Kido Senkan Nadesico

I'd heard a lot about Nadesico and how it was a parody of various mecha titles. I'd seen Ruri-chan's image on many anime image sites. I knew that the series is well liked among a majority of people who've seen it. So I finally carved out some time to watch it, but sadly didn't find the gold that others seemed to find.

The writers of this series decided that while there would be a central story arc, the Jovians vs. the Humans with a tie-in to some events that happened on Mars, to do the individual parody stories, the writers pulled an element out of their hat (to be polite) and threw it on the wall. So out of the blue, a character dies so that the series can parody anime titles where an important character dies. Only this time, I didn't care about this annoying character so when the character dies, I'm thinking, "Good ridance to bad rubbish." There are a number of other elements like this where the writers pull elements out of left field, providing the huge plot twist while at the same time giving the writers an element to parody (satire may be a better word though). Yet in doing this, the writers abandon a decent story flow for their own tale. In my opinion, if you are going to be bothered to tell a story, the parody should flow with the story, not be an obstacle.

Sadly, the characters aren't any better. Akito is the annoying Tenchi/Shinji-type main character who's so bipolar, I'm amazed he didn't go on a killing rampage (because so many such killers apparently are bipolar). As such a character, it made the fact that so many of the women on the ship fell in love with him completely doofy (which may have been the point). I never did understand why some of the women were "in love" with Akito because those were elements the writers just pull out and threw on the wall to make something happen.

That said, not all of the parodies were bad. I did laugh a few times, and the parodies on the harem anime titles, or on titles with love-triangles were enjoyed by me. The final episodes of the series were a bit more interesting to me, and thus a bit more enjoyable. Unfortunately my true enjoyment moments were few and far between.

Yurika is the doe-eyed captain who's shockingly brilliant at times -- or rather most of the time. Yet she is always talking stupidly, especially when it comes to Akito. Ryoko was mildly interesting as the leader of the mecha squad attached to Nadesico, but she is pretty limited. Of all the characters, only Ruri-chan is really interesting. Much of that is due to her frank, "you're a stupid idiot" (while remaining calm and collective) attitude, reflected in her catch word "baka" (or "baka baka" for double emphasis). But for me, Ruri-chan isn't enough to save this.

And now allow me to rant about ADV's subtitle translation of the title. Have I ever mentioned how I despise companies who remove Japanese honorifics in the subtitles? And "Yurika-san" does NOT equate to "Ms. Misumaru" you smegging bastards! "Oneesan" is no "Ms. Ruri." Man, I bet the translator had to hate the fact that the Japanese dared to put "Ruri oneesan" in English letters on the screen in one episode. But then I'm a stupid American who MUST be spoon-fed things in an American way or else I might not understand and thus might not buy. And how does the Japanese person saying in actual English, "Don't worry, don't worry!" translate to "Don't let it bother you!"? Yeah, lets translate English to English because that's the smart thing to do. GAH! As Ruri-chan might say, "Baka!" I hate all of the domestication in the subtitles and even if I loved this anime, I wouldn't buy this simply because you treat me this way in the subtitles!

Whew!

Bottom line: With a story who's direction is dictated by the parody of the week, combined with characters I didn't like, the best I can give this is a "Watch." I know it is against the grain, but that's how it was for me.

Last updated Wednesday, October 01 2008. Created Tuesday, April 11 2006.