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The Aim for the Top! Gunbuster Thread v2.0


Noriko Takaya

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Though the dvds for Diebuster are more expensive than ordinary dvd releases, I still think its a better deal than the original Japanese release because the japanese pay more for their dvds and with only one episode on a disc. I usually pay more for my anime dvds anyway because many titles are not available in the UK so I import from Japan, Hong Kong and the USA. My Diebuster dvd cost about £22, thats about $40 I think.

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How much did it end-up setting you back? I heard that they were seriously over priced. And it's only 2 episodes right?

$26 presale, $39.99 MSRP. A bit more than your average disc, but worth it if you're up for it.

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From the Anime News Network:

Gunbuster vs. Diebuster Licensed by Bandai Visual USA

Bandai Visual USA announced at FanimeCon 2007 that it has licensed the Gunbuster vs. Diebuster: Aim for the Top Gattai Movie for release in North America. The 2006 movie "combines" (the English translation for the Japanese word gattai) elements from the original 1988 Gunbuster: Aim for the Top! space adventure video series with the 2004 Gunbuster 2 video series. Both video series had been licensed by Bandai Visual USA.

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Well, I finally got my copy of Gunbuster on DVD. The good news is that it only cost me $39.00 (+$3.95 shipping/handling). The bad news is that the seller, digitaleyesdvd (a.k.a. DVD Planet), is severely incompetent. I ordered my DVD through eBay on May 10. As stated on their auction, they ship within 1-2 business days upon receiving payment. It took them over three weeks to ship my DVD!

Anyway, I've gone through discs 1-2, and I must say that despite the controversial BGM swap on episode 1, watching Gunbuster on DVD brings me back to my college days when I first bought the series on VHS. The remastering brings out more vibrant colors and excellent sound. And even after watching the series hundreds of times, I noticed numerous background details on the DVD version I had never seen before.

Now I'm off to watch disc 3. If you haven't gotten your copy yet, go buy it now. Just don't order it from DVD Planet...

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The Gunbuster vs. Diebuster license was actually announced at ALA. I know, as I asked about it. You've got to love how ANN ignores their own news (like the reviewer of the DVD set first hearing about the BGM change in the thread for their review, despite said ALA news ^_^).

The BOME Norikos showed up on Saturday at Fanime. Since I have one in the mail, I held off. My friend got a second one and had Yamaga sign it. I got my R0 set signed (I got a ton of questions as to where the heck did it come from), as well as my HG Macross box (now signed by Ishiguro, Yamaga, and Iijima). So it was a good con Gunbuster wise (though it will be some time before I get over missing out on a 1/48 Skull One for 40 bucks).

Speaking of Yamaga, here's some more interesting news from Fanime. I asked at his panel, and he had no knowledge of the music change. I was the first he'd heard of it. He even conferred with someone in the back of the room to confirm it. So if anyone in Gainax was consulted, like BV claims, it would've had to have been just Anno. I still can't entirely see him approving it, but maybe he didn't care.

His opinion was one of, "these things happen." Though he has two reactions. On a professional level, it doesn't bother him. Kind of a "I've moved on" thing to keep from being frustrated by one release. On a fan level, he understands my position. He likened it to sound changes Tomino made in Gundam. As a fan of Gundam, Yamaga hated what he did.

So, while it doesn't bother him, he understands why it would be a big deal to others. So i appreciate his response.

I have the whole thing video taped, but have no way of uploading it at this time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay finally got the DVD release...

I have to say the BGM swap did irk me... and not just because I missed the original music the theme they did use is so ingrained in me for other purposes after years of playing SRW games and of course the Gunbuster PS2 game it just feels out of place there.

Really the only industry person I'd want to know the opinion of on this is Tanaka Kouhei, how does he feel? I remeber in the Sakura Taisen OVA2 interview he said sometimes it's embarassing how they arrange his stuff for anime when he dosn't know for sure how the music is going to be used... So I want to know if he finds that embarassing.

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Anybody else disappointed with the DVD release of Gunbuster 2? Bummer that they only included 2 episodes. Talk about milking a series.

You know it's funny when people say something like this, considering in Japan they release 1 episode per a disc (sometimes two) usually and it costs a lot more money then what the whole collection will cost here. We've got it easy.

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True but consider that the average TV series is released with 4-6 episodes per disk or that the average movie has 2-3 hours of footage all for the low release date price of $15.

I feel sorry for the Japanese having to pay the prices there. Their prices are truly nuts.

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Macross Plus was 2 episodes a disc. Blue 6 was 1 episode a disc. FLCL was 2 episodes a disc, Yukikaze was 2, 2, 1 episodes per disc, etc. OVA's are more expensive, especially when they're newer ones. As such, they get sold with fewer episodes per disc. As was already said, be glad it wasn't released like it was in Japan, at 1 episode a disc, which is pretty much the norm with OVA's over there.

When you look at the awesome audio/video quality you're getting with Diebuster, you can see where all that extra space is going.

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Macross Plus was 2 episodes a disc. Blue 6 was 1 episode a disc. FLCL was 2 episodes a disc, Yukikaze was 2, 2, 1 episodes per disc, etc. OVA's are more expensive, especially when they're newer ones. As such, they get sold with fewer episodes per disc. As was already said, be glad it wasn't released like it was in Japan, at 1 episode a disc, which is pretty much the norm with OVA's over there.

When you look at the awesome audio/video quality you're getting with Diebuster, you can see where all that extra space is going.

