Imagine We Still Had VHS: "Martiann Successor Nadesico" Episodes 1-3

*This blog post was started on August 17, 2022.

Convention season is over, so it is back to trying to come up with time to watch movies. And of course, "House of Dragons" is going to debut Sunday, so that may all get thrown to the side. It is bad enough that I am behind on video games to play, but there is still "WestWorld" to return to.

At least my job, staffing wise, is settling in. This means I should not have too many early shifts. Time should be more manageable. Outside of time management, things seem to be going pretty well. I do feel like a conclusion to this physical existence would be nice, but that is more prevalent when I am stoned, trying to fall asleep. Every morning I wake up, so let us continue.

As for continuing my writing, it seems tricky. I say that, and immediately think, "Come up with some fiction". The environment just does not seem right. When I wrote "Main Event of the Dead", there was a better social environment. My script writing started during my relationship with Cindy and carried over to my second stint at Illinois Central College with my best friend Stefanie Smith. Once my relationship with her concluded, no one seemed to give a shit about my efforts. If it was not for my time in hospitality, writing about my Schrodinger-like existence, there would be no practice in writing.

The issue is finding stuff to practice. I do not have the cynical drunks to inspire my satire. Thus, it is up to movies and wrestling. Movies get "NinetyForChill: The #Podcast", so criticism with aspirations of a Pulitzer is lost. As for wrestling, since I concluded "Rip'Em System: Vince McMahon's Mein Kampf", it has been dependent on ranking the performers based around championships. WWE's lazy booking has made constantly writing about that a challenge.

Thankfully, Pluto TV and Tubi have allowed me to go back to what started the development of my writing skills, pre-Toonami anime and anime not flashy enough for Funimation. These streamers spare me from gambling on my VHS tape deck successfully playing my scores of tapes.

Ironically, the series I chose to revisit was the last set of VHS tapes that I devoted to colleting completely, "Martian Successor Nadesico". I will need to revisit "Gundam Wing" to determine if this is my second favorite giant mecha series. At least that means I have the next anime I will need to discuss lined up (This was stated before I saw the series was covered on this blog.).

Or should I watch "Macross Plus" or "Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure". Keep circulating the tapes (and tomorrow will be dedicated to "Rifftrax: The Return of Swamp Thing").

Martian Successor Nadesico: Episodes 1-3

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By 2196, humanity has colonized space as far out as Mars. All seems well until an alien force, presumed to be from Jupiter, started to expand the reach of their empire to the inner planets of the solar system. Little is known about the Jovian "lizards" except that their gravity-based weaponry is far superior than anything Earth's United Forces has to offer. It was only a matter of time before the Jovian forces had conquered the Moon and Mars.

Like in the late 20the century, galactic expansion is not a big deal to most humans, so as long as they can fend off the invaders, they just blow off the attacks. Except for Akito Tenkawa, a fry cook who unexplainedly ended up on Earth after the first Jovian attack on Mars. Suffering from PTSD, he cannot hold down a job down and is shunned for having nanotechnology in his body that is necessary to operate any machinery on Mars, but is only used by mech pilots on Earth.

He is seen only as a coward, but his fortunes are about to change after a loose suitcase falls from the trunk of a car and crashes into his bike. The passenger is nice enough to help Akito out, but thinks there is a deeper connection between the two of them. As her car pulls away, Akito finds a picture left behind. This photograph is of him and an obnoxious girl as children. Akito realizes that the girl who he just ran into is Yurika Misumaru. She may have the answers about the demise of his parents the day her and her admiral father left Mars.

Akito follows her to a Nergal Heavy Industries facility, a private military contractor. Screaming Yurika's name the entire way to the base, he is obviously detained. Prospector, the civilian liaison for Nergal, questions Akito and after hearing his story, takes pity on the Martian and offers him a job as a cook on the new space fortress Nadesico. It is not ideal for a traumatized war survivor, but at least it give him a place to belong. And of course the Jovians are quick to attack.

Panics takes over and Akito takes a giant mech, an Aestivalis, to escape. Soon the captain of the Nadesico messages him calling on him to serve as a distraction to allow the ship to launch. Cowardice is not even a thought to the captain because the captain is Yurika. Akito seems to be a natural pilot and is the hero of the day as the Nadesico defeats the Jovians with little effort.

This is the first victory for Earth in the war with the Jovians, but the United Forces are not pleased. Nergal has no intention to provide the ship to the UF because they are not about to defend earth when there are so many humans left behind during the retreats from the colonies and answers to be obtained. The UF cannot afford to let a civilian battleship operate independently and will do whatever they can to stop them from leaving on their mission.

Akito needs answers about his parents and what happen to the Martian colonists, so he will put his culinary aspirations on the back burner to defend the ship. With the support of Yurika and the "Gekiganger III" anime-obsessed pilot Gai Daigoji, his fear will not stop him from defending those he cares about.

I have always thought that giant mech anime was played out as I was getting into anime. Central Park Media's mascot was "MD Geist". "Robotech" and "Voltron" were the first two animes to break big stateside in the 1980s. Anime intrigued me because of the drama and adult themes that it suggested animation was capable of. Not action that can be seen on "Mighty Morphing Power Rangers".

The only reason that I got into "Neon Genesis Evangelion" was because of its reputation as the greatest series ever. That series provides all the drama and symbolism I wanted, so it may have left me hungry for mecha as a means to tell stories. By the time "Evangelion" had concluded (As in, all the VHS tapes made it stateside.), I was ready for a new series.

