Anime preview: MSN

[Ryoutarou]

Introduction

Now, here is an anime TV series with very little need for introduction, Martian Successor Nadesico.

It is a very well known fact in the fan community that this series was voted as the best anime series of all time in fans in Japan back in its day, but does it really live up to such a title today? Especially in an entertainment world where shows can be regarded as groundbreaking and great when they first appear on the scene, only to be abandoned by fans once they become popular with the mainstream or gets old? Joins us as we take a closer look at volume one of Nadesico and see how it stacks up now that it?s been widely available for some time in the U.S. market.

Story

"The aliens have destroyed our base on Mars, wiped out our space fleets, and now, only one ship stands between Earth and total annihilation! Disgusted by the incompetence of Earth's military, the independent arms manufacturer Nergal has built its own space battle cruiser. But due to the shortage of trained soldiers, they've had to assemble the most unorthodox crew to ever launch into orbit. With a cook who's also a pilot and an Admirals's daughter in command, the new starship is the most formidable fighting vehicle ever conceived. But before it can see action against the Jovian invaders, the crew must win their first victory against their own species as they fight off a ruthless attempt by Earth's military to seize the Nadesico!"--

The series opens with a dramatic invasion of Earth?s settlements in Mars. As they break through an underground bunker?s doors, a young man, Akito Tenkawa, takes it upon himself to distract the invaders so that the other civilians can flee to safety. Unfortunately they are surrounded and his efforts are for naught. As he himself is cornered and about to be eliminated the scene fades to white and we are then taken a year into the future, where we learn that Earth is under great peril as the Jovian invaders continue to strike at our remaining forces, which are helpless against them. Fortunately Nergal, a private corporation, decided a long time ago to take it upon itself to build a weapon that
would be able to help the Earth, the space battleship Nadesico. Now, with the construction of the Nadesico complete its up to Nergal to find a crew with the skills and bravery necessary to pilot the new ship towards victory!

This is the first time I?ve seen Nadesico in a very long time, so going into this review of the first DVD in the series I was curious as to whether it would hold up to what I remembered the show as being. Surprisingly enough, the same scenes that made me laugh out loud some years ago made me laugh again; I really wasn?t expecting that at all. I was just as much into the show now as I was the first time I saw it, despite the fact that I already knew what was coming. That should say something about the quality of the series.

This being volume one of the domestic DVD release it contains what amounts to mostly inductive episodes, that is, stories that help introduce us to the world of Nadesico, the main cast of characters, the initial plot, and other elements that make up this series' universe. As such they do a good job at setting up the series' story base.

Popularly referred to by anime fans as the anti-Evangelion series, this show is a light hearted parody of popular anime staples like mecha and space opera shows with the most obvious example of this being the program's in-show anime series, Gekiganger 3, a 100 year old anime in the Nadesico universe that plays out in the same fashion (almost too perfectly so!) as the classic super robot shows of the 1970's (specifically Mazinger-Z, Great Mazinger, Getta Robo, Getta Robo G, and Voltes V).

While mostly easygoing and humorous the series also has it's more dramatic moments, which help show different aspects of our heroic crew and make them somewhat more realistic/rounded, although not too much so. This strange balance of humor, parody, strange characters, and drama make for a rather interesting mix and give Nadesico a style all of its own.

Production-wise the animation was for the most part good and very consistent, although there were a couple of moments where it seemed a little bit off. The overall quality though, especially for a TV series was excellent. I especially need to commend the animators for the Gekiganger 3 segments, because they eerily capture the exact look, feel, and movement of the 1970's shows they are trying to parody with it. If I didn't know that this was part of Nadesico and saw it on its own (maybe through the Gekiganger 3 OVA special that I so do hope ADV Films will one day release) I would have probably thought it was an old super robot show I had never heard of before.

The music soundtrack for this show is awesome and goes perfectly with the overall feel of the series, featuring some great almost over-the-top pieces (that help punctuate the cast's eccentric personalities) and some awesome heroic tracks that make the battle scenes that much better and dramatic.

The Nadesico: Chronicle I DVD included the following episodes:

Episode 1: "To Go Like a Man"
Episode 2: "Leave the Blue Earth to Me"
Episode 3: "A Goodbye That Came to Soon"
Episode 4: "Charmed by Aqua Space"

This DVD came with various extras including character biographies, translations notes, textless openings & closings, a Nadesico trailer, and previews for other ADV products. Overall it was a very high quality package. The video transfer was sharp and colorful and the audio came through perfectly on both the Japanese and English soundtracks.

Conclusion

Martian Successor Nadesico is in a league of it's own.

While it does help inmensely to have some knowledge of older mecha and sci-fi classics of the anime world to understand some of what is being parodied and referenced, it's not really required to enjoy this TV series. Highly recommended for all anime fans!