Nadesico Movie: Prince of Darkness

[Edward]

The Nadesico TV series was a generally humorous science fiction story, though it could be quite serious at times.  The movie's mood is darker, though there are comedic moments, some more successful than others.  It's also missing most of the character interaction.

The TV series ended with the war still going, established conflicts between the cast and the authorities, and active attempts at sabotaging a peace.  In the movie all of that's been resolved, thought they provide neither reasons nor details for this.  A new menace is introduced in a logical manner, but it feels like there's an unreleased second season of the TV series that was skipped.

Ruri is now sixteen and captain of her own ship.  A couple of new characters, crewmembers of hers, are introduced, but Nadesico already has a large cast and these new characters use up a fair amount of screen time.  They're not particularly interesting, either.  Most of the movie is spent slowly reassembling all of the old cast.  And I do mean slowly.  And I do mean all.  Except for the Gekkiganger cast, if they were named, appeared on screen in the TV series, and survived; they will appear in the movie.

But at least I know who the characters are.  I can imagine what it would be like for people who haven't seen the TV series as they're deluged by hordes of characters that they're given neither the time nor the reason to care about.

Yet even though absolutely every character appears, this isn't an ensemble story.  Ruri and Akito are the stars and frankly they seem the objects of almost fanboyish worship at times.  I like the characters, but what's with this 'Cybernetic Fairy' nonsense?   Most of the cast is reduced to scenery; they don't really do anything and are literally along for the ride.  Most of the rest get cameos.

By the time the entire throng is finally assembled, there isn't much time left for a final confrontation.  The conclusion feels rushed, the ending inadequate, and the Nadesico and her crew are hardly needed for the final scenes.  Almost everything is achieved by Akito, who's been vastly powered up from the original series, assisted by a vastly powerful new character who we never get a chance to know.  There's also a complete lack of dramatic tension to the ending, we know how it's all going to turn out.

Done right, this story could have made a decent or even good set of OAVs, but they're trying to fit too much into a movie's runtime.  There's also too much emphasis on Ruri and Akito, and to a lesser extent the new characters, to the neglect of the rest of the regular cast.  I'd rate it 4 out of 10, but it hasn't got any Gekigangar, so I'll rate it a 3

[Dracos]

Good review.  Mind copying it to the front page as well?

http://www.pishoque.net/index.php?module=writereview

Dracos

[Edward]

Done.

[Dracos]

Thanks.

[DB]

As I recall this movie was done to focus on Ruri and her huge fanboy following, which is how she became the primary character when the two stars of the original series disappear. Everything else is windowdressing, which is great, if you're a Rei Ayanam... err, Ruri fanboy. If you're not, then this is almost as close to a waste of time there is. Except Minato and Ryouko get some air time. And the two female Aestivelis pilots.

Since I'm not a fan of the quiet lolita type character, and I only found Ruri milidly amusing, I regard this as something to be avoided.  Then again, Nadesico itself was one of those 'This could have been great, and then they rushed and bungled the end' series.  The pairing of Akito and Yurika is perhaps the most forced in existence. In a way, it was a pleasure to see them almost not appear here.


At least the name 'Martian Successor' had a meaning in this movie.

I'll give it a 4 out of 10 despite this harsh review. While it has a moment or two, it's best to be avoided, and some of the supporting cast are worth watching. It's the main characters that suck.