It’s official: last weeks premiere was not a fluke. Vandread: The Second Stage continued on just as strong in its sophomore week by not just delivering another heart tugging emotional event for the crew of the Nirvana, but also showing that it can handle more troublesome Season One elements with a lot more maturity. Jeez, this season really is even better than the first right now. It may be a bit darker and more serious but I freaking love it. And yes, it does suck that in order to achieve this greatness, the sacrifice of a beloved character was required.
From her cool under pressure attitude to her dry wit (to the running gag that no one but Mango and BC and maybe Meia could pronounce her name correctly), Gascogne has always been one of the highlights of Vandread. As the other right hand of Magno, possibly even more than BC, she’s evidence of the longevity of the Mejere Pirates, giving the crew tons of history and legacy even though we haven’t spent years with them. Gascogne has acted as the big sister figure to the whole crew, most notably Hibiki and Barnette. For Hibiki, Gascogne was a mentor who taught him how to think and be less brash and, actually, she kind of did the same for Barnette. So when she sacrificed herself to give the crew a chance to take down a Harvest Mothership, its no wonder it was a two part event that included a lengthy segment of the whole ship mourning her death and losing its smile for a brief period. People cried, blame was thrown around and eventually it was time for payback. God, this show stepped up the drama big time with very little time for a joke. It didn’t skimp on the “hope” factor as Hibiki rallied the crew to fight once more in a very Independence Day inspired plan to slip the Mothership a virus that nearly crippled the Nirvana in the premiere. This bold tactic also ended up creating a brand new Vandread…Vandread…um… DiMeiJur, it’s a combo of all three versions of the Vandreads. Gascogne would be proud of the way her family handled their overwhelming odds, especially against a Harvest Nirvana that could turn into a freaking Macross (which DiMeiJur cut in half btw). Though Bart makes a good point: could the Nirvana join in on the combined fusion fun?
After a two part farewell to a beloved character, it was understandable the drama needed a bit of a break. Thankfully, the return to the more lighthearted, comedic side of things showed vast improvement. For once, Hibiki being caught in a love triangle between Dita and Misty wasn’t a colossal pain to sit through. I will say it helped that the entire crew officially rooting for Hibiki and Dita and watching them via the ships cameras Big Brother style actually helped. It shows how far both Men and Women on this ship have come, that theyre willing to set aside part of their day to see how the big official romance on the Nirvana will play out. Misty’s attitude was hard to deal with at times because she was being absolutely mean to Dita. But Meia saw through her façade, so did Ezra, both realizing Misty’s trying to mask her loneliness since her family is long gone. In the end, while Meia helped Misty cope, it was Jura who led the charge to get Hibiki to almost confess his feelings for Dita. Wow Jura. Between this act of kindness and almost dying in battle, this show really is doing wonders for characters I wasn’t a fan of in the first season.
Actually, Meia and Jura got some good material this week too. This show has always promoted them as being two of the four main characters of this show next to Hibiki and Dita. While Meia has been given time to grow, Jura’s been kind of stagnant. She’s sexy sure but she’s vain and complains a lot. Like I said though, she almost died in battle with the Macross Nirvana and it seems to have dialed back some of that whiny attitude. It showed at first when she comforted Barnette following Gascogne’s death. Then she helped Dita try to sort out her feelings for Hibiki before taking charge of the Dread squad when Meia was unavailable…and acting like a good commander. And where was Meia during said unavailability? Why she was spending some forced quality time babysitting Ezra’s baby while everyone prepared a surprise birthday party for her. Meia’s gone from strictly by the books to actually caring about her crewmates over the course of the series and now she’s willing to lay down her life to protect the smallest person on the ship, it warms the heart despite there being some pacing issues with her episode, a minor quibble. Oh and shout out to Barnette, who gave up her wings to take over Gascogne’s role on the ship at Reg Central and even taking the time to listen to Hibiki and his Dita love troubles. Everybodys growing a bit eh?
I honestly cant believe I’m watching a continuation of Vandread because The Second Stage feels like a whole new, far more confident and mature series. The stakes have been raised, the emotional impact is far greater and even the humor and heart feels stronger. It really sucks that we’ll be wrapping this one up Next Monday. The second season has made great strides. I really, really, REALLY hope it can pull off a truly great finale and that my concerns about the return to Mejere and Taraak being fraught with some really terrible revelations don’t come to pass. I’m counting on you Vandread: The Second Stage, let’s finish strong. See ya next week everyone.
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