The Official Aim for the Top! Gunbuster Thread

[Gaijin]

I got the 3 shirts from HLJ. I ordered Large...and..they're...larger than a medium...but slightly smaller than a large...it's more large than medium. Works for me.

[Seven]

I watched the raw. It's not bad, though I doubt that there's anything to reddem it to you guys though.

Could someone PM me where to find the raw for episode 2? I can't seem to find it anywhere. It's been out for a bit and no one's fansubbed it yet?

[Mercurial Morpheus]

A fansub group just released the first episode of the renewal. Sounds like a nice chance to see it without USR's loose subs. They've already outright said that they'll pull it if Manga has a problem with it.

[Noriko Takaya]

A fansub group just released the first episode of the renewal. Sounds like a nice chance to see it without USR's loose subs. They've already outright said that they'll pull it if Manga has a problem with it.

Why should they bother? Manga has not shown any interest in doing anything with Gunbuster since they acquired the license. Hopefully, if there is any justice in this world, Gainax will pull it away from them and let Bandai release it here in North America. That's if they still even retain the license. If you look on Manga's site, they still have every anime series they've ever released listed (and I mean every one of them), but Aim for the Top! is nowhere to be found.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

True. Still, one can't blame them for the gesture. They themselves consider the title no longer available. Given general opinion on fansubbing what's considered licensed material, I feel it's a smart move at least. Chances are, Manga won't even bother. Heck, before ADV got the rights to it, there were rips of the Eva Renewal. Two actually, one fansubbed, the other with ADV's subs(which, sadly, was of higher quality). It wasn't until I saw these that I stopped badmouthing the renewal (all the pics I saw looked like they had barely done anything to it).

Still, it's nice to have the fansub for people who can't get ahold of the R2s or the old tapes. At least I can keep my USRs in good shape now. I even asked if they'll get around to the science lessions. They might eventually.

It would be great if Bandai got the license to it. While I rarely rebuy any of my VHS on DVD, if they were to put it out with new subs and the extra science lessions, I'd have to pick it up.

[Valkyrie]

Just got done watching the new fansub. It'd kinda ameture-ish, IMO, but it's quite commendable that they did their own translation from scratch! I'm almost surprised they didn't just steal my script

In watching their translation, I actually noticed a few spots where I need to fix the my scripts (if I ever get around to doing anything new with them, that is). So it was surprisingly accurate, most of the time. But the editing job seemed pretty rough to me, and that can easily kill an otherwise good translation.

Still though, I hope they sub the other 5 episodes too

[Mercurial Morpheus]

I'd actually never heard of this group until they released one of the Green Green character DVDs. They probably aren't the highest quality, but it can't be much worse than the old subs of the first volume.

I haven't had time to watch it myself. I've skipped through it though to check things out. I'm not sure I like Noriko being refered to as "Wipe Out Girl". If memory serves, the Literal Translation series translaed it as "Daughter of Defeat". That sounds a bit better to me. Still, at least they didn't skip over it like USR.

As for the remaster, it's a mixed bag. Some of the color depth seems to be lost. What's really glaring though is that some of the lines look rough. I don't know if the process they used to restore it caused them to look as such, or if they were always like that. A lot of shots seem smoothed out. Other shots didn't look as sharp as they could be. The white level also seems too high in some shots. It's like they over brightened it. It's kind of like my initial impressions of the Eva remaster. It had looked like they merely darkened the contrast, upped the brightness, and added a yellow tint (that's honestly what all the pics looked like). It would help if I had the original side by side for comparison, as the pic don't help too much. This just looks a tad too digital to me. I'll have to rewatch my tape then watch this to know for sure.

Edited March 8, 2005 by Mercurial Morpheus

[JELEINEN]

I'd actually never heard of this group until they released one of the Green Green character DVDs. They probably aren't the highest quality, but it can't be much worse than the old subs of the first volume.

I haven't had time to watch it myself. I've skipped through it though to check things out. I'm not sure I like Noriko being refered to as "Wipe Out Girl". If memory serves, the Literal Translation series translaed it as "Daughter of Defeat". That sounds a bit better to me. Still, at least they didn't skip over it like USR.

As for the remaster, it's a mixed bag. Some of the color depth seems to be lost. What's really glaring though is that some of the lines look rough. I don't know if the process they used to restore it caused them to look as such, or if they were always like that. A lot of shots seem smoothed out. Other shots didn't look as sharp as they could be. The white level also seems too high in some shots. It's like they over brightened it. It's kind of like my initial impressions of the Eva remaster. It had looked like they merely darkened the contrast, upped the brightness, and added a yellow tint (that's honestly what all the pics looked like). It would help if I had the original side by side for comparison, as the pic don't help too much. This just looks a tad too digital to me. I'll have to rewatch my tape then watch this to know for sure.

