Series: Gunbuster 2 is set sometime in the future of Gunbuster, though references to the original were fairly obscure so I wouldn't worry if you haven't been fortunate enough to see the original. The series is six episodes long and started with young Nono leaving the safety of her small hometown on Mars to fulfill her dream of becoming a pilot. Leaving her dog and family behind her, she strikes out for the big city where all the action is at; ending up working in a diner to keep food in her stomach and a roof over her head. While not particularly bright, she claims that she'll make it based on "sticking it out with hard work and guts"; much to the amusement of those around her. The diner she works at shows that she has a peculiar talent for splitting things in two, typically including plates and appliances, resulting in her debt increasing rather than the girl saving up any money at the place. The up side to the job is that she becomes acquainted with the many machine operators from a nearby military base, several of whom take a keen interest in the girl due to her looks and apparent availability.

One day, a few of the pilots are kidding around with her using their machines, tossing her in the air and scaring her, until a strange newcomer to the diner intercedes in the matter using a far larger, more powerful device that signifies her status as a space pilot; one of the elite of the military. Even more than that, she is the top pilot in the special organization known as The Fraternity; the home of powerful "Topless" pilots that operate machines driven by a special energy they alone control. Her name is Lal'C and after rescuing Nono from the men, leaves the area; taking her powerful machine called Dix-Neuf (the oldest machine in service) with her. The impressionable Nono follows her to the gates of the base, calling her savior One-Sama as a sign of respect. This results in a space monster attacking and Nono joining the force when it is discovered that she has some natural ability to communicate with the Gunbuster machines, proving to have other special abilities that weren't even making sense until later in the series. The dynamic of the first two episodes as contained on this DVD seeming to be as much a comical look at some of the original aspects of the series (like Nono Riki herself) but losing the emphasis on time dilation and other scientific projections the series focused so much effort on. The attempt to dumb down the series was not unexpected and actually made it better in some ways since the pseudo-science of the original Gunbuster, while interesting to science geeks, was flawed in a number of ways.

The two episodes here were 1) Please Let Me Call You One'-Sama and 2) I Don't Want To Be an One'-Sama; showing the limited origins of Nono and how she met Lal'C as well as joined the force. It did not cover some needed background but hinted at it in a way to give the show some replay value. The first episode had a lot going on, from the departure from home, the meeting in the bar, to the fight with the space monster revealing Nono to be more than she appeared on the surface. The second spent a fair amount of time showing that not everyone appreciated the power of the topless pilots (an unfortunate term considering the sexual connotations though in line with some of the fan service on frequent display here); the divided forces unable to see that fighting the numerically superior space monsters will require their full attention but old rivalries and jealousies proving to make them all the more human and identifiable to viewers.

There was a bit more fan service, including full nudity, than you would think a "13 Up" would provide but even the sexual connotations were mild to make up for it, the bent over panty shots, fully exposed breasts, and ass cheeks galore probably a tribute to the original show too. The explanation as to why the young are the only ones capable of generating the power needed to work the gunbusters was better than average; including the built in limitations such careers have as the aging process wears them out to be discarded over time. I also thought the strength of the leading lady characters to be a nice change of pace though men were also shown in strong roles too; something that tends to be an "either/or" situation in modern anime. In any case, the show proved to have a lot going for it in the extras as well and when it comes out next month, I think a lot of you will find this to be better than a great many titles on the market currently so I rated it as Recommended (had the six episodes been presented on two discs with all the same extras, I'd have likely elevated the rating up at least a notch). Check it out though and let me know what you think.

Picture: Gunbuster 2 was presented in the usual 1.77:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen as originally shot by director Kazuya Tsurumaki for Gainax in Japan and to be released by Bandai Visual here in the USA. The colors were cheerful and bright, the depth of field provided in times like during the opening snowfall or the stars in space, and the details were all above average looking. While the show was presented in MPEG-2 on a DVD-9, I saw no compression artifacts worth noting and the bitrate was often substantially higher than average, weighing in just under 8 Mbps regularly; almost twice that of other anime I've watched lately. The numeric readings aside, the show looked solid in most ways, even outstanding in others, so it might be a great test disc for your standard definition equipment (I just wish an HD DVD and/or Blu-Ray version was available since this is exactly the type of release that would benefit from such a treatment).

Sound: The audio was presented in a choice of a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Japanese or a 2.0 DD Japanese with English subtitles. I planned for it to be a lackadaisical set of tracks given my experience with original language track releases (dubs tend to have superior audio qualities; differing opinions about the vocals aside) but I was pleasantly surprised when the score sounded very defined and the separation appeared to be substantially better than average. The music and sound effects had the kind of raw power one doesn't tend to hear much in Japanese tracks, the OVA sounding more like a movie at times with a healthy balance between the vocals and other audio components. I wish there had been a dubbed track as with most anime releases these days (there are some die hard fans of either form of vocal track; why alienate either if trying to broaden your market appeal?) but can't deny that I liked the way each part of it was handled otherwise. Working on a hunch, I checked the bitrate and noticed it was substantially higher than I'm used to as well; clocking in at the 448 Kbps rather than the more common 192 Kbps, and a blind listening test affirmed the difference right away.

Extras: Given the fact that there were only two episodes on the DVD, I figured the extras section was going to make up for it and I wasn't disappointed. The best of the batch was the 20 page booklet that had a wealth of text interviews (the lead female vocal actresses, the creative types like the screen writer and planner/director were all represented here along with some cool artwork, science lessons, and character descriptions. Don't read it until you've watched the show though since it was replete with spoilers. The disc itself had a clean ending and a breakdown of the two episodes that were okay but the winner here was the Diebuster TV which included Fraternity Press and Kazuya Tsurumaki interviewed with Yukari Fukui (voice of Nono) interviewed in cosplay fashion by a machine weapon puppet. It looked really clear (had a high bitrate too) and was done in a comical fashion by the lady, the director interview playing out far more seriously to interviewer Yutaka Izubuchi. There were spoilers here too so wait until you're done to watching the show before jumping in on either of these too.

Final Thoughts: Gunbuster 2, V1, like Gunbuster (Top Wo Nerae), had some imperfections in terms of plot holes and other minor issues but like the original, it was a lot of fun to enjoy with some significant replay value for me. I obtained all three volumes of the series at once and watched them in a single sitting so the lines between the volumes were not an issue for me but I was struck by the creativity used to enhance many minor details that I almost missed; necessitating a second viewing the next day. On both occasions, I found new things that jumped out at me that more devoted followers of the original OVA will probably "get" without a passing thought, still helping to make the series serve as a nice follow up to the legendary show. In all then, you are bound to like it if you enjoyed the first; something kind of rare in anime these days for most consumers, but it also stands on its own too.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, Best of Anime 2005, and Best of Anime 2006 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.