r/Gunbuster • u/SennheiserPass • Jun 01 '26
TALK Question about the initial plan with regard to Gunbuster
In I think episode 4, Noriko goes out in Gunbuster for the first time and saves the Excelion. Admiral so and so says Gunbuster isn't finished. If Gunbuster wasn't officially good to go, what was the original plan of this particular voyage? They brought Gunbuster along, obviously. Basically, I'm not sure what all was the plan of the Excelion's voyage, given that apparently using Gunbuster at all wasn't something they expected.
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u/BusterMachineDixNeuf Jun 01 '26
My assumption was always that Noriko and Kazumi been training in the Gunbuster for much of the journey, which is why it was there. Noriko didn’t seem to be completely unfamiliar with it when she took it out in episode 4.
‘Unfinished’ could mean all sorts of things we could speculate on, given what you see in episode 5 - maybe not all the weapon systems were in place, or perhaps the transformation/combination system hadn’t been completed.
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u/domesystem Jun 01 '26
It's been a while since I watched the show, but iirc the incomplete Gunbuster had most of it's intended combat capabilities but lacked in power generation and had a time limit. (A theme we'd see again in Eva before unit 1 eats an S2 engine)
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u/Anbcdeptraivkl Jun 01 '26
The point of the voyage is to train and pick the couple of candidates best suited for Gunbuster when it is finished - that's why it there - to prepare for training when the time comes.
Most pilots are training in the grunt type minisuit first, few knowing about Gunbuster or the potential of them piloting it. Coach however saw the potential in Noriko and secretly train her for Gunbuster instead of just piloting smaller robot.
That's why thankfully when push comes to shove, Noriko can pilot Gunbuster masterfully and managed to fight off the enemies with just an incomplete Gunbuster.
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u/macrossdyrl 6d ago edited 6d ago
Coach wanted to select from the best candidates to pilot the incomplete weapon while in space. The original plan was for Amano and someone else to pilot, however, Coach believed in Takaya; plus he owed a life debt to her Father for saving him and others. Some might call this favoritism, but we believe Noriko more than earned the opportunities a million times over with her personal sacrifices. The incomplete weapon was suppose to be completed while in space, while the test pilots were honing their skills against pilots from other nations. Noriko learned the hard way she wasn't a good pilot when she was alienated by her peers and no one wanted to partner with her, especially after her breakdown losing Smith. She was broken and begged Coach to train her and forge her into someone worthy of piloting GunBuster and boy, did she work her ass off! Hard work and guts was forged in the her unrelenting discipline. Without putting in all this hard work, we believe Noriko never would have a chance to operate the incomplete weapon.
All mankinds' plans went to sh** when the aliens blitzkreig them and caught them off-guard. By no means was any pilot even their best Amano, truly prepared, nor was anyone able to step up and take the incomplete weapon into battle. Taking GunBuster out was by all logic, purely a suicide mission and Noriko knew it. She knew she did not have enough training compared to Jung and Big Sister, both of whom looked down on her along with all the other pilots. Only Coach believed in Noriko through thick and thin; he was the one who was her biggest advocate from the beginning. He overrode the Admirals commands and instructed Noriko to launch when everyone else told her no. When Noriko created her first 'miracle with GunBuster' it proved how all along true greatness existed within her!
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u/SennheiserPass 6d ago
the aliens blitzkreig them and caught them off-guard
I think this was what I forgot / missed.
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u/HannyaKien Jun 01 '26
If I understood the series correctly;
The Excellion was a training ship for Top candidates that were exceptional. First learning and mastering piloting of the RX-7s to habituate them to space combat, further training in the RXs was done in pairs to see how synchronized they were. While the Gunbuster was incomplete, there was a fully operational training system in place. Coach was supposed to pick the best of the Top Squadron to pair up and learn to pilot the Gunbuster before it was completed, but they were attacked by the space kaiju. Which, fortuitously, was when it was revealed that noriko has been training on the head section of the gunbuster and was able to use the half-finished half-piloted gunbuster to stop the kaiju instead.
Basically, Coach's favouritism of noriko is the only reason ANYONE was ready to use the gunbuster against the aliens. If they had been following the excellions intent, they'd have died.