That sounds like a result of the encoding by the fansub group. My discs don't have those problems.

[Valkyrie]

I haven't had time to watch it myself. I've skipped through it though to check things out. I'm not sure I like Noriko being refered to as "Wipe Out Girl". If memory serves, the Literal Translation series translaed it as "Daughter of Defeat". That sounds a bit better to me. Still, at least they didn't skip over it like USR.

Yea, the "wipe out girl" lines are what I disliked most about the sub. Granted, it's not easy to come up with good-sounding translations for nicknames like "Zenmetsu Musume", but Daughter of Defeat is about the best you can do.

In the dialog, just before they refer to her as the Daughter of Defeat, one student says she's the daughter of the captain of the annihilated fleet. Thus, the Daughter of Defeat. Makes sense, right? "Wipe-Out Girl" just seems to come out of nowhere, leaving the viewers saying "what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Except for dorks like me, who already know almost all of the dialog verbatim

But all this reminds me... I've still gotta buy a copy of the DVD set.... which will mark the 4th time I'll have bought the series

[Noriko Takaya]

More or less this is my take on the matter regarding the "Daughter of Defeat" name, which I agree with also. I've been trying to rework Onizuka's text into something which would be more understandable to English speaking fans, but it has proven harder than usual. Valkyrie did the same thing, but I'm not sure if he ever completed episodes 5 and six. I just started three. The quoted below is more or less my take on the translation.

Student's voice: Unbelievable!

Kimiko: Look here.

Noriko: Oh this can’t be true.

Students: Look who got appointed. I’ve heard that her father was the admiral of the defeated fleet.

Students: Then she did take advantage of her connections?

Students: Of course. She would be silly not to have.

Students: The coach has always treated her differently. How did she make the time to fraternize with the coach? The "Daughter of Defeat" wants to be with Amano so badly, that she pulled every string!

Note: The students suspect that Noriko provided sexual favors to the coach. They surmise that this will greatly upset Kazumi Amano. Since her father's fleet suffered such a crushing military defeat, Noriko is called the “daughter of defeat” (zenmetsu musume = daughter of defeat).

There is also another time Noriko is called this name, during the fight between her and Kashiwara. I forget what the US Renditions version translated it to.

Kashiwara: I thought that you would have given up by now, but you haven’t! If you don't give up now, I’ll force you to quit! Here I come, Daughter of Defeat!

Noriko: (Reading her gauges) Distance 9.5 and 8.7… Ahh! Oh no!

Kashiwara: Running is the only thing that you can do! You’re not a fighter! You can’t even handle a fighting machine! Now why don’t you show everyone here how good you really are!

[Mercurial Morpheus]

They came up with "Wipe-out Girl" when they translated that one line as: "I heard her father was the admiral whose fleet was wiped out."

As for the encode, I could believe that some of it might affect how it looks, but I doubt it would affect the look of the lines as much. Like I said, I'll have to look at the original to know for sure. It just seems like a mixed bag, even more so than the Eva one.

I also joined their forum to ask a bit about the project. They're going to use the open-matte version of episode six.

Edited March 9, 2005 by Mercurial Morpheus

[JELEINEN]

They came up with "Wipe-out Girl" when they translated that one line as: "I heard her father was the admiral whose fleet was wiped out."

As for the encode, I could believe that some of it might affect how it looks, but I doubt it would affect the look of the lines as much. Like I said, I'll have to look at the original to know for sure. It just seems like a mixed bag, even more so than the Eva one.

I also joined their forum to ask a bit about the project. They're going to use the open-matte version of episode six.

As I said, I have the DVDs and I didn't notice the problem you mention.

They should use the letter boxed version as that was how it was intended to be from the beginning.

[Graham]

OK, the consensus seems to be that the new Gunbuster OVA sucks as a sequel to the original classic.

But how about if viewed as a standalone unrelated story and not as a direct sequel? Is it watchable or even dare I say it..........good?

Let's just say if you had never seen the original and watched the sequel first, would it make sense? And would you enjoy it more not having been spoiled by the original?

I've yet to watch episode 1, but screen shots of episode 2 in the recent issue of Hobby Japan magazine show plenty of T&A (including nipples) from the pink haired Mylene-lookalike character.

Graham

[JELEINEN]

OK, the consensus seems to be that the new Gunbuster OVA sucks as a sequel to the original classic.

But how about if viewed as a standalone unrelated story and not as a direct sequel? Is it watchable or even dare I say it..........good?

Let's just say if you had never seen the original and watched the sequel first, would it make sense? And would you enjoy it more not having been spoiled by the original?

