Tag: 2004

Gantz Review

Gantz Review

Gantz anime series cover art
Gantz

A Second Chance at Life

Gantz (ガンツ) is a very weird anime. It’s an action, horror, drama, sci-fi series about a survival game. Or, is it a revival game? Everyone participating in this survival game is already dead. But, if they score 100 points, they’ll (allegedly) get a second chance at life.

Actually, you could kind of think of it as a third chance at life. So, let me explain what I mean by that. Everyone in the series had their original life and “died” in some way. Then, they came back to life as part of this game. And, if they “win,” they’ll come back to life for real.

Let’s use Kei Kurono, the protagonist, as an example. He died after being hit by a subway train. He was then revived as part of this survival game. Between rounds of the game, he can live out his normal life as if nothing happened.

Jouichirou Nishi from the anime series Gantz
Jouichirou Nishi

However, he’s not truly alive again. It’s more like he’s in limbo. Whenever a new round of the game starts, he’s pulled back into it and has to fight to survive. If he dies, he dies. If he survives, he goes back to living within this limbo state.

The only way he can be alive and free of the game is by scoring 100 points in total. Even that’s not entirely clear, though. That’s what the players assume will happen if they reach 100 points. This is never confirmed. Still, I’m going to assume it’s true.

Now, there’s one more thing to consider. Not everyone in this game actually died. For example, Kei Kishimoto almost died by suicide but survived. That means that there are two versions of her. One is alive and one is living in limbo. What happens if she gets 100 points? We don’t know.

It’s Time to Hunt Some Aliens

I’ve mentioned this survival game quite a bit. But, what exactly is it? Is it a battle royale like The Hunger Games or Fortnite? No. The players are competing against each other, to an extent. Though, this isn’t required. They can cooperate.

The game actually kind of functions like the prisoner’s dilemma. If you choose to cooperate with the other players, you all have a higher chance of surviving. However, if you choose to compete against the other players, you can reach 100 points faster.

So, how do you get points? Each round of the game has the players hunting down a specific type of alien. If they kill all the aliens or kill the “boss,” the round ends. And, each kill is worth some number of points. This is why if you compete, you can score more points.

Kei Kurono pointing a futuristic gun from the anime series Gantz
Kei Kurono pointing a futuristic gun

In the first round, Nishi scores 3 points for killing the child Green Onion Alien. But, not all kills result in the same number of points. In the second round, killing a Tanaka Alien is worth 10 points and the Tanaka Boss is worth 38.

What do you think is the best way to play the game? Would you choose to work with the other players so more of you make it out alive? Or, would you choose to compete and rack up more points than anyone else? It’s a pretty tough choice considering you don’t know what everyone else will choose.

If one person chooses to compete, they can cause issues for everyone who’s working together. If you choose to compete, you likely won’t have allies to back you up. And, if the players split into factions, they may end up eliminating each other, which helps nobody.

Everyone Sucks in Their Own Special Way

Alright, so, Gantz has a pretty interesting premise. I liked the idea of the characters competing in a survival game to win a second life. However, the execution of the anime was extremely poor. It’s not a good anime. But, the thing is that the execution isn’t even the worst part.

The worst thing about Gantz is the characters. They all suck in their own special way. Nishi only thinks about himself, to the detriment of the others. Kishimoto is useless and relies on everyone else. And, Katou refuses to use guns to kill the aliens.

Nishi’s actions and personality at least make sense. He’s the only veteran of the game at the start of the series. We don’t know how long he’s been a player. But, we know that he’s racked up 90 points. So, it’s safe to assume that he’s been at it for a while.

Kei Kishimoto from the anime series Gantz
Kei Kishimoto

By this point, Nishi has seen a lot of people die. And because of that, it’s no wonder that he wants to reach the 100-point goal as soon as possible. The faster he can reach that goal, the fewer chances there are for him to die in the game.

Kishimoto has very low self-esteem, which influences how she acts. The fact that most of the male characters objectify her every chance they get also doesn’t help. Katou’s resistance to using guns to kill the aliens makes no sense since he has no problem beating them to death.

