Kidou Senkan Nadesico

Akito doesn't want to fight. Despite a childhood spent on the anime Gekiganger 3, a Mecha show, he'd rather cook than pilot a Mecha. Fate intervenes when his home on Mars is destroyed, and he is transported instantly to the Earth, mysteriously. He has questions no one can answer fully, but follows a girl from a chance meeting in hopes to discover any. The girl, Yurika, is captain of the private battleship Nadesico, and in order to follow her, he enlists as their cook. Possessing the nanite implants that allow to control mechas, he's a handy backup pilot for the mechas of the Nadesico. He joins a crew bent on avenging Mars that seems to be composed of only misfits, otakus, and ditzes; however, in reality, they are handpicked experts. They take their own private war back to Mars to face the harsh reality that life may not always be like a Giant Mecha series.

(Source: ANN)

Misumaru, Yurika Main

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Tenkawa, Akito Main

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Hoshino, Ruri Supporting

Minami, Omi Japanese

Daigoji, Gai Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Subaru, Ryoko Supporting

Yokoyama, Chisa Japanese

Maki, Izumi Supporting

Nagasawa, Miki Japanese

Amano, Hikaru Supporting

Kikuchi, Shiho Japanese

Reinard, Megumi Supporting

Takano, Naoko Japanese

Uribatake, Seiya Supporting

Tobita, Nobuo Japanese

Fressange, Ines Supporting

Matsui, Naoko Japanese

Greenfield, Matt Producer, ADR Director

Ikeda, Shinichi Producer

Satou, Tatsuo Director, Storyboard, Planning

Tanaka, Hideyuki Sound Director

Reviews

Oct 10, 2024

MAGNUS8M

Recommended

After the success of Gundam and others like it in the 80s, many new giant-robot anime began to populate Japan, and eventually the rest of the world. It became such an overused theme that parodies began to slowly invade the airwaves.

Martian Successor Nadesico tries to ride the line between serious-anime and giant-robot parody(as well as being a lite-harem), and manages to do so very well, for the most part.


At it's core, Nadesico introduces an early mystery - who are the aliens using robots to attack Earth, how does the main character Akito have mysterious powers, and what awaits the crew at every turn. The ... main cast of characters essentially steal an advanced space battleship/carrier(The "Nadesico" itself) and use it with the intention of rescuing a Mars colony from alien infestation, only to find things are too far gone to help out. This sets up for a 'new' adventure they don't really know or understand, aimlessly wandering the skies and the universe without really knowing what to do; but as they continue in search of something to fight for, they accidentally uncover a lot of mystery along the way.


Why do I consider this a parody?

For one thing, giant-robot usage is very tongue-in-cheek - since their controls have hand-nanomachine-interfaces with their minds, the 'Aestivalis' robots can spin, twirl, point, and otherwise do things that most "real-robots" don't usually have the advanced controls to perform. Many times they do jokingly-cutesy acts and don't take themselves seriously too often.

Secondly, this anime has its own in-universe anime called "Gekiganger III"(later called Gekiganger V), and many references are made to it throughout. Characters will often say "it's just like that anime, Gekiganger", or they will use the advanced nanomachine-interface to act-out Gekiganger style actions or poses with their Aestivalis. In-universe, many characters associate what they're doing as imitating an anime. They even hold their own anime-convention at one point.

The premise might be giant-robots, but it's also riddled with romance/lite-harem. Even though the situation itself should be serious and full of grief or anxiety(which DO occasionally happen), here it's filled with super-deformed moments, logical-mishaps that make people fall over from shock or annoyance, or unexpected joke-endings that make all their worrying seem pointless as everything turned out fine anyway. Beach Episode? Yeah let's have a Beach Episode.

In general many references to other giant-robot anime are made, so it's clear that they wanted to joke around with the whole 'this is a giant robot anime BUT DIFFERENT' thing. It has its own moments of seriousness as well as its own solid identity as a definitively-good giant-robot anime, but it rarely takes itself seriously unless the situation is intended to be.

However, if you don't know about it BEING a parody, by itself the show might seem relatively normal...until the jokes and digs taken at other anime occur. The show is self-aware and even calls itself out at times.


If I like it so much, why do I rate it a little low?

Well..... in general, I feel that parodies end up becoming a victim of themselves and what they tried to parody. What do I mean by that? In this case, it's a giant-robot-anime - they tend to end with a late/last-episode-battle that is supposed to resolve everything, but doesn't. So does Nadesico. For most of the 26 episodes they faff around and joke here and there, but it also has all the trappings of a giant-robots negative traits throughout, and that culminates into a rushed ending that doesn't resolve anything. And then the movie happens, and it gets worse.

