Forum - View topicREVIEW: Martian Successor Nadesico Blu-Ray
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prime_pm
 Posts: 2364 Location: Your Mother's Bedroom |
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It's been so long since I've seen Nadesico. Bought the first DVD's my second year of Otakon in 2001. Took me several years to complete the series. Looking back all I can remember is...I liked Vandread better. Did anyone re-release Vandread? I can't remember.
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John Thacker
Posts: 1009 |
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I agree that it upsets some the viewer expectation of the show's themes, but I think it's a pretty natural development. The earliest stages of dealing with different perspectives are clearly seen starting in the third episode where Aoi Jun tries to prevent them from going through the Big Barrier. That the show gets itself lost in its admiration for its tropes and inspiration (much as all the ostensibly antiwar Gundam shows end up being about selling cool war mecha, and about characters with unusual special powers) only makes the reveal work. For that matter, the ending absolutely does not demonstrate that "Akito's special power determines the fate of all." His special power determines the fate of Ines, Akito, and to some degree Yurika and some of the other shipmates. Everything isn't determined, and wrapping up all those plotlines would be even more unrealistic. The fate of the war itself is more determined by Minato and the Shiratori siblings than anything Akito did. So I disagree that any of the ideas are abandoned (though they do not resolve definitively the tension about whether it is useful to be inspired by unrealistic fiction), though the plotlines certainly are. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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This is my roughly my position as well. Nadesico's clashing themes and overburdened plotline cannot be disregarded, but its charm is most often enough to result in a net positive. Nearly every crew member is sufficiently distinctive to grant a certain personality to each episode, and their character interplay, moulded after the quintessential clichés of mecha anime though it is, often helps a forgiving viewer withstand each tonal shift. Perhaps the show's lasting forte lies in its ability to disavow any of its dramatic shortcomings simply by being so quick to jettison the pretences of seriousness, as if levity simply fits its collection of oddballs even when its capacity to induce laughter is limited. More so than the likes of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor or Outlaw Star, the Nadesico's titular ship is somewhere I would like to see as the setting for a slice-of-life series. With such a large cast, I felt that more could have been written for the likes of Ryoko, Izumi and Hikaru—to give but three examples—without the need for a wider conflict or any fleeting love interests.
I see Nadesico as a litmus test of sorts. If one can put up with how it is written and presented, knowing where to cast a critical eye and where to turn a blind one, then one is set to gain an optimal appreciation of the majority of anime with a similar setting. For the sake of comparison, I should note that I would hesitate to say the same thing of any Gundam series. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5499 Location: Iscandar |
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According to Right Stuf Utena is coming out on BD this year. I hope Nozomi's BD's look great because I have heard that the Japanese BD's look like garbage. If money is the main reason why Evangelion has not been released on BD in North America, perhaps now Sentai can ask its rich friend Amazon to pay for the license. |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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With the movies doing well, and it being out of print for a while, I imagine classic Eva will be an expensive license. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Sentai didn't even attempt for it, with or without Amazon's help. You can still find old ADV sets pretty affordable after all, and Amazon seems more interested in new shows and fairly recent dubs. Prime may have some classic shows like Rahxephon, but almost everything on Striike is relatively recent. FMA:B may be the oldest show on the service. |
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5499 Location: Iscandar |
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Still, Evangelion is a big deal property, and plenty of fans would want it on BD, and might be willing to pay a lot for it. I know that I would pay $150-200 for a special edition set that has the series and the End of Evangelion movie. |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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I'm well aware of that. However, I'm still inclined to think that they may ask more for the property than it may really be worth today. ADV passed on EoE during the height of Eva's popularity, despite having the show. I wouldn't be too surprised to see Sentai take the same approach today. |
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partially
Posts: 702 Location: Oz |
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There is also is the recognition that although the women characters do act ridiculous at times, one has to remember that they also have all have the important positions on the Nadesico. The captain IS a female which is very unusual. Along with much of the bridge crew and the head doctor, the head doctor is another one that is very rarely female. And there is actually a pretty healthy gender balance on the Nadesico. I would in no way say that the anime had a preoccupation with putting women down any more than the men. The females do tend to get more screen time. But then a lot of the comedy cues seem to be coming from sources like Tenchi Muyo!, hardly a great source of PC comedy. Haven't watched in a while though, so this will be a good chance to go back. |
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ScruffyKiwi
 Posts: 707 Location: New Zealand |
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The lapsing of Eva would be more to do with Studio Khara not wanting it out while the rebuild movies are ongoing. I doubt that the series will be re-licensed until after the last movie comes out (whenever that is!). |
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encrypted12345
Posts: 723 |
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Nadesico is a raw gem to be sure. I find most of Xebec's later mecha work to be better with Argevollen being the notable case of being worse. I haven't seen anything Fafner though.
