Series: Gunbuster 2 as stated previously, 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.

As the series develops, the characters are shown to be fearless fighters but so very young and stubborn too. Nono has finally been revealed as something fantastically powerful but the chaos that ensues when her memories tentatively surface after all these years cause a backlash within the military command and public; the heroes of one moment becoming feared and reviled as different by too many as a result. Nono remains the same person she always was, though now looked at differently than she was prior to the incident on Pluto, resulting in the powers that be keeping her happy and apart from those she served with in the elite Fraternity for safety measures.

The two episodes here were 5) Mover of Planets and 6) The Story of Your Life; both following up the consequences of the previous battle. The topless warriors are currently under house arrest for suspicions of collaboration and Nono is the new protector of the Earth. This leads to a huge gathering of space monsters and a brand new threat; one that both sides of the war find irresistible as a force of nature called the Fluctuating Gravity Well. The use of black holes and throwing planets at it prove useless and the scores of monsters attacking in unison do little but evaporate as the threat progresses, requiring a new plan that seems hopeless. The absolute strength of the powerful energies harnessed by the topless pilots also appeared to be far greater here, leading to the end of their life cycle in terms of powers (using them up like a battery on overdrive) but this was thematically interesting compared to so many shows that make little sense for those of us with an understanding of related physical phenomena. Still, without giving up too many spoilers, I think the scope of the ending was much more interesting than the original provided, even giving a last nod to the show in a future clip before the lengthy credits.

There was still 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. I liked how Nono's determination to apply hard work and guts allowed her to come out on top when she needed to be but also served to highlight the latter part of the volume when she tentatively saved the day too. 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 which is as high a rating as I feel comfortable giving a two episode disc. Check it out though and let me know what you think, the time line appearing a bit skewed in conjunction with the first OVA but fitting in nicely with the previous two volumes in this release.

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 with the creative team; including a lengthy interview of Yoji Enokido and Kazuya Tsurumaki. As the screenwriter and director for the series, they ended things up nicely with the booklet warning about watching the show first. There was a short interview with the voice actor for Casio too but it was hardly a blip on the map by comparison. The artwork was pleasing and the characters were given more exposition here too. The bad news is that the only extra on the disc was a trailer for the theatrical version; pretty weak compared to the better extras from the last two volumes.

Final Thoughts: Gunbuster 2, V3, like Gunbuster (Top Wo Nerae), Gunbuster 2, V1 and Gunbuster 2, V2, 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. The ending was the kind of bittersweet type of ending the show had to have to make sense and as a result, it will likely cause some fans to jump up and down but hopefully, they will see the way the series was structured making this the best way to go. I'm not sure if a third OVA series would make sense at this point but I had some fun with it and will likely get into seeing it again several times in the near future. Good job!

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.