Gunbuster Top o Nerae!

Well, in this page I'm going to tell you the whole plot of Gunbuster Top o Nerae! I remind you that reading this summary you may find a lot of anticipations about the key moments and suprises of the series, so you should skip this section if you don't want to spoil your feelings watching the show. On the contrary, if you think you'll never be able to see Gunbuster Top o Nerae!... here comes the plot!

This episode starts with the little girl Noriko reading her composition about his father; Noriko is proud of her father, but the scene soon moves to some newspaper's titols carrying the bad piece of news: Yuzo Takaya died during a battle in the space 250 light-years far from the Earth. In spite of that Noriko decides to attend the Okinawa Female High School for Pilots; unfortunately she's not so good in piloting the robots and many girls often laught at her; only Kazumi Amano, the best student of the school, defends Noriko, she helps her with technical suggestions and trying to pass her devotion to robot piloting on to Noriko. Many girls think that Noriko is allowed to attend that school only because she's the daughter of a great commander and soon all the suspicions turn into fury when the two girls selected for the mission in the space are announced: in spite of the presence of many good candidates, besides Kazumi, the other one selected is Noriko. Even Kazumi is shocked and in a agitated discussion with coach Ota she explains all her doubts about the selection. Anyway she will soon appreciate Noriko's qualities... A little bit later Noriko starts her physical and psychological training with the help of the coach; the key event of this episode comes when Kashiwara, the one having most chances of being selected with Kazumi, challenges Noriko to a duel with RX-7s. Observed by all her school-fellow, Noriko is at first overwhelmed by Kashiwara, then she remembers what Ota told her and decides to do things her own way: she turns all the robot's monitor off and relying only upon her own senses she hits and defeats Kashiwara. A few days later Noriko, Kazumi and Ota set off for the space.

The second episode starts showing us a flash-back of Noriko's father a few moments before the Luxion's destruction. He's thinking of his child and apologizing to her for not being able to come back home at her birthday. Noriko, Kazumi and Ota reach the Exelion that is still under construction; here they meet captain Tatsumi and the soviet girl Jung Freud. At first Jung is anything but kind with the japanese couple of girl; during the first training at the base she challenges Kazumi (and Noriko) while her partner Linda takes care of their absence at check points of the training. Even using her great skills, Jung isn't able to defeat "Queen of Roses" Kazumi. The fight is going to finish as a draw when Noriko, which was following Kazumi and Jung, accindetally sets off the alarm of a secret zone of the base: a speciment of the aliens that killed Noriko's father is being kept here. A little bit later Ota reprimands Noriko and Kazumi sharply; Jung apologizes for her actions and invites them to her birthday party which is planned two months later at the same time of Noriko's birthday. An unidentified object is moving at light comparable speed near the threshold of the Solar system and there's need of some investigations. Tashiro and Ota decide that Noriko and Kazumi should approach the object as they will become pilots of the Gunbuster and must gain experience in light-speed flights. Ota tells them all the risks of that kind of operations, as few minutes at that speed are months on the Earth. The mission starts, after a tremendous acceleration Kazumi and Noriko comes in contact with the object that turns out to be the Luxion, Yuzo Takaya's spaceship. Noriko suddenly springs and enters the Luxion; she understands that only two days passed since the battle in which his father died, but she can't find any sign of life. Thanks to Ota's providential intervention, they succeed in coming back after few minutes. However on the Exelion six months passed, the spaceship has been completed and Jung would like to celebrate with Noriko their birthdays. But Noriko is too upset by what has just happened. Her father kept his promise: for the last time he comes back home in the occasion of Noriko's birthday... (or at least it was like he returns...)

