On a reccomendation, I've just started to watch the first Gunbuster OVA, and I have to admit that I'm quite shocked. Aside from the frankly insane amount of fanservice, which I was expecting - after all, this is GAINAX, they have a reputation - I'm startled by the sheer amount of similarity of the start of the story, to the start of NGE in some ways. Before anyone starts to tell me this fact, I'm aware that NGE is similar to ALL 'giant fighting humanoids' series to a certain extent, dating back as far as MSG and probably much further that I'm only vaguely aware of. MSG seems to be the big one, of course, but the only other 'Fighting Robot' Show I can recall seeing myself that pre-dates MSG is a delightfully obscure anime called Gaiking, but that has little in common with more modern mecha anime, of which I'm not the most enormous fan.

Now I've not even finished viewing the first episode yet, so these are just some off-the-cuff remarks - more of a request for the thoughts of the more well-versed, than anything specific in the line of my own observations, but the specific things that struck me were the fact that an untrained pilot was chosen to attempt to pilot the Gunbuster, the fact that as far as I can tell. the Gunbuster seems to have been implied to be the first/only one of a kind, and the fact that the prospective pilot is about to be in the seat of it, largely due to their father. The fact that it is also a project involving Anno made me think... Would anyone care to comment on whether there are any major parallels between the two shows?

I haven't really seen much of it yet, so if you can comment without spoiling it too much, then that would be nice, but I'm not going to shed any tears if you do drop spoilers on me. After all, I did ask.

EDIT: Oh, one more similarity I almost forgot: The main character seems to love to whine.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 00:27 GMT

Does Gunbuster have angst or penguins or teenage masturbation?

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 01:00 GMT

Ark wrote:Does Gunbuster have angst or penguins or teenage masturbation?

I'll get back to you when I've seen all six. Not so far, and I'm at the half-way point in #02. Angst, yes, the other two no. Considering the only teenagers in the show are girls, I suspect that it may be considered somewhat more taboo to have them masturbate than it would to have a male character do so.

For some reason, large portions of society still seem to harbor the misconception that girls don't do that. I'll bet good money that they do.

There are a number of similarities in the way the type of mise-en-scene employed, in as far as that terminology can be aplied to anime, and also there is something extremely familiar about the fight scenes. Still, could be just my imagination. Perhaps you should try it, Ark. If you don't mind ATOMIC POWERED FANSERVICE... TO THE [size=24]MAXXXXX![/size] then it's quite a good laugh.

The fanservice really is over the top though. It's the kind of series where no breast is allowed to go unbounced.

Not my bag, in that department, but a good giggle none the less.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 01:08 GMT

I haven't seen the series, but from reading some info, the only similarity I a can see is a giant humanoid thing (in this case, a mecha)is being piloted, and Noriko wants to do it. But I could could wrong, seeing as you saw more of the similarities. It is from Gianax, and Anno was the director and a part of the screenplay staff, so I'm assuming he took some elements he liked from Gunbuster and applyed them to NGE. I would guess that the recent Gunbuster 2 OAV is not very similar to NGE at all, due to the fact that Anno was not a part of this production. But again, I could be wrong...

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 01:24 GMT

Soluzar wrote:For some reason, large portions of society still seem to harbor the misconception that girls don't do that. I'll bet good money that they do.

I don't think girls do it that much.

They really need to be fondled in order to get aroused.

Plus its a lot more difficult for them to do it to themselves.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 01:45 GMT

You should go into Gunbuster knowing that it is in fact a parody on the giant robot genre and it does go over-the-top on many factors, such as the fanservice and extremely over-powered mechanics (you'll even find that there's a Toren Smith-named character in the anime). And Anno being director, similarities are to be expected. He didn't write the story for Gunbuster, as he did for Eva, so other than directing styles, the similarities stop. It is intended to be a parody, but it is very uneven in that manner, as it starts off rather lighthearted and comical and quickly moved into a more serious mood (despite the exagerration of some things).

