| Martian
Successor Nadesico Vol-1: Chronicle I (1996)
Animation Production: Xebec/TV Tokyo/Yomiko
Released by: ADV
Films
Episodes: 1-4
By Jeffrey
Couto
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!"-- ADV's
Martian Successor Nadesico Page
Review
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!
Jeffrey
Couto |