During the night the Exelion's crew meets in the dark of the cabins and everyone tells a story of ghosts... Then as a pastime both boys and girls submit themselves to some courage tests; Noriko's test consists in carrying a marker and leaving it in a remote area of the spaceship. During this test Noriko meets Smith who at first frighten her but then helps the girl in fixing the marker at the right place... but they are discovered by coach Ota. As a punishment they have to clean many laser cannon's lens of the spaceship, but suddenly a new threat from aliens arises. While moving on the spaceship's tube, Smith criticizes Noriko who is studying fighting techniques and he tells her that there're many differences between theory and reality; Noriko replies saying that he can't judge her since he usually fight alone while Noriko and Kazumi make a nice pair. However, a little bit later Noriko is accidentally witness of a dispute between Ota and Kazumi which tells him that letting the inexperienced Noriko fight is a risk; Noriko is caught while listening to them and Kazumi temporary forsakes her friend. Smith is the only one who tries to comfort Noriko and asks her to couple with him during the next fight against aliens. So they fight together but after few moments Smith is missing. It's a sad end that disturbs Noriko deeply; moreover she feels that she's useless in combat; a bit later she visits the boys' room: now that one of their group is missing (may be dead) and they were able to see their enemy, there's something more fearful than the ghosts' stories that will keep them awake during the night...

Everybody is talking about Noriko, but nobody has seen her since some days; the girl is facing a secret and intensive training with the aid of coach Ota in order to become able to pilot the Gunbuster. At the end of a training session Noriko meets Jung who challenge her to test her potentials as she is envious of Noriko's training with Ota. But when they arrive outside of the Exelion Noriko bursts into tears thinking of Smith. A bit later Noriko collects herself but she's now frightened by the fact that her incapacity may cause her death. In the mean time Kazumi talks with Jung chiding her because she took Noriko outside and then speaks with Ota; she asks him: "how can someone who can't defend herself protect someone else ?" and Ota replies saying that the question is not over, so that you can guess a forthcoming change. The Exelion have to come back to the Earth and the captain decides to accelerate beyond light speed (warp) so that aliens can't follow the spaceship and find out where the Earth is. Unfortunately during this operation the aliens discover the spaceship and attack it. The situation is taking a turn for the worse and Noriko, who must stay in the ship instead of fighting outside, is powerless while her friends die in the battle. Between thoughts of death and Smith's memory, Noriko resolves that after the boy's death she must forget him and become more self confident and useful. The Exelion is going to be overcome and Tashiro considers a last manoeuvre, the new Noriko picks up the Gunbuster and join the battle while everyone is astonished. The Gunbuster is not completed yet so it has only 10 minutes of endurance (this idea will be exploited later with the EVAs in Neon Genesis Evangelion, while their "umbilical cable" will be anticipated in one of the last episodes of Fushigi no Umi no Nadia, another series by GAINAX). Noriko wipes out all the aliens except for the bigger unit which is too fast for her unfinished Gunbuster, so she resolves to let herself be stricken; when she's in close contact with the alien she turn on the electrodes on the Gunbuster arms and destroys the alien unit. The Earth is safe for now and Kazumi, Ota, Jung and the other ones have discovered the real Noriko.

A.D. 2032: ten years have passed since the beginning of Noriko and Kazumi's adventures in the space. The two girls graduate at their old school despite having attended it only for 4 months. Noriko is deeply troubled and that situation makes her understand what her father felt when he came back home for her daughter birthday and found her grown a lot while only a couple of days have passed for him. A bit later Noriko is speaking with Kazumi about the possibility of having children as on the Earth they are 27 years old, when she meets Kimiko who is now married and has a daughter. She is no more the light-hearted Kimiko of the first episode, she is a responsible woman who mainly cares about her daughter's life; as a matter of fact when she starts talking with Noriko about the Eltreum, spaceship used as a lifeboat, she asks her "old" friend if she can do something so that at least Takami can survive in case the situation will take a turn to the worse. By the way Noriko doesn't feel at ease with Kimiko, too many years divide them. A bit later Ota calls Noriko and she finds out that the coach suffers from cosmic waves poisoning and is slowly dying; there are some hints suggesting that Kazumi loves Ota and is very troubled for his life. In the mean time the aliens find out where the Earth actually is and they're preparing a huge attack. Mankind is almost hopeless but Ota suggests that they can move the discarded Exelion near the enemies and than make it implode creating a little black hole able to swallow millions of aliens. Despite many scientists disagree, there's no alternative: Noriko and Kazumi leave with the Gunbuster in order to defend the Exelion. Kazumi is in very low spirits as she knows that when the'll come back on the Earth six month will have passed and then Ota might be already dead. During the battle against the aliens Kazumi continuously checks the chronometer to see how many time is passing on the Earth; suddenly she decides to decelerate but Noriko persuades her to go on as the whole world is relying upon their mission and if they fail she certainly won't see Ota any more. At the end the mission is accomplished and the two girls come back home and find Ota at the hospital waiting for them. Noriko recalls her beloved Smith whom she lost for ever.

