuster a final goodbye to land back home.

Final Opinion:

Gunbuster is amazingly human. Finally there are two things that I fell in love with. The first one is that the series expounded, though it was never expressed through much of what’s happening, that “humans are very fragile creatures”. This alone says much about the humanism shown by the story. The second one is that it was fairly clean. Not a single spec of question hit me as I watched the show like “Dude, what was that?” (you can’t count Inazuma Kick to that), or “I don’t get it. What’s happening.” It kept every bit of it clean and neatly done despite keeping a fast pace, just the way I liked it. I think the direction was supremely done. I believe this served as predecessor to the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, not only because both were directed by my good buddy Hideaki Anno. Both still gave the feeling of reality despite being fictional, and I think this gave the series a distinct kind of feel.

If I were to grade Gunbuster, I’d give it a 1,000,000%. It was neatly done, the characters never looked stupid at any given time, the animation was pretty good and I’d like it to be reanimated, it’s all of the above, and I can’t say anything bad about it at all.

But before I end this post, I claim Takaya Noriko as a waifu.

AAAAAAND, I need to do this again. For Great Justice!