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by Hitman from Anime@Arki Lately, there’s been an influx of numerous anime titles, ranging from the over-hyped to the underrated. The big problem that faces any fan here is the screening process that doesn’t necessarily waste any time. One of these titles that is underrated yet stands out is Mobile Battleship Nadesico (a.k.a. Martian Successor Nadesico). How is it special? It’s definitely not over-hyped like Evangelion or Lain. It also doesn’t have an epic-like story like Escaflowne. Nor does it have a super impressive soundtrack like Escaflowne or Macross Plus. Yet it stands out for this simple reason: it parodies practically every known science fiction show and anime we know. For anyone who’s seen the show, the basic crew setup is very Star Trek. You have a female captain (like Capt. Janeway of Star Trek Voyager). You have a helmsman who’s very intelligent yet shows minimal emotion (like Data from Star Trek : The Next Generation or Spock from the original Star Trek). The communications operator is a former seiyuu (named after a popular seiyuu called Megumi). The ship has a bridge set like Star Trek. It even has a holodeck. Outside the ship, it looks very modern yet when it shoots its gravity blast, it reminds me of the wave motion gun from Space Battleship Yamato. It has a few mechas as their offensive hand-to-hand combat weapon (like Gundam). It even has an anime within the anime called Gekiganger 3 (where it is so obvious that it’s mix of elements from Getta Robot, Mazinger Z and even Voltes V; “Let’s Gekiga-In!”). The similarities to all these other shows ends here. It has its own storyline and it’s quite unique. A private corporation decides to build its own battleship to go against the enemy, the Jovian Lizards from Jupiter. They find that the United Earth Spacy Federation is not effective enough to stop their onslaught. They decide to recruit the best people for the vacant positions on the ship, never mind if all of them have quirks. Our hero, Akito Tenkawa, is a former pilot who is very devastated with his experience in Mars that he chooses to run away than fight the enemy. He always insists he’s a cook although he’s really a pilot. The captain, Yurika Misumaru, is the top graduate of the Space College and she is chosen to run the ship, never mind if she’s a ditzy girl and she happens to be the only daughter of Admiral Misumaru. There’s the ship navigator Minato, who’s quite a sexy lady. She resigned from her former job as an executive assistant to the President of her company so that she join the Nadesico as some sort of self-fulfillment. Then there’s Megumi, the ship communications operator, who used to be a seiyuu. Then there’s Seiya Uribitake, the chief engineer, who’s a master mechanic but is just wild with his ideas. There’s also the 3 female Aestivalis pilots; Ryoko, Hikaru, and Izumi. 3 wacky characters who never seem to have a serious moment in their lives. My personal favorite in the show is the short lived character called Daigouji Gai. Jiro Yamada is his real name but he goes by his spiritual name, Daigouji Gai. This is the epitome of a super anime fan. He lives, eats, breathes Gekiganger 3. Unfortunately, he’s killed off in episode 3. I think the show would’ve been more fun if they let him live until the end. We’ll dispense with the other regular characters and jump right down to probably the only competent person to run the ship, Ruri Hoshino. She’s only 12 years old but is deemed to be a genius, a Mozart of ship operations if you will. Why does this show appeal to me? It’s got practically everything that I look for in a fun anime. It’s got comedy (lots of it, although some jokes are hard to grasp), it’s got action (what with all those ship battles and mecha combats), it’s got a love story (but it’s the girl who’s chasing the guy), and by the end of the TV series, it’s got a happy ending. Actually, the end of the TV series only gives us an idea that all’s well that ends well when the Nadesico took the ruins from Mars with them. The real ending of the TV series lies in the Gekiganger 3 OAV. In order to further appreciate the show, I suggest you grab yourself a copy of Nadesico and enjoy it at your own leisure. I think words can’t describe the fun experience that you get when you watch this!
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