Actually the audio and video quality isn't better than any other anime out there. Actually I'd consider it worse since they didn't even try a dub. Don't get me wrong...I like the subs but sometimes its nice having a dub also if its well done. I like to sometime have anime on when I'm trying to fall asleep. Dubs are handy for this.

All things considered I think they cheaped out bigtime. Nothing special other than the fact that its Gunbuster 2. The same could really be said for the Gunbuster realeases. Nothing about them was overly impressive. Personally I have a rip that was better quality overall then the Gunbuster US release.

Too bad Bandai or somebody good couldn't have picked up this franchise.

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Um, no. The Video & audio quality is significantly better than most DVD's you find in the U.S. period. Diebuster has a very high quality encode. The lack of a dub only serves to help in that there was that much extra space for higher quality audio/video.

To say there's nothing special about it is just flat out ignorant.

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I noticed in the subtitles in DieBuster they used the word "MOE" a few times, I'm not sure what this word means? Is it a word Americans use?

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To say there's nothing special about it is just flat out ignorant.

IMHO, I still think there is nothing special about Diebuster. I've rewatched this show at least twice, and have given the American release a chance after borrowing the DVD from my best friend's daughter. All in all, while it does have its moments, it is a mediocre anime series, does not live up to the original, and I still say it stinks.

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IMHO, I still think there is nothing special about Diebuster. I've rewatched this show at least twice, and have given the American release a chance after borrowing the DVD from my best friend's daughter. All in all, while it does have its moments, it is a mediocre anime series, does not live up to the original, and I still say it stinks.

I don't know about you, but i thought the soundtrack was great, but the animation style was wacky.

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Um, no. The Video & audio quality is significantly better than most DVD's you find in the U.S. period. Diebuster has a very high quality encode. The lack of a dub only serves to help in that there was that much extra space for higher quality audio/video.

To say there's nothing special about it is just flat out ignorant.

Actually if I recall correctly neither the first or second disc were much over 5GB. That's a whopping 3GB they could have used on making a dub. Additionally the video quality on my 42 inch plasma using an upsampling DVD player is still no better than the majority anime I have. No better looking than evangelion platinum, or macross plus, or even your run of the mill episode of ghost in the shell. None of those cheaped out. Frankly, the small differences in encode don't amount to a hill of bean if it isn't percevable by the human eye. Yeah maybe Gunbuster 2 had a higher production quality in its original creation than but its not enough to make their cheaping out worth it.

Personally, I like the series but this is a crap release. My downloaded versions run through my laptop into my plasma look just as good. Save your dollars and just run your torrent version through a good HD quality vid card or DVD player. I'll be buying the rest of this but I won't be purchasing another series from this crap company.

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IMHO, I still think there is nothing special about Diebuster. I've rewatched this show at least twice, and have given the American release a chance after borrowing the DVD from my best friend's daughter. All in all, while it does have its moments, it is a mediocre anime series, does not live up to the original, and I still say it stinks.

Psst, I was talking about the technical quality of the release, not the show itself :) Though I dissagree with you on the show's merits, that's a whole other matter.

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Actually if I recall correctly neither the first or second disc were much over 5GB. That's a whopping 3GB they could have used on making a dub. Additionally the video quality on my 42 inch plasma using an upsampling DVD player is still no better than the majority anime I have. No better looking than evangelion platinum, or macross plus, or even your run of the mill episode of ghost in the shell. None of those cheaped out. Frankly, the small differences in encode don't amount to a hill of bean if it isn't percevable by the human eye. Yeah maybe Gunbuster 2 had a higher production quality in its original creation than but its not enough to make their cheaping out worth it.

Personally, I like the series but this is a crap release. My downloaded versions run through my laptop into my plasma look just as good. Save your dollars and just run your torrent version through a good HD quality vid card or DVD player. I'll be buying the rest of this but I won't be purchasing another series from this crap company.

You lost me with Macross Plus, the OVA disc's were encoded way too dark, and the ME disc was an assload of VHS transfer. There are lightyears of difference between those & this. EVA platinum however would be a much fairer comparison, considering that went through Gainax's remastering process.

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I don't know about you, but i thought the soundtrack was great, but the animation style was wacky.

Music is the one thing I liked about Aim for the Top! 2, cause it was again done by Tanaka Kohei who did both Aim For the Top! and my favorite video game franchise Sakura Taisen (and a lot of other great shows like Gundam 08th MS Team).

So, yeah I'd agree with you there.

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Psst, I was talking about the technical quality of the release, not the show itself :) Though I dissagree with you on the show's merits, that's a whole other matter.

Yeah, I know you were talking about the technical merits, but your reply also fit my statement in a way. I'm not debunking your liking the series either, but I guess I'm too old school now to not like some of the newer anime titles coming out and I really do give them a try, so it's not like I'm saying it stinks without actually watching it. However, this is a bit perplexing, but I do own a mini figure of Nono. Maybe someday I'll like Diebuster, but just not right now.

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However, this is a bit perplexing, but I do own a mini figure of Nono.

I remember an old, and very true, saying, "It's impossible to hate all of something, as well as to like all of something." So it's not too weird to have a Nono figure even if you dislike the series. I have a few Gundam SEED figures, and I've barely watched the series.

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You know it's funny when people say something like this, considering in Japan they release 1 episode per a disc (sometimes two) usually and it costs a lot more money then what the whole collection will cost here. We've got it easy.

I love these sympathy arguments! :D PST! Nothing stopping them from buying the english release and watching the native versions. ;)

I love GB and DB but the prices are outrageous for the lack of localization dubbing. Box set only purchase when both of them hit the bargin bin.

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