But, the worst character of all is Kurono, the protagonist. He has literally zero redeeming qualities. Like Nishi, he only cares about himself and like Kishimoto, he hides behind the others in the group. At the same time, he looks down on everyone and only thinks about sex with Kishimoto. He’s the worst.

Final Thoughts

I’m going to give Gantz a 4/10. It’s bad. But, despite that, I’m pretty invested in the story. So, at some point, I’m going to watch Season 2. There’s also a newer, CGI adaptation of the series called Gantz:O. However, I have no interest in watching that one.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

Discord Community

Discuss anime, manga, and more with our members!

Join Server

Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle anime movie cover art
Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl the Heart-Devourer

Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl no Ugoku Shiro / ハウルの動く城) is a Studio Ghibli anime movie from 2004. We watched it over in the DoubleSama Discord server for June’s movie night event. And, this is the fifth Studio Ghibli movie I’ve seen.

First, I watched Kiki’s Delivery Service. Then, My Neighbor Totoro. And last year, I watched both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Compared to those, I don’t think Howl’s Moving Castle is that great. I’d put it above Kiki’s Delivery Service. But, that’s it. The other three movies are better.

So, what’s Howl’s Moving Castle about? There’s a guy named Howl and he lives in a moving castle. Well, there’s a bit more to it than that. Howl is a wizard or sorcerer or something. And he lives in a moving castle so he can run away from his problems.

Sophie and Howl walking on air from the anime movie Howl's Moving Castle
Sophie and Howl walking on air

Howl’s castle traverses the “waste,” which is the empty land between cities. Normal people don’t go out into the waste because dangerous sorcerers live there. And, yes, Howl is one of them. In at least one town, rumor has it that Howl kidnaps beautiful girls and devours their hearts.

However, the girls also all think Howl is incredibly handsome. So, at first, it’s a bit unclear if the whole heart-devouring thing is a metaphor. It most likely is — meaning Howl makes girls fall for him. But, our protagonist takes the rumors literally and is worried Howl will eat her heart.

Of course, it turns out that Howl isn’t a cannibal. But, there was one thing the rumors were right about: Howl is hot. At least, when he’s blonde. Later in the movie, his hair turns black and he doesn’t look as good. If you like black-haired Howl more, you’re opinion is wrong.

Everybody Loves Howl

As I mentioned, all the girls in town think Howl’s a cutie. But, it’s not only young women whom he attracts. You see, Howl has a special ability to attract old women. I don’t mean older women. I mean old women.

At the start of the movie, Sophie is a young woman who works in a hat shop. But, after running into Howl, her life takes a turn. Another mage known as the Witch of the Waste casts a spell on Sophie to make her old.

Sophie then runs away from home (and work) and traverses the waste. This is when she comes across Howl’s moving castle and hires herself as the maid.

But, why did the Witch of the Waste curse Sophie? It’s because she wants Howl’s heart for herself (both literally and figuratively).

Sophie (old) sitting at Howl's bedside from the anime movie Howl's Moving Castle
Sophie (old) sitting at Howl’s bedside

Later in the movie, we also learn that the Witch of the Waste is using magic to alter her own appearance, as well. Not only did she make Sophie look old, but she also makes herself look far younger than she is. So, Howl has two old women going after him (romantically).

Then, there’s also Suliman, another old woman mage with an interest in Howl. Suliman is a bit different than Sophie and the Witch of the Waste, though. As far as we know, she’s not attracted to Howl. Instead, she wants Howl to use his magic to help her win a war against a rival nation.

Howl’s Moving Castle is a bit odd in that it seems to have two, very different lessons. On one hand, it appears to be a commentary on how growing old isn’t that bad. And on the other, it’s an anti-war movie. These two aspects of the movie felt very disconnected.

And Then They All Lived Happily Ever After

The worst part of Howl’s Moving Castle was easily the end. Everything wraps up at once without any real reasoning. It’s not even a Deus ex machina ending. No magic power saved the day in the end. Instead, all the conflict ends for no reason.

