Some things need to stand alone. Sequels are a gamble especially when the time gap between original and sequel grows and grows. They tend to be put under more scrutiny than their predecessors as they not only have to deal with standing tall as installments in their own right but they need to provide merit as a sequel to a product that never needed one. The trickiest prospect involved is the anniversary sequel as that is where youre most likely to enact the gambit. Some projects of this nature can pay off in a way that respects the original and becomes its own product perhaps even succeeding it in the process. However not everyone can do a Turn A Gundam and instead some make Diebuster. Put it simply it fails both ways. As a series it features mediocre at best and largely uninteresting characters halfassed powerup moments and tons of convoluted and barely explained scifi superpower bullshit worldbuilding. When the highlight in terms of memorable character moments was a rape attempt you know youve failed and you abandon an important scifi element of the original in the process you know youve fucked up. As a sequel it is almost insulting. The writers made a completely different type of show a mediocre one at that a sequel to Gunbuster. It would be like making Aldnoah.Zero the sequel to Macross. As such everything about the already poorlycrafted and convoluted worldbuilding galaxy building? is brimming with incompatibility. Buster machines are now biomechanical machines that can only be piloted by people with some hereditary superpower gene rather than robots that take skill for any ablebodied person in general to pilot. They each come with different powers including the ability to freeze space creatures in space with quantum temperatures and controlling and turning other ships into creatures to use during battle via psychic powers or something akin to that. They have colonized entirely new planets with futuristic military technology yet transportation technology and all things not inherently related to war against space creatures has yet to advance beyond 2004 the year this OVA first aired until the finale outright contradicts that. The finale also proves that it takes place during a specific portion of the originals finale as if to selfdestruct while getting its idol caught in the explosion. Additionally whereas Gunbuster used real hard science for its science fiction Diebuster uses pseudoscience superpower nonsense. This and more serve as only a taste of how incompatible for lack of a better word the worldbuilding is and why crafting a coherent world is always important. Otherwise we get two pieces that just cannot fit. Theres also the fact that the mere existence of the events in Die even discounting the monumentally awful finale ultimately sully the finale of the original Gunbuster as not only did it end phenomenally but it did so in a way in which no real sequel could be warranted. This isnt even touching on the worldbuilding element Gunbuster ended so conclusively that to continue would be to retroactively take back part of the point of the finale. This show really should have been its own thing. It would have been a mediocre at best show but better a mediocre separate celebration installment than a show that accidentally knocks over its predecessors grave especially when said predecessor became one of the two foundational anime of its studio. However it would probably require heavy rewrites towards the end in particular. After all the more it goes on the worse it gets peaking in its concluding episodes in terms of sheer atrocity as the show stops caring almost entirely and ends up outright ruining the ending of the original. To cover the positive read: superficial aspects of this asteroid the music is better than last time and the visuals are still mostly wellcrafted. Even with the awful mech designs excessive amounts of usually terrible CGI the shows visuals are worthwhile. The character designs are fine enough particularly that of Nono and the action animation is smooth kinetic and kept track of extremely well...as long as the characters arent running. It may not hold up compared to the immaculately detailed and stylized predecessor of yore but disregarding that leaves you with visuals that were on par with that best at the time at least animationwise. The sense of scale is quite large to add on top of that. Lastly the music is honestly a tad superior than the original at least when it isnt remixing tracks. The OP and ED themes are ok and the background music is serviceable though that is all I can praise. Ultimately the more this show goes on the more horrible a sequel it becomes. As if it wouldnt be a bad enough show on its own it just had to throw a classic series under the bus in a drunken attempt at paying homage and joining a franchise. Barring the prospect of bastardizing a returning cast Diebuster commits every sin a sequel can commit including ones I never thought were possible and ends up shattering itself into pieces upon its obnoxious attempts at trying to sendup and oneup. On its own its a mediocre turned bad show too ambitious for its own good. As a sequel it is so...so much worse. Way to go Gainax producing the worst thing in your mainline repertoire to celebrate 20 years