Original subtitles

Okinawa

2032 A.D.

Graduation Ceremony

July 31st

Diploma presentation.

Number of Graduates: 2

Earth Imperial Space Force...

Okinawa Girls' Space Pilot High School...

Senior Class 2, Cadet #2...

Kazumi Amano.

Yes, sir.

Awaiting us upon our return from space...

was our high school graduation.

How rushed it all seemed.

I've only 4 months of memories on this campus.

But on Earth, 10 years have already passed.

Even Ms. Kashihara...

is now an instructor here.

All my old classmates are gone.

Kimiko's gone, too.

Space is a vacuum of memories, too.

And from Senior Class 1...

Noriko Takaya.

Y... Yessir!

Episode 5

「 Please!! Time Enough for Love! 」

Graduation at age 17...

I should feel privileged, huh?

You don't get it, do you?

According to your birth certificate, you should be 27 now.

Hmm...

So, I'm supposed to be around the age to have kids or something?

Excuse me, aren't you?

Miss Noriko Takaya?

Kimiko?

So Hii-chan and Ritsuko both got married?

I guess I've been left behind.

And now you're a mother, on top of all that.

How old is Takami-chan?

She'll turn 3 soon.

Ahh... What's that?

It's the Eltreum.

So that's it?

Yes.

Fifth-Generation Space Battleship「Eltreum」

You can make out its shape with binoculars...

even from down here.

Wow, it's huge.

I hear it's over 70 kilometers long.

It's supposed to be an Earth evacuation ship.

What?

Rumors say that since the military takes priority...

a civilian's chances of getting aboard are 4,000 to 1.

That's...

You can look down on me for asking you this...

but could you use your connections to get Takami a place on board?

I want for her...

...to have a future.

Kimiko...

Hello, Kimiko?

Oh... is Mrs. Kimiko there?

Takami-chan? This is big sis Noriko.

No, don't call me "Auntie Noriko" just yet!

Is your Mama there?

Oh, she's out with Papa?

So you're watching the house all by yourself?

Good girl!

Okay then, Takami-chan...

please tell your Mama that Noriko said she's sorry.

Right.

Okay, bye-bye.

A future for Takami-chan, huh...

Kimiko really has become a mother.

All this time has passed me by while I was in space...

leaving me behind, all by myself.

Dad...

Is this how you felt whenever you came back from space?

This bleak feeling of isolation?

August 6th

4:15 A.M.

Palomar Observatory

What?

Space Force Intelligence Bureau

I can't hear you!

The Constellation Lyra?

Near Area 3-26?

A huge mass of enemies?!

There's so many of them...

Surveillance Satellite

they're blotting out our view of space.

Seven parts enemy, three parts black! Got that?!

I repeat! Seven parts enemy, three parts black!

Examining the degeneracy radar's data, due to the enemy's heavy concentration...

General Staff HQ Small Conference Room

6:20 A.M.

we are unable to get an accurate count of them.

Head of Observation Dept.

We estimate their number to be over 100 million...

extending over approximately 80 astronomical units.

Their ETA to reach our Absolute Defense Line is unknown at this time.

80 astronomical units? I can't imagine...

Imagine the diameter of Pluto's orbit...

- What? - I don't quite follow...

Admiral Tashiro

They're...

finally here.

In other news...

the anti-space monster force formed 11 years ago...

the "Top Squadron," has officially announced that it is disbanding.

Sub-Lieutenant Takaya.

Commander Ohta has requested your presence.

Please report to the staff office immediately.

Rain?

You're too self-centered.

You're always like this! You never care about me!

Then don't bother coming here!

Oné-sama?

Coach!

Coach!

Hello! Hello!

This is Okinawa Girls' Space Pilot High School...

Coach, what are you doing?

Don't tell Amano about this.

If you do...

...you're dead.

Coach!

Please, hang on!

Coach! Coach!!

The Next Day

Noriko, I've decided to find a new love.

I'm giving up on Coach.

Two people can't live the same life.

After all, "Meeting is the start of saying good-bye"

We only get one life to live, you know...

