Gunbuster, known in Japan as , is a Japanese OVA anime series produced by Bandai, Victor, and Gainax and released from 1988 to 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 plot inspired Gunbusters. To celebrate Gainax's 20th anniversary in 2004, 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. Plot In the future, a race of insectoid aliens, known as the Uchuu Kaijuu or Space Monsters , seem dedicated to the eradication of humans as the latter takes its first steps away from the Solar System, and they are getting closer and closer to Earth. Humanity has responded by developing space-going battleships and giant fighting robots. These complex robots—RX-7 Machine Weapons—are actually an advanced type of fighting suit, piloted by a single occupant. As advanced as they are, however, they are being used as trainers for a new weapon, the Gunbuster. Pilot candidates are selected from the best and brightest youth on Earth and the Lunar colony. These are trained at schools around the world. In the year 2023, six years after the first battles with the aliens (the actual battle started in the year 2015 however due to time dilation, two years went by on Earth by the end of the battle), and centers on young Noriko Takaya (タカヤ・ノリコ Takaya Noriko) (voice: Noriko Hidaka). Although Noriko's father was a famous admiral in the space fleet who went missing following one of the first battles of the war, her own talents as a pilot are questionable—especially when compared to the other students. Nonetheless, she has entered a training school on Okinawa, where she is largely influenced by her instructor, Kōichirō Ōta ("Coach Ōta") (voice: Norio Wakamoto), who was one of Admiral Takaya's crew. He has faith that she will overcome her early clumsiness, while other students are critical of her inability, referring to Noriko as the "daughter of defeat". Noriko idolizes the beautiful, competent and talented Kazumi Amano (アマノ・カズミ Amano Kazumi) (voice: Rei Sakuma). Amano is the top RX-7 pilot at the school, and likely the entire