Top wo Nerae!

This anime doesn't really accomplish *any* of the things it's trying to do, but it's trying to do so many interesting things that I have to respect it anyway. It's sort of a girl's coming of age story mixed with a hard SF galactic war but also hot-blooded shonen super robots? It feels like a story that was planned for 24 or even 48 episodes but they got six - and the budget for five. And it's clear how it influenced everything from Eva to GaoGaiGar to Gurren Lagann and more. A fascinating work.

Tonally, this is all over the place. You think it's a serious coming of age X mecha anime at first, then the kids are doing jumping jacks in mecha-suits. Then the absolute terror of a rookie fighting an alien she barely comprehends for the first time, in the blackness of space, against the backdrop of the complications of space travel at relativistic speeds, followed by cheeky 4th wall breaking epilogues. But all the little touches make it great. Thinking of the ending still makes me well up.

AKA Gunboober. Anno and the show gets off to a bit of a slow start, but quickly begins ramping up the quality. The high school drama is soon replaced with the dramatic tragedy of relativistic time dilation, and the action ramps upward and upward. It's obvious that even here Anno is deeply interested in character and detail, and he manages to wrap it all up in a wonderful finale. The short length helps keep it fresh.

Ending gets me weeping every time I go back to it.

Similar to Evangelion, Gunbuster has a slow start but a powerful climax and one of the best endings to an anime ever. Episode 6 is truly a thing of beauty.

This is basically the original Gundam mixed with Aim for the Ace and if that sounds good to you then you'll most likely love it as much as I did.

Top Gun meets classic pulp anime sci-fi. It's all about the finale.

Anno's pre-Evangelion stuff. I discovered it recently. The antics of animation quality is easily surpassed by Anno's care upon details. While early episodes doesn't hold well since we've been treated way too much of the same old, second half of the 6 episodes is fantastic. A unique look at dramatic side of twins paradox and a nice relic for the anime appreciater.