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Martian Successor Nadesico or Mobile Battleship Nadesico (機動戦艦ナデシコ Kidō Senkan Nadeshiko) (often shortened to Nadesico) is a science fiction comedy anime TV series, and a later manga series created by Kia Asamiya. The manga, published in English by CPM Manga, is significantly different from the anime.

The series takes place in the year 2196, where the Earth is in a war with a race of alien invaders called the "Jovian Lizards". To combat it, a company called Nergal designs a powerful space battleship, the ND-001 Nadesico. The main problem with the Nadesico is the crew. While it consists of the top civilian experts in their fields, these individuals tend to have "some slight personality disorders".

The primary protagonist, Akito Tenkawa, is a boy with a mysterious past; once a resident of Mars' Utopia colony, he escaped its destruction by the Jovian Lizards and arrived on Earth, with no memory of how he got there but a terrible fear of the invaders. He hates fighting and only wants to be a chef, however, he is constantly called on to act as a pilot of one of the Nadesico's Aestevalis - humanoid combat mecha. While on board the Nadesico, Akito has more problems to deal with than just the Jovians; pretty much all the female members of the crew, especially the vessel's captain Yurika Misumaru, seem to be head over heels in love with Akito, but all he wants to do is cook and watch his favorite anime, Gekigangar III (an Story within a story|anime within an anime).

The series consisted of 26 episodes, with a film sequel and a one episode spin-off. The series quickly became popular in Japan with the film The Prince of Darkness, winning the Animage Grand Prix in 1998.

Review

The series features an energetic juxtaposition of comedy and drama, as the characters engage in lighthearted antics in between facing the drama of war. Many of the characters are themselves anime fans, and there is often comparison between the campy, sanitized war of the anime within an anime Gekigangar III and the much harsher reality that the crew of the Nadesico faces. The show intentionally includes a number of science fiction anime clichés, including time travel and alien invaders, but turns these concepts on their heads by the end of the series through a number of plot twists.

There are many anime references, particularly to the series Space Battleship Yamato (The name Nadesico is a play on the phrase "Yamato Nadeshiko", which represents the traditional Japanese ideal of femininity). One of the characters is a magical girl seiyuu before joining the crew (and in fact is a parody of a specific seiyuu, Megumi Hayashibara), another is a fangirl who likes to draw her own Shōnen-ai doujinshi, while a third is an otaku who bases his entire life on Gekigangar III. In an episode late in the series, the ship holds an anime convention complete with a viewing marathon of Gekigangar, people engaged in cosplay, and tie-in merchandising. Another episode makes a parody of the Macross anime, as the crew celebrates a Miss Nadesico contest to decide a new captain and public figurehead, where all the female crew members participate. The contest includes a swimsuit competition, and singing. The Gekigangar anime show is in fact an homage (and parody) of many Super Robot mecha anime of the 70s and 80s, most particularly Go Nagai's Getter Robo. The TV series ran for 26 episodes. A Gekigangar III compilation OVA was also released, as well as a sequel movie called Martian Successor Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness that takes place several years after the main series.

Four games based on the series were released in Japan. As of 2006, none of them have been released in the US. The first game, released for the Sega Saturn in 1997, is entitled Mobile Battleship Nadesico. It is a dating sim game with a few mecha elements included. A second game, also for the Sega Saturn, was released in the following year under the title Martian Successor Nadesico: The Blank of Three Years. It is an interactive story of the events which occurred in between the television series and the movie. Released on the Dreamcast in 1999, Martian Successor Nadesico: The Mission, continues the story from Prince of Darkness. Finally, a mahjong variant game was released for the Game Boy Color entitled Mobile Battleship Nadesico: Ruriruri Mahjong. Nadesico also appears in games in the Super Robot Wars series, where the setting is combined with other mecha series' such as G Gundam, Gundam SEED, Mazinger, Full Metal Panic! and Tekkaman Blade.

Nadesico 2

Anime News Network reported that plans for Nadesico 2 were scrapped saying, "Stellvia Director Tatsuo Sato has stated on his website that plans for the Stelvia (sic) sequel, as well as any possibility of a sequel to Nadesico, are now impossible. He does not explain further."

