Gainax Pose

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About

The Gainax Pose (Japanese: ガイナ立ち, Gaina Dachi; lit. "Gainax Standing Pose" or "Gainastance"), also known as "Gunbuster Pose" in the English-speaking web^[1], refers to an iconic pose often appearing on anime franchises produced by a Japanese anime studio Gainax.^[2] The concept of this cool and commanding pose has been shared among anime otakus since late 2000s, and it's a popular subject on illustrators communities.

Origin

The first appearance of this pose, later called as "Gainax Pose", is a scene in the 4th episode of original animation video (OAV) Gunbuster^[3] released by Gainax in 1988-89, where Gunbuster is standing with its arms crossed and coming up to deck of a space warship slowly in its first launch (shown, below, left). This robot's pose also appears on later episodes along with the protagonist's same pose with her face filled with strong determination against the battle for the future of the earth (shown below, right).

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As same as many other scenes and settings in the anime, this pose is also the homage to a panel in the 2nd title of Getter Robo^[4] series, Getter Robo G^[5], written by Ken ishikawa in 1975, where Getter Dragon standing on the head of a metal beast Uzala is coming up from under the sea with its arms crossed in the final battle.

Spread

This pose began to catch an attention among anime otakus thanks to two of Gainax's works in the middle of 2000s. One is the sequel OAV for the anime Diebuster^[6] released in 2004-2006. Since the main characters struck this pose in many highlights as a self-referential homage to the original Gunbuster and its pilots, this pose became to be recognized as an iconic pose of that anime studio among viewers of the anime. The name "Gainax Pose" was originally coined to refer to that pose in Diebuster by them.

Gainax Pose in Diebuster

The other is 2007 TV anime Gurren Lagann that scenario was written by Kazuki Nakashima^[7], the well-known follower of Ken Ishikawa and Getter Robo series. Since "Gainax Pose" is often cited as the signature pose also in this anime from that year, its moniker and concept came to be shared among many Japanese anime viewers.

Gainax Pose in Gurren Lagann

The establishment of the pose signifying special moments in anime made the "Gainax Pose" a popular motif for illustrations in online illustrators communities. Fan creations or parodies of characters striking "Gainax Pose" have been continually posted to the Japanese illustrator communities pixiv^[8] and Nico Nico Seiga^[9] since the middle of 2008, and several of them are reprinted to Tumblr.^[10] There, the "Gainax Pose" has been identified with three key properties:

A stately appearance
Character's commanding look filled with strong determination or pride
Excessive visual effects by winds, smoke, flames, splashes, lights, particles, etc.