Today is Noriko Takaya's birthday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuOmP5_zm1w Born on 12 September 2006 in Osaka, Japan. Noriko was just a small girl when her father, Admiral Yuzo Takaya, was killed in deep space when his ship the Luxion was ambushed. Ever since that day, Noriko had vowed to follow in her father's footsteps and become a space pilot. At 16 years of age, she enrolled in the Okinawa High School for Girls, where she would train in the use of the RX-7 Machine Weapon. But as luck would have it, Noriko did not exactly start off on the right foot. She was clumsy, and the burden of operating the robot while viewing the monitor screen at the same time proved to be too much. Her friend Kimiko Higuchi chided her constantly when Noriko would dream of being a famous space pilot, as the results of her clumsiness well showed. It was during her short time there that she met the school's top pilot candidate, Kazumi Amano. Kazumi told Noriko to have confidence in herself and she would be fine. However, when it came time to prove to herself that she could do just that, Noriko floundered. When she later learned from Kimiko that she had been picked to pilot the Gunbuster along with Kazumi, Noriko broke down. Noriko's classmates ridiculed her and rumors spread that she was picked because of her father's connections. Noriko knew that there were pilots a lot better than her, but the school's coach, Koichiro Ota, would not back down on his decision. As time progressed, Noriko found the confidence she needed and eventually became an ace pilot. With the Gunbuster on her side, she found that she could do anything, and that was exactly what was needed when the lives of those she cared about depended on it. She had kept her promise to her father. Noriko was sure he would be proud.