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Oct 10, 2024
I personally believe that the TV series "Nadesico" was a parody of most giant-robot anime of its time. I liked the comedy that came with that, as well as subverting your expectations for what a normal giant-robot anime could be, but ultimately it seemed to include all the trappings and faults of the series it tried to parody.
What about the movie, especially as a conclusion to the rushed-ending of the TV series? Unfortunately it not only doesn't fair any better, it's also much worse.
I have a specific disgust for most TV-sequel anime-movies.
They often open by introducing a new conflict. This conflict requires that
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the original cast and crew, as many are still alive, be gathered back together into their group once again.
They spend almost 50% of the movie gathering up their old crew, or visiting them in their new lives if they can't come. It's basically a "where are they now" but wastes so much time building up to the major conflict.
The major conflict is barely the last 10 or 20 minutes of the movie. There are some small skirmishes in between, but it's mostly just a slow montage of collecting old characters and getting READY for the battle.
Much of the last battle comes down to a 1-on-1 showdown where the main character wins. Hooray.
In some instances, the final epilogue is just a short 5 minutes to clear things up and maybe explain things.
"Prince of Darkness" has mere SECONDS of epilogue. Nothing is resolved. The main character rides off into the sunset, but the other characters believe in him, that he'll be back some day. The End.
For how little the ending of the TV-series explained, Prince of Darkness does NOTHING. In the end, it's a mere showcase of good-music, showing where the characters ended up afterwards, and how basically useless they all are in the final battle. It also changes a lot of characters I liked into something I don't(Ruri is completely different, and Akito is as overly-emo as he can possibly get).
It's almost a slap in the face. You liked these characters, you liked this showcase of parodied giant-robot battles, we give you none of that except in very sparse sections, and we hope you enjoy it.
Are there even any real giant-robot battles in this? Barely. Instead, we have a scene where Ruri reaches out with her nanomachine powers and the Omoikane computer system to disable every enemy vehicle in the area, except for the main bad guy's giant-robot. We have all this build up for the final battle and she just shuts them down. Done.
I did not enjoy it. VERY little explanation of what happened after the TV-series ended, almost no epilogue to explain what happens after. We just assume that the problems Akito and Yurika have from their exposure to Martian nanomachines and alien technology will be cured one day. I don't think any other media continued afterwards....so... it's basically just a dead-end street.
As far as I'm concerned, you do not need to watch this to 'complete' your TV-series watch of Nadesico. If you can stand the idea of skipping it, skip it. If you MUST watch it, lower your expectations and see it just to watch the crew of characters you love be gathered together and do nothing as the last 1-on-1 showdown is made to be the main star of the show in its typical "we make one rushed-slash at each other at the same time, but only one of us is fatally wounded" glory.
At the same time.... yes, I have a certain nostalgia for this 'movie', and some of the music is SO good... but nothing about it is worthwhile. I'd rather just listen to the soundtrack and be annoyed remembering how it fit to each scene.
Dub quality was as-good as the TV-series, but a bit more drab. Ruri is basically the main character now that Akito is gone 90% of the time, and while she talks more, she's older, less cute, and she's actually less interesting. But the voices are otherwise just as good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Oct 10, 2024
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
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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 9, 2024
The Big O is probably best viewed as an anime version of "rock'em sock'em robots" with a touch of unexplained mystery to pull you in and make you wonder. Unfortunately, another company got involved with completing the series in the second season by turning the unexplained-mystery into "plot dump", therefore killing the mystery. The second half pulls down what could have otherwise been given a perfect score from me.
The Big O is about a giant robot that is used to beat up other giant robots, kaiju, or whatever else attempts to destroy the area known as Paradigm City that it protects. And
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that's really all it needs to be.
Roger Smith is its pilot, who keeps his identity as a 'domineus' secret while he spends most of his time as a "Negotiator", helping the people of "The City of Amnesia" who have lost their memories of the past to find solace with the present. There are only a few side-characters; a bar-dwelling informant, a butler, an android assistant, a military-police general who used to be Roger's superior, and a few reoccurring villains along the way.
While it mostly follows a strict formula of monster(robot)-of-the-day, the lead-up to each battle is filled with a strong sense of character - dark noire art-style, music that floats from calm sultry saxophones to suspenseful/victorious rock, and a strong narration from the main character as he tries to humanize everything he encounters. Despite the main attraction of robots beating each other up, each fight is bumpered by 10 or 15 minutes of slow-paced investigation, a drive through the city, or panoramic views of the current environment. During those times it can be very relaxing. In that sense, I view The Big O as a sort of "comfy" anime to rewatch now and then, if only for those segments. The saxophone of "Brick Ballades Houston Street" is especially comforting, and sets you up for learning what the episode is going to be about.