Reception

There have been mixed reviews to the series, although most reviews have been positive. One review written when the series was released on DVD gave it average ratings, commenting that whilst the show was dubbed into English poorly, it commented positively on the use of characters saying, "Despite his heroic calling as a robot pilot, Akito is remarkably approachable—after all, what could be more down-to-earth than a cook? Yurika, the world's most unlikely starship captain, may seem like a troublesome ditz at first, but demonstrates resolve and emotional depth as she learns the art of leadership. The characters may be billed as goofballs, but they also provide some of the most touching moments in the show. The Nadesico mindset shows that heroism and self-sacrifice are still respectable virtues, and that nobody needs to hear whining about why you can't or won't pilot a giant robot."

Other reviews have been generally positive, with one saying, "Nadesico is not deep, heavy, nor philosophically profound like [Neon Genesis] Evangelion, but rather it's more of straightforward fun and entertainment. No, it's not shallow or mindless but you need not ponder endlessly to get the show's message(s). Things develop at a very good pace, and watching the first few eps will surely get you hooked." Another review wrote, "Nadesico is one of those rare series that has something for everyone. Comedy, action, romance, drama...you name it, this series has it (well, almost). What's even more astonishing is that Nadesico keeps everything tied together in a neat little coherent package, so much so that you'll hardly even notice the blend of genres. It's a pretty cool little package, too."

The series quickly became popular. The film won the Animage Grand Prix award in 1998. In other polls conducted by Animage in the same year, Akito was voted the ninth most "Favorite Male Character Of The Year", Ruri Hoshino was voted second and Yurika eighth most "Favorite Female Characters Of The Year" and the TV series was vote the third "Favorite Anime Of The Year".

Episode listing

  1. To Go Like A Man
  2. Leave the Blue Earth To Me
  3. A Goodbye That Came Too Soon!
  4. Charmed by Aqua Space
  5. Ruri's Navigation Logs
  6. Sort Of Like A Fateful Decision
  7. The Song That You Will Sing One Day
  8. The Lukewarm "Cold Equation"
  9. The Miracle Operation Of "The Kiss"?
  10. The Dangers Of "Femininity"
  11. Finding Yourself In A "Routine Plot"?
  12. Those Unforgettable Days
  13. There Is No Single Truth
  14. Let's Go With Hot-Blooded Anime (clip show)
  15. The Significant Other From A Star Far Away
  16. The Beginning Of Nadesico's War
  17. A Reunion That Came Too Late
  18. Echoes Of Self, Echoes Of Water
  19. You're The Next Captain Of The Nadesico!
  20. Run Silent, Run Deep
  21. The Meadows We Once Ran Across
  22. Protect The Visitor?
  23. A Place We Call Home
  24. Ubiquitous Righteousness
  25. Being Myself, Being Yourself
  26. For The Lady We Will Meet Someday

Theme songs

  • Opening
  1. "You Get to Burning" by Yumi Matsuzawa
  • Endings
  1. "Watashi Rashiku [Being Myself]" by Houko Kuwashima
  2. "Itsuka... Shinjite" by Matsumura Kazumi (Episode 26)
  • Other
  1. "Let's go Gekigangar 3" Gekigangar theme 1
  2. "Shouri no V da! Gekigangar V [The V of Victory! Gekigangar V]" Gekigangar theme 2

Units

Pilots

Series Protagonist Akito Tenkawa, as well as Ryoko Subaru, Hikaru Amano, Izumi Maki, and Gai Dagodji are Available in most games in the series as mecha pilots. Akatsuki Nagars is often available as well. Yurika Misamaru and/or Ruri Hoshino are usually the main pilots of the Nadesico, while the other crewmembers often appear as sub-pilots.

Most games in the series also choose to subvert the death of Gai Daigodji early in the series, or give the player the option to recover him later in the game. and W also carry him over to the Prince of Darkness storyline, and W even goes as far to give Gai's character portrait a redesign to make him fit better with the rest of the redesigned cast.