I don't want to waste even a minute.

"Time stops for no man."

But anyway, you're very gloomy.

That time of the month?

Silly girl.

"Two people can't live the same life."

So, we have to live our lives for ourselves...

Coach! Coach!!

Hang on!

Coach!

Takaya, mankind is facing its greatest threat...

since life began on Earth.

Forget that now...

Shut up and listen!

The enemy fleet is closing in.

The largest attack ever.

Humanity itself only has one miniscule chance of surviving...

and that's your Gunbuster.

Coach!

Takaya!

Triumph!

To save the Earth and our people...

Gunbuster must triumph!

Listen, Takaya.

Yes, sir.

You and Amano, alone, are mere flames.

Together, you are an inferno.

And the Gunbuster as an inferno is...

...invincible!

Coach.

You're the two I chose.

Together, you can overcome anything!

Yes, Coach!

Takaya.

Yes, sir.

Back then, I intended to protect Admiral Takaya with my life.

But the reality was the opposite.

I feel that I've done you a grave disservice.

Don't say that, Coach. You shouldn't...

The reason I've lived up until now...

is to pass down the future the Admiral entrusted me with...

along with Gunbuster, to the two of you.

But that, too, will end soon.

Takaya...

Yes, sir.

Don't tell Amano about my illness.

She's weak.

If she knew, she wouldn't be able to fight.

Takaya, please.

Protect Amano.

Protect her, please...

Me? Protect Oné-sama?

Tears?

So she already knows... Oné-sama...

Tokyo: The Imperial City

Earth Defense Agency

The main point is that...

the enemy has arrived!

Emergency Countermeasures Meeting

All we can do is intercept them with everything we have!

What's the status of our last resort...

Chief of General Staff

the Eltreum?

It's currently 16% fitted.

Head of Shipbuilding Division

The day after tomorrow, 1,500 new support members will...

That's no use at all!

Chief of Ship R&D Division

There's no way it can launch!

An unfitted battleship is nothing more than...

Deputy Chief of General Staff

a glorified statue.

But at our present strength...

Head of Operations, First Section

we don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

Then what do we do?

Vice-Minister of the Space Force

The enemy could cross our Absolute Defense Line by as early as tomorrow.

I have a proposal!

Commander Ohta?!

Send the decommissioned Exelion into the center of the enemy forces, unmanned.

Release the Kingston valve...

and send the degeneracy generator that acts as a warp engine into overload.

And the generator will become an artificial black hole...

after 2 minutes, 40 seconds due to the Void effect...

and then it'll swallow the enemy fleet near Jupiter 2...

along with the entire planetoid.

We can use the Buster Machines as its escort.

Ohta...

That's sheer insanity...

The enemy's numbers are in the hundreds of millions!

With only one Gunbuster completed, do we have any workable alternatives?

It's the only way!

Ultra-Hikari Express for Tokyo

Train No. 061, Car No. 10

This is your conductor.

We are currently passing Shin-Okayama Station as scheduled.

Our estimated time for arrival at Shin-Osaka Station is 9:31 A.M.

Okayama's specialities, Kibi dumplings and Momiji cakes?

We also have telephone cards.

Oné-sama, it's finally time to go.

You didn't bring much luggage, did you?

Neither did you.

After all, we'll be back before we know it.

Not quite that soon. On Earth...

...6 months will pass.

ESCAR for Space Base

Oné-sama.

Um, about Coach's condition...

I know.

But right now, we should be more concerned about the billions of lives at stake here...

than the life of one person.

We have to keep our chins up.

Yeah... You're right.

I'm relieved... You're still your same old self.

Fuji Space Force Base

Buster Machine #1

Buster Machine #1 Cockpit

Pilot: Sub-Lieutenant Takaya

Buster Machine #2

Buster Machine #2 Cockpit

Pilot: Lieutenant Amano

Is that Coach?

I knew it!

Oné-sama, Coach is here.

He looks fine.

Say, Oné-sama.

Maybe you two will get married when we come back.

What do you say?

Well? Did I nail it?

You two make a perfect couple...

and Coach needs someone to take care of him.

