Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Heavycloud02
Recently, on a whim, I did a re-watch of this for the first time in many years. I was first surprised to see how well this anime holds up over 20 years later. It hardly felt dated at all and feels the most fresh out of maybe all of the stuff Gainax created. The second thing that surprised me was how low the score is for this 6 episode gem so I thought I'd write a review for it. (I'll be referring to this OVA as Diebuster and the original as Gunbuster)
The animation style, quality, fluidity, character/mecha designs, soundtrack, and even the story telling in Diebuster all top tier here. Some other reviews have said the story is somehow hard to follow but I'm not exactly sure where that is the case. I'd describe this OVA as a work of art, something I'd say about preciously few other anime. I…
Read at the sourcerooster_
If Gunbuster announced the birth of Gainax, Diebuster does the same for Trigger, although the studio wouldn't actually exist until years later. It revisits the story of hope and determination of Gunbuster and rephrases it for a new generation. It doesn't have a lot of new things to say, but it's savvy in its reuse of Gunbuster's most iconic gestures and moments, and has a very touching ending. More to the point, it's exemplary of the visual language that Trigger would later become known for, with its squiggly character designs and sensory-overload action scenes ocurring at mind-boggling, cosmic scale. It's a great example of a show that increases exponentially in scale with every episode. In a way it feels more like a celebration of Gunbuster than its own thing, but it's also a ton of fun,…
Read at the sourceSp1cyCrab
Didn't like the first one, don't like the second one too.
For a show purely about spectacle that doesn't want you to think (the enemy alien race is just called Space Monsters) it does like to talk and explain a lot. It's slightly less horny than Gunbuster (but still unnecessary so). It doesn't pretend to be Real Robot, what you see in the first episode is what you get.
Nono is a more enjoyable protagonist than Noriko. She is endearing, clumsy but full of conviction. The animation in general is great and CGI robots are ok.
It suffers the same issue: it doesn't know what its trying to say. There are cool concepts here and there that don't have time to be explored.
As others reviewers said, Diebuster is so different from the original, that if you like Gunbuster you probably won't like Die…
Read at the sourceHalalex
I’m not going to pretend like the plot of DieBuster isn’t complete and utter nonsense, but goddamnit I still love it. Just like GunBuster before it, this show embodies many of the qualities that made their respective eras of anime so unique and recognizable and turns them up to 11, making for an exceptionally enjoyable show if you’re into that kind of stuff.
Boasting the now iconic style of modern Gainax, DieBuster’s world is angular, stylish, energetic, and most importantly fun. The protagonist that is Nono exudes exactly the kind of charming stupidity you’d expect from the “lovable clutz”-stereotype, and she absolutely carries the show alongside its audiovisual presentation. And while I can’t say much about the rest of the cast of characters, their designs are kind of neat at least, mu…
Read at the sourceYamaGucci_g00n3y
To sum it up, this anime is essentially Evangelion and FLCL combined into a cesspool of GAINAX cliches.
By no means is this OVA necessarily bad, but it feels contrived. GAINAX plots are notorious for being indecipherable, and unsurprisingly, this show's plot is overly elliptical in its pacing, pun intended. It does have a cohesive plot once you do some brainstorming, but like I said, there's hardly time for most viewers to weigh in to connect the dots. I found myself pausing time again to grasp what was happening.
I feel like there's always an effort on part of GAINAX loyalists to read too far into the studio's plots -- like they do so for EVA and FLCL. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love EVA, and I really enjoyed FLCL. However, it was admitted that Evangelion used religious symbolis…
Read at the sourceredhairbanchou
Diebuster is also known as Gunbuster 2 - positioning itself as a sequel to the 1988 OVA series, Gunbuster, Gainax's first big hit. Indeed, it was produced as a 15th anniversary project for that series. Expect spoilers for Gunbuster - you should watch that first (it's better, anyway) - as well as minor spoilers for Diebuster itself.
Story (4/10): Set about a decade before the last scene of episode 6 of Gunbuster (and thus some 12,000 years after episode 1), Diebuster follows a robot with a profound connection to a character from Gunbuster (if you've seen that, you will know immediately who this is); more on this in the Characters section. The long and short of it is that it's not great. Diebuster fails at one of the guiding principles of storytelling - show, don't tell. I'd wager a good 30…
Read at the sourceB3r1x
Top wo Nerae 2! or Diebuster, or Gunbuster 2, or Reach for the Top 2! is a mid 2000s mecha anime by Studio Gainax, well known for producing Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and also other shows which I haven't seen.
I have however seen Gunbuster, and it was better than Diebuster.
That's the entire review. Watch Gunbuster instead.
Kidding.