Overall Nadesico is a lot of fun, but I've also watched it so many times I just can't handle the nostalgia too well any more. In fact, I bought the full-DVD-case as my very first purchased-anime. It's filled with a ton of memories and even talking with others about it often... going back to it again after many of those things have passed-on is hard. However I'd say the rushed-ending is what hurts it for me.

Most of that is superficial, though. If you love giant-robots and space-drama, and don't mind a mostly-joking anime, this really is one of the peak shows of the 90s, and it really shines bright amongst others.


In terms of English-dub-quality, this is from the mid-90s from ADV, and it shows. Honorifics are not used, which is understandable since not every character is strictly Japanese nor does it take place in Japan. However the main "issue" is that almost all jokes are replaced with English jokes and they don't always work as well.

In addition, this is a 90s ADV dub, and they very loosely adapt it to be "more adult" when it maybe didn't need to be. If you use subtitles with the dub, not a lot matches up, and things are often more-perverted than they were in the original, just to make it more edgy. While it doesn't change characters too much, it's a bit annoying knowing that if you later try to watch the original-JP-voices you could be disappointed or at least confused why they talk a bit different.

I still think the dub is good, though. This just comes from an earlier time when ADV didn't respect the original versions very well, so it's very loosely written.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 21, 2024

Gsarthotegga

Mixed Feelings

This is probably the best mech parody anime out there, and even when my enjoyment wanes, I can at least admire it for its ambition. The aesthetic is fair enough but not on par with an OVA or film, of course, and it pales in this respect compared to Evangelion from a few years before, RahXephon a few years later, or just about any Sunrise mech series with a decent budget. The scripting is surprisingly solid, and it manages to balance solemn moments to keep it from becoming too overwhelming in its absurdity, yet it has a great balance to where the humor prevents sad ... and dramatic moments from becoming sappy or hammy. There's even a fair amount of characterization and development for the relatively large cast by comedy standards, and despite how goofball the show can be, there are some rather emotional parts, much to my surprise.

Absolutely squeezes the piss out of mech series while simultaneously honoring them in the spirit of all the best parodies. Far better and more deserving of fame than Gurren Lagann, a series that enjoys a large following, and was most likely influenced by Nadesico. The relationship between Akito and Gai even bears a lot of similarity to Simon and Kamina, with the spirit of Gai living on through the device of the ubiquitous Gekiganger show, which reinforces themes, acts as a source of comedy, hope, and even possesses a bittersweet note. Gekiganger has far more nuance, conflict, and deconstructive elements than the basic bitch binary of believing and not believing, and the parallel and similarities between Gai and Tsukumo, from the opposing side, with them both being offed by the status quo or some other less pure or idealistic individual, lends this a touch of cosmic tragedy. What lead to me being annoyed in GL was actually kind of endearing here and surprisingly more even-handed, despite this being more on the parodic side than GL.

Unfortunately, I find it kind of loses steam in the middle section, and it is an anime comedy, which caters to highly specific sensibilities and doesn't always translate well to global audiences. I'm not sure why it worked for me so strongly at first but a larger amount falls flat as it goes on. Maybe it's front-heavy (I had this at 7/10 initially, dropped to 6/10, and it was firmly at 5/10 for a while, finally concluding with 6/10). The main disconnect for me probably has to do with length and occasional slow pacing. A number of scenes and episodes feel a bit extraneous, and this series could have been tighter and better by shaving off several parts. Other factors are the average aesthetic quality.

Pop culture/anime comedy is the type of niche thing that will be hit or miss for many, and comedy is where things can most easily be lost in translation, not hit right in English (or whichever language), or simply be swamped by a deluge of obscure references and in-jokes. Still, for every moment of indifference, there are a few laughs here and there for most tastes into anime generally and mech series specifically.

Part of my problem might be that I watched this dubbed. Even when dubs are good (and I find comedy dubs in your native language are usually better than the original so long as it's not an overly moe series), there are usually some sections where they simply sound less professional or lose sight of the original vision in favor of flavoring and Americanization. I did watch a few scenes (not a great way to make a determination since the series is 26 episodes long and may not vary much at all in some areas and heavily in others) in both Japanese and English to compare and see what I might be missing, and they were typically about the same in terms of the dialogue, and I found the English to be an improvement for the humor of these scenes. Yet it's doubtless there were many localizations, some of them being equal or even better and others missing the mark. In some cases, the tones may have been completely different in each version, and I reckon the English cast might have mixed the drama and comedy more than the Japanese cast. Whether that's to better or greater effect is left to your own judgment. Adapting comedy, low or high brow, isn't easy. One day I'll have to try the subtitled version for a while to have a better frame of comparison.