I've yet to watch episode 1, but screen shots of episode 2 in the recent issue of Hobby Japan magazine show plenty of T&A (including nipples) from the pink haired Mylene-lookalike character.

Graham

I tried watching it from that perspective, I still thought it was garbage. It really just felt like a by the numbers story with unintersting designs and flat characters.

[Duke Togo]

OK, the consensus seems to be that the new Gunbuster OVA sucks as a sequel to the original classic.

But how about if viewed as a standalone unrelated story and not as a direct sequel? Is it watchable or even dare I say it..........good?

Let's just say if you had never seen the original and watched the sequel first, would it make sense? And would you enjoy it more not having been spoiled by the original?

I've yet to watch episode 1, but screen shots of episode 2 in the recent issue of Hobby Japan magazine show plenty of T&A (including nipples) from the pink haired Mylene-lookalike character.

Graham

The thing is, Graham, is that 2 is exactly what the original was, a homage piece to the 15 or so years of anime that proceeded it. It has everything we've seen come and go since the original came out, including Sailor Moon's talking cat. Its basically one big anime cliche. That's all it is mean to be. I think all of us were looking for a sequel to the original, when this is infact nothing more than a modren re-imaging.

I can't say whwether it is good or bad yet, I've only seen one episode. I'm waiting for the second to be subbed, and well, really waiting to see the entire thing before passing judgement. I gave Macross 7 50 episodes or whatever of whatching before declaring it crap, I can give Aim for the Top 2 a few more OVA's.

[wolfx]

OK, the consensus seems to be that the new Gunbuster OVA sucks as a sequel to the original classic.

But how about if viewed as a standalone unrelated story and not as a direct sequel? Is it watchable or even dare I say it..........good?

Let's just say if you had never seen the original and watched the sequel first, would it make sense? And would you enjoy it more not having been spoiled by the original?

I've yet to watch episode 1, but screen shots of episode 2 in the recent issue of Hobby Japan magazine show plenty of T&A (including nipples) from the pink haired Mylene-lookalike character.

Graham

I tried watching it from that perspective, I still thought it was garbage. It really just felt like a by the numbers story with unintersting designs and flat characters.

I heard the same comments from people who've only seen the 1st episode of the original Gunbuster OVA....and words eaten from 2nd episode onwards. I mean come on...what am I watching...about some girl in gym uniform trying to practice pushups with a robot?

I say give it a chance.

[JELEINEN]

Sorry, but the original had me with the opening monologue. It had a lot of depth from the get go. If the first episode sucks, why should I give it any more of a chance? The first episode is supposed to be the one that grabs my attention and make me want to watch more.

As for the parody/homage/deconstruction aspects, what worked so well in the first one is that A. it didn't limit itself to its own genre or medium (girls manga/anime, sports stories and old war movies ranked highly among sources), and B. that it wasn't just a parody/homage anime, but used elements from its sources to be something more. Itis a synthesis of those elements, such that a lot of people watch it without realizing that the parody/homage elements are present and enjoy it just as much as those of us who are very aware do.

[wolfx]

That's you, but I still recommend Graham to watch it through.

After all...old fanboys like us find it hard to accept change.

[Seven]

OK, the consensus seems to be that the new Gunbuster OVA sucks as a sequel to the original classic.

But how about if viewed as a standalone unrelated story and not as a direct sequel? Is it watchable or even dare I say it..........good?

Let's just say if you had never seen the original and watched the sequel first, would it make sense? And would you enjoy it more not having been spoiled by the original?

I've yet to watch episode 1, but screen shots of episode 2 in the recent issue of Hobby Japan magazine show plenty of T&A (including nipples) from the pink haired Mylene-lookalike character.

Graham

I liked it and I'm willing to give it a chance before slamming on it. I'm a big fan of the original and I can accept the sequel for what it is. I could see someone saying that the analogy might be the difference between the original Macross and Macross 7. One thing that is impressing me is the quality of the animation. The character designs are a mixed bag, but that's what the director's intent was when he wanted to use FLCL as a sort of template. I'd take this Gainax production over the usual generic anime that is uninspired.

Who cares what the consensus thinks - watch it for yourself and make your own decision.

[Graham]

Oh I never follow the consensus and always try things for myself anyway. I'm planning to give the sequel a try no matter what other people say.

I was just curious were people criticising the sequel because they thought it was genuinly bad or just beacuse it didn't live up to the original?

Graham

[areaseven]

That's you, but I still recommend Graham to watch it through.

Yeah, but not without a bottle of vodka, because it ain't worth watching sober.

