Vandread
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Vandread, directed by Takeshi Mori and created by GONZO and Media Factory animation studios, is a science-fiction space opera-like anime that attempts to combine elements of action, romance, ecchi, comedy, mecha space combat and the occasional piece of Star Trek-ish technobabble, and whose aim is achieved with a certain degree of skill. Vandread presents a mix of cleanly rendered CG-combat, well-animated characters in the BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth) style, comedy ranging from slapstick to subtle humor, and characters and action sequences that aim to be both memorable and entertaining.
The Vandread series is composed of two seasons (Vandread: The Movement Stage, released in 2000 and Vandread 2: The Second Stage, released in 2001), each composed of 13 episodes of 25 minutes. The first series is summarised in the Vandread Taidouhen OVA (2001), and the second one in Vandread Gekitouhen ("Turbulence") OVA (2002).
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Summary
Universe
The setup for this anime is fairly implausible (although it is later explained), but in this universe where men and women are completely segregated (on completely different planets, at that!), the gender wars are more than just a metaphor. Hibiki Tokai, a 3rd class laborer, takes up a bet to steal a high-tech humanoid robot, known as a Vanguard, from the male attack force about to fight the "evil females". Caught onboard when it takes off, the ship is rapidly attacked and all males evacuated, with the exception of Hibiki, Duero McFile (ship's doctor and total badass), and Bart Garsus (designed as an unfortunate and pathetic character who does not really mature until the 2nd season, when he becomes genuinely likable. Bart is also the only one who can pilot the Nirvana). Stuck onboard the damaged warship with female pirates all around, things seem to have hit an all time low until the retreating males fire a rather large torpedo at the ship to prevent it from falling into women's hands. The core of the ship, a mysterious crystalline entity, protects itself by eradicating the missile and fusing the large warship with the female craft, making a quirky ship with very smooth lines, a host of technical problems, which episodes are often aimed at solving, and various hidden capabilites that become apparent in later episodes. Three guys on a ship full of girls, might seem like a great setup for a hentai, but it is not that simple. While the talark mecha Hibiki steals is a Bangata, the women mistake it for a vanguard. Later on the 'vanguard' has the ability to fuse with the women's space fighter, called a dread, and thus the title, Vandread
In this alternate, futuristic universe men and women consider each other to be completely separate species (Hibiki gains the nickname "Mr. Alien" from Dita, one of the many female leads), and the three put up with much abuse at the hands of their female captors, but gradually make their presence accepted: Hibiki as a primo fighter, Duero as a skilled doctor and engineer, and Bart as the ship's helmsman and navigator.
The story of the season is the trip to the female homeworld, and along the way the crew encounters strange, robotic creatures that are both enigmatic and rather Borg-like, though they do not communicate at all. The subsequent battles provide the action sequences for the first two seasons, with the setup for a third season being quite clear.
After a few fights with the unknown enemy, the crew manages to take some data sample from a desert planet. The data is read out. "Blood platelets, white blood cells, red blood cells..." The whole crew is stunned. Their enemy kills people and then harvests the body parts from them, and their enemy originates from EARTH. Some time later at the start of the second season, they rescue an escape pod from the enemy, now called harvestors. The pod contains a blue-haired girl called misty and a virus enters the ship's systems. When Ezra's baby cries the virus shuts down and the crew is given access to the hidden data that the pod brings.
Pollution has totally wiped out the Earth making any life on the planet impossible. Huge metal gears now cover the Earth's stratosphere in an attempt to create a living environment for people in space. Earth's people start to grow resentment for the early colonizers who spread the human race across the different planets in the galaxy. They are dying along with planet earth. Their solution is to send out harvestors, advanced weaponry ships that raid the space colonies for body parts and with technology they replace their own dying body parts, becoming immortal through the lives of others. Mejale and Talark are targetted to be harvested for human sexual organs. Along the way the crew meet people targetted for their skin and for their spinal cords.
Now fighting is not just about defeating the enemy and surviving. They need to rush back to their homeworlds in time to warn their planets. But will the leaders of the planets listen to their almost impossible tale?
Characters
Dita is one of the female leads that is romantically involved with Hibiki. From the start, she refers to him as "Mr. Alien", while Hibiki refers to her as "UFO Girl". Dita has a bubbly lively personality that usually shows in almost every espect of life, even when she is fighting (at first, refers to the enemy as "bad aliens"). She admits to having feelings for Hibiki since she met him (love in first sight?). She has red hair that grows almost all the way to the floor (approximately below the knee). When her Dread unites with Hibiki's Vanguard, they become a new electric blue mecha that access to powerful laser and energy cannon weaponary(High attack power). Although Hibiki never admits to liking her until the end of the second season, when he finally calls her by her name, it is apparent that he feels something for her. She loves cooking for Hibiki, she feels happy and fufilled to see Hibiki eat (some housewife syndrome?). Also because she has tasted the men's food and it comes in the form of pills. Its heaven for Hibiki when he tastes what REAL cuisine is!
