MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO - Volume One
One year ago, the came. They fell out of the stars. They fell out of the night. They killed Mars. They killed the moon. Today, they've come to kill Earth.
The United Earth forces were wiped away. They were but insects biting at god's heel.
We are Earth's last, best, and only hope. We are the ND-001 Nadesico. Built by independent military contraction Negral and manned by the last of our kind, we are to bring our prayers to Mars.
That is MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO, a tongue-in-cheek, slap stick SF romp. Never before have I seen so many blows to the head in such a short time. Never before have I seen frying pans, suitcases, tractors, VCRs, picture frames, action figures, and racy undergarments wielded with such rage. MARTIAN SUCCESSOR tells a tale of hope and survival, but it laughs all the way there. The Nadesico's crew is the most dysfunctional ever to grace the bridge of a ship. Captained by an admiral's daughter and piloted by a cook, the ND-001 is the most advanced battle fortress ever constructed by human hands.
MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO volume one introduces us to his high-energy head wound. It contains the first three episodes of this GREAT series. In the end, you will cry out for more.
I can say so much about this wonderful show.
It's Futurama gone anime.
It's Dragon Half gone SF.
Its dialogue is sharp and brilliant.
The crew spends more time arguing and scheming against each other than they do fighting the Jovian invaders.
The best example of this entire series is a man named Jiro Yamada. This pilot arrived at the Nadesico three days early, just so he could get his pick of the mecha. See, Jiro (or as he calls himself -- Gai Daigohji) was raised on anime, specifically giant robots. Needless to say, I identified with him immediately. His torch song is a fictitious anime saga called GEKIGANGAR. He brings with him his entire collection of GANGAR paraphernalia... wall scrolls, action figures, stickers, posters, shirts, dinner sets, and the entire series of 39 episodes.
The crew of the Nadesico spend most of their time in Gai's quarters watching his tapes. A series within a series... isn't it great!
Anyway, Gai's first mecha piloting exercise leaves him with a broken leg. He suffers injury after injury in his robot's cockpit. He risks collisions and self-destructions, trying to pull off suicidal attacks based on his beloved GEKIGANGAR.
Episode three ends with tragedy for Gai. It ends on a note that will make you cry out. It concludes with an event that will make you want to reach out and clutch him tight... an event that was eerily mirrored by the episode of GEKIGANGAR contained with this episode of NADESICO.
What happens to Gai Daigohji? Does he become NADESICO's Roy Fokker or does he survive to become its greatest hero?
MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO is a series that could be but only anime. It is a tongue-in-cheek, slap stick saga... that, despite its laughs and zany antics, will make you care for its characters and its goal.
I leave you with a quote of the ship's cook... a suitcase full of the captain's undergarments about collide with his face...
"Why God? Why is it always me?"
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Peter Tatara
11.26.1999
http://www.klink.net/~tatara/DFFQI.html