Nono is a clumsy waitress who dreams of becoming a space pilot. One day, she meets Lal'C Melk Mark, a member of the elite psychic pilot team "Topless." But when space monsters appear from out of nowhere to wreak havoc on Mars, Lal'C calls out her Buster Machine—codenamed "Dix-Neuf"—to subdue the threat. During a battle with a Space Monster, Lal'C gets the surprise of her life when she sees Nono use her super-strength to help Dix-Neuf destroy the alien. From that point, Nono hangs along with Lal'C in hopes of becoming a member of Topless.
Direction
Kazuya Tsurumaki's kinetic framing makes 96 minutes feel like a sugar rush.
Practical Effects
Hand-drawn mecha animation that modern CG still can't touch for soul.
Writing
Otsuka's script balances dumb-fun energy with genuine existential weight.
Director
Masahiko Otsuka
Yukari Fukui
Nono (voice)
Maaya Sakamoto
Lal'C Mellk Mal (voice)
Miyuki Sawashiro
Tycho Science (voice)
Mitsuo Iwata
Nicholas Vacheron (voice)
Takumi Yamazaki
Casio Takashirô (voice)
Sanae Kobayashi
Piaget Serpentine (voice)
Yuki Matsuoka
LeCoultre Serpentine (voice)
Nozomu Sasaki
Gouya Reicy (voice)
Yuhko Kaida
Roo Soon (voice)
Akio Suyama
Roy Anyan (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Diebuster was Gainax's 20th anniversary project, created specifically as a thematic inversion of Gunbuster—trading 1980s hard sci-fi melancholy for 2000s maximalist optimism.
The 'Topless' name for psychic pilots was deliberately provocative—Otsuka wanted to evoke raw, exposed power without the sexual connotation landing, though it absolutely did anyway.
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