Well, as I mentioned before, something (the impending non-availability, or was it the bustlines?) posessed me to order the Vandred 3-disk Ultimate DVD Collection recently. It got in a few days ago, and after briefly considering holding off until I was in Dallas, I went “Nah!” and loaded that sucker up. (I’m now through 2/3 of the combined series).
I immediately got highly annoyed. Something about it and the DVD player in my main computer don’t get along. I finally got the first disk to play after several tries and a reboot. The next night, I was unable to get the 2nd disk to play at all, except by putting in the secondary computer and mapping that drive to the first system. It locked up twice, and after the second time, I said to hell with it, and actually put the stupid thing in a real DVD player (everyone else was in bed by then, so I had the living room to myself.) Aside from those technical glitches, I hate the disk holders. They don’t deserve to be called that; if you order this set, immediately remove all three disks and put them in some decent crystal cases or something. Extras are pretty sparse, of course. The first disk had a the original Japanese trailer, about five minutes long. (Unsubbed). The second disk had some previews, and the third, I hope will have a clean OP & ED from the first series. They were far, far superior to those for The Second Stage, both in art/animation, and music. Frankly, the ED images push into ecchi; Jura’s aureolae are clearly visable, and the nipples of all three girls look like they’re merely covered in glossy paint.
As for the show itself, if they were setting out to duplicate many of the aspects of Martian Successor Nadesico (as per Steven), I’d say they did a bang-up job of it. It’s got that same “fun” feeling to it, only moreso, and yet it’s still dramatic when it needs to be. The best scene on the first two disks, IMHO was when Bart stepped onto the bridge after Shirley died. I’d been thinking about the doll being incomplete, and that Bart had left behind the missing part. Then he steps out, and everyone gasps…
I can’t help but think, considering the sexual pressures of single-sex planets and the obvious, er, outlets and practices that would have arisen on Tarak and Mearle, that the first time for Dita and Hibiki is going to be… interesting. They could end up trying out just about every possible way to (remainder of this speculation deleted to keep the blog only moderately family-unfriendly.) And the discussion as they try to figure it out would be hilarious, especially as ditzy as she is. This is a girl who decided to pull down Hibiki’s pants out of curiosity when she heard two of the other girls whispering that men had this tube thing… Not that Hibiki’s much better; in the first episode, he pokes one of the girls in her rather spacious posterior, thinking “I wonder what they keep in here?”
Now (by end series 2, ep. 2) we’ve got a second loli to spice things up, and she’s got the hots for Hibiki too. Furthermore, she obviously knows more about what to do with a guy than any of the other females on board the Nirvana, as she provokes the first nosebleed (aside from the chibi scene in the ED) in the entire series. There’s not a lot of fanservice in this show, but considering the themes and compromising positions the ladies ended up in during combines, the animators restrained themselves admirably with that old schtick.
Jura’s not far behind on the learning curve though, as it seems she’s been cribbing from the doctor’s notes. “Hey, we’re only out here protecting this planet….alone… just the two of us….let’s make a baby the old-fashioned way!” Considering how the Paksis reacts to emotional states, I have to wonder what the effect would have been if Hibiki had agreed. Nirvana might have been more than just a ship’s name….
Well, it’s late and I have to run to bed. Sadly, without Jura (although BC might be my favorite), so I’ll just stop here and maybe do a bigger write-up much later.