Shout Out / GunBuster

• Most of the character dynamics, the basic plot and the sports theme of the first episode are lifted from tennis anime Aim for the Ace!. The title itself is a combination of Aim for the Ace! and Top Gun, two major influences on the plot.
• Supplementary materials, including Super Robot Wars, identify Noriko's RX-7 Machine from the start of the show as the "Nausicaä". Kazumi's is the "Giselle".
• The Inazuma Kick is a Rider Kick.
• In the next episode preview for episode three, Noriko begins her narration with "The sea of space is my sea!" which is the famous first line of the opening to Captain Harlock.
• The Yamato makes a cameo in episode 4 as the earth fleet is starting to warp out. All the earth ships are uniform grey and of a specific style, but there is a ship in the background with a very distinct red underbelly and smokestack.
• Kazumi is briefly seen reading No Longer Human in the fourth episode.
• Gunbuster's design is a combination of a Zaku, Ideon and Getter Dragon.
  • Gunbuster's Finger Firearm move copies the stance and missile colors the title character of the live action Giant Robo had.
  • Its forehead beam, ship combination and tomahawks belong to Getter Dragon.
  • The mech owes a few design cues to the Getter Dragon from Getter Robo G: the legs and chest are extremely similar in design, the Buster Beam fires from the mech's head much like the Dragon's Getter Beam (the other Getter machines had their beams fire from the stomach), and it was initially meant to dual-wield axes similarly to the Dragon (which didn't make the cut, but can still be seen in its Transformation Sequence)
  • Likewise, Gunbuster's first launch is adapted from the pivotal battle of Getter Robo G, where the machine rises out the ocean, arms folded, and decimates the enemy's forces. Of course, virtually everyone on both sides of the Pacific now thinks of Gunbuster whenever that scene is homaged.
  • Gunbuster is shown launching missiles/lasers from all over its body in an identical fashion to Ideon.
  • Although never used in the show, an official card game showed Gunbuster using the Choudenji Yo-Yo and Choudenji Spin from Combattler V.
• Noriko's rooms in episode five and six contain:
  • Posters for Space Battleship Yamato, The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and My Neighbor Totoro.
  • A Van Halen calendar.
  • A model kit of the aforementioned Yamato, and what looks to be a Z'gok.
• The final scene, in particular the way Gunbuster removes its Degeneracy reactor to kickstart the Jupiter Bomb, is heavily inspired by Musashi's legendary sacrifice in the original Getter manga.
• The fourth Science Lesson has Noriko directly compare Gunbuster to "Get-P Robo from the old 20th century anime". She also mentions Animage magazine.
• During one of the later Science Lesson episodes (done for the laserdisc release), Coach tells Noriko to name off all of the planets in the solar system, which she does while instantly cosplaying as each corresponding Sailor Moon character (inner planets only, the outer senshi hadn't appeared yet).