Through hard work and guts, here's the GunBuster character page! Still under construction.
For characters in the sequel series, see Diebuster.
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Main Characters
Noriko Takaya
- Voiced by: Noriko Hidaka (JP), Kiane Chula King (EN)
- Ace Pilot: Becomes one over the course of the series.
- Action Girl: One of Gainax's, and mecha anime in general's, all time greats.
- Ascended Fangirl: In the science lesson shorts, she reveals that she's a big Getter Robo fan. Also, she gets mentored by the actual Getter team in Super Robot Wars Alpha.
- Badass Armfold: Arguably the Trope Codifier in Japan.
- Smash Sisters: With Kazumi.
- Break the Cutie: Breaks pretty quickly in Episode 1, and breaks again in episode 3-4, before Taking Her Levels In Badass.
- Character Development: Noriko starts out as helpless at controlling her mecha, despite being perfect physically, she trains nonstop to improve her skills and can handle her mecha perfectly.
- While she could control her mecha, she wasn't battle oriented, as shown in her first battle in episode 3, where she didn't fire a single shot at the enemy and it lead to the death of her First Love Smith. The events that took place in the battle effected her mentally and she wept when she entered space to have a duel with Jung. During the second battle, where she gets sidelined, Noriko thinks about Smith and vows to never cry again, and that she will fight rather than hide; this makes Noriko transform into a major badass.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: An undeniably cute teenage girl with a tendency to embarrass herself while piloting a mecha. That is, until Episode 4 rolls around.
- Decomposite Character: Her character traits would be inherited by later Gainax protagonists. Shinji Ikari inherited her early personality, Naota Nandaba inherited her relation to a sibling, and Simon the Digger inherited her Character Development. Nadia inherited her look, with an Ambiguously Brown skin tone.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype : Noriko is an amazingly talented mecha pilot who can become the best pilot should she work hard enough...she's also only 15 when the show starts and suffers from near crippling self esteem issues and panics at the sight of danger, making her a deconstruction of the average mecha pilot at the time in a similar vein to Shinji Ikari. However, she also becomes a Reconstruction of said archtype by Episode 4 by becoming stronger through the tragedy that was inflicted upon her.
- Fiery Redhead: Oh YES! Especially after she gains the resolve to kick alien ass. Three words: SUPER! INAZUMA!! KIIIIIIIICK!!!!
- First Love: Falls for Smith in episode 3, and he ultimately triggers her Character Development due to his death and she seems to remain loyal to her feelings for Smith, as she doesn't fall in love with anyone else.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: A famous subversion, she starts off clumsy and extraordinarily incapable, she works her ass off to become a badass.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners /
Les Yay: With Kazumi on levels that would match a buddy cop film. Wait... - Hot-Blooded: Hints were always present and it grows episode by episode, but by Episode 4, Noriko is as Hot-Blooded a mecha pilot as any Super Robot protagonist. In fact, she's the basis for Simon.
- Indirect Kiss: Has one with Smith, the medium being his drink he gives her.
- Luminescent Blush: Has one after realizing she has an Indirect Kiss with Smith.
- Memento Macguffin: She first gets a yellow ribbon from Kazumi that she wears as a headband to keep her bangs out of her face, she wears it to show her respect and admiration for Kazumi.
- Half way through the series, however, she swaps the yellow ribbon for a blue one, the one that her First Love Smith tied to a ladder for her during their test of courage, she wears this ribbon to honor Smith after his death and to show her change in character. She still wears the blue ribbon, as shown in episode 6.
- Older Than They Look: Due to being in space at relativistic speeds for extended periods of time, Noriko's personal age doesn't match what normal people have aged. Such as when in episode 5 where ten years have passed since Noriko entered space, she is still 17, as her personal time has barely passed at all. In episode 6, another fifteen years have passed with her at near-lightspeed, making her technically 42, but still hasn't experienced much time herself and the only visible difference is she has grown her hair out. From the time she leaves earth for the first time until the final battle in episode 6 is only 20 months for her, and 25 years for Earth. Finally, at the conclusion of episode 6, 12,000 years have passed since the implosion when Noriko and Kazumi finally made it back to Earth, having spent enough time at near lightspeed that she STILL remains a late teenager.
- Rousing Speech: Gives one to Kazumi in episode 5 that rivals something out of Kamina's mouth, combined with a verbal Get a Hold of Yourself, Woman!.
- Stepford Smiler: In a sense. She makes it clear that she's going to stop crying in order to become stronger but she never said anything about stop being scared.
- Took a Level in Badass: Quite possibly one of the best examples. Compare her performance in episode one with that in episode four.