So other than things that are typical to mecha anime, which were purposely placed into Gunbuster, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find any major similarities between Gunbuster and Evangelion.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 02:09 GMT

Ark wrote:They really need to be fondled in order to get aroused.

Do we now? This is news to me.

Plus its a lot more difficult for them to do it to themselves.

If you have fingers, you can do it. It's not exactly rocket science.

I would say more, except it would be liable to fall into the realm of "too much info!!".

Regarding the taboo of female masturbation, it is featured in "Serial Experiments Lain" (however offscreen) and "Ebichu" (not too surprising, considering the scope of this particular anime...). Offhand, I can only remember two anime (besides EoE) featuring the male version, "Sakura Diaries" and "Maison Ikkoku". Don't watch hentai, so can't make any comments on that...

As I mentioned in the commentary for episode #02, Sachiel bashing EVA-01's eye is vaguely evocative of the schoolyard battle between Noriko and what's-her-face (the ugly one), even if the only real similarity is the underdog being suspended by the head during the opponent's attack.

One other sorta-similarity is SPOILER WARNING! (highlight to read) : [ at the end, Gunbuster is left floating in space, while the two lassies hot-foot it back to Earth via escape pod. Remind you of anything? ]

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 02:18 GMT

Reichu wrote:I would say more, except it would be liable to fall into the realm of "too much info!!".

Thank you, I was thinking of the "Go Hikari" thread when we already started talking about that sort of picticular subject matter, this early in a thread.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 02:23 GMT

I knew the female contingent of the board wouldn't keep quiet for that nonsense. Obviously I can't debunk the ridiculous tripe being spouted, since I'm :naughtyl: not in a position to have empirical evidence, but I was fairly certain, none the less.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 02:44 GMT

Magami No ER wrote:Thank you, I was thinking of the "Go Hikari" thread when we already started talking about that sort of picticular subject matter, this early in a thread.

"Thank you" for speaking on the behalf of board females, or "thank you" for not unveiling any more details than necessary?

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 04:07 GMT

^Both
_______

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 04:14 GMT

I don't really notice any similarities besides there both mecha. They seem like there made by two diffrent people. Same with his other work like Nadia(my favorite Anno anime) & Kare Kano.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 04:29 GMT

Levon wrote:I don't really notice any similarities besides there both mecha. They seem like there made by two diffrent people. Same with his other work like Nadia(my favorite Anno anime) & Kare Kano.

Yeah, but Levon, c'mon... you watch so many mecha anime that it's no surprise they all look the same to you. Dude, I might only post to the Eva boards, but I still read some of the other boards. You must watch every mecha anime going.

I can't claim to have seen Nadia, or Kare Kano, although Kare Kano is on my list of things to see... Personally I thought I noticed quite a few similarities in the sort of camera angles and types of animation, but it's possible, I admit, that they are just styles which are common to all mecha anime.

ObDisclaimer: Reichu, I know NGE isn't a mech anime, but it does still seem to fall into the Mecha Genre for the purpose of comparing visual styles...
I'm not accusing the girls of being robots here.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 05:21 GMT

Heh heh, no worries... After a while, complaining every time the term "mecha" was used in reference to the Evas or NGE got tiresome, so I don't bother anymore. It's more fun to impress the Evas' non-mechanical nature upon people with scary pictures.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 05:32 GMT

Reichu wrote:Heh heh, no worries... After a while, complaining every time the term "mecha" was used in reference to the Evas or NGE got tiresome, so I don't bother anymore. It's more fun to impress the Evas' non-mechanical nature upon people with scary pictures.

Plus I hope it doesn't bother you so much when you know darn well that it's me talking - I'm as firm of an advocate of the Evas as living creatures as you are - the term mecha is only used to indicate the myriad similarities in style between this series and MSG for example. How many people have pointed out that Amuro is the primordial ancestor of Shinji?