Diebuster is a very average mecha anime, at least in my eyes. Let's start with the good. The art has some very good moments, especially in the later episodes, though character designs fall a little flat for me.
Sound is fine- nothing is especially memorable, and the OP and ending are... fine?
When we get to character and plot, that's where things start to fall apart for me. Plot-wise, this does not feel like a sequel to Gunbuster…
Read at the sourceRiilu
A really bad sequel to a really great show.
Story makes little sense, found myself lost as to what was happening. The fanservice nudity was distracting and very in-your-face. Just seems like an extreme fanservice romp for cumbrained otaku. First 3 episodes are nothing but trash, 4-6 is a little better but not by much.
It's just space magic and absurd spectacle with squealing obnoxious girls who must have an allergy to clothes. Tries desperately to wring some tears out of gunbuster fans by hitting you with "At the end of the river of time" but ultimately fails to have any real emotional impact due to underdeveloped characters and nonsense story where stuff just "happens".
If you liked Gunbuster it's not worth watching Diebuster.
Read at the sourcett5
DieBuster is the continuation of GunBuster but will set place a lot later than the ending of DieBuster.
It is much more straight forward by telling mostly the exact same story as GunBuster in the core, just with modern storytelling, Art and music. And for me this blows GunBuster out of the park.
In my opinion a remake of an old show does not lower the value of it. Especially if its anime as most if it is anyway made from another source like Manga or book.
One might say the easier understanding storytelling is something lost, but for me a good show has a core story that will entertain everyone. Then it can offer a second layer of more in depth meaning which you can then dive into with re-watching.
For me it was very entertaining and because of it I took a rewatch of it because I wanted…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
Diebuster serves as a sequel to Gainax’s classic mecha series, Gunbuster, that is set thousands of years following the events of Gunbuster. Focused on a seemingly clutzy teenage girl named Nono, she aspires to become a space pilot and comes to idolize Lal’C Mellk Mal, a girl around Nono’s age who is the pilot of the Buster Machine mecha known as Dix-Neuf. Lal’C is part of the Fraternity, a group of teen mecha pilots called Topless who each have their own Buster Machines used to combat a mysterious space monster threatening humanity’s expansion into space. As Nono interacts with Lal’C and the Fraternity, she comes to realize some truths about herself that make her realize she isn’t an ordinary girl.
Suppose one thing I should get out of the way with covering Diebuster is the many nods it m…
Read at the sourceOriotiar
It failed as a sequel to a failure... that some talent.
Joke aside it's really bad, on the same level as the original Gunbuster but unlike the original, it's not even so bad it's good, it's just bad.
But well let's be positive for an instant where does it work:
- the main character Nono she is likable and fun, cliché without a doubt but it works well nonetheless. She can be a little annoying in the latter part of the show but it's okay. And a way better MC than the original Gunbuster.
- the art isn't bad and some parts like space monster and environments look quite good, the CG also well handles.
Well, that's it for the good part, now where does it fail.
First, as a sequel, it got nothing to do with the original save for some names and locations. The original Gunbuster, while it could be…
Read at the sourcekairinanami
I personally really enjoyed watching Top wo Nerae 2!( or otherwise called Diebuster in english ). I've been meaning to watch Diebuster for awhile but it wasn't until this year's Anime Watching Challenge on My Anime List in which I gave myself the chance to watch this show, and I'm really glad that I did.
To give out my thoughts semi-orderly I guess I'll go by the ratings I gave for it by category, first off the Story. WOW, there was a lot of twists, around episodes 3 and 4 it started to feel a little formulaic but by episode 5 that DEFINITELY was not the case. The beginning of Diebuster was pretty interesting too helping create a bit more of a gritty atmosphere with Nono being the outlier in the whole galaxy. Though it's really easy to tell just by the synopsis on Diebuster and by my prev…
Read at the sourceActar
Diebuster (Gunbuster/Aim for the Top 2) is the perfect sequel anime. In this age of unnecessary sequels that capitalize on the original for the sake of nostalgia-baiting its fanbase, Diebuster 2 is both an oasis in the desert and a masterclass in how to do a sequel right.
So many people say that Diebuster can't beat the original and I agree. It doesn't beat it. It embraces it. It elevates it. It champions it. And that's why I personally think Diebuster is one of the best anime sequels out there. It succeeds precisely because the original was already so amazing. To say that one is better than the other is simply doing both a disservice.
To elaborate, Diebuster expertly expands on the mythos of the original series while being 100% respectful to the original material. The older characters d…
Read at the sourceCodeBlazeFate
Some things need to stand alone.
