Friday, February 3, 2017

Martian Successor Nadesico Part 6-The Motion Picture: The Prince of Darkness


It’s been two years since we saw the Nadesico crew and much has changed.  Akito and Yurika have apparently died in a shuttle accident.  The crew has gone it’s separate ways and Ruri Hoshino is Captain of the Nadesico B.  When a splinter group of the Jovians, The Martian Successors, begin a full scale attack on the Earth/Jovian alliance, humanity finds itself on the brink of another war.  A cryptic message from an old friend reaches Ruri and compels her to reassemble the old Nadesico crew for one final mission.  The crew of misfits managed to stop a war once but can they do it again?  And who is the mysterious Prince of Darkness and why is he waging a one man war against the Martain Successors?  The answer may shock Ruri to her very core.

(Disclaimer: I’m rolling out my review of The Prince of Darkness a bit early for a couple of reasons…ok maybe one reason.  As the schedule looked at the moment, if I wrapped up Nadesico next week as originally planned, I’d only be able to get out one review of Full Metal Panic before taking a two week break cause of Katsucon.  So to be a bit more fair, I opted to do a special Friday review posting so that I can get off two weeks of Full Metal Panic to you guys before a one week break and a return for the second half of the series.  I’m also gonna shorten the coverage of FMP from 6 weeks to 4, which means I have a spare week of content I need to think about…but I’ll get to that, I’m getting away from myself.  Enjoy the final review for Martian Successor Nadesico and I’ll see ya next week for the start of Full Metal Panic.)

Martian Successor Nadesico needed a sequel.  Hell even Ruri’s final monologue basically garunteed it was going to happen.  However, I doubt The Prince of Darkness is the continuation fans wanted.  A choppy story, a forced conflict, annoying new characters and, most criminal of all, the complete character assassination of Akito Tenkawa just for the sake of drama…all so Ruri Hoshino could get her own story and her own command…what…the…f***?

So remember a couple of weeks back during the beauty pagent episode, I made a remark about the unknown foreshadowing of that event.  Though Ruri resigned from it after her sweet musical number, she technically won the event was would have been named the next captain of the Nadesico.  Well here she is, two years later, a bit grown up and with her own, admittedly nicely designed ship…just without all the fun that came with it.  Ruri was one of the best parts of the Nadesico series.  She was good in many scenes and conveyed the heart of the series nicely.  I don’t think she could carry her own movie and the evidence is all there, from her lack of emotional outbursts when theyre really needed to the fact that her voice actress says her lines more softly than Minato that you can barely hear her.  It doesn’t help that her initial crew is so annoying its not funny.  This goes especially for Hari, who is either trying to earn Ruri’s affections or pray he hits puberty quickly…because all he does is whine his way through the every single scene cause he wants Sempai to notice him.  As for Saburota, he’s basically Akatsuki 2.0 and doesn’t really offer anything new or exciting, nor is he given much to do.

When the camera isn’t focused on long, drawn out scenes with Ruri trying to figure out what the hell is going on, the movie is jumping from plot point to plot point as if the filmmakers had a ton of ideas and no exact map of where to put everything.  The Martian Successors appear out of nowhere, make a few idol threats and then everyone starts shooting at each other without much deliberation or reason.  And then we get to the reunion tour with the original crew.  Many of them, like Megumi, Erina and Howmei are only in the movie for a few short seconds just to cram everyone in.  And those who do get more screen time like Hikaru, Izumi and Jun, don’t really get to do much (though in Jun’s case that’s not much of a change).  Ryoko gets a moment or two in some of the action scenes (sporting an awesome new hairdo) and Minato becomes Ruri’s confidant during some of the scenes plus getting to show off some sweet piloting skills.  But with a just under two hour run time, you barely get a second to say hello to all these familiar faces before jumping back to scenes of Hari screaming for Ruri to let them handle this mission without the old crew.  “We’re the best,” Hari says.  Oh kid, you’re far from it and “the best” are basically left out in the dust in favor of Ruri’s grand adventure.

Well…I cant avoid this forever so I’ll just go into it, nevermind spoilers.  The movies worst crime is what it does to Akito and Yurika, the real heart of Nadesico.  Yurika only appears at the end and Akito…oh Akito.  He is transformed into a shell of his former self.  Though he does sport a sweet black armored Aestevalis and a cool mask and cloak, Akito is now an emotionless killer who is determined to end the life of an assassin who probably experimented on him and took away his sense of taste and humor.  The happy go lucky ladies man is a far off memory and there isn’t even an attempt to turn him back to normal.  In fact, after barely explaining what happened to him and Yurika, Akito leaves with his Ruri 2.0 called Lapis on his own ship…what…the…hell?  Speaking of Hell, Ruri even has a vivid dream about the old days before cutting to a shot of Akito’s head graphically turning into a skull before screaming and Ruri wakes up.  This is wayyyy to dark imagery for something as relatively light hearted as Nadesico.  Even if it is an attempt to dial up the drama of a movie, much like Akito’s current state, it’s tasteless and shallow.  

And if you’re looking to specific explanations as to why the hell anything is happening, don’t bother.  Even when it was flying off the rails with humor, Nadesico took the time to explain a plot point or two.  Granted that was something easily done in a 26 episode series.  Here, there’s barely any backstory to the Martian Successors or their end goals, Akito and Yurika’s capture and Ruri’s ascension through the ranks.  A movie is supposed to be a self contained tale, even if it’s the first of a two parter or a trilogy, with a beginning, middle and end.  The Prince of Darkness throws you into the middle and keeps you there without establishing the beginning or the end.  The best I can say is that it does eventually end at a certain point and you can sigh knowing the movie is over.

I have to give credit where it’s due, the movie does look pretty awesome.  The characters look appropriately aged, the mechas look more sleek and the action scenes are pretty impressive.  It’s the animation upgrade you’d expect jumping from TV series to film.  Sadly, it’s not much to save this films shortcomings: focusing on the wrong characters, rushing the plot beyond lightspeed, taking an amazing character and throwing him out the window for a new, Zack Snyder Superman like model, and not answering any questions presented in the film OR left over from the TV series.  In a way, I’m almost (key word: almost) greatful Nadesico stopped here.  If the series did continue after this movie, it wouldn’t be the same and, even if change helps propel stories along, it wouldn’t help this universe in the state the movie left it.  Ruri is a good character but only when she’s around a strong cast of characters, which for the first third of the movie she isn’t.  Akito is a hero we all want to love…just not as a brooding warrior.  The Prince of Darkness took everything that made Martian Successor Nadesico a great story and overall show…and just threw it into a black hole hoping it would come out the other side a better Anime.

What else can I say but the people who made this movie…are idiots.

3/10

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