 |
|
7. Ganoen
Vandread is an interesting cross-section of both good and bad. It sports excellent character design and art, and while the CG looks very CG-ish, for lack of a better way to say it, it's smooth and bright. The space battles are good eye candy, though they don't inspire much tension. Its story is also based on an interesting concept, with men and women living as separate, warring races. The cast is relatively large, and consequently there's a character for everyone; pretty but shallow Jura, brooding Meia, and the goofy helmsman Bart just to name a few.
Vandread also has its fair share of drawbacks. First off, it starts very abruptly and the technology that drives the ship the characters are based on is poorly explained even though it's practically a character in and of itself. The main character of the show, Hibiki, is unlikeable. Meia sums it up near the beginning of the series, saying 'The weaker the dog, the more it barks'. Hibiki shouts and screams and poses throughout the series while his vehicle and its highly advanced technology do most of the work. He also has a cruel streak towards his love interest; while the unfamiliarity of men and women towards one another accounts for some of his confusion and resistance to his unlucky lady, Dita, he's also just plain mean to her. He yells on one occasion that he hates her and never manages to apologize in this series or its continuation, Vandread Second Stage. Somehow, Dita holds none of this against him and keeps on coming back for more. It's pretty dysfunctional.
On the whole, I think Vandread could've been done better. It's not a bad watch, but Hibiki's boisterous pettiness and the rushed introduction and glossed-over technical details can leave you somewhat confused unless you take the whole thing on faith.
|
| 6. Olmanek
Heh, geez it'd be easy to rip this to pieces, but I won't,
because though that now I quite dislike this title, initially I thought it was
spectacular within its field, so I'll just revert back to that mindset and review
in that way. Though the fan service is obvious, with well endowed pretty young
females wandering around wearing skin tight, leather and fashion show clothing,
I can't recall many if any panty shots, it was all more of a visual innuendo than
anything else, this in itself is enough to give it credibility over the others
fan service shows, interestingly they explored a theme which isn't so uncommon
in literature but is surprisingly well represented in anime, men and women do
not coexist together, they are aware of each others existence, but they hate each
other, the leaders of the males giving grand propaganda lectures and screenings
showing women to be evil monstrous fiends, also there are clear cut social segregations
depending on your lineage to the founders of the male civilization, as they use
cloning techniques to procreate, the farther away from the founders you are the
less important social roles you take, there is a general acceptance in the lower
levels that you will live and die without ever progressing in the world, this
bothers our young male protagonist, who it should be noted has something of a
mind on him, but is well hidden by his boisterous personality and mood swings,
anyhow through a fortunate sequence of mishaps he ends up going into space on
one of the main battle ships of the new fleet made to finally defeat women, another
fortunate sequence of events occur and he ends up on a women's 'pirate' ship along
with two others male colleagues where the story then continues from. There is
a lot of relatively interesting but some what contrived and transparent interaction
between the few males and females there after, but it should be kept in mind that
you aren't to expect some grand creation, this just takes a whole bunch of used
ideas and gives them a pleasant twist, some eye candy in the characters and general
animation, and surprisingly fluid fight scenes, where they venture into entirely
CG created battles scenes, which isn't diminished by hard edges and the CG looking
out of place because even the background is also CG rendered. This is a well made
and endearing piece of fairy floss, highly recommended for anyone craving something
light and fun. |
| 5. Yogi
This is an action-filled romantic comedy of sorts. Most of
the story is a comedy, consisting of exaggerated characteristics and personalities
which, as usual, collide with each other. However, there are also some good action
sequences, as well as rather dramatic moments as the backgrounds of several characters
are revealed. In addition, the main character has several introspective fits,
resembling the final episodes of Evangelion which help develop his otherwise
rather shallow character. In addition, this is not a "one guy, many girls"
story as it has potential to be in the beginning. I normally like substance over
style, but Vandread is just that good. |
| 2. Tempy
Vandread starts out well; great designs & animation,
scantily clad women wearing very extravagant costumes, and a good dose of humor.
The plot is interesting as well, but as the show progresses it didn't seem to
be heading anywhere fast enough. Some tighter plotting would have helped enormously.
One of the main themes is the relationship between men and women; Vandread
approaches this by creating a world where men and women have been living separately
for ages now, and look upon each other with great fear and mistrust. Unfortunately
its execution is a bit disappointing - it certainly provides for most of the friction
between the characters, but doesn't provide any new insights. Eventually the men
and women start feeling more than annoyance for each other, which leads to humorous
situations. Production wise things are mixed. The
characters are well drawn and animated, but the CG is under par. The space battles
are also way too flashy and hardly exciting. To add insult to injury, Vandread
ends prematurely. Fortunately the second season picks things up nicely and rises
above the first season. |
| 
 |
