At long last, the complete "Buster Machine Saga" flies out to theaters on the 20 year anniversary of Gainax! The project reworks Gunbuster and its sequel Gunbuster 2 into a theatrical version with each film running approximately 90 minutes each. This grand saga traverses across galaxies, moving through the time and space of not only the stories involved but in reality as well; bringing together a film that is sure to impress its audience like never before.

In 1988, Gunbuster made a brilliant entrance into the OVA (Original Video Animation) scene. It marked the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, who would later bring Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) to the world and produced by Gainax, the creative studio that changed history the year before with its theatrical movie Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga), containing thoroughly thought out and highly detailed animation.

Haruhiko Mikimoto and Kazutaka Miyatake, whose combined talents made The Super Dimension Fortress Macross into a hit, have once again captured the hearts of anime fans: This time with Gunbuster. Mikimoto, famous for his beautiful young girl characters, handled character design for this project, and Studio Nue’s Miyatake was responsible for mechanical design. The movie also featured a host of creative contributors who would go on to produce other groundbreaking works: storyboard and setting by Shinji Higuchi (the director of Lorelei), robot design by Koichi Ohata (the director of Burst Angel), and setting and ending illustrations by Mahiro Maeda (the director of Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo). Gunbuster can truly be called an “all-out battle of ability”.

Gunbuster starts out with strong undertones of parody, but as the story progresses, its scale rapidly takes off. Even the setting goes from a small girls’ high school in Okinawa to the grandeur of the entire galaxy as the story becomes more impassioned. Having the theatrical version on the big screen brings out details that may have been indistinct or blurred on video, ensuring that viewers don’t miss any of the mind-boggling excitement. The last scene especially, which unfolds over space and time everlasting, is sure to move and bring the audience to tears in the way that only science fiction can.

Time passed, and the real world entered the 21st century. In 2004, the sequel to Gunbuster, anxiously awaited for over ten years, makes its appearance. That sequel is named Gunbuster 2, and it’s another six-episode OVA series.

Original planning and direction of Gunbuster 2 was performed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, the much-talked-about director of FLCL, in which he showcased new-age anime imbued with his own radical sensibilities. The script is by Yoji Enokido, who worked superbly well with director Tsurumaki on FLCL. Character design is by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who was in charge of character design for Neon Genesis Evangelion, and who was on the staff of Gunbuster as well. Gunbuster 2 also features an assembly of leading “visualists,” with “future visuals” by okama (Himawari!), Buster Machine design by Yoshitsune Izuna (Gad Guard), and mechanical design by Junya Ishigaki (Fullmetal Alchemist). The on-screen images give the impression of innovation over the visuals of Gunbuster, and succeeded in securing new fans for the series.

Having these two works together for audiences to watch at once, will have them feeling a wealth of new emotions. A moving experience that transcends space and time is about to begin!