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[ café reviews ]





Episode 5: Please! Save Some Time For Love!


Copyright: GAINAX (Japan), US Renditions (North America)
Length: 30 minutes
Rating: NR, parental guidance suggested
Format: Subtitled (VHS)

Directed by: Hideaki Anno Produced by: English translation: Yoshida Toshifume, Trish Ledoux


[ plot summary ]

vhs jacket

On Earth, ten years have passed since Noriko and Kazumi had attended Okinawa High School for Girls. Now, they return, for their private graduation ceremony. A chance encouter with Kimiko, Noriko's best friend, proves to be a shock for her. Kimiko, now 27, is married, like many of their former classmates, and also has a three-year old child. Things have not been going well for the Earth forces, and the governments have devised a plan for an emergency evaculation of the planet, in the form of the Eltreum, a massive evacuation ship. Time has changed Kimiko as well -- concerned with the future of her daughter, she asks if Noriko could use her standing in the military to get safe passage for her child on the Eltreum...

Meanwhile, listening posts have detected a huge wave of alien invaders heading towards the Earth. Heavily out-gunned, Coach Ohta devises a plan to used the decommissioned ship, the Excelion, as a black-hole bomb, and take it into the heart of the attacking fleet. Kazumi and Norko would pilot the now-complete GunBuster to escort the ship. But Kasumi doesn't want to go. For years, she has loved Ohta, and has been unable to have a relationship with him. Now, heading out on this mission, she may never be able to tell Ohta her feelings, for he has terminal radiation sickness -- and may not live the expected six months that would pass on Earth while she and Noriko complete their mission.


[ capsule review ]

Once again, we get to see how time dialation become a very effective (and unique) plot device. The realization that Noriko has become very much alone, as all her former friends have aged has made her realize how her father must have felt seeing his daughter age rapidly while he was travelling amongst the stars. There's a scene with Noriko and Kimiko sitting on some swings at a park; nowhere is the maturity differential as obvious as in this scene) This becomes even more clear when you see the calendar hanging on the wall in Noriko's apartment, and she's talking with Kimiko's daughter on the phone. It's little details like this that made me appreciate just how talented the people at GAINAX really are. The animation in this episode is also something to note: the scene in which GunBuster transforms from two ships into the single, massive super-mecha is some of the smoothest cel animation I've ever seen, and the music (Fly High! sung by Hidaka Noriko and Sakuma Rei) works extremely well. Again, the writers did go a little overboard with the personal crisis that Kazumi goes through, and there's also one inexplicably poorly thought out aspect to the GunBuster arsenal -- the much talked about "Buster Shield." Yet the ending will leave you with the warm fuzzies, and maybe even a tear or two in your eye! - AN


The story shifts focus slightly from Noriko's character to Kazumi's in this episode. The two pilots fly escort duty for the decommissioned Excelion which is to be used as a mini-blackhole to destroy the attacking enemy fleet. In the meantime however, Ohta Coach is ill from space radiation sickness and may not live long enough for the pilots to get back. We get a bit more development of Kazumi's character and how much she cares for Coach Ohta. Where Noriko used to be the leaky faucet, instead Kazumi is on the verge of tears (although she holds up better initially) and Noriko manages to get her to fight. A bit of a role reversal between the two. While the story was well done and the animation continues to be well done, I have to admit that during the time that Noriko and Amano were not paying attention to the battle around them, they should have long since been killed. (Hey! You try doing something like that in a free-for-all head to head game and see how long you last!) Still, I suppose it was needed for the story line and the acting was pretty good. I just get tired of Noriko yelling so-and-so's name after awhile. - JYN



[ café rating ]

Original: Subbed: Dubbed:
Story: N/A 3 stars N/A
Direction: N/A 4 stars N/A
Acting: N/A 4 stars N/A
Animation: N/A 5 stars N/A
Music: N/A 4 stars N/A
Translation: N/A 4 stars N/A
Overall Rating: N/A 4 stars N/A


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