Review: GunBuster

Noriko grows immensely as the series progresses, changing in a period of (subjective) months from shy schoolgirl to the heroine who saves the whole of the human race from the "alien" menace.

The series has an extra twist (reminiscent of Haldeman's award-winning novel The Forever War) in that relativistic effects mean that as only days or minutes pass in space, months or years pass back on Earth.

Noriko's journey from diffident rookie to confident heroine only a year or so later (in subjective time), while the world behind her ages beyond recognition is absorbing and riveting watching.

Basically Gunbuster follows the grand anime tradition of heroism: Noriko is challenged, given the chance (and every temptation and reason) to back out, but triumphs in the end. Her victory costs her; she loses almost everything that she values, but in doing so <cliche>finds herself</cliche>.

It's the sort of show which absorbs you utterly, and leaves you wanting to start it all over again... not a good idea in my case, as a 1am finish was already pushing it for a Thursday night. :-)

Animation quality was consistently high; the last episode is almost entirely in black and white which was a little offputting, but if the Wizard of Oz can do it why not Gunbuster? The transition plays a similar part, with the grey tones indicating humanity's last hope and desperate stand, with colour restored as Noriko's hope is restored.

The dialogue is excellent, with the different voice actors addressing their parts perfectly. Their joy, pain, helpless yearning; desperate fear and quiet despair, even childish innocence, all are expressed flawlessly. There is no English soundtrack, however.

Other audio is believable but in all honesty I didn't notice it much. I don't see this as a bad thing - there was nothing jarring, everything fit in as it should.

Some fan service, nothing too jarring or out of place.

There are also "Omake" (mini-features) after each episode describing the physics and some of the history of the Gunbuster universe. These are mildly entertaining but while they do flesh out the background they don't really add anything to the story. (And the omake which has a scrolling history as well as subtitles is incredibly hard to follow!)

A solid contender for "best anime I have ever seen".