Though the middle part has some tedious or awkwardly placed episodes, the plot twist around episode 15 renewed it's flirtation with conspiracy and human drama a bit, which tends to support the humor better than when we're aimlessly wandering through outer space instead, featuring not much more than a string of battles and comedy segues. There are a lot of small moments used to great effect, combining humor and drama (or the former taking the piss out of the latter, perhaps), such as Megumi's disappointment with the MC being paired with her handing over the recovered stash of Gekiganger DVDs and memorabilia, and the absurd amounts of Gekiganger worship, spanning the galaxy. While anime has always had off-the-walls bonkers, ritalin-laced humor, at least during the '90s it was possible to have some balance. Hardcore mech fans into the 1990s' style will get a lot more out of this than anyone else, and it's probably not the best title for those who aren't familiar with most of the tropes and references, so watching a few of the most popular mech titles would be a wise prerequisite.

Anyway, Nadesico is a pretty decent series, and I'm glad to have watched it, in spite of the mixed feelings. While I could have sworn I heard the ending was weak because of a quick Ruri voiceover to conclude and not much being explained and many questions left unanswered, it was a satisfactory ending for a rare mech title choosing to end in some way other than an epic battle and was a touch more introspective or thoughtful, with this occasionally showing more complex post-Evangelion tendencies. The cockpit scene between the lovebirds in particular was a solid scene close to the end.

Akito's dialogue about his sort of love-hate relationship he develops toward Gekiganger, upon finally seeing the last episode, and Minato's despair when she's watching the convenient ending of that series, both pair well together. She wonders how anyone could be so passionate towards such a childish series, with the characters absurdly using a dated cartoon like reading from a book of prophecy. There's a sense in which these simple stories act as a driving force that can easily be positive or negative, depending on context. Nadesico takes this influence to its most absurd negative conclusion with the Jovians, as these old hokey shows are so commonly battles of absolute good versus evil, when it's rarely an accurate reflection. Clearly, Gekiganger is a contrived and dated series, and Akito works through it like a coming of age, seemingly having grown past it by the end but still appreciating and being inspired by aspects of it. There are parallels in Gekiganger to be found in a lot of mech and shonen anime, and Nadesico thankfully goes in another direction with its eventual plot developments and conclusion.

Themes are rarely enough on their own to hold a series together, and the amount of enhancement they provide is highly contingent upon everything else, acting as an extra dimension to the various layers. If the pacing is a slog and you don't like the aesthetics, story, characters, etc., then no amount of deep or well-executed themes are likely to win you over. However, the base found here is good enough, and the way the themes were integrated here elevate Nadesico above where many other comedy series would fall flat. It's amazing how effectively the writer and director use the Gekiganger framing device as thematic glue to add humor, emotion, and depth to the series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 5, 2012

Hectotane

Not Recommended

There was a guy I know back in 90's Sacramento known as Steve McIntosh. He introduced me to Nadesico... I have never heard from him again and I guess, maybe, it's a good thing for me. Back when I was watching Nadesico; I was "super-naive" and thought I could accept anything. I was also a "(damn) fool."

Onto my so-called "review" and WHY I consider this animu "THE WORST EVER CREATED second only to Evangelion."

* The "harem animu" elements ruined its "serious mecha anime" elements.

* Akito, the shounen lead, is "afraid of women" (an element required for the otaku-base to self-insert into). His inability to handle ... women and his own hormones transfers into his (in)ability to fight in his mecha.

* And while this "love-shape" is going on with Akito; every other guy is getting dumped and sidelined, sometimes for comical effect at a guy's expense.

* I lean more towards "real robot" shows like Tomino's / UC era Gundam (than "super-robot" shows). But even a thin-skinned, no-talent hack can create better enemies to fight against than this. Then again, I guess I'd feel a little better if the enemy had been squared on the first episode; as opposed to being trolled because a creator doesn't have a clue on how to make convincing enemies.

Speaking of being thin-skinned; I reminded myself of how horrible my experiences were from watching this poorly-written, by-and-for the otaku harem animu masquerading as a mecha anime. I didn't get a chance to watch all of Gundam Wing but it was a pretty good show; one that can remind people of how much better a mecha show can be without focusing on harem antics as some cute girl's behind.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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