Out of all the fears that lurk in the back of our minds there are some that are obvious From spiders darkness and the unknown to more everyday occurrences like violence death and the constant threat of insectoid invaders from outer space. But theres one fear that people often overlook and its one that can completely consume your life The fear of absolute solitude. Not having a past not having a future just being alone with nobody to look out for you but yourself. For some people this wouldnt be so bad After all as its been said theres no feeling freer than having nothing left to lose. But to Nono a spunky girl surviving by the skin of her teeth on the planet Mars theres nothing cool or ideal about it. Having spent an unknown and potentially unfathomable amount of years living on her own traveling the expansive red desert without a home to go back to without any memories to tell her who she is or any future to look forward to the only comfort she has in the middle of the night is her head full of dreams and her ambition to one day become a famous pilot and save humanity from the insidious alien threat However like most people in modern day times shes only able to live out her dreams through fantasy while working a deadend job for wages that she can just barely survive off of. Working in a diner thats populated mainly by truckers and washedup space pilots her dreams of outer space adventures are the only thing saving her from the looming threat of assault from her patrons. Thankfully when that threat becomes fully realized so does her dream An ace mecha pilot from the elite interstellar military known as Fraternity who is ironically female crash lands right in the middle of the diner saving herwhether intentionally or not and unknowingly offering her the onceinalifetime chance to hitch a ride into space and live out her dreams Well thats what she wants to do but theres a catch The pilots of Fraternity are called Topless not because theyre shameless exhibitionists but because they have some sort of ESP power so its like theres no lid on their minds to hold in their powers. Yeah thats stretching it but hey YOU try to explain why theyre called that. Nono who is revealed to be a robot doesnt have this ability but as it turns out she might just have potential far exceeding those who can. In 2004 Studio Gainax released two anime to commemorate their 20 year anniversary One of them was This Ugly Yet Beautiful World a fulllength TV series that massively disappointed and Aim for the Top Diebuster the sequel to their debut OVA Aim for the Top Gunbuster and it only takes a cursory glance at both shows to figure out which one got the most attention from the production team. This Ugly was going to be an easy dumb title full of nudity so they didnt need to waste too much money to make it successful Diebuster however was going to be a sequel to a 20 year old anime that had a massive army of loyal and highly protective fans behind it was much more of a risk and in light of this the amount of money they poured into this title is immediately apparent upon the first few minutes of the first episode. I havent seen every single Studio Gainax anime Give it a few more years I definitely will be able to brag about this at some point but from what Ive seen Diebuster is by far the best looking anime Ive ever seen from them. Yes that includes Evangelion at least by a little. To be fair at least in terms of its characters Diebuster is on the more cartoony side of the scale. Honestly they look more like Fooly Cooly characters than Gunbuster characters which I guess is just the look the company was pushing back then. Its a huge step away from Gunbuster but I think there are a few reasons its worth forgiving. First of all the most colorful and cartoony character IS the sunny happygolucky robot girl which allows the distinction to make a small bit of sense. Everyone else even those with alternate skin and hair color options look far more down to earth and the few who dont are given so little screen time it doesnt really matter. Second the outdated character designs of 1984 wouldnt mesh at all with the beautifully drawn and exquisitely detailed backgrounds theyd be placed in. Before the first appearance of the shows title in the first episode I was already on Facebook gushing about how gorgeous it looked. I dont think theres a single shot in Diebuster that I wouldnt want to watch on loop so I could fantasize about living in it save for maybe the scarier war scenes. There are so many layers on screen at any given time that you almost dont know where to look The characters arent always in the foreground because sometimes that space will be reserved for lens flares or a small cross section of whatever they happen standing in front of. After that depending on the environment the remaining layers can be used to show an entire world of activity in the background of outer space or the crushing loneliness of an open plain. Its not impossible for an anime to look as alive and immersive as Diebuster does but it is rare and I want to think this is the only time Gainax has ever pulled it off. The use of lighting also helps seeing how once we leave Mars in episode 1 the bulk of what we see from there on is shrouded in shadow which perfectly complements the bright and bouncy Nono whos childish antics and outgoing personality are quite literally designed to shine in the darkness both in terms of the artwork and in terms of the bleak tone of the story. The immersive background also helps distract you during those rare moments when the animation maybe isnt as fluid as it is elsewhere which is already a sparse problem. The CG is also used to perfection here and it pops up frequently in all sorts of background and foreground layers. Youre not just going to be impressed by the fleets of ships that the Fraternity owns youre going to be impressed by vast expanses of space theyre existing in. Ive praised several anime in the past for having beautiful looking paintings represent space but in Diebuster space is ever moving and ever evolving