Well, I shouldn’t say that all the conflict ends for no reason. The stuff with the Witch of the Waste had an ending that made sense. The Witch of the Waste relinquished Howl’s heart to help save him in the end. And I thought her arc was fine.

But, what about the whole war thing with Suliman? Well, once Howl and Sophie decided they love each other, Suliman called off the war. Why? I have no idea. It’s not like Howl’s love life had anything to do with the war. He was just another mage Suliman wanted to use as a weapon.

The Witch of the Waste (old) from the anime movie Howl's Moving Castle
The Witch of the Waste (old)

It’s also not like the war depended on Howl’s participation. It had been going on throughout the entire movie. And Howl had been fighting against Suliman’s forces. So, why is Suliman calling off the war now that Howl has a girlfriend? It doesn’t make any sense.

To me, it seemed like the whole war aspect of the movie was almost an afterthought. There was some interesting stuff about war turning people into monsters. For example, when Howl uses magic to fight, he turns into a bird monster. But, without a real conclusion, that was all pointless.

Oh, and then there’s the scarecrow. Sophie saved a magic scarecrow early in the movie and he shows up a few times. And then, in the end, he turns into a human and declares he’s always loved her. But, she loves Howl, so sucks to be him. What was that about?

Conclusion

I gave Howl’s Moving Castle a 6/10, which is in line with how I ranked it against the other Ghibli movies I’ve seen. Most of the movie was good. But, the ending left a lot to be desired. It didn’t feel like the movie had a real conclusion.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you can support this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Discord Community

Discuss anime, manga, and more with our members!

Join Server

Monster

Monster

Monster anime series cover art
Monster

Series Overview

Monster (モンスター) is a psychological drama anime about the hunt to take down a serial killer. To give a better overview of the series, I’m going to need to spoil the first few episodes. But, don’t worry. The series is 74 episodes long, so it’s not like I’m spoiling a quarter of it.

The protagonist of the series is Dr. Tenma, a renowned brain surgeon. One day, a boy comes into the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. Dr. Tenma chooses to save this boy’s life over the life of the local official his superior told him to operate on.

As a result, the official dies, and Dr. Tenma’s career at the hospital stalls. Still, Dr. Tenma believes he did the right thing by choosing to save the boy, who came into the hospital first. At least until he learns what the boy truly is — a monster.

Dr. Kenzo Tenma firing a gun from the anime series Monster
Dr. Kenzo Tenma firing a gun

The boy Dr. Tenma saved turns out to be a psychopathic serial killer. While recovering from his surgery, the boy kills other doctors at the hospital and flees. At first, there’s no reason to suspect the boy. And so, Dr. Tenma ends up being the prime suspect as the only one to benefit from the killings.

Everything I’ve said here is from the first 5 or so episodes of the series. The rest of the series takes place years later as Dr. Tenma hunts down the serial killer he once saved.

In his mind, he’s responsible for the killings because he saved the boy’s life. If only he performed the surgery on the politician as instructed. Then, countless lives would have been spared. Whether or not that rationale is good is up for debate. Is someone responsible for the lives they save?

Main Characters

As I’ve already mentioned, Dr. Kenzo Tenma is the protagonist of the series. He’s a Japanese doctor working in Germany as a brain surgeon before his life is turned upside-down. Tenma isn’t actually all that interesting of a character, though. He’s not as morally ambiguous as you might expect based on the setup of the series.

Johan Liebert is the serial killer Tenma saved as a child. As a serial killer, Johan has killed many people. But, his ability to kill actually isn’t what makes him most dangerous. It’s his ability to manipulate others into killing on his behalf.

Anna Liebert is Johan’s twin sister. She was the first one to recognize him as a psychopath and is actually the one who shot him. Like Tenma, she views taking down Johan as her mission in life. At times, she and Tenma work together. And at times they chase Johan individually.

Inspector Heinrich Lunge from the anime series Monster
Inspector Heinrich Lunge

Let’s get into some of my favorite characters now. Inspector Heinrich Lunge is a pretty good character. I didn’t like him much when he was first introduced. But, by the end of the series, I thought he was great. He’s kind of like a much more methodical version of Tenma and Anna, not swayed by emotion.

