S5E9 - GUNBUSTER: AIM FOR THE TOP! Review: The Classic 1988 Anime OVA by Gainax

Before Anno Hideaki and the team at Studio Gainax changed the course of anime history with Neon Genesis Evangelion, they produced Gunbuster, aka Aim for the Top!, a 6-episode OVA with some of the era’s most spectacular animation, and an overwhelming amount of personality. A mash-up of sports shows, mecha anime, high-concept sci-fi, and American 80s movies like Top Gun, there’s nothing else quite like Gunbuster, and across its 6 episodes, the series showcases a huge range of ideas, themes, tones, and even styles, with the finale shifting to a truly astounding use of widescreen, black-and-white imagery. Join us as we dive into not only this great series, but the fascinating history of Anno and Gainax up to this point. Enjoy, and come back next week as we begin a two-week journey through the wild and wacky world of the 80s classic DIRTY PAIR! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 1:06:22Eyecatch Break: 1:06:22 – 1:07:07Gunbuster Review: 1:07:07 – 2:14:18End Theme: 2:14:18 – 2:15:49Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “ice” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com