like an organism all its own. In shots that combine layers of CG with layers of traditional animation it looks freaking unbelievable. The same can be said for weather effects and the way they visually affect the characters onscreen as well as lazers light beams and any other special effects the script may call for. You could almost call this a spiritual predecessor to Gurren Lagann if it didnt also surpass that series. Characters whether in action or idling between missions are animated perfectly with a wide and very graceful range of motion capped off by fully expressive and photogenic faces. Gainax has never been the best company when it came to managing budget issues so for Diebuster Im going to assume they didnt HAVE any budget issues and whether or not thats the case it worked out amazingly for them. While Kohei Tanaka is not a name youd generally hear associated with Gainax Honestly hes much more well known to the One Piece crowd although Im a much bigger fan of his work on Bastard He did compose the score for two of Gainaxs projects those being both Gunbuster and its sequel Diebuster. This is probably why there are so many Gunbuster songs that wound up being reused in Diebuster and in some surprisingly smart and subtle ways. I wasnt a huge fan of the first seasons OST but the tunes that are shared by both shows are used much better this time around. Tanaka is generally known for his grand sweeping ballads but hes also known for using rock and roll and electric tracks in order to rack up the intensity of a fight scene. Honestly though the music in this show isnt exactly memorable You wont be humming along to any of its tracks on the way to work But they work splendidly in the moment and you will enjoy them when youre watching the show. The opening Groovin Magic is far more memorable and I challenge you not to get it stuck in your head. Its received some criticism on two different fronts with one saying that its just a piece of Jpop fluff and the other saying its just a mishmash of clips from the show. To the second I say have you never watched a Gainax show before? They do that all the time. Most of Gainaxs anime properties have openings that use original animation to bookend long slots of random outofcontext clips. Diebuster does this too and while the original animation basically consists of silhouetted characters walking its still a lot of fun to watch. The song has a sort of light funky sixties pop feel to it which was a great choice considering what kind of person the main character is Nono is an idealistic dreamer a sunny flower child who brings ideals of pacifism and humane priorities to a war zone full of cynics and jaded veterans challenging the way they think. this is very much her theme song but thats not to say the ending theme doesnt also resonate with her. It does but it runs a little deeper to the darker feelings she keeps hidden from everyone as well as her firm resolve to put on a smile for their sake. Its a great soundtrack overall and a huge improvement over that of the first season. Actually as it turns out improvements upon the first show can be found all over the place in this one. Now I originally thought Gunbuster was okay a good show overall if not problematic in a lot of areas. Its characters were weakened by its insistence on setting aside time it didnt have to spare for the sake of explaining things we didnt need to know showing us things we didnt need to see and exploring several dead end plot points that wound up adding nothing to the important areas of the story. As a result thing got overly complicated and we sacrificed any depth the main characters or the badly explained onenote villains could have had in exchange for footnotes like dolphins with helmets were connected to the development of extrasensory perception. It probably wasnt fair of me to blast it for being outdone by a later series particularly in the area of developing its main character but I stand by my belief that newer anime can be both superior products and useful comparative tools to older anime and since Gainax already improved upon several elements of their inaugural series through Evangelion they had a golden opportunity to seal the deal with their 20th anniversary piece. There really arent very many ways to connect Diebuster to Gunbuster as a canon sequel although they apparently exist in the same universe with a massive time gap inbetween so it works a lot better to consider this series as a reimagining of an older concept. And yes Diebuster features a vast improvement in terms of narrative and execution. On the surface its story is very simple. It follows an innocent and untainted main character getting the opportunity to live out her dreams struggling and ultimately becoming more than the sum of her parts through unexpected and unorthodox means while changing the people around her in the process. There are little to no deviations from her journey and the fact that its her journey above all else is never in question. Everything that happens in the series is either related directly to her or directly related to the Fraternity group and surrounding characters in ways that will affect her down the line By using this much tighter sense of focus Gainax is able to explain the plot and setting to us through her as we learn what she learned while at the same time getting us invested in her story. With Nono performing this role theres little to no need for exposition although Gainax still crowbars it in with their subtitles. Unfortunately Diebuster isnt so much an improvement as it is the exact opposite of Gunbuster in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Whereas Gunbuster spent a lot of time telling you very little Diebuster sounds way too little time telling us way too much. There wasnt very much happening in Gunbuster that was very important which made it feel a little boring but theres way too much important shit going on in Diebuster making it feel way too overwhelming and confusing at times. To be fair this doesnt actually start happening until episode 4 as