Review Martian Successor Nadesico

In the future The earth is at war with a mysterious alien force called the Jovian Lizards. Earth is doing quite badly. Fortunately for them Nergal industries is developing a new space battleship, the Nadesico. Centering in this ship’s crew is Akito Tenkawa, a martian with abilities of a pilot who wishes to be nothing more than a cook, and Yurika Misumaru, who is not only the ship’s captain but also Akito’s childhood friend. Akito, Yurika, and a whole host of wacky crewmembers must face off against the Jovian menace.

Martian Successor Nadesico draws heavily on anime clichés. Normally this would be considered a bad thing but in this case it is part of what makes the show really good. Instead of just following the conventions of a popular show, Nadesico actually tries to cram in every anime Sci-fi cliché there is. The longer you have been watching anime the more you can pick up. Even though Nadesico is almost a constant homage to shows past this never interferes with the overall plot which stands very well on it’s own.

In the opening paragraph I mentioned that the Nadesico had a wacky crew. While many shows sport a supporting cast of quirky characters, the cast of Nadesico truly stands out. The two most prominent figures are Gai Daigouji and Ruri Hoshino. Gai is the stereotypical seventies giant robot character, who acts completely dramatic about everything, especially Gekiganger 3. Gekiganger 3 is a made up anime that is extremely popular in the world of Nadesico. Many of the plot developments on Nadesico are mirrored by whatever episode of Gekiganger is being watched and the show itself actually plays a sizable part in the plot in later episodes. To put Gai bluntly it is if he was a character in Gekiganger and stepped out into the real world.

Ruri on the other hand is very reserved. She maintains the computer of the Nadesico. Not to mention she is smarter than most of the crew even though she is only eleven years old. Ruri is the straight man of the entire crew of the Nadesico and is the favorite character of many people. In addition to her there is about ten or so well developed supporting characters on the show.

The artwork on Nadesico is Pretty good. It was a popular show and had a fairly large budget. Still you must remember that it was made in 1996 and still had the constraints of a television show in terms of animation. There is even a clip show in the middle, even if it is probably the best clip show I have ever seen (not that they are usually any good).

Martian Successor Nadesico is a great show and a great comedy. It has all the elements of a classic anime show, actually the elements of several shows. Not only that it has a element that speaks directly to the anime fan. I give Martian Successor Nadesico a rating of Excellent.

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