Maybe that's a hidden-theme in The Big O, the difference between the logic/power of robots and reasonings of humanity. The city is filled with stories of humans just trying to get by, but held back by grief and anxieties of the past that need resolving. Opposite of this, the battles are carried out by human-sized robots or giant-robots using their power and logic to shove everything else aside.
The battles themselves are well-choreographed, and make you FEEL the weight of the robot/creatures attacking each other. The Big O itself has massively heavy forearms mounted on thin upper-arms on an almost feminine shoulder frame; every time it moves, you can sense the weight of the arms counter balancing its every step, or slugging into the monstrosity in front of it. Any misstep or being pushed off balance and you know which way it will fall or stumble. The Big O has a variety of weapons at its disposal, most of which are superficial and unnecessarily showy, but always entertaining. However, nothing beats just good old fisticuffs bashing something to its eventual destruction.
Most fights are framed around small to large buildings or other structures that actually give a sense of height, so you KNOW those robots are bigger than life. Each battle often comes with dynamic angles that are more than just two side-by-side profiles of robots fighting on a cityscape, without being too distractedly stylized.
Each plot is mostly episodic, but often adds a few details here and there to the main story's mystery, so watching in order is still a requirement.
However, as mentioned, the second season suddenly turns into a plot-dump that is more violent and more confusing, solving mysteries that were meant to be a backstory for the city, then adding more mysteries that make little sense and really weren't necessary. Some of the robot-battles take a backseat to the on-foot action, and often, even the robot-battles themselves feel less interesting, or they aren't framed well enough to imply their size.
Some of the lead-up getting close to the ending is good, some memorable battles are had. But at the end of everything, we're given a very vague and quickly-written "ending" that implies there is no ending, and everything is on repeat. It makes what was otherwise just a fresh way of watching two robots duke it out suddenly feel even more pointless.
When I bought these DVDs ages ago, they were separated into 2 seasons, but MyAnimeList shows them as just one; if possible and desired, I would recommend watching the first season(up to Episode 13, "R.D."), and maybe stopping there. I believe that the entire second season CAN be skipped without really missing out on much. The ending 13th episode may be a bit of a tease, but I personally feel that it's not worth going forward unless you feel like you MUST complete it.
It's not completely unwatchable, just disappointingly different. If you must continue on to 'learn' more about Paradigm City, be warned it won't really do much for you. The plot may "solve" some mysteries, but it will immediately introduce more, and ultimately resolve nothing. At any rate it's more-of-the-same 'good' Big O action you expect, but a little bit less because they spend most of that time plot-dumping.
Watch it for battles, watch it because you love giant robots, or watch it because you want to relax to Brick Ballades. Don't worry about the plot; here, it's best when you know less.
Dub-quality: I believe this to be a very strong dub, one that I personally intend to always watch and very rarely bother to watch the original. Honorifics are not used, but this is a decidedly American city, so it makes good sense. The majority of the script is intact and doesn't derail from the original too much. If you are a native English speaker or can understand English better than Japanese I would highly recommend focusing on the English dub instead.
I'm reminded that many people back in the day quickly assumed "this is a Batman ripoff" and passed on it, and while a LOT of similarities are there(grappling hook, dark styles, cool car, no-kill policy, stealth action), and the influence is obviously part of the experience, it's also nothing close to it.
Batman gets things done by personally beating each criminal into submission, and making sure they're too scared of him to harm anyone. Roger Smith gets things done by talking things out as a Negotiator, and probably using his giant robot if the bad guy pulls out their own giant robot. But if they don't have a giant robot and they start to get aggressive, he just claims the negotiations are over, and he leaves.
Batman is a philanthropist who spends gobs of money helping the citizens of Gotham, even if they don't know it. Roger Smith has plenty of money, but he only agrees to do work for money IF the job is interesting to him, and rarely gives in to help someone who can't pay.
Batman is haunted by nightmares of his parents' death, but just like the other citizens of Paradigm City, Roger Smith has no memories beyond 40 years ago(whenever he was born, whatever age he might be). He simply has a job to do, and he plans to fulfill it.
Personally I think the similarities to Batman make it a fun homage, but in no way does it actually take away from it. Sure, if you came into it expecting "More Batman" after watching all of BTAS, you may be disappointed. Just watch it for the bot.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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