Gunbuster

Gunbuster, known in Japan as Top o Nerae! (トップをねらえ!, Toppu o Nerae!; Aim for the Top!), is a Japanese original video animation (OVA) series produced by Bandai Visual, Victor Entertainment, and Gainax. It was released from October 1988 to July 1989. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, best known as the creator and director of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The title is a combination of the titles of classic tennis manga and anime Aim for the Ace! and hit action drama film Top Gun, whose plots inspired Gunbuster's. The series focuses on a teenage girl named Noriko Takaya, who grows to be a master mecha pilot alongside her senior and inspiration, Kazumi Amano, and helps defend Earth from large extraterrestrials called space monsters. To celebrate Gainax's 20th anniversary, a sequel to Gunbuster, Diebuster (or Gunbuster 2), was released as an OVA. The sequel features new characters and mecha but retains the format and many of the concepts of the original series. The anime has had several releases on home video since it was first released. It received an English dub in 2022. It has also had soundtrack albums, a manga series, and merchandise such as toys, model kits, and video games. Characters and technology appeared in crossover video games such as games in the Super Robot Wars series and two Neon Genesis Evangelion video games. It received mostly positive reviews and won the Seiun Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1990.