#34 – Ace wo Nerae! (Aim for the Ace!)

Classic shojo series about tennis, based on the manga by Sumika Yamamoto and directed by the legend that is Osamu Dezaki. Gainax's classic OAV series Aim For The Top! Gunbuster borrows both it's title AND it's plot from this show.

“It's plot?” I hear you ask through the secret microphone I installed in my blog. Yes, it's plot. Despite one show being about tennis and the other being about humanity being wiped out by the universe's immune system, they essentially have the same plot.

On Technogirls' Aim for the Ace! page (a useful English language source on this subject) the show is described thusly:

“Hiromi is only a rookie tennis player, yet the coach chooses her to be on the team defending the club's title, a position desired by many other players.”

With some simple find and replacing we can get Gunbuster's plot.

“Norikio is only a rookie giant robot pilot, yet the coach chooses her to be on the team defending the entire human race, a position desired by many other giant robot pilots.”

SEE! SAME PLOT!

There are some fansubs of the show, but it may be tricky tracking them down. As with most vintage shows there is little interest from the sort of person who frequents anime bittorrent sites and so seeding tends not to last as long as more recent titles.

You will more easily found fansubbed episodes of the recent live action adaptation. .