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 05:55 GMT

Not to get into another debate but there are other mecha anime(some even before EVA) that have living creature or a form of bio-machine used as its mecha. Such as Argento Soma, Aura Battler Dunbine, Zoids, & I think even Brainpowrd.

Soluzar wrote:Yeah, but Levon, c'mon... you watch so many mecha anime that it's no surprise they all look the same to you. Dude, I might only post to the Eva boards, but I still read some of the other boards. You must watch every mecha anime going.

Hey, there are some pretty original & diffrent mecha anime out there Zoids: Chaotic Century is one, I never seen any mecha anime like it. Highly underrated.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 14:57 GMT

Soluzar wrote:Considering the only teenagers in the show are girls, I suspect that it may be considered somewhat more taboo to have them masturbate than it would to have a male character do so.

For some reason, large portions of society still seem to harbor the misconception that girls don't do that. I'll bet good money that they do.

Serial Exeriments Lain, Layer 8 has the other masturbation scene in my anime collection. In that case it's a girl.

Originally posted on: 14-Jan-2005, 18:40 GMT

Beat you to it, Mr. Tines.

Originally posted on: 15-Jan-2005, 08:07 GMT

Levon wrote:Not to get into another debate but there are other mecha anime(some even before EVA) that have living creature or a form of bio-machine used as its mecha. Such as Argento Soma, Aura Battler Dunbine, Zoids, & I think even Brainpowrd.

I Can't speak for anyone else of course, but personally, I'd be fascinated to hear about the similarities and differences in the sub-genre of Bio-Mecha. It could prove interesting stuff for the Commentary that we're gradually working on. Care to post a thread? I can imagine that you would have all the requisite knowledge? Personally, that's something I would be interested by...
Hmm? Zoids are Bio-Mecha you say? I did not know that. I've only seen a couple of dozen Zoids episodes, and while I did enjoy them, I've not taken the trouble to find out more. I may have to remedy this fact. Somewhat, at any rate. I've no intentions of becoming a giant Zoids fan, 'cause the anime I am into eats up too much of my time/money already, but I would like to know more. Recomend a good weblinl?

Hey, there are some pretty original & diffrent mecha anime out there Zoids: Chaotic Century is one, I never seen any mecha anime like it. Highly underrated.

Well sure, that's not what I meant. I just meant that if you watch that many, then almost anything is going to seem derivative because you have all the elements from the vast number of them that you've seen in your head, and it will be hard for anything to seem original... The more anything you watch, the more derivative the rest appears.

Originally posted on: 15-Jan-2005, 01:15 GMT

I believe in Japan Zoids manga or something was called "the battle story of bio-machine Zoids".

Its pretty clear they are bio-machines in Chaotic Century, I'm not sure which one you saw though since it could have been Zoids Zero(). A good example might be when a Zoid dies & a characters gets so emotional, like when Van's Shield Liger dies or when Irvines Command Wolf is dieing & we see it in actual pain.

In Chaotic Century they can evole where they go into a coccon.
They have a heart(the Zoid core), once the heart is damaged the whole Zoid will turn to stone & die. The Zoid cores can be merged with other Zoid cores to create a whole new type of Zoid, but its very wrong since most of the time they fail & the Zoid cores dies. The Zoidian race created the Zoid cores with the Zoid Eve & created bio-machine Zoids with them but Zoidian's started using Zoids not as animals or pets anymore but as slaves & war machines and when they created the Death Saurer it doomed them all killing almost all of them. The Zoid went out of control like some demon taking revenge on its makers. Although not all this was proven in the show, lots are unclear since the show takes place LONG after those events & everyone on that planet doesn't know much about the past. Theres also the info about the Death Stinger but I won't get into that.

There are also Organoids(Note: "Organ"), which are little bio-machine dragon looking Zoids that can merge into a Zoid, they are very rare(I guess most were killed by the Death Saurer), they have a much more mind of there own.

I have MANY theories on all this but I guess that would be getting really off topic. Sorry abou that.

Originally posted on: 15-Jan-2005, 04:14 GMT