[areaseven]

I was just curious; were people criticising the sequel because they thought it was genuinely bad, or just beacuse it didn't live up to the original?

Graham

My review may have others believing that I thought it didn't live up to the original, but I'm with JELENIEN in saying that by itself, Die Buster sucks.

[Duke Togo]

I was just curious were people criticising the sequel because they thought it was genuinly bad or just beacuse it didn't live up to the original?

Graham

Its because its not a sequel. We all wanted one, and what we got instead was Aim for the Top "2005". Once again, I think its too early to say whether it is good or bad.

[Fort Max]

I thought it was very good, the characters aren't the best but it had some very cool sequences.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

I side with Duke Togo, it's still a tad early to declare it crap. I want to see where they take it first.

Episode 2 of the Renewal's been released. I'll have to check it out. It could be that I'm just seeing things you don't notice JELEINEN. People percieve things differently after all. What's perfect to you could be too bright in my book. I've yet to put it on my Loewe, so I'm going by my laptop's monitor. Maybe when they finish releasing it, I'll do a marathon, and then decide if the renewals worth my time.

As for them releasing the open-matte version, I too am a OAR advocate. However, since I already have episode six in it's widescreen glory, I look forward to seeing it open-matte.

Edited March 10, 2005 by Mercurial Morpheus

[Seven]

Oh I never follow the consensus and always try things for myself anyway. I'm planning to give the sequel a try no matter what other people say.

I was just curious were people criticising the sequel because they thought it was genuinly bad or just beacuse it didn't live up to the original?

Graham

I think there was a lot of heavy handed snap judgments that it sucked royally from people that watched one episode. But if you were to watch the first episode of the first Gunbuster and base your criticism on that episode alone, you would miss out on the greatness that followed.

There were also people that felt that it was too much of a departure from the first one. I empathize with that and did feel let down in all honesty. However, I guess the only thing that got me to keep watching was that it was a Gainax production and animation out of that studio is still leaps and bounds above most other anime except for Ghibli stuff. I guess I just put it out of my mind that it is related in any way to Noriko and her story and think of it more as a "re-imagining" of the Gunbuster story. Noriko and Kazumi's story is more personal in a way, and this Gunbuster feels more about flash rather than any semblance of a personal story.

[Dangard Ace]

Not just episode 2 but extras 1-3 are subbed. So sweet. I'll have to pick up a set from CDjapan in a few months.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Still waiting for the "lost" science lession.

[Noriko Takaya]

While we are on the topic of the fansubbing of the new remasters, here is an image spread from one of the mini-stories included as an extra on each DVD. These are from the climactic battle near Halley's Comet, heralding the arrival of the Gunbuster into the combat zone. Sorry for the image quality, but I wanted to show as many as possible. You will be able to see them on my site when I get them uploaded.

[JELEINEN]

Still waiting for the "lost" science lession.

You mean the ones they did for the anniversary LD set? Those are in the new set, but for whatever reason, they didn't get remastered with everything else.

[Seven]

While we are on the topic of the fansubbing of the new remasters, here is an image spread from one of the mini-stories included as an extra on each DVD. These are from the climactic battle near Halley's Comet, heralding the arrival of the Gunbuster into the combat zone. Sorry for the image quality, but I wanted to show as many as possible. You will be able to see them on my site when I get them uploaded.

Those are some awesome images! I've never even seen the Cosmo Attackers in action before. So are these conceptual storyboards or something like that that never made it into the actual productions?

[Noriko Takaya]

Those are some awesome images! I've never even seen the Cosmo Attackers in action before. So are these conceptual storyboards or something like that that never made it into the actual productions?

To be honest with you, I do not know if these were made for this release or if they were produced for one of the video games in the past. If someone knows, please share the info. The animation, especially for the mini movie featuring the creation of the Sizzler, looks to be CGI. There are 3 mini movies, and they run for a toal of about 90 seconds each. The first movie shows a small competition between RX-7 Machine Weapons at the Okinawa School, and the third movie shows Jung's involvement in the development of the Sizzler.

God, I really hope to hell that this DVD set is professionally translated here in North America as Gainax really went out of their way to make this show look good. But with the way things are looking I may as well be spitting into the wind...

[Graham]

But with the way things are looking I may as well be spitting into the wind...

To be sung to the tune of Dylan's 'Blowing In The Wind'

[JELEINEN]

God, I really hope to hell that this DVD set is professionally translated here in North America as Gainax really went out of their way to make this show look good. But with the way things are looking I may as well be spitting into the wind...

Knowing Mangle, they'll just do their typical VHS dump.

[Graham]

It's years since I last watched Gunbuster, so what the heck is a "Sizzler"?

Sounds like the name of a sausage!

Graham