Martian Successor Nadesico

Martian Successor Nadesico
	; Yes - she's the Captain.
Original Manga	Asamiya Kia
Character Design	Goto Keiji
Director	Tatsuo Sato
Format	Anime (TV}
Made By	XEBEC
US Distribution	ADV Films
Original Air Dates	1 October 1996 – 24 March 1997
# of Episodes	26

Genre

Comedy, Mecha, Sci-Fi

Sum it up in a Sentence:

A ship full of misfits and crazy people have to defend the Earth from the Jovian threat. While not taking itself seriously, Nadesico manages to tell a good story while making you laugh your ass off.

Main Description

Plot Synopsis

When Akito is teleported unexpectedly off of Mars where he grew up, he somehow ends up on Earth - confused and a bit shell-shocked, but he moves on, becoming a cook in a local shop. One evening after being let go, he meets a girl that seems familiar - and chases her down to a spaceport where he finds that she is the Captain of Earth's newest non-military controlled battleship, the Nadesico - as well as remembering that she was a childhood friend, and she also recalls her love for him.

Now, lest you start yawning now, this would be a good time for aliens to attack, so they do - sending Akito out in an Aestivalis (mecha) and he somehow manages to give the Nadesico time to finish powering up and they head into space.

The rest of the series sees relationships form, unravel, and sometimes even explode and implode at the same time, in a hilarious mix of styles and nods to other anime series. The show does *not* take itself seriously for long, and even though silliness is prevalent throughout the show, you come to care for the characters - even the rat-faced ones you love to hate.

Sequel

There was actually a movie-sequel to Nadesico, called "Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture – Prince of Darkness" which takes place three years after the anime. Akito and Yurkia are gone (presumed dead, actually) and Ruri is the Captain of the new ship, the Nadesico-B. There is a new threat to the peace that has been formed since the end of the original series, and she and her rebuilt (and almost completely new) crea to solve the mystery. The movie was (compared to the series) almost deadly serious, and was actually supposed to be tied to a game for the Sega Saturn - one that was never released outside of Japan. Though members of the original crew are brought together and reassembled, the movie really has almost none of the redeeming qualities of the series - it's more to be watched by those who want to see everything the series has to offer.

Trivia

As of 2006, Nadesico was still listed in the top 100 favorite Anime series of all time (for the japanese) in a survey conducted by TV Ashai in Japan. Nadesico came in 89th.
Nadesico is a parody of various animes, including Evangelion, Gundam, Macross and many more.
Ruri's continual use of the term "Baka" or "Idiots" inspired legions of otaku fanboys to start interspersing "Baka" into their own day to day speech.
The show actually has an anime within the anime - Gekigangar III - which seems very much a takeoff of old Voltron / Gundam shows. However, Akito and the rest of the crew spend a lot of time watching this anime!
There were rumors of a sequel, but in 2005 that rumor was firmly quashed by the supposed-director.

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Personal Opinions

Food Court Druid

This show is interesting to compare with Evangelion, because both take aim at the same target -- giant robot anime -- but do it in very different ways and with very different end products. Nadesico is a boisterous comedy in a very classic anime style -- an ensemble cast of larger-than-life characters, and a more serious side that emerges in the later half. It's been a while since I watched it, but as far as I can remember this was very enjoyable and definitely worth a watch.

Snapalope

Nadesico is really fun to follow through. I guess you can compare it to Neon Genesis Evangelion but Nadesico really goes the extra mile when making the characters likable and making you laugh. I WILL SAY ONE THING, I will disagree with the statement about the sequel movie as I thought it's quite fun when I was watching through it. It's always nice seeing the old crew back together kicking butt. The movie is different than the series so that's a major reason a lot of people are putting it off, however I still enjoyed it.

Kenderama

Nadesico was actually the first anime I ever experienced - brought on a VHS tape back in the late 1990's. Nadesico's cast of characters are wide and varied, ranging from the main character who you sometimes want to strangle to the slightly manic Mecha pilot, the airheaded girl-Captain, and the overly-serious and far too cute for her own good computer officer. The animation was quite good for the time, and although dated by today's standards, still is completely watchable. If you like harem, mecha, comedy, sci-fi anime that has no problem shattering the 4th Wall - then Martian Successor Nadesico is for you.

DethMarine21

The first time I watched it I liked it a lot; it had a wide variety of interesting characters, lots of references to classic shows, and some great plot twists. When I watched it again some time later I was bored out of my mind, so take that for what it's worth. Also unless you are a die-hard fan you can probably skip the Prince of Darkness sequel movie; it was pointless and boring and ruined the ending to the show.

AnonSubHuman

Voted Best Wok Shots in anime. Just when you think this show can't be taken seriously, it reminds you there is a war going on, and that nobody has clean hands as long as people keep dying. Like Vision of Escaflowne you can tell the production tries to bring in both sides. The OP is obviously hot blooded passion, and the ED is obviously for the ladies. My favorite part though? It's just like Gekiganger.

Links

Anime News Network's Encyclopedia Entry

Martian Successor Nadesico

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