Director: Hideaki Anno
Studio: Gainax
Finished Watching: 18/11/2020
Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Gunbuster
Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Gunbuster
Ratings:
I wanted to not mention that Gunbuster was Hideako Anno's directorial debut (even though that's basically the only reason I watched it), because things should be judged on their own merit and Anno's name is a pretty heavy one. But I have to admit, it's almost impossible not to mention that fact, since Gunbuster is pretty much exactly what you would expect from the mind behind Evangelion. It's even got a lot of very similar elements to NGE, the main similarity being you'll have a lot of questions as a viewer and receive next to no answers.
The plot is okay, maybe on the low end of 5 outta 10. There's no real explanation of why Noriko is the chosen one (other than her dad being a space hero), which is made worse by the fact Coach literally chooses her but never explains his decision. No explanation of why Gunbuster is so good either. The main storyline is that some monsters want to destroy the earth so they can survive and breed; although the show does flirt with the suggestion that that's understandable and the humans are the real threat, they barely scratch the surface and it just turns into an 'us vs. them' with no real substance. The enemies literally do not communicate in any way, so it's pretty brainless. I did like that the cost of missions was the passage of time on Earth - that felt very real. Everything else was very predictable though. There's also quite a lot of pointless side stuff - e.g., Smith was basically a convoluted plot device to make Noriko suddenly get serious and Jung could have just not existed and we'd have the same story.
This stuff kinda ties in with the storytelling - there aren't many plot hooks, so there isn't much 'storytelling' in that sense. Screen direction is good though - you see what you need to and they weren't afraid of a scientific/military map to orientate you. The ridiculous fanservice is enough to actually decrease your enjoyment of it, though.
The animation is a little bit plain. Frozen jaws, sliding cels and all that. The fight scenes are a bit of a mix, because the Gunbuster suit itself moves really well but the majority of the battles are just long-range gunfire, which is a bit naff (despite the effects animation being pretty good). Machinery on board the spaceships was animated well and I'm almost completely convinced they didn't use any kind of modelling for it (not sure what was available in 1988 tbf). They also did this outline blur thing at high-impact moments, which just looked a bit dead to me. I'll give it a 6 overall, just because the artwork was really nice (on the aliens especially).
Characters were pretty meh. They weren't complex as much as they were just inconsistent with themselves. Coach is the clearest example of an anime staple taken straight off the shelf. In contrast, Kimiko was someone who felt very real. Wouldn't get a poster with any of the characters on it though.
A kinda interesting watch but would only recommend if you're an Evangelion obsessive.
