Gunbuster (1988-89 OVA)

Gunbuster is a 1988-89 anime OVA. For those new to the world of anime an OVA (original video animation) was a bit like a mini-series but intended for the home video market rather than television broadcast. They were straight-to-video and later straight-to-DVD releases. It was an incredibly useful and flexible format and since they were not broadcast on TV they could deal more openly and easily with grown-up subject matter.

This is from the golden age of anime and like so many of the products of that age it turns out to be not at all what it first seemed to be.

Gunbuster is the story of Noriko Takaya, a high school girl whose dream it is to become a space pilot. Her dad was a space pilot. He was a hero, killed in action in the first great battle against the space monsters. Part of Noriko’s motivation is to honour the memory of her much-loved father. But Noriko doesn’t go to a normal high school. She attends a special high school for girls destined to become space pilots.

Noriko looks up to Kazumi Amano, a slightly older girl and the school’s star pupil. Noriko thinks of her as Big Sis.

The chief instructor is Koichiro Ohta, always referred to as Coach. He was one of the few survivors of the battle in which Noriko’s father was killed. This provides a link between Noriko and Ohta which will be important later.

When the space monsters attack again the girls are rushed into battle. Nobody thinks Noriko is ready. She’s just not a very promising space pilot but for some reason Coach Ohta insists that she will make it.

A series of epic space battles follow, in which we will find out if Noriko has the Right Stuff or not.

The whole “mecha” or giant robot thing is, let’s face it, kind of silly and goofy. But when you have giant robots that are also space fighters hurtling through space you’re reaching a whole new level of silliness. So you figure this will probably be just a fun kids’ space opera science fiction adventure series. And then suddenly it starts throwing science fiction Big Ideas at you. Like the concept of humanity as a bacteria.

And they have invented a whole new theory of physics for this OVA, a theory which supposedly superseded Einstein’s theories at the end of the 20th century. This new theory has an amusing steampunk touch since it posits the existence of the mysterious aether, a popular concept in 19th century physics. Space isn’t a vacuum. It is filled with the aether.

It’s also a series which actually takes account of the relativity effects on time. At the beginning of the the episode Noriko is still teenaged girl but her birth certificate says she is 27. Girls she went to high school with are married with kids. This sense of being displaced in time adds to Noroko’s sense of disconnectedness. She spends more time in space than her old friends so her friendships have to be rebuilt on a new basis. Those relatively effects will later become very very important, not as mere plot elements but for their immense emotional impacts.

Getting back to the goofiness which at first seems likely to be the predominant characteristic of this OVA we discover that, of course, the most suitable candidates for training as space combat pilots are hot babes. With big boobs. And the bottom half of their uniform consists of not much more than a thong. So we figure this will a sexy babes in space romp. Until we discover that the characters have a great deal of depth to them, that Noriko is a very complex young woman struggling with unresolved grief, a sense of emptiness and a sense of unworthiness. The death in combat of her father is not just a minor backstory element to explain why she’s a space pilot. It’s a tragedy that dominates her whole life and she will never become truly a grown woman until she learns to resolve this issue.

At first we think Coach Ohta will be a stereotypical tough drill sergeant type but he has lots of issues to deal with as well. Issues connected with that disastrous space battle in which Noriko’s father was killed. Perhaps he has a desire for revenge. Perhaps there is guilt. He may be searching for redemption. Why does he insist that Noriko is ready for combat when everyone (including Noriko) knows she’s a washout? This is a series that also deals very much with honour. This dominates Coach Ohta’s life. It’s not that he was in any way guilty of cowardice, but he survived that first battle when a warrior’s honour would have demanded that he die in battle.

And while we may have initially thought this was going to be an anime aimed at kids it soon becomes apparent that that is not the case. It’s not just the very adult concepts. There’s also the nudity, including quite a bit of frontal nudity. No, this is not aimed at the kiddies.

There are major themes of love and loss. Both Noriko and Kazumi find love, but each of them (in different ways) has to face the prospect of losing the man she loves.

This is old school animation without any CGI but I like old school anime.

There are three distinct parts to the story, with time gaps between each part but with the time gaps complicated by relativity effects.

Gunbuster does feature giant robots and scantily-clad (and sometimes unclad) babes but it’s an intelligent, subtle and complex science fiction story which deals with tricky concepts such as the nature of time and it’s a sensitive emotional drama.

Gunbuster is superb. Very highly recommended.

Gunbuster is available on a Blu-Ray release which thankfully offers the Japanese language soundtrack with subtitles as well the English dub. No power on this Earth could persuade me to watch anime in an English-dubbed version.