My absolute favorite character, though, is Eva Heinemann. She’s Tenma’s ex-fiance and she has the best character development in the series. I know a lot of people love Johan as a character. But, I’d argue Eva is way more complex than Johan.

And the last character I want to mention is Wolfgang Grimmer. He’s an independent journalist who’s trying to uncover the truth of his own past. As with all the other characters, Grimmer gets sucked into Tenma and Johan’s game of cat and mouse.

Who Is the Real Monster?

Let’s skip all the way to the end of the series now. Episode 74’s title is “The Real Monster.” So, who exactly is the real monster? Spoiler: It’s still Johan. But, the final episode does bring up an interesting perspective.

Throughout a lot of the series, there’s the implication that Johan is a made psychopath. But, by the end of the series, that doesn’t check out. We know he killed before ever being sent to 511 Kinderheim. And we know it was Anna who witnessed the mass murder at the Red Rose Mansion, not Johan.

And in the final episode, Johan gives us some insight into what actually caused him to snap. When they were children, Johan and Anna’s mother had to choose between them. Which of them would she give up to be part of the government’s experiments?

Johan Liebert pointing at his forehead from the anime series Monster
Johan Liebert pointing at his forehead

The trick here is that Johan and Anna looked the same when they were younger. Their mother dressed Johan up like a girl so she could pretend to only have 1 child. She did this to protect them. But, this came with the alleged consequence that she couldn’t tell them apart.

So, when their mother chose to give up Anna instead of Johan, this messed with Johan’s mind. He wasn’t sure why she made that choice. Did she choose to keep him over his sister? Or did she mistake his sister for him? Either way, in his mind it’s his fault that his sister — the only person he cares about — was torn away from their mother.

Does this mean Johan’s mother is the real monster of the story? I don’t think so. Johan never tries to get revenge on her. He doesn’t blame her — he blames himself. He’s his own monster.

Conclusion

In the end, I gave Monster an 8/10. It could have had a higher score if some of the content in the middle was a bit more relevant. There were some episodes in there that didn’t matter all that much. They weren’t filler but they were close.

I also think a good story could have been told in only 12 episodes. The first 8 episodes of the series set up the story well enough before the scale of the series came into play. We wouldn’t have had a lot of the characters. But, I don’t think it would have been any worse.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi for supporting this blog at the Heika and Senpai tiers this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Dead Leaves

Dead Leaves

Dead Leaves anime movie cover art
Dead Leaves

Movie Overview

Dead Leaves (デッド リーブス) is a sci-fi adventure-comedy anime movie created by Production I.G in 2004. It’s also only 52 minutes long including the ending credits, so it’s not a huge time commitment to watch — unlike the movie I was originally going to review today which is 2 hours.

The “plot” of this movie, if you can even call it a plot, is that our two protagonists are attempting to escape from a prison on the moon. There’s really no motivation behind their actions. They act purely on instinct, and that’s partially why I find it difficult to say there’s a real plot.

At the start of the movie, Pandy and Retro wake up naked on the outskirts of a city. They immediately enter the city to commit a string of crimes and are sentenced to life in prison on the moon.

At no point do they actively decide to break out. They suddenly realize that they know how to free themselves from their restraints, and so they do. And this is is how the rest of their escape works. They just do things that they inherently know without knowing why (due to their amnesia).

Now, the biggest disclaimer I have to make for this movie is that it’s made for mature audiences. Not only does it contain copious amounts of graphic violence, but it’s also extremely sexual. There are (often visual) sex jokes everywhere.

And, these sexual parts of the movie are intertwined with everything else that’s going on. For example, the way Pandy and Retro free themselves from their restraints is by having wild sex in their prison cell.

It’s a very weird movie and I can’t say I was mentally prepared for what I watched.

Main Characters

Pandy is the female lead of the movie. She’s called Pandy because the red ring around her right eye makes her look like a panda. Pandy is also the more serious of the two and has a greater interest in figuring out who they were before they lost their memories.

Retro is the male lead. He gets his name from the fact that his head is literally just a retro TV. Retro is more prone to getting caught up in the moment and usually just accepts that things are the way they are rather than wondering why they are that way.

