Martian Successor Nadesico Highly recommended

Publisher
ADV
Director
Tatsuo Sato
Production
TV Tokyo, XEBEC, Yomiuri Advertising
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
1996

Martian Successor Nadesico Volume 1: Chronicle I

By John Huxley
20th May 04

Episode Summary

WARNING: may contain spoilers

Episode 1: To Go Like a Man

Akito Tenkawa spent his childhood days living in the Utopia Colony on Mars. His good friend Yurika long departed for pastures new, disaster strikes when an alien invasion causes havoc in the peaceful colony, killing many innocent people including Akito's parents. Fast forward a year later and Akito has miraculously survived the attack and arrived on Earth. A chance encounter with Yurika lands him the job of the ship's cook aboard the Nadesico, a giant battleship built by the private company Nergal for the purpose of saving the survivors still trapped on Mars. Although Yurika's position as ship's captain (and her crush on the poor boy) probably helped him get the job, he sees it as an ideal opportunity to discover what happened to the Utopia Colony a year ago. What he didn't want is the opportunity to pilot the mecha Aestivalis, but the Nadesico is a little short staffed at the moment...

Episode 2: Leave the Blue Earth to me

The United Forces military want the Nadesico for themselves, and they're willing to use force if Yurika doesn't give up control of the super ship. Even Yurika's own father can't dissuade her from abandoning their mission to Mars. Negotiations failed, the crew of the Nadesico must fight their way to safety.

Episode 3: A Goodbye That Came Too Soon

With The United Forces military on their backs Nergal decide to press ahead with the mission and leave for Mars immediately. But the military won't let them go so easily and launch an offensive to stop the Nadesico in its tracks. As Akito and Jiro fly the Aestivalis in to battle they find themselves confronted by Jun Aoi, an old friend of Yurika who is obviously more than a little jealous of her relationship with Akito. However, Akito doesn't want to fight fellow humans when the real enemy is waiting for them on Mars...the Jovian Lizards!

Episode 4: Charmed By Aqua Space

A death aboard the Nadesico leaves Akito wondering why he's the only one in mourning. Do his fellow crew members not care? However, he discovers a kindred spirit it Megumi, the ships communications officer when she takes the time out to talk with Akito following a disaster that befell a fellow Nergal ship that was to deliver several new pilots aboard the Nadesico. Meanwhile, despite the disaster, the three pilots find their way aboard the Nadesico and introduce themselves as Ryoko, Hikaru and Izumi.

Volume Review

Watching these early episodes you'd be forgiven if you found yourself more than a little bemused. The majority of the sizeable cast are barely introduced, the plot moves quickly and explains little and by the end of episode four we've seen one character die and another three introduced.

Thankfully this whirlwind pace is only evident during these early episodes, or the effects are not so detrimental later on in the series. That said, even during these hectic episodes Nadesico is genuinely amusing, racking off jokes and puns at a rate of knots. The humour, the drama and the romance are all evident from episode one, which sees Akito joining the crew of the Nadesico after a chance encounter with an old friend, Yurika. Yurika is undoubtedly the star of the show, chasing her love Akito like a headless chicken, all the while using her tactical genius to captain the Nadesico.

As an introduction to the series the first episode isn't particularly useful; you're thrown in at the deep end and given very little in the way of explanations. The second episode helps clarify some of the confusion and by the end of the episode three you should be well in to the swing of things.

Which makes it all the more surprising when everything gets shaken up in episode four. One of the central characters is axed in favour of three new pilots, Akito becomes depressed, a new love interest is revealed and a disaster kills many Nergal employees, all in a single episode (well, the character is killed at the end of the third episode, but the crew don't find out about it until episode four). This may sound like far too much for twenty-five minutes of animation, but this is all part and parcel of Nadesico's charm.

I'll admit that I wasn't infatuated with Nadesico until around episode four. You think you've got it all sussed, you think you know exactly what Nadesico is all about, then it throws a spanner in the works and you're back to square one.

Fantastic stuff. And here's something: it only gets better.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English and Japanese audio, English Subtitles, Character bios, Translation notes, Trailer, Textless open & close

Notes: The features on this disc are minimal at best. The only features worth mentioning are the character bios (self-explanatory) and the translation notes, a pretty interesting insight into the difficulties of translating such a unique show. The picture quality is fine for a show of this age, as was the audio. An average DVD...but who cares when the show is this good?

-- John Huxley 20th May 04

Martian Successor Nadesico Images