Gunbuster is the first work directed by Hideko Anno of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame, and boy does it show. As one could probably guess from the title and accompanying picture, this series is about giant robots; specifically, giant robots piloted by teenagers fighting aliens. The star is Noriko Takaya, the daughter of an admiral who went missing in action during one of the first battles with these aliens; she is enrolled at an academy where she is training to pilot the giant robots used to defend the Earth, though her own abilities to pilot are in serious need of improvement. Nevertheless, she is determined to live up to both her father and her idol Kazumi Amano, easily the most skilled pilot at the school.
What follows is a six episode OVA with a heavy focus on the interactions between the characters and the nature of the technology used in the series. Like Amano's later work, there is a noticeable shift to more serious tones as the series goes on; while the initial episode is fairly light-hearted, things very quickly become considerably dire, and our heroine is presented with some very serious obstacles. Unfortunately, to talk any more about the contents of the series would spoil a significant amount given how short it is, so this is the most I can say without giving away any major plot details.
This is a series I can recommend to any sci-fi or just giant robot fans, and/or anyone who enjoyed either Neon Genesis Evangelion or other similar series with a lot of character exploration and some dark turns. While Gunbuster certainly shows its age at times and there are some parts that fall a bit flat, I'd say that it definitely still holds up in terms of quality and can very quickly pull the viewer in, especially if they've got a soft spot for cliched dialogue and some of the classic plot elements of giant robot anime.
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