You may also recognize Retro’s voice actor as the voice of Usopp from One Piece.

While in Dead Leaves Prison (that’s where the title comes from), Retro befriends another inmate who’s referred to as Chinko Drill. His name translates to Penis Drill, and if you’re wondering why, it’s because his penis is a massive drill.

Pandy and Retro from the anime movie Dead Leaves
Pandy and Retro

As for the antagonists, there are three, but I’m only going to go over two of them here. The third one only shows up at the end of the movie and there’s nothing I have to say about them that wouldn’t be a spoiler.

666 and 777 are the two “main” antagonists of the movie. They serve as the prison’s guards, though I feel like it was either mentioned or just implied that they’re prisoners as well. In either case, they’re the ones tasked with watching over the prisoners 24/7 and killing anyone who breaks the rules.

The only other character of note is Dr. Yabu. His name means that he’s a quack doctor and I believe he says that he’s in prison because a bunch of people he operated on died. Anyway, his main role is to give us an info dump about Pandy’s and Retro’s situation.

Visual Overload

I have quite a few complaints about this movie. The lack of a plot made it difficult for me to care about anything. All the crude sexual humor isn’t really for me. And the visuals were kind of a lot to take in.

In this section, I want to focus on the visuals. And to start, I think the fact that I watched this movie in 480p quality wasn’t helping things. It’s from 2004, so maybe you’d be able to find a 720p version. But, this isn’t me just saying that older anime are bad because they have worse visual quality.

The big issue with watching Dead Leaves in 480p is that the low quality combined with the highly stylized art and quick animation puts a lot of strain on the eyes. This is a very colorful movie and after the opening scene, it’s pretty much non-stop action. It’s hard to follow.

777 and 666 from the anime movie Dead Leaves
777 and 666

There was never a point in the movie where I didn’t understand what was going on from a visual perspective. But, I could easily see that being the case for some people. However, I did have to pause the movie a few times and look away from the screen just to give my eyes a break.

When I reviewed Promare, I described watching that movie as watching a kaleidoscope in anime form. That was a compliment. Watching Dead Leaves is like having the colored glass of the kaleidoscope poured into your eyes.

Simply having the movie upscaled to 720p or 1080p (or remade entirely) would probably solve a significant portion of the visual problems. But, adding in more plot wouldn’t hurt either. It would add interest and allow for natural spots with no action so viewers can have a little break.

Conclusion

It’s kind of hard for me to give Dead Leaves a score. I don’t hate it. But I still feel like I have to give it a 4/10 because of the issues I have with it. If the visuals were better quality, it might get up to a 6 just because the visuals are so important to this movie.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Gunbuster 2: Diebuster

Gunbuster 2: Diebuster

Gunbuster 2: Diebuster anime series cover art
Gunbuster 2: Diebuster

Series Overview

Gunbuster 2 (Top wo Nerae 2! Diebuster / トップをねらえ2!DIEBUSTER), also known as Diebuster, is the sequel to 1988’s Gunbuster. It released in 2004 for studio Gainax’s 20th anniversary. However, this series has much more in common with 2007’s Gurren Lagann than it does with its own prequel.

This review is going to involve a lot of spoilers for every part of the show. If you don’t want to be spoiled, I highly suggest watching both Gunbuster and Diebuster before proceeding.

Diebuster takes place long after the events of Gunbuster. To illustrate how long after, both series actually end with the same scene from different perspectives. That’s to say, Diebuster takes place 12,000 years after the events of Gunbuster. And this difference in time setting is very important for the plot.

In Gunbuster, humanity was fighting against space monsters that wanted to destroy the Earth. That’s not quite what’s happening in Diebuster. By this time, the space monsters have effectively been wiped out thanks to the black hole bomb Noriko and Kazumi set off in their nest.

But, the current humans don’t seem to realize that. They believe that the space monsters are still around and that they’ve been fighting them for thousands of years after humanity had been pushed back to the Sol system as their last refuge. In fact, what they’ve been fighting are robots originally designed to protect humanity and the Earth.

