Blu-ray Review: "Gunbuster: Aim For The Top"

[Michael.Schinke]

What begins as a somewhat campy and clichéd tale about high school girls piloting fighting robots against a faceless alien invasion somehow morphs into a genuine drama in this 2008 feature film release. Originally produced in 1988, Aim For The Top: Gunbuster is a genre mishmash melding robot anime with (of all things) a sports themed show and elements of Top Gun to create an interesting and likeable set of characters and situations. Produced by studio GAINAX and directed by future Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno, the six episode, three hour OVA has been condensed into a 95 minute feature film using the original animation footage. The feature release reunites the series voice cast to create a new soundtrack with original series music and new effects stems. The results of the work are far from stellar, but impressive when you consider the shows age and history.

Having lost her famous admiral father in the first attack by the space monsters, Noriko Takaya dreams of becoming a mecha pilot and punishing those responsible. The only thing standing in her way is her apparent lack of talent for wielding the unruly RX-7 Machine Weapons that she and her fellow students are training on. When a mysterious new coach enters the picture and pairs her up with her idol, student Kazumi Amano, she is forced to improve herself and push her limits to unleash her hidden talents. Noriko and Kazumi will be selected to pilot the Gunbuster, a robot weapon of immense power, to protect the Earth from the oncoming alien hordes. But the rigors of space travel and the time dilating effects of travelling at near lightspeed will strain their relationships and destroy any chance the pair could ever have at a “normal life”. The climactic battle will take the duo far beyond any space or time they could ever have imagined.

By condensing a 3 hour series into 95 minutes with no adaptation, GAINAX has effectively left the viewer with just the barest elements necessary to string together a cohesive plot. Even the complete show is somewhat limited given it is only a fraction of the length that a series of this type would normally run. GAINAX makes this part of the shows structure by jumping through time on the convention that lightspeed travel makes time pass much more slowly for those in space. A few months at lightspeed can mean years back on Earth, and the show jumps briskly ahead while forging it’s characters in time and lives lost. As has become rather commonplace for a show produced by this studio, what begins almost as a parody of other anime swiftly dovetails into a serious and dramatic affair, replacing most of the shows early humor and clichés with tears and melancholie. The effect, while possibly more successful at it’s full length, is diminished by the limited running time. Characters and sub plots are eliminated almost completely from the film version, as the lack of any structure adapted specifically for the film leaves them with no place and nothing to do. As an example, a character whos introduction marks a major turning point for our lead heroin is offed not two minutes after his introduction. The lasting impact his presence is to have is not supported in the version presented here; you are just supposed to go with it. The saving grace is the performances of the actors do a solid job of conveying the sense of loss the characters experience, making it easier to get in the emotional groove of the story.

This isn’t to say the show is or was ever perfect. If you’ve seen enough anime you’ll likely fall into the same “cringe and moan” pattern I did when the clichés rear their ugly head. There are just certain things, like the heroes tendency to shout her robots fighting moves into the cold black of space, that are so over the top you can’t help but stare back at your own brain and wonder if the person who first invented this trick has been properly punished by god. Still, there is a lot to enjoy in this brief jaunt of a film, not the least of which is the crisp sound, superb acting and faithful image quality.

PQ: 3.5

There are three quality tiers in the world of anime: Broadcast, OVA and Feature Film. Broadcast and Feature Film have the lowest and highest quality respectfully. OVA is a direct to video production that, while not matching the quality available to features, is often budgeted beyond a broadcast series. It’s also why they are usually much shorter as more money can be spent on animation and effects for a few hours of footage than almost an entire 26 episode series. This show was produced when animation was still shot on film, producing a saturated and tangible image that is faithfully represented on this disc. The 1080p, AVC-1 encoded image reproduces the shows original 4:3 frame size for the majority of the series. As you would expect for a show of its age the footage is not exactly in pristine condition. Moderate grain is apparent throughout and there are some print blemishes that can be noticeable at times. The image is also highly unstable, bouncing around on screen the way shows used to before telecine was done digitally. However don’t let my negativity fool you. I can’t imagine that this film would look any better short of a full Lowry style restoration. Being an animated program colors are rich and saturated and contrast is strong. There is a noticeable difference in black level in scenes, but this is due the original production art and not a fault of the transfer. The grain is appropriate and helps to sell the image as film based; it’s hardly what I would call a defect. The real treat here is the 16:9, black and white footage that comprises what would have been the last episode of the series. The DVD set of the original OVA contained this unmated, widescreen image as a bonus feature. The black and white imagery was actually painted as such, not merely color cells shot monochrome like much black and white animation. The result is a truly stunning effect that adds an extra emotional weight to the final adventure of our heroines. With great attention to detail and an almost painterly look, I found myself wondering why more animation isn’t produced this way. At no point did I notice any macroblocking or mosquito noise. The disc gets high marks for it’s faithfulness to the original imagery, but there is still a feeling that a thorough restoration could have really made this film sparkle.

AQ: 4

At some point in the lifecycle of the material, the original master music and effects tracks were lost. For the 2006 film version, new effects were combined with the original score and new recordings by the original voice cast to create a 5.1 mix for release. The Blu-ray gives us this version of the soundtrack in a Dolby TrueHD version that is probably much stronger than it has any right to be. Dialog is well positioned in the center channel and is clear and easy to understand. The musical score is well placed in the sound field and often spreads into the rears for an enveloping experience. The lossless presentation really brings out the character of the musical recordings, with crisp highs and smooth mids presenting an airy and natural sounding score. Sound effects, being newly recorded, are crisp and powerful. I was often shocked by the presence of explosions or impact sounds in the rears. There isn’t an abundance of powerful lows, so your sub will get only a minor workout with this one. What there is, however, is easily felt. Be it from an explosion or the thump of the soundtrack there is a palpable low end that, while on the light side, provides a solid floor for the soundtrack. While I’m sure there could have been something done to add some zazz to the sound, I’m confidant that Gunbuster has never sounded this good.

EXTRS: 0

Zip, zilch, nada. The big goose egg here. This is a bare bones release, with the entirety of the discs space devoted to the film. While it would have been nice to get a little additional information on the disc itself, the package does contain a fold-out that gives more background on the characters and situations in the film. It also would have been nice to know more about the work done to bring this 20 year old OVA to the theatres, but that looks like it’ll be left to a jog down the information super-highway.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The film version of Gunbuster is not something that’s easy to recommend to casual Blu-ray fans. It’s not the best there is to offer in terms of anime on Blu; that title going to films like Paprika and Tekonkincreet. The way the story is presented will likely confound or lose many who are not familiar with the original series. Those unfamiliar with the clichés of anime or of the concept of the “GAINAX ending” will find much of the humor and characterizations completely outside their comfort zones. And finally, the price and lack of extra material will make collectors cringe. So why buy this show? Honestly, I can’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t a fan of old school anime. If you’re level of reference for anime is Pokemon, Naruto or any other of the number of ridiculous pocket book busting toy animes out there then you are not going to like this film. No, this is a niche piece reserved for those who appreciate anime like fine wine. This film reminds us of a time before spiky hair, pointy chins and CGI took over the animation universe. Like many works of the past, many of these older shows and films have been mishandled and ruined over the years, so release of this material in the fine quality we have here is going to be few and far between. For those of us who love this art form it’s important that we let those who own it know that, even though you won’t find the characters staring at you with their lifeless doll eyes from the pegboards of Toys R Us, we’re still out here and we still love them. Crappy anime has saturated and chocked the market in the US, so this is a perfect opportunity to get in the faces of the content owners and let them know we want the good stuff again.