You don't get it, do you?

Coach has space radiation syndrome.

He might not last another 6 months.

I may never see him again.

That can't be. Coach...

Coach!

We may never see them again.

Okinawa

Is big sis Noriko in that?

Yes, your Mama's very best friend is piloting that...

to ensure a future for you.

When you're older, I'll tell you everything.

Mama, are you crying?

It's nothing...

It's really nothing.

Space Battleship Exelion

Acceleration in 15 minutes.

Buster Machines, move into position.

Earth time is on top.

We're still sharing the same time as Earth...

But soon, Oné-sama and I will slip into a time stream of our own.

Acceleration in 10 seconds.

8, 7...

6, 5...

4, 3...

2, 1.

216 astronomical units to enemy center.

On Earth, 3 days have already passed... No, 4 days!

Planetoid Jupiter 2

Approaching enemy fleet.

Intercept the front line.

Approximately 250 million enemy units.

Lead is secured.

- Here we go, Noriko! - Roger!

3.8 billion kilometers to go.

- Noriko, keep going, straight to the center! - Roger!

1 billion kilometers to go.

4 months gone already?

I've had enough! I don't want to go any further!

Oné-sama!

I can't.

I just can't go on.

Oné-sama...

He's going to die...

Even if I make it back to the Earth, he'll no longer be there.

I never even told him.

I never said, "I love you..."

or, "Hold me."

I've never said a single thing to him!

Back then, I truly hoped that he would kiss me...

...and embrace me.

I wanted him to say he loved me.

But...

even then...

I'll never, ever see him again.

No, I just can't take it!

Oné-sama, pull yourself together!

Otherwise, they'll slaughter us.

What about Coach's last 6 months?

Don't you think he wants to be with you?!

His final 6 months!

Don't you think he wanted to hold you and not let you leave?!

But he had to deny himself...

and stake everything on those last 6 months!

On you, and me, and Gunbuster!

These are his last 6 months! Oné-sama!

No, they're not just his!

Kimiko, Jung, and everyone else have pinned their very futures...

on the two of us!

If we lose now...

what's the reason that everyone stayed alive up to now?

We must...

We must...

We must win, at all costs!

Please, Kazumi!

Fight!!

All right, Noriko, I understand.

Let's combine!

Oné-sama!

Your 6 months...

These 6 months, I'll fight for you.

It's the only way to share this time with you.

GUNBUSTER!!!

Noriko, the Exelion is still intact.

It's below us, on your port side.

Oné-sama, let's use it!

Yes, let's.

Super...

Lightning...

KICK!!!

Don't think the combined Gunbuster...

is just some ordinary machine!

It has Coach's...

It has Coach's heart beating within it!

Noriko, enemy units directly above you, coming down fast!

Incoming from below! Around 3,000 of them!

HOMING LASER!!

Everyone's future... Our future!

I'll pave the way for it with Gunbuster!

Precisely! So don't get in our way!

BUSTER MISSILE!!

Noriko, pull back! We're in their defense zone.

Incoming counterattack. Draw them towards us!

Get as many of them as far away as we can!

Incoming concentrated fire! Around 20,000 rounds!

BUSTER SHIELD!!

You think that's enough to take us down?!

20 million kilometers to go. Just hold out until then.

Below, too?!

I had no idea they had things like these.

Who could've imagined it?

They're pretty good.

But don't underestimate the Coach's Gunbuster!

DOUBLE BUSTER COLLIDER!!

The Exelion has reached the center.

It's reaching the gravitational radius now.

It's starting...

Farewell, Exelion...

The mission was a success.

General Staff HQ

As of 10:45 P.M. the Palomar Observatory has detected type-G X-rays.

We estimate at present that 99.89% of the enemy forces have already been wiped out.

The shockwave is expected to reach us in 6 months' time.

This time, we're saved.

Hakone Space Force Hospital

Coach...

Coach!

I love you, Mr. Koichiro...

Sorry... I'm sorry, Smith.

I promised I wouldn't cry anymore.

But I think Kimiko would be proud.

Right, Dad?