TL;DR: was not bad per say, just did not think it was worth watching. Great production but derivative in content
Synopsis: the daughter of a dead admiral is in the military and not having a good time, socially or in terms of performance. An instructor sees talent in her and decides to bring her into space to combat the alien threat.
Hideaki Anno is primarily known for directing Evangelion, arguably the anime of its decade in terms of cultural relevance, but has directed a number of other successful titles such as Gunbuster, Nadia, and Kare Kano. Being an Evangelion fan, I decided to give Gunbuster a try and see if it had anything to it.
There was not much to see and I stopped viewing by the 2nd episode.
In terms of production and visuals, it was quite good especially for its time and has a nice retro feel to it.
Not only is it well produced, the character designs have a lot of style — it genuinely looks better than most anime released now.
That is where the compliments stop. The script feels cheesy, especially in the modern day where many anime ripped off of other series like Gundam or Evangelion. The anime is also quite short — only six episodes, and GAINAX is quite conscious of this and only includes the most necessary shots into the final cut. I suppose it is unique to have so much occur in so little time, but I am not that fond of the short length, personally.
There is nothing in this anime in terms of characters, production, story, themes and whatnot that cannot be taken from elsewhere; it’s a derivative series and I would not have guessed that Anno directed it had I not known.
Oh, and there is a lot of fanservice in this anime. Personally I find it kind of sexy and endearing, though most people are not into that stuff.
Did you watch Diebuster?
So, I watched Gunbuster and then Diebuster shortly after. I enjoyed them both, though the criticisms you mentioned are perfectly accurate. About a week later, I’m talking to my mom about the end of Diebuster and I can’t finish my sentences. I start weeping as I think about our planet and who knows what else. I wasn’t going to show her the whole 12 episodes (I may eventually, but the fan service is a bit much to sit through with mother!), but I showed her the end of the last episode and just kept crying. She had no idea what was going on, and I can’t say I entirely understood.
So it remains one of my (two of my?) favorite anime until this day. Every criticism is correct, but it just hit a nerve.
Filtered.