The year is 2048: Kazumi is standing outside looking at the grave of her beloved Koichiro Ota when Reiko Kashiwara joins her and they think how many things have changed since the beginning of their adventure: now Kashiwara is at the head of Okinawa school for pilots while Kazumi, now lieutenant colonel, is held in high esteem by all the schoolgirls and soon she's going to set off for a new mission: the final destruction of the aliens. Using a kind of cableway (parody...) Kazumi set off for her mission and from the cabin looks at the Earth below while speaking with an officer: a large part of the Earth has been destroyed by the gravitational waves generated by the black hole of the Exelion (which alse swallows the external planets of the solar system). Despite 15 years have passed, mankind hasn't completely recovered yet. Kazumi's goal is to pilot the Black Bomb (or Buster Machine 3) up to the Eltreum (which now is the main ship of the new big space fleet). The Buster Machine 3 actually is a huge bomb whose size is comparable with Jupiter's one and it must be led in the middle of the aliens' settlement, in the center of the galaxy; then it has to be activated so that it causes a new big black hole able to definitely swallow all the aliens (and a lot of the univers too :P). Kazumi joins with the space fleet where Tashiro, Jung and Noriko are waiting for her. Fifteen years on the Earth coincide with six month for Noriko and the others on the fleet so Kazumi is now many years older than Noriko and is out of her life... nevertheless Kazumi feels a great pleasure and happiness when she finally sees her friend; the two girls speak a bit in private and Kazumi gives Noriko a letter from the old Kimiko who asks her old classmate to try to come back home before Takami's death; Noriko can't avoid thinking that she's now alone. The countdown before the deflagration of the Black Bomb starts; aliens come there in large quantities, more than expected (some millions of units), and before than expected. They aim to destroy the Buster Machine 3 ignoring the rest of the fleet. It turns out to be a brave battle and thanks to the Gunbuster and the recent achievements in technology of humans the great bomb is only slightly damaged while the rest of the fleet is almost completely destroyed. The countdown ends but the bomb doesn't completely activate as only 98% of its reactors is working: mankind seems to be done for, considering that millions of aliens are coming in a some minutes. But Noriko decides to use the Gunbuster and enter the Black Bomb with Kazumi; then they'll supply the missing energy with one of the two reactors of the Gunbuster and hope to come back home with the other one. While the two girls go down into the Black Bomb Jung joins them and tells them that she's not going to let them go alone, but Kazumi and Noriko convince her that she must come back to the Eltreum as her robot can't put up with the high pressure inside the Black Bomb. Jung promises to be back on Earth to say "welcome home" when the pair returns. Finally the two heroines activate the Black Bomb and run away as quickly as possible while the fleet warps towards the Earth. After the escape from the black hole that swallows aliens and the galaxy, Noriko and Kazumi finally reach the Earth with their half destroyed Gunbuster: 12.000 years have passed on our planet and now there are many doubts about the possibility of the existence af life forms on it. But suddenly many lights turn on the Earth's surface forming a message: "Welcome home!"