- Let's put this into perspective: Despite Gainax, Khara, and Trigger's penchant for Crazy Is Cool, no other protagonist from the three studios came close to her level until Simon, who needed a mecha the size of a GALAXY and challenging a Physical God to do so
- Let's put this into perspective: Despite Gainax, Khara, and Trigger's penchant for
Kazumi Amano
- Voiced by: Rei Sakuma (JP), Melissa Sternenberg (EN)
- Age-Gap Romance: And Teacher/Student Romance. Is in love with Coach Ohta, who was an officer on the Luxion with Noriko's dad.
- Smash Sisters: With Noriko.
- COOL BIG SIS: She's actually referred to as "oneesama" more than by her own name!
- Happily Married: Marries Ohta between 2032 and 2033. The marriage lasts only about a year before Ohta succumbs to his illness, but they were happy together nonetheless.
- Heartbroken Badass: In episode 5, when she has to leave Earth for a mission and by the time she gets back, he'll probably be dead from his illness. Subverted when they return to Earth after victory and he's still alive.
- Heroic BSoD / Out-of-Character Moment: When she breaks down in episode 5.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners / Les Yay: With Noriko.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: In episode 3 she openly states that Noriko shouldn't be her co-pilot, as she is not capable of performing in real combat. She then dissolves her partnership with Noriko. She does this because she is concerned about Noriko's safety. The result? Noriko starts doubting herself. She partners up with somebody who she hasn't trained with. She gets that person killed. Her confidence drops even more and it takes a herculean effort to rebuild her confidence to the point where she becomes combat capable again. All of this could have been avoided if Kazumi had given Noriko a chance.
Jung Freud
- Voiced by: Maria Kawamura (JP), Alexandra Yastishock (EN)
- Author Appeal: Was apparently named by Hideaki Anno. Yes,
that one. - D-Cup Distress: She says she likes the moon because the lack of gravity doesn't weigh down her breasts and she complains how her bra is too tight and she thinks her breasts are starting to sag.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's responsible for one of the biggest Tears of Joy inducing Tear Jerkers in all of anime, which is Her promise to Noriko and Kazumi of a big welcome home after they get back. A promise that humanity 12,000 years later honors.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Two actually, as her name references Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, men known for their work on human psychology.
- The Promise: At the end of the series, she promises Noriko and Kazumi that they'll get a big welcome home after they return from detonating the Black Hole Bomb. This promise was passed down through the generations over 12,000 years until they finally did.
- The Rival: Starts out as this to Kazumi, but quickly becomes best friends with her and Noriko. She is, however, Kazumi's rival for Coach's affection. She lost.
Koichiro "Coach" Ohta
- Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (JP), Bradley Gareth (EN)
Norio Wakamoto, pre-Pigeon-holing.
- Age-Gap Romance: And Teacher/Student Romance. With Kazumi.
- Happily Married: Marries Kazumi sometime between 2032 and 2033, the marriage only lasts about a year before he dies from his illness, but the two were happy together nonetheless.
- Undying Loyalty: Everyone in the series, at one moment or another, doubts Noriko's ability and usefulness to the war, including Noriko herself... except Coach Ohta. Coach NEVER fails to tell Noriko of how much potential he sees in her and that it's her destiny to pilot Gunbuster, even as he submits her through every Training from Hell imaginable to toughen her up in preparation to pilot it. In return, IT'S COACH'S BEATING HEART THAT MAKES GUNBUSTER NOT SOME ORDINARY MACHINE!!!
Minor characters
Reiko Kashiwara
- Voiced by: Masako Katsuki (JP), Krystal LaPorte (EN)
- Alpha Bitch: In the first episode.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Gets her butt kicked at the end of the first episode and promptly cleans up her act.
- Graceful Loser: Despite being a brutal piece of work in her mecha to mecha schoolyard fight against Noriko, Kashiwara chills out with a satisfied smile as soon as Noriko knocks her flat on her mecha's ass.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Was hoping to become part of the space force and was well qualified for the most part. When she loses the spot to Noriko, Kashiwara makes it her job to ensure that the remainder of Noriko's time in training is a living hell.
- Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: Works as a mecha phys. ed coach in her later years, having mellowed out considerably from her teen years.
- Teens Are Monsters: See above.
Smith Toren
- Voiced by: Kazuki Yao (JP), Jason Liebrecht (EN)
- First Love: Noriko's.
- Killed Off for Real: Dies in battle, and his death triggers Noriko's Character Development.
- Indirect Kiss: Has one with Noriko, the medium being his drink that he gave her.
- Nice Guy
- Phenotype Stereotype: A fair-haired and eyed American.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Introduced in episode 3. Has some romantic chemistry with Noriko—just enough that it hurts Noriko (and the audience) when he dies in battle by the end of the episode.
- Shout-Out: He's based on Toren Smith, founder of manga translator Studio Proteus.