Aestevalis

This is majority of player units from Nadesico. Rather mundane, they're Small size unit and somewhat lacking in offensive power. In SRW A, each Aestevalis has unique stat but later titles has same stat for common Aestevalis. Unlike most unit, common Aestevalis doesn't regenerate EN on each turn but will has its EN fully refill by stay in Nadesico's energy transmission range. It's protected by distortion field ability, which work on all form of attack (the effect are varied by games). Aestevalis may choose its battle frame before sorties to match the upcoming battle.

  • Land Combat Frame The basic frame, yet doesn't appear as playable unit until Judgement. As name suggest, this frame excels in land terrain, as well as aquatic battle. The downside is that only its rapid rifle can attack aerial targets. The field lancer weapon is notable for its ignore barrier ability.
  • 0G Frame Games's basic frame, it's very similar to Land Combat Frame but use for space combat. Actually, several games give Land Comabat Frame's exclusive attack wire punch to 0G Frame until Judgement (although Another Century's Episode 2 still gives 0G Frame wire punch). Judgement (and later W) also has 0G frame accel on land terrain and even can fly on Earth but doing so is unadvisable since it has bad performance in air, and its weapons doen't work well against aerial or aquatic enemies either.
  • Flight Frame Similar to Land Combat Frame, but used for aerial combat and replaces wire fist with missile pod. It isn't effective when attack land target and perform badly against aquatic target. Flight Frame also feature best mobility at cost of worst armor.
  • Artillery Frame Armed with 120 mm cannon and missile, Artillery Frame is very different from other frames in term of weaponary and also has thickest armor but lacking at mobility and speed. Artillery Frame is notable to be effective in both land and space terrain in early games, but Judgement and W convert it to land only.
  • Moon Battle Frame Unlike other frames, Moon Battle Frame equipped with Phase-Transition engine which grants it the EN recovery ability. Armed with missile pod, rail gun and large missile, the Moon Battle Frame is like improved version of Artillery Frame. In Advance, Moon Battle Frame is unique unit and can only deploy in space. In Judgement and W, it become changable frame and can be use on ground.
  • X-Aestevalis AKA X-Valis, this is unique unit that also granted with large EN recovery ability. It only armed with gravity blast weapon, seperate in normal and MAP attack.
    • In Impact, player will get X-Aestevalis Kai instead. In anime, the X-Aestevalis is flawed machine and exploded while charging its gravity blast.
  • Devil Aestevalis Enemy unit, the Mass Production Aestevalis that controled by Jovian's Batta. Devil Aestevalis's weapons are similar to Land Battle Frame but lacking the field lancer and distortion attack, it also fight well in all terrain.
  • Aestevalis Custom From Prince of Darkness movie, this Aestevalis are used by girl trio from Nadesico. Armed with rapid rifle, rail gun and distortion attack. Aestevalis Custom can perform well in space, land and air terrain. In W, Yamada Jiro AKA Gai Daigodji (who died in the series and never appeared in movie) also receives this frame.
  • Super Aestevalis From Prince of Darkness movie, this Aestevalis is similar to Aestevalis Custom but replace rapid rifle with dual rapid cannon and missile pod. Reversal is notable for giving this frame as Gai's unit.
  • Alstromelia From Prince of Darkness movie, this special Aestevalis has Boson Jump ability which has same effect as after-image and allow teleport movement in W. It only has claws as weapon, this melee attack has range of standard gun weapons and even has ignore barrier attribute.
  • Black Selena From Prince of Darkness movie. The Black Selena also has Boson Jump ability similar to Alstromelia and doesn't relied on Nadesico to refill its EN. Armed with hand cannon and distortion attack (which has ignore barrier attribute in Reversal). In W, it also has armor purge attack which has ignore barrier attribute but will turn Black Selena into Aestevalis Akito Custom.
    • High Mobility Black Selena Black Selena's ship form with higher mobility, this form is optional in Reversal. Its distortion attack doesn't require will and also has ignore barrier attribute in Reversal. In W, it also has part detach attack which has ignore barrier attribute but will turn it into normal Black Selena.
    • Aestevalis Akito Custom Black Selena after armor removed. While lost Boson Jump ability and need energy transmission from Nadesico, this form can perform combination attack Double Gekigan Flare with Gai's Aestevalis.

External links

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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Martian Successor Nadesico. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Super Robot Wars Wiki, the text of Wikipedia this page uses is covered by the Creative Commons License.
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