Still, it had a lot of heart, and I actually don't have much issue with how it tied itself up. The ride to get there was certainly bumpy to say the least. As far as old space opera anime go, I'd say go for Captain Tylor. Ignore the OVAs though, they end on a pretty bad cliffhanger. |
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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Wow... I'm torn as far as the reaction of some women to anime goes. Fortunately, the nice girls generally DO like anime... You know, the ones who DON'T hold your gender against you? It's like anything -- there's intelligently written stuff and poorly thought out things, there's American and Japan POV's. The fact that these are Japanese should be a hint it's NOT going to be written with an American POV. If some girls can't understand that -- well! They wouldn't like Cutie Honey, either, and I think she's far from being one the annoying girl characters, too. That still wouldn't be enough for some people who have an unreasonable vision of the "perfect woman." You can't win with some women... or men as it seems from some of these reviews. I had an instructor in a class a while back who was a very hard-nosed feminist. She hated anime based on ONE OR TWO shows. She was a close-minded twit in my opinion to make a snap-judgment like that. Unfortunately, in an academic environment, you generally have to keep your mouth shut around people like that because they control your grade. You cannot convince these people to be open-minded or check things out once they're soured... It's a shame for them. I would suggest NOT getting involved romantically with someone like that, period, because she's probably going to hold your gender against you at some point in the future! I'm not a huge fan of PC, feminazi politics, or the Shonen Jump Weekly nonsense and frankly don't want to see that infiltrate and RUIN anime like identity politics has the culture at large in the West. Likewise, not every female anime character is written as a Mary Sue OR girl in distress OR complete airhead... There are many different types and some of the strongest female characters I've seen written who AREN'T Mary Sues have been in Japanese productions, too. Unfortunately, the feminists who checked out after ONE show aren't going to stick around and see this for themselves. As far as Nadesico concerned, the TV series is far from being the most realistic show out there. It' a comedy series and it's NOT supposed to be!!! Barring a major death towards the beginning of the series, I'd call it a parody of most things Macross and Gundam. It does a pretty good job with this but gets oddly melancholy at times. The Nadesico movie? It might as well be set in a different universe because it has such a different tone to it... Beautiful production values but the characters might as well have different names because some of them act so differently from the lighter-hearted TV series. There are also important plot developments between the TV and the motion picture which were only covered by animation that was created exclusively for a Sega Dreamcast Nadesico game, and, of course, that game was never localized for the West so the already disjointed feel and disconnect between the TV series and movie is worse for the lack of the game connection. I thought the TV series was fairly highly quality when I watched the DVDs ADV put out... I'd still be tempted to buy it again on Blu ray for the increased video quality. I had a good time watching it back then. I can say honestly I don't remember much of it(!) but a negative reaction was NOT something I had unlike my original reaction to EVA and many shows of the late 1990s. I honestly don't know what side of the bed the reviewer woke up on BUT please check out your PC and Shonen Jump Weekly privileges and try to watch the series with an open mind! The show's NOT that bad. It's at least a solid B. I'd rate it B- at worst but I thought it was worth the ride back then... |
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harminia
 Posts: 2044 Location: australia |
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Nadesico was one of my favourite series when I was young and was a very important part of my life, so a part of me desperately wants to defend it, but if I think logically about it, I don't think I'd want to watch it nowadays because it probably wouldn't be as good. I feel like I'll just cling to my nostalgia goggles for this one out of fear of ruining my precious memories of the series.
When I hear Gai died in episode 3, it always bewilders me because it felt like we'd been with him for so much longer. I also remember the big reveal about the Jovian Lizards being a shock for me... But I was like 10 when I watched it so it's not like I had heaps to compare it with, nor the analytical power to really think deeply about the plot devices and tropes of the series. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3019 |
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If you judge whether or not someone is "nice" based on whether or not they like the same media you do, then you're just begging to be disappointed. If I refused to date people who hate Pretty Little Liars or Grey's Anatomy, I'd have a pretty lonely life. |
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Ouran High School Dropout
 Posts: 440 Location: Somewhere in Massachusetts, USA |
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I'm going to be the outlier here. Wouldn't be the first time.
I've been watching the Blu ever since it arrived (and it looks and sounds great, BTW), and I'm enjoying it as much as when I last looked at it some ten years ago. True, Nadesico will never win any awards for narrative cohesion. Also true that it has a truly classic "wait, that's it?" ending. But there are a handful of shows on my list where I can set all that aside and just enjoy what's there. For me, Nadesico will always be a happy fun ball of chaotic characters and otaku in-jokes. "Idiots." You and me both, Ruri-Ruri. |
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hissatsu01
 Posts: 963 Location: NYC |
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Don't know where you got that idea. Aside from a little aliasing, a lot less than Nadesico, it looks quite good. I'd expect the Nozomi BDs to be very similar. |
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