Before reading any further, I'm going to let any readers out there know
that this movie is based almost entirely on the TV series and, if you
haven't seen the TV series or at least read my review of it, go do so now. I say "almost" entirely because the movie is not a
direct sequel of the series. A Sega Saturn game entitled "Martian
Successor Nadesico: The Blank of 3 Years" that takes place three years
after the series is its direct sequel while the movie takes place two
years after the game. And, being unable to obtain a copy of the game or
learn much about it, I dove into the movie expecting a couple of plot
holes. I was right.
STORY
The
Great War between Earth and Jupiter is over and the two planets have
entered into a formal alliance, but that doesn't mean all is well as
both Akito and Yurika have been missing and presumed dead for years. A
surprise attack disables and destroys one of the United Earth Armed
Forces new space colonies and, while the attacker is unknown, one of
the ship's captains in the area is able to witness the boson jump (the
process that sent Akito from Mars to Earth at the start of the series)
of an object much larger than anything the Earth or Jupiter has ever
created. At the same time, Mars is taken over by this new force. To
help try and figure out what's going on, the UEAF sends the Nadesico B
and Captain Ruri Hoshino to the heart of the Federation's Boson Jumping
network, Ameratsu colony. During the inspection, the colono receives a
message that simply consists of the word "Otika" repeated over and
over, but Ruri quickly deciphers it as "Akito" spelled backwards and
realizes that an attack is imminent while her first officer has learned
that the facility has had numerous but unauthorized additions made to
the entire colony. Before they can learn more, the unknown enemy
attacks.
During the fighting, an Aestavalis of another unknown
origin makes its way through to the heart of the colony. Ruri and the
returning Ryoko Subaru (whose hair is now dark blue instead of green)
follow this third party. Within the heart of the colony they learn that
the Martian ruin that allows for Boson jumping has been moved from
wherever it had been transported to at the end of the series into
Ameratsu. And, embedded within the ruin, is Yurika who has seemingly
turned to stone. At the same time, Ryoko quickly learns that the pilot
of the black Aestavlis is none other than Akito who is now acting
independently. At this same time, the force behind the initial attacks
reveal themselves as the Martian Successors, a group composed of
numerous Earthlings and Jovians, led by one of the Jovian commanders
during the Great War, who seek to establish their own new order for the
solar system.
In order to stop the Martian Successors from
achieving their goal, Ruri and her officers are commissioned to reunite
the crew of the original Nadesico in order to pilot the Nadesico C to
Mars while the UEAF protects the home front. But two years can change a
lot of people as many of them have settled into their civilian lives
and many may not wish to rejoin the crew. The question of why Akito has
changed so much also comes to everyone's minds, but that is something
only he can answer.
I liked the pacing and the story overall
but, as expected, there were more questions left unanswered than
answered by the movie. Even things like how Yurika was captured in the
first place and what happened to some of the characters to give them a
change of heart from their original positions and stances from before-
though I do applaud one Jovian character from the series' quest for
redemption. The only other issue I had was with the anticlimactic
climax and the incredibly sudden ending. The pacing that worked well so
far up to that point falls apart because it felt like the movie had to
make several constraints to meet either its budget or the set running
time. Everything wraps up in literally less than five minutes.
The
other good part of the story was how it stayed true to the Nadesico
formula, even if the overall tone was a little darker. Bits of humor
and references to in-jokes within the series are scattered all over the
place and the characters even break the fourth wall a few times, either
with Ruri saying hello to the audience or the characters discussing the
occurrence of a "convenient plot twist" 3/4 of the way through the
movie. I can definitely say I'd have enjoyed it more if there was some
way to understand what happened in the Saturn game. Even a DVD insert
with a summary would have been better than nothing.
CHARACTERS
All
of the major cast members from the TV series make their return in this
movie, though some of them have more of a presence than others (I
wanted more Megumi), but most of them are as likable as they ever have
been because of the fact that they haven't changed a bit. In fact, the
two characters who have undergone a personality overhaul are Akito and
Ruri. Akito because his past experiences over the recent years have
hardened his personality and made him into a person who is not afraid
to seek after revenge. He explains that someone had done some
experiments on his brain, but otherwise we know nothing. Ruri's changes
come pretty much due to the fact that she's matured significantly over
the past five years. She continues to remain calm and level-headed
while her aptitude for calling people "baka" has reversed itself into a
great sense of politeness- making her very popular in the process.
Three
new major characters are introduced as well: Ruri's navigations
officer, Hari Makibi, a young ensign who is confident in his team's
ability but stubborn in facing reality of what he can't accomplish.
Ruri considers him his younger brother and it's more than obvious that
he has a very innocent crush on her. Ruri's communications and combat
officer, Saburota Takasugi, reigns champion as the series' biggest
womanizer, even though he's a Jovian and expected to be fully
respectful and gallant towards women. The final is a pink-haired girl
named Lapis Lazuli who travels with Akito after he (most likely)
rescued her from a research facility and has very similar abilities to
Ruri, but hardly anything is learned about her and I can only assume
she made her first appearance in the game.
The other new
characters are a group of antagonists who do covert operations for the
Martian Successors and one is basically Akito's sworn enemy. While he
has the appearance suited for a villain, he didn't have much presence
to the point where I didn't even bother to remember his name. But
because he's part of the final "climactic" battle, he at least deserves
a mention.
While the major characters are all as likable as
ever, some of them weren't utilized well for anything to really
contribute to the story. It was at least nice to see them again though
because those moments provided some laughs.
ART/ANIMATION
When
I detailed this section for the review of the series I mentioned that
the art and animation style seemed to change based on the tone of the
atmosphere and situation, being more bright and cheerful during
light-hearted moments while being more dark and sharp during serious
ones. The art is basically the latter style throughout the course of
the whole movie, but some improvements have been made as well- namely
some very impressive effects during boson jumps and a little bit of
added detail to explosions other than being orange circles- but not too
much. While it was overall very pleasing to watch, it seemed uncanny of
how much cuter Ruri looks when seen at a 3/4 angle than head on.
VOICE ACTING
I
can safely say that the acting in the movie is basically just as good
as it was in the TV series because all of the same actors returned to
reprise their roles. While some characters don't explore the same range
of emotions that they did in the series, the performances were done
well enough to easily be able to imagine how the characters would sound
if they had to enter those emotional spectra again. The new characters
also had actors who made them fit in just as well as everyone else.
If
I watch the movie again and in the English dub, it will be after I
watch the dub of the TV series, but from looking at the credits it
looked like those actors all reprised their original roles as well.
MUSIC
While
the intro theme "You Get to Burning" from the TV series is what really
made the music of it what I remember the most, I can definitely say
that the soundtrack of the movie had a much better overall spread. All
of the incidental music was orchestral based and utilized very well
from beginning to end. It did its job in carrying the atmosphere and
story along at various points admirably. The end credits had a slightly
jazzy song to it, but it didn't stick out as much.
SUMMARY
The
Nadesico movie is for people who have seen the series, fans of the
franchise, and Ruri fans who wanted to see her beyond her loli stage in
life. It was a fairly enjoyable watch, but the gaping plot holes that
the game either introduced or answered make the story for audiences
much harder to follow than those few who owned a Sega Saturn and the
game. Despite the likable aspects, quality animation, and great score,
I don't expect to be watching this on my own again anytime soon.This and other reviews can also be read at my blog: http://gunarmdyne.blogspot.com
Screenshots
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