2196 A.D. It has
been one year since the invaders, known as the Jovian Lizards, began their
relentless campaign against Humanity.
Mars has already fallen and Earth is poised for the taking. With the Earth Military unable to stand
against them, the company of Nergal creates the Nadesico, a battleship capable
of taking the fight to the Jovians. It’s
crew are…an unorthodox choice at best.
There’s the beautiful but dim witted Captain, a pilot who just wants to
be a cook, a 12 year old techno prodigee, a mecha junkie, a voice actress and
that’s only a few of the characters.
Humanity is on it’s last legs and this rag tag group of random
individuals is the planets last hope…God help us all.
Ah the neglected classic, Martian Successor
Nadesico. This show was Gurren Lagann
before Gurren Lagann was even a concept.
Like that series, Nadesico is both parody and respectful nod to all of
the giant robot shows that came before it in the 70’s and 80’s. Is Nadesico as good as Gurren Lagann turned
out to be? Well for the month of
January, that will be our little quest to find out as I kick off 2017 in the
Anime Corner.
First, while not flawless, this show is still incredibly
gorgeous. Nowadays, it’s hard to find an
Anime that hasn’t been touched up with or created entirely using digital
artwork or heavy CG. Nadesico showcases
hand drawn scifi Anime at its finest.
Even if some of the action feels a little clunky, it makes sense given
the mass of the mechs and their movements too.
It gives the series a ton of charm…and theres something about handdrawn
beauties that really stands out.
Yep Nadesico isn’t just mecha battles, it’s very much almost
a Harem Anime too. Save for Akito, Jun,
Hoary and the Prospector, this ships crew is made up almost entirely of
beautiful women. Minato is one of the
finest, those who like their women curvy and sultry will be fine there. But the two stand outs among the female cast
are, of course, Yurika and Ruri. Yurika
is the energetic five year old spirit of this series. She is a brilliant tactician and can get
serious when the need calls for it…buuuuut more so than not she’s giving orders
with cheerful optimism and crying about just about everything else. Her obsession with Akito is both terrifying
and entertaining. Yes, there’s a war on
but damn if Yurika isn’t going to spend most of it trying to get Akito to date
her and confess his love for her…a very one sided love at that. As for Ruri…well she is pretty much the voice
of most people who would walk into a situation like this. While Yurika endlessly throws out the “V” for
VICTORY pose, Ruri is content to break the fourth wall and say, “Idiots…”
without so much an emotion, save for maybe a twinge of annoyance. It may seem a little one note, but it
actually balances things out pretty well.
At the center of this madness, the war and life on the
ship, is Akito Tenkawa. I like
Akito. He has some of the old Gundam
reservations about wanting to fight.
However he never comes off as whiny as Amuro Ray in the original Mobile
Suit Gundam. If anything, his outbursts
and overreactions are some of the shows best moments, especially the moment
where everyone thinks he’s screaming because of the Jovian attack but it’s
actually because Akito burned some food.
He doesn’t want to fight but he will if he has to and will do a bang up
job living the dream of being the pilot of a giant robot. Part of that comes from the “Kamina” (Gurren
Lagann Reference) of this series, Giro Yamada aka GUY DAIGOJE. He’s only in the first three episodes but he
gets the fire lit under Akito’s butt to live the dream of kicking ass with
robots. It sucks he got killed off but
could he have served much more purpose than this…and to introduce us to the
Anime within the Anime, Gekiganger 3?
Maybe but it’s kind of criminal he just gets ignored by everyone besides
Akito after he dies. It’s kind of rude
and mean spirited.
I want to give a shout out to a character while also
noting a particular problem with the Dub of this Anime. The shout out is to Ryoko Subaru, the bad ass
leader of the Nadesico’s Aestivalis squadron (the mechas of the universe). She’s feisty, gung ho, and kind of what Akito
should aspire to be. If there’s anyone
on the ship id rather Akito ended up with after these first five episodes, it’s
her. That being said, some of Ryoko’s
lines in the dub show the age of this Anime.
When I heard the line “Can you smell what Ryoko’s cooking?” I had to
groan a little. This dub was done by the
same group that dubbed Golden Boy. And
while hearing “I had to open up a can of whoop ass” made me laugh, hearing another
American wrestling joke in a dubbed Anime felt off to me and very dated. Was the translation from Japanese not a good
enough line?
The age might show a bit but Nadesico has the good stuff
where it counts. The cast is large but
incredibly diverse and memorable. The
action isn’t Macross but is still a lot of fun.
A lot of the animation and music just invokes the good old days of
daring space adventure, excitement and romance.
Plus the main theme, “You Get to Burning” is the perfect tract to get
you pumped up for whatever zaniness lies ahead.
“V” pretty much sums it up and in this day and age, we
could use a bit more pretty faces giving us this symbol more often than not.
“V” everyone.
Let’s kick this year off right.
ONWARD NADESICO!!!
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