Meia at first has the behavior of an Amazon—she hates men and is disgusted whenever Hibiki saves her. She dislikes Hibiki at first, but she steadily develops a crush on him, although she has never admited it. She is incapable of smiling (only doing so once—during the second season when she had to babysit Ezra's baby), suffers from claustrophobia, and has a traumatic past. As a young girl the life support systems on her home quadrant failed and there was a mass evacuation with not enough lifeboats. She lost her parents when they pushed her aboard the last ship off the quadrant among the crowd. Then she resorted to gangsterism and street fights to make a living. She joined the pirates when Boss appeared and tossed a ring to her asking her to join them. With a new will to live, she gained ranks quickly. As squadron commander, she leads the other Dreads in battle, and is usually called "leader" or "chief" by others. Everyone appreciates her and normally try to throw a surprise birthday party for her. She hates such occasions though and once she flew off in her dread to scout ahead of the Nirvana just so that she would not be irritated by the crew. When her Dread unites with Hibiki's Vanguard, they become a Vandread that resembles a silver eagle.(High speed) Its main weaponary is speed—it cuts through the interior of the spikey purple harvestor ships. It is considered the most elegant Vanguard in the series.
Jura is the secondary leader of the Dread fighting force, although she is quite bad at leading. She became secondary leader after the crew was separated from the other half of the pirates that got left back on Mejale when Nirvana was born. She has long bonde hair that she takes cares of almost religiously. She is extremely vain and in the first few episodes keeps trying to unite with Hibiki's Vanguard. She bears a sword, but like her commanding, has very little skill with it. She is the lover of Barnette, another Dread pilot and antique firearms collector (both are women, so the relationship is considered a lesbian). She is shocked at the look of her Vandread when she first unites with Hibiki (it resembles a crab with glowing green discs). The Vandread she and Hibiki pilot has the ability to use its shielding systems to envelope entire planets and protect them from attack.(High defense) Also one disc was used to draw water out from a planet and then directed at a Harvestor seedship. The force of the water destroyed it.
Hibiki is the third-class citizen of Talark that gets thrown into the mess with Duero and Bart. He was at first unwilling to do anything but hide when the Nirvana was attacked by the borg-like enemy when they appeared half-way across the galaxy. However, after a talk from the sub-commander, BC, Hibiki gets into the vanguard in an attempt to help the female pilots fight the enemy. He is rash and every inch a young man who complains, wails and, like most heroes, gets the job and defeats the enemies in the end. By the end of the series he is revealed to be the son of the leader of Mejale who was frozen in hibernation but woke up mysteriously. His uncle took care of him. It is also his prep talk to the two planets that convinces all of them that they should fight for their rights to live.
Magno Vivian is the boss of the pirates and everyone calls her 'boss'. She is one of the original people that was onboard the colony ship that gave rise to Talark and Mejale, being a young girl at that time. She is about over a hundred years old and is full of knowledge and wisdom. She often hands out pieces of advices and directs the crew in their duties.
BC is the sub-commander of the Nirvana. She is stern and all-business and looks after the general welfare of the crew as well. She is a tactical person who gives orders firmly and decisively. She seems like a workaholic, constantly staying near the bridge to access data and review the crew's performance. Through season one's opening she is seen to secretly take a small disc from the bridge's database through Boss interupts her with some speech. However her suspicious actions do not seem relevant until season two where it is revealed that she is actually the Commander of the Talark Intelligence and real name is Tenmei Uragasumi. A spy in other words. This would explain why she is so adapt in handling a whip when she battles a sword-wielder in an arena on a space station recently ravaged by the harvestors. However in the end Boss forgives her and she remains as BC, the sub-commander.
Paeksis plagma is the blue energy entity living within the Nirvana core. It originates from a different universe and people use it to generate energy. The Earth has a different red Paeksis that represents hated and anger. As the Nirvana crew learns that the paeksis is a sentient being, they also start to bond with Pyoro, a navibot that was flushed with paeksis and developed a personality and perhaps a life. Occasionally the Paeksis can overide Pyoro's systems to communicate with the crew members. Machines flushed with paeksis may also 'evolve' to some extent thus the creation of the vandreads since three dreads and the bangata were flushed with paeksis. Thus the red harvestors also evolve at a horrifying pace to become stronger and can even make corrupted copies of the vandreads themselves.
External links
- Geneon's official Vandread Web site (http://www.vandreaddvd.com/)
- Bandai Channel's Vandread page (http://www.b-ch.com/contents/vandread/index.html)
- Media Factory's Vandread site (http://www.mediafactory.co.jp/anime/vandread/)pl:Vandred