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| 8. Iodine
 
A space-adventure spoof without much bite or originality, that
plays it too safe and takes itself much too seriously. The show is cursed with
an ensemble of passably amusing but weak characters, including Yurika, a ditz
of a captain, and her pilot-turned-cook boyfriend, Akito. Most of the females
are cheerful airheads, and most of the males are valiant dolts. The show's best
creation and most watchable character is the stoic child genius, Ruri, the lone
voice of reason in the crew. Aside from the requisite moments of madness, the
show is played pretty straight, and totally fails in that regard. Huge plot holes
are formed left and right, and the mood is so variable, it's hard to know whether
the more serious moments are supposed to be taken as farce or actual drama. Bizarre
twists come out of the blue, and the blandness of the filler is relentless. Also,
in order to appreciate the crew's worship of mecha anime, it probably helps if
one has actually seen the shows that are being referenced. For the die-hard fans,
this probably isn't a problem, but for the casual viewer, the Gekiganger lunacy
really gets old fast. Animation is standard. The
visuals manage some neat tricks, particularly the mobile viewscreens, and remain
pleasantly distracting throughout. The round-eyed character designs, however,
have the unfortunate tendency to make everyone look very young and dumb as bricks.
The dialogue is curiously short on gags and quips, and the lackluster story gets
downright boring at times. Frankly, the entire production feels uncomfortably
superficial and based too heavily on the slick style and showy graphics. Despite
one good character and few good scenes, Nadesico should be passed up without
a second glance. |
| 7. Tyrenol
Much respect goes to Kia Asamiya for his works; like
Silent Mobius, Compiler, and this one right here. But this seems
to be a confusing series. It marches along as a post-Eva show, with its
shellshocked pilot and (half the time) unknown enemies. But then it delves into
the "harem theme" and adds the "mecha otaku-ism" into the
mix. Nadesico's got a lot of cute girls. And
Kia challenges his own trademark for cute girls with his set of handsome/respectful
guys. "Love is love, love;" but they're in a middle of a war so characters
get lost. And the rest of the characters feel it so greatly that it affected me
as a viewer as well. Great show, one of the near bests, and it even plays tribute
to Yoshiyuki Tomino with its (later on) Zeon-esque enemies, the Jovian
Lizards. |
| 6. Cross
Scars  
Nadesico tries to be many different types of anime series
all at once and the result is that it fails in being any of them to a high standard.
When Nadesico decides to focus on just one aspect of the series, such as
the romance side of things, then the series tends to get it right and the result
is a good one. Yet these moments tend to be few and far between which is a slight
let down. Further, these moments are occasionally ruined by the series use of
parody. Sometimes the distinction between whether or not Nadesico is being
serious or merely parodying serious moments of another series gets blurred and
as a result such scenes lose impact. Nadesico could also have done with
its soundtrack being used more as the series seems to lack much musical accompaniment. But
that's not to say the series isn't still fun to watch. Nadesico may not
get it right all of the time but it's still carried out with such energy and enthusiasm
that it's still fun to watch regardless of its faults. The cast of the series,
while perhaps lacking depth, are none the less clearly defined in their roles
and seeing the characters fulfill our expectations of them make them all the more
fun to watch. Nadesico also has an entertaining plot which changes direction
when needed to always keep the viewer interested in the series and the various
plot twists thrown in make it all the better. Nadesico
has a good plot and a solid set of characters and so it's a pity that the way
in which the series is carried out doesn't seem to work a lot of the time. While
not being great Nadesico isn't a bad series either and its merits have
certainly influenced more recent anime such as Vandread, which is a credit
to Nadesico. |
| 2. Tempy
Nadesico has all the elements of a good show, from Keiji
Goto's pleasing character designs, dozens of interesting characters, good animation,
action sequences, humor, decent political maneuvering and science fiction. It
also keeps on throwing surprises at the audience to keep it watching. An important
element in the series is a retro mecha anime show in the tradition of the old
Go Nagai robot shows, called Gekigangar 3. At first it just seems like
a show a character draws inspiration from, but as the show progresses, Gekigangar
3 becomes more and more intertwined with the actual show. Eventually an actual
Gekigangar 3 anime was made. Nadesico balances action, humor, tragedy
and romance well, but there are just so many characters that none of their potential
personal subplots get resolved or expanded in the end. In fact the whole show
ends prematurely. Most of the science fiction gets explained, but the war still
rages on. |
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