Basically, in this future, nobody knows what’s going on and humanity is just fighting everything they see regardless of what it is. Oh, and to top it all off, they attempt to use the Earth itself as a battering ram to destroy their enemies. It’s crazy how in 12,000 years they went from turning other planets into black hole bombs to just crashing the Earth into things.

Main Characters

There are only three characters that truly matter in this series: Nono, Lal’C, and Tycho. Nono is the protagonist of the series who dreams of one day becoming a Topless and piloting a buster machine. Topless is the term used for buster machine pilots (I don’t know why), and Nono takes the term very literally.

She also looks up to someone she refers to as Nono Riri, who turns out to actually be Noriko from Gunbuster (which wasn’t much of a surprise).

About halfway through, it’s randomly revealed that Nono is actually a robot, not a human. Then, it’s revealed even later that she’s actually a buster machine herself. None of this really makes sense and I’m not quite sure why it was written this way.

Nono and Lal'C from the anime series Gunbuster 2: Diebuster
Nono and Lal’C

Lal’C Melk Mark probably has the best name in the series. I couldn’t really explain why even if I tried, but it’s a cute name. Lal’c is a Topless who pilots one of the buster machines and is referred to as “princess,” “curve destroyer,” and later “planet mover.”

Her role in this series is effectively the same as Kazumi’s in Gunbuster. She’s an ace buster machine pilot who the protagonist looks up to. But over the course of the series, she becomes jealous of the protagonist’s natural talent. In the end, they become friends again.

Tycho Science definitely has the worst name of the three, but I do like her character design and plotline the most. She doesn’t believe dreams can come true because her own dreams have been crushed in the past. But, eventually, she’s able to move past this with the help of Nono. It sounds pretty cheesy, but I think the way it was executed was good.

Where Gunbuster Went to Die

As you may have picked up on already, I didn’t particularly like Diebuster. In fact, I would go so far as to call Diebuster bad, which is a shame considering I ended up liking Gunbuster a lot more than I thought I would. The big issue with Diebuster is that it takes everything I liked about Gunbuster and throws it out.

What was the best part of Gunbuster? For me, it was easily how the series explored the effects of deep space travel on the human psyche. I loved seeing how the characters coped with the phenomenon of time dilation as they traveled at near-light speeds. Diebuster didn’t have any of that.

At no point in this series did I feel like it was exploring unique concepts. It didn’t really even have much sci-fi influence, which might sound odd considering it’s a mecha series set in space. What I mean by that is that it didn’t use scientific concepts. Rather, it effectively used magic, such as the Topless being able to summon their buster machines out of thin air by peeling a sticker off their foreheads.

Tycho Science from the anime series Gunbuster 2: Diebuster
Tycho Science

Another issue I have with Diebuster is tangentially related to my main issue. It focuses a lot more on the mechs, which are much more super-robot-like than the mechs from Gunbuster. In Gunbuster, the mechs were tools that didn’t really have a huge influence on the series. They could just as well have been space ships.

In Diebuster, the buster machines are a huge focus. Each one has its own personality, special attacks, etc. When people dismiss mecha anime simply because they’re mecha, this is the kind of mecha anime they’re most often thinking of. And I’ll admit it’s not my favorite either.

There are some exceptions, such as Gurren Lagann, but generally speaking, I prefer real-robot mecha series over super-robot ones. I like when the mechs are simply tools being used within a story that doesn’t necessarily focus on them. I don’t like when the mechs themselves are basically characters.

Conclusion

Gunbuster 2: Diebuster was a huge disappointment to me after the surprisingly good Gunbuster. In the end, I think it’s a 4/10 compared to the 8/10 of the original. It removes all of what I would consider to be the good parts of the series and then doubles down on the least interesting aspects.

I will say that the OP song “Groovin’ Magic” is good. But the OP visuals left a lot to be desired. Around 90% of the OP visuals were just ripped from the content of the episodes (which is the same as with Gunbuster). But I forgave Gunbuster for that more since it was 1988, not 2004.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month and for recommending both Gunbuster and Diebuster. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.