Sequels are a gamble, especially when the time gap between original and sequel grows and grows. They tend to be put under more scrutiny than their predecessors, as they not only have to deal with standing tall as installments in their own right, but they need to provide merit as a sequel to a product that never needed one. The trickiest prospect involved is the anniversary sequel, as that is where you’re most likely to enact the gambit. Some projects of this nature can pay off in a way that respects the original and becomes its own product, perhaps even succeeding it in the process. However, not everyone can do a Turn A Gundam, and instead, some make Diebuster.
Put it simply, it fails both ways. As a series, it features mediocre at best and largely uninte…
Read at the sourcePyramidSinger
Long story short: Another series with amazing animation, action, and visual design tainted by Gainax being Gainax. This series would be a solid 8 or even a 9, but the bare-bones plot, mostly forgettable characters, absurd plethora of fanservice and uncomfortable exploitation of the female lead leave a sour taste in your mouth. Otherwise this could have been the best thing Gainax ever did. In some ways it's much better than Gunbuster but in others even more frustrating.
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Story: As I said, it's pretty bare plot. Nono wants to become a space pilot because her hero was one. She meets Lal'C, a "Topless" who has a psychic connection to a Buster Machine, and immediately forms a bond with her for reasons that are somewhat lost on me. The rest of the series is mainly a bunch of teen…
Read at the sourceroundbeats
I am going to outline some of the objective qualities of the anime first, this being an anime with strong individual components and assets. There is great care and detail in drawing and giving life to the cities, mechs, and characters in this ova series. From the rural countryside where the story starts and Nono's first exposure to the city drawn with such expertise that it is sure to stimulate the imagination.
But Diebuster is not just pretty to look at, no, it has an over the top scale of mecha battling that is rarely seen elsewhere. The animation is A++ From the first fight from Lal'c to the (literally) planetary scale battles that take place later in the series. The detail and time given to the characters is key to the feeling of depth and massive scale. And this to some degree, coul…
Read at the sourceBig-Boss_X
Story (9/10):
Dispite being a sequel to Gunbuster and sharing the same universe (a few thousand of years later), Diebuster is an entirely different anime. Yes it's still a space/mecha anime like it's predecessor but it got an different feel to it. The first half of the show have some goofiness to it and will feel a little more comedic and after a great plot twist the show take a more serious turn leading to a good conclusion.
Like it's predecessor friendship is a big part of the driving force behind the characters leading them to the actions that move the story up.
Characters (9/10):
The MC is a lovable klutz that is easy to like. Her actions despite being goofy on the outside actually Stems from deep emotions she was one of the main reasons i liked the show.
Characters in general were re…
Read at the sourceGentleman_Snark
So despite the massive animation and ost improvements, is Diebuster better than Gunbuster? Well… Yes, but not without it’s drawbacks. I noticed while watching Diebuster, that my enjoyment was a LOT higher than when I watched Gunbuster. I soon realized that this was because the visuals were are a lot better and not as grating to watch. However, if you take away Diebuster’s improved animation, that’s the main thing it has. Even while I was watching Diebuster I still had questions, and found that much of the plot direction was confusing as hell. Only reason I didn’t object much was the fact the animation made the Mecha battles so much more pleasing to watch. For starters, Gunbuster stressed how in space, time moves differently, but in Diebuster that concept is almost never addressed except fo…
Read at the sourceFear_the_Reefer
Out of all the fears that lurk in the back of our minds, there are some that are obvious... From spiders, darkness and the unknown to more everyday occurrences like violence, death, and the constant threat of insectoid invaders from outer space. But there’s one fear that people often overlook, and it’s one that can completely consume your life... The fear of absolute solitude. Not having a past, not having a future, just being alone, with nobody to look out for you but yourself. For some people, this wouldn’t be so bad... After all, as it’s been said, there’s no feeling freer than having nothing left to lose. But to Nono, a spunky girl surviving by the skin of her teeth on the planet Mars, there’s nothing cool or ideal about it. Having spent an unknown and potentially unfathomable amount o…
Read at the sourceNotenSMSK
Top wo Nerae 2! Diebuster is a hard anime to review. Basically because it is hard to analyse it without comparing it to its prequel. However: that isn't wrong, considering it IS a sequel and it does connect with the original OVA. Furthermore, it tries to conclude with various references to Gunbuster so rather it would be futile to look at it as a stand alone work and it couldn't be appreciated without the comparison either.
Having said that - the story of Top wo Nerae 2! Diebuster isn't sublime. For one, it lets go of the realistic, more scientifically organized orientation that the first OVA set and picks up a rather far fetched fictional approach. That is mainly a neg as a sequel. Pushing technology ahead is one thing, but just coming up with ideas that seem to be written at a drinking…
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