Some things need to stand alone.

Sequels are a gamble, especially when the time gap between original and sequel grows and grows. They tend to be put under more scrutiny than their predecessors, as they not only have to deal with standing tall as installments in their own right, but they need to provide merit as a sequel to a product that never needed one. The trickiest prospect involved is the anniversary sequel, as that is where you’re most likely to enact the gambit. Some projects of this nature can pay off in a way that respects the original and becomes its own product, perhaps even succeeding it in the process. However, not everyone can do a Turn A Gundam, and instead, some make Diebuster.

Put it simply, it fails both ways. As a series, it features mediocre at best and largely uninteresting characters, half-assed power-up moments, and tons of convoluted and barely explained sci-fi superpower bullshit & worldbuilding. When the highlight in terms of memorable character moments was a rape attempt, you know you’ve failed, and you abandon an important sci-fi element of the original in the process, you know you’ve fucked up. As a sequel, it is almost insulting. The writers made a completely different type of show -a mediocre one at that- a sequel to Gunbuster. It would be like making Aldnoah.Zero the sequel to Macross. As such, everything about the already poorly-crafted and convoluted world-building (galaxy building?) is brimming with incompatibility.

Buster machines are now biomechanical machines that can only be piloted by people with some hereditary superpower gene rather than robots that take skill for any able-bodied person in general to pilot. They each come with different powers including the ability to freeze space creatures in space with quantum temperatures, and controlling and turning other ships into creatures to use during battle via psychic powers or something akin to that. They have colonized entirely new planets with futuristic military technology, yet transportation technology and all things not inherently related to war against space creatures has yet to advance beyond 2004 -the year this OVA first aired- until the finale outright contradicts that. The finale also proves that it takes place during a specific portion of the original’s finale, as if to self-destruct while getting its idol caught in the explosion. Additionally, whereas Gunbuster used real, hard science for its science fiction, Diebuster uses pseudoscience superpower nonsense. This and more serve as only a taste of how incompatible (for lack of a better word) the world-building is, and why crafting a coherent world is always important. Otherwise, we get two pieces that just cannot fit.

There’s also the fact that the mere existence of the events in Die -even discounting the monumentally awful finale- ultimately sully the finale of the original Gunbuster, as not only did it end phenomenally, but it did so in a way in which no real sequel could be warranted. This isn’t even touching on the worldbuilding element; Gunbuster ended so conclusively that to continue would be to retroactively take back part of the point of the finale. This show really should have been its own thing. It would have been a mediocre at best show, but better a mediocre separate celebration installment than a show that accidentally knocks over its predecessor’s grave, especially when said predecessor became one of the two foundational anime of its studio. However, it would probably require heavy rewrites towards the end in particular. After all, the more it goes on, the worse it gets, peaking in its concluding episodes in terms of sheer atrocity, as the show stops caring almost entirely and ends up outright ruining the ending of the original.

To cover the positive -read: superficial- aspects of this asteroid, the music is better than last time, and the visuals are still mostly well-crafted. Even with the awful mech designs excessive amounts of usually terrible CGI, the show’s visuals are worthwhile. The character designs are fine enough -particularly that of Nono- and the action animation is smooth, kinetic, and kept track of extremely well...as long as the characters aren’t running. It may not hold up compared to the immaculately detailed and stylized predecessor of yore, but disregarding that leaves you with visuals that were on par with that best at the time, at least animation-wise. The sense of scale is quite large, to add on top of that. Lastly, the music is honestly a tad superior than the original, at least when it isn’t remixing tracks. The OP and ED themes are ok and the background music is serviceable, though that is all I can praise.

Ultimately, the more this show goes on, the more horrible a sequel it becomes. As if it wouldn’t be a bad enough show on its own, it just had to throw a classic series under the bus in a drunken attempt at paying homage and joining a franchise. Barring the prospect of bastardizing a returning cast, Diebuster commits every sin a sequel can commit -including ones I never thought were possible- and ends up shattering itself into pieces upon its obnoxious attempts at trying to send-up and one-up. On its own, it's a mediocre turned bad show too ambitious for its own good. As a sequel, it is so...so much worse. Way to go Gainax, producing the worst thing in your mainline repertoire to celebrate 20 years!