I think everything was paced really nicely up until that point. Past episode 4 however the story and plot become extremely difficult to follow with important revelations being dropped like hot potatoes new characters being introduced just to be killed off after mere seconds worth of collective screentime which is apparently supposed to feel tragic but I had to watch episode 4 three times just to catch what that tragedy even was let alone why all the remaining Topless were lying in hospital beds with protective headgear on. It made sense when I was finally able to wrap my head around it and the scenario Id been missing was even written better than I thought but that still doesnt excuse such shoddy pacing. But thats all fine because the characters get appropriate time devoted to their arcs and individual developmental journeys. Well I say that but just because times being devoted to them doesnt mean what were being shown is going to hold up. As much as I loved her and she is an incredibly fun and likeable character Nono is kind of a MarySue. Theres some subtle depth to her when you compare her lonely past on Mars to her refusal to compromise her principals in Fraternity but most of the time it barely resonates with her character in any meaningful way and after spending half the series as an upbeat Lego brick her transformation into Jesus happens on a dime. Shes too perfect shes always right and when you get right down to it shes well shes Robin Williams. I shouldnt be too upset about that as her perfect nature was an integral part of episode 3 which was so perfect it made me cry but that wasnt her episode It was the episode of another pilot named Tycho Sciencereal name not joking whos backstory and resolution are without question the most memorable thing about this story. And she doesnt even manage to make an impact beyond that episode. Which leaves the final main character LArc Mellik Mai who is probably the best one in terms of development. She starts out the series as a battlehardened nononsense warrior the top of her class and the undisputed lord of the kill count. Meeting Nono gradually warms her heart and forces her to open up over time resulting in her becoming more expressive as well as a few other spoilers. But I honestly cant help but feel that she got a bit too much screen time. for a relationship between two characters to feel strong it has to become strained at some point so it can mend and become stronger than before which does happen in Diebuster between her and Nono In what has to be the worst way possible. Im going to spoil this so skip to the next paragraph if you really dont want to know how this all falls apart. Basically she catches a pilot she has a thing for attempting to rape Nono and her first words are Why not me? Which I just no. She turns her back on both of them because how DARE he try to rape another and how dare she BE that other and oh dear God Im going to vomit. I know I spent a lot of space talking about Diebusters flaws but it really is a fun show. Much like the first season a lot of its best qualities can be found in its space battles and in this season none of them ever feel wasted or pointless. We know what the goal of every fight is we know whats at stake and when the enemy suddenly becomes unimaginably strong we know how and why it happened. Theres a sense of progression on both sides with the humans discovering new technology and the bugs becoming immeasurably powerful just when we think were about to overcome them even though what they are and why they want to kill us still hasnt been established. Theres a lot less fanservice than in the first season as instead of bathing scenes forced in for no reason everything that happens in this series nudity included Serves a strict narrative purpose whether its Nono being cleaned after being rescued from Mars or characters contemplating their issues while alone in the bath and even then everythings shot tastefully Not to censor but at the same time not to exploit. Even the early shot of Nono ripping off the chest of her shirt was meant to be an homage to the first season which Diebuster does clearly have a lot of respect for even if it doesnt look like it at times. Aim for the Top: Diebuster is available from Eastern Star Studios which Like a star Is a bright spot in an expansive empty space of no fucking releases. This DVD set came out stateside nine years after the series came out proper and after only three years since its so far out of print that you cant actually get it on Amazon. Its cheap enough on Ebay as I got my copy for about twentyfive dollars but yeah I have no idea why its been so sparsely released. An anime film Gunbuster vs. Diebuster is much easier to find as it was released more recently. A single volume manga that ran in the magazine Dragon Age Pure is not available stateside. So how does Studio Gainaxs 20th anniversary OVA series hold up? Well considering their other offering was a collaboration with Madhouse that brought little other than pretentious ramblings and barrels of bare boobies to the table Id say this one turned out rather nicely. It has surprisingly little to do with the original Gunbuster aside from some terminology and the visual of a robot running on a treadmill Id nitpick but considering that she also eats sleeps and has a heart sure why not It actually feels a lot more like a few other Gainax properties. I already made the comparison to FLCL in regard to its colorful and cartoony character designs and overall artistic aesthetic but it also incorporates a lot of Evangelion especially in the way that the pilots interact with each other. Oddly enough though it kind of also feels a lot like Gurren Lagann which wouldnt come out until three years later. I wont go too specific but it even ends with the imagery of a drill So yeah it works way better as a representation of what Gainax was between the late nineties and the midoughts than it does as a direct sequel. Much like Gunbuster it has a lot of problems but overall its a pretty fun experience. I give Diebuster a 6/10.