Being an elitist, "Gundam Wing" on Toonami was not going to be enough. I was a fan of ADV Films ahead of all other American distributors, so I just presumed "Martian Successor Nadesico" was the next "Evangelion". To my joy, this is a more luscious looking series that took the piss out of my favorite franchise and celebrated geekdom that "Excel Saga" was yet to do.

The comedy is always present but drama is never ignored. It is exactly how I like to cope. If you want to focus on taking things seriously, you lose track of the present. Laugh your way through trauma because you need to get to the future.

I can see where many would think that is poor storytelling. If the writers do not take things seriously, why should the audience? My counter is that there is enough overly dramatic bollocks out there. After the intensity of "Evangelion", this is the break mech fans need.

The character design might deter some. It also does not take itself too seriously. This especially apparent with juxtaposing the story to the events occurring in the binge of "Gekigengar III" that Akito is on during his free time between cooking and piloting. I find it to be a clever storytelling device, but others may see it as an affront to a genre that they take way too seriously.

"Dual" maybe the series that better suits them since it has a "Tenchi Muyo!/El Hazard" vibe when it comes to deconstructing giant robot anime, but that is for fans of boy as the center of obsessed girls' universe. This series was a new approach to a tried genre of anime, and it should be admired for that. Add in great themes songs, and I think it is worth a view by any Japanese animation fan.

"Martian Successor Nadesico" is a great entry point for people that want to dabble into anime. It offers fan service, but not excessive to the point where the audiences thinks that it is trying to sell sex. The battles are fun, but not trying to sell the audience on gore. Unless you want Shakespearian drama, the humor does not take anything away from the series.

"Nadesico's" only fault could be that you do know it is still a cartoon. I do not see that as a bad thing, but some nerds want something to transcend a medium. This is a show that is not ashamed of being just entertainment and amusing an audience. Can you blame them for wanting a large one?

Gundam W - The Start of the Toonami's Downfall

Episode 1 --- Episode 2 --- Episode 3 --- Episode 4

This is another Fan Sub I picked up at Chicago's Visions Science Fiction Convention, so my reviews may get a little confusing. If I'm correct, Gundam was the first giant mecha series created which in turn, inspired all the others, so I was sure that this was going to be good.

Of course being a huge Macross fan may prevent me from saying it's the best, but the show's story makes this great and unique from every other mecha show. My basic impression of Gundam W is that it is Macross without the comic bits or the songs. If that doesn't make it its own series I don't know what does. The animation, artwork, and soundtrack are also great which makes this a title every anime fan should check out.

And it seemed like everyone did. Soon, Cartoon Network's Toonami block was filled with every possible spin off Gundam had to offer. It was just too much for me. Each series had different characters (unlike Tenchi Muyo!), so it was the Gundam that I loved. I lost track of Rurouni Kenshin and it seemed that everytime I turned Toonami on I'd just be screaming "that's nothing compared to Zero". Soon, Toonami was just a fond memory of my adolescents.

The Meteor the Girl Saw

The World Federation, after successfully gaining control of most space colonies, is trying to prevent rebels from succeeding with Operation M. Lt. Zechs has run into one of the enemies trying to bring a weapon to Earth. Little does he know that he is dealing with a Mobile Suit made of a very strong Gundamium alloy. With several other attacks occuring on Earth, has the Federation met their match?

There isn't much done for drama until the end when the pilot, Heero, is planning to kill the girl who found him, Relena, for knowing who he is. This doesn't really hurt the episode since the action sequences are very well done. Really the only noticible problem or something one will soon realize as they watch a few more episodes is that the characters are very one dimensional. It seems that it will be difficult to make these characters dynamic.
The Gundam Called Death

Heero, a new student, is the topic of many questions at his new school, especialy by Relena. I guess we'd all be curious if of someone who threatened our lives. On the military front, the Federation and Zechs are searching for the downed Gundam, but so is another Gundam. The situation becomes more heated when the pilot of the downed suit seems to be willing to stop the enemies from finding his suit.

We get to know the character of Relena better, who seems to be who the series will use to pull all the events in the together. The introduction of Duo is cool, but otherwise there isn't anything to scream and shout about when compared to the first episode. Fortunately, the action is kept up to par and the more intense scenario between the two pilots and Relena are played out well which allows the show to remain worthwhile.

Five Gundams Confirmed

Heero has been under the survalence of the Naval Hospital, and he wants to escape. This hope does seem to become a possible reality when somebody he ran into before his accident is ready to break him out whether he like the guy or not. In the meantime Zechs has predicted that the next Gundam attack will be at a military ceremony at Corsica, but even if the Federation knows where the attack is going to be, are they ready to face all possibilities that could occur during the attack?

This is a pretty fast paced and well organized episode, and the action keeps one glued to the screen. Afterwards one should realize that there is nothing to the episode character wise except for the alliance between two of the pilots being formed. Maybe the show is trying to gain the HK Cinema crowd. I shouldn't be so hard on the episode for this because the action makes this episode possibly the most fun to watch.
The Nightmare at Victoria

The WF's enemy has gone and taken a cheap shot by destroying the Space Academy's cadet dorm which has really pissed of the base commander and instructor Noyn. As for Heero, he's driving Duo nuts with his antisocial behavior, but Duo will soon be relieved of the nuscanse since he has just been assigned a new mission.

This is probably the best episode thus far. It's indeed the best written episode especially dialogue and character building wise. We are made to sympathise with the "real" enemy, and that is something hardly done well in any form of media. Fey also gets under our skin as a great anti-hero, but more importantly, Noyn and Zechs prove to be great characters, and we finally have a character which adds a lot of depth in Zechs.