Customer Reviews

Mars Daybreak: Complete Collection

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I took a chance on this set after watching the first two episodes on youtube and boy did I make the right decision. If you want a fun ride thats action packed with cool characters, then this series is for you. If you like a series that has heart with comedy, again this series is for you. The animation style is good and unlike some shows you dont notice when the animators take a day off. I hate it when one volume looks spectacular and the next looks like [...]. You wont find that here. Although the animation isnt ever stellar, its good, consistantly. As for music, it has a great up beat opening that immediatly gets you going and involved. The ending song is inspirational reminding you that even though this is a fun ride, it is moving toward a deeper place. As for the music during the show, its average I guess, until a battle sequence which then moves from average to emotionally charged. I also think the writing is well done. Its not perfect, but where as most anime series have a fair share of filler episodes, for a 26 episode series, Mars Daybreak only had 2 in my oppinion. Yes, some episodes moved the story farther than others but all in all, every episode had action and/or more character development as not to be boring. Speaking of characters I believe this is the strength of the series. Although we only go very deep into 2 of the characters, most everyone had their own personality and problems, and for a show that easily had over 20 characters, I think it is a job well done. Now even though Ive spoken very highly of the writing it is by no means perfect. If I had one complaint it would be that sometimes they reveal something big and then they dont get back to it for awhile, so be patient. When I watched it on youtube it was in japanese with english subtitles, but the english dub is very good as well and preferred. As for price, $50 is amazing for this set. With 6 single volumes priced at $20 or more, thats $120 easy. A savings of $70 or more is awesome. True, you dont get any extras, but for this price who really needs them. In conclusion, this collection and series is a keeper and one I will watch over over again for years to come.

If you want a more in depth review about characters and storylines then check out my single volume reviews, but watch out, after volume one their are some spoilers.

Mars Daybreak is amusing and pure entertainment, well worth adding to your collection. This more than a mecha series, there is plenty of backstabbing and double-cross to keep the story going between battles. It is Robin Hood on Mars with government and corporate villains galore, along with a few mercenaries and bumbling villians.

I swear, the next time someone puts a 5 star rating on a show like this, I'm going to rate it 1 star just to bring the universe back into balance. What value is a 5 star rating when it gets put on everything?

The story is, Mars has been terraformed (don't ask how, they don't say) and now its a water world (don't ask how, they don't say - did something go wrong? You can terraform a world, so you cover it completely in water?) and life is oppressive in the massive floating city ships where most people scrape out a living.

The show is not bad. The Mech designs are pretty standard with a couple new ideas to account for underwater combat.

The characters are ok, no one jumps out as very compelling but the whole bunch of them are well fleshed out.

The show lacks the usual topless and panty scenes that Japan anime tends to have, which indicates that this was more of a show for kids, but then the translators put in enough swearing too (the talking Dolphin (don't ask how, they don't say...) says "Son of a Bit** quite a bit) so its not a show for young kids either.

The first third of the story doesn't seem to have any real plot to it, but then a couple stories start to weave through and it leads... somewhere. There is an ending, but the lack of detail leads me to think this really was a kids show.

The only reason I didn't give it 2 stars is the amount of content. There are 6 DVD's with a whole lot of episodes, so you get a lot of content.

The concept is pretty simple -- Robin-Hood-style pirates on Mars, in an unspecified future time when the whole planet is covered in seas.

And fortunately its simplicity is part of "The Mars Daybreak's" charm -- comedy, plenty of action, magical necklaces and big underwater mechas. And while some of the characters never quite endear themselves (the snotty Vestemona), the imaginative underwater adventures and likable pirates are plenty of fun.

Mars' economy is crumbling, and both food and work are hard to come by. Former dockworker Gram gets swept off a city-ship while rescuing a pal. His necklace starts glowing, and he is scooped up by a mysterious "round buckler" (read: underwater mecha). Unfortunately Earth Forces attacks him, thinking that he's with the pirate submarine Ship of Aurora -- and soon Gram finds himself as the Ship of Aurora's newest pirate.

He quickly becomes invaluable to the crew (for his super-powerful Round Buckler AND his brilliant cooking skills), but is unaware that a childhood friend named Vestemona -- now an Earth Forces cadet -- has returned to Mars and is obsessed with getting him to mend his ways.

But when Gram's necklace is revealed to be a Mars Aborigine treasure, the Ship of Aurora finds itself on the trail of an ancient treasure -- which is also wanted by cruel mercenary pirate Kubernes. And they have plenty of problems already -- ghost ships, seaborne brides, disastrous parties, mutinies, idiotic communists, baby rays, and the Earth President's daughter, who is smitten with Gram and insists on joining the crew (much to the Mars president's chagrin).

But when Vestemona's obsession with Gram leads her to disobey orders, she ends up pronounced dead and captured by Kubernes. But as she and Gram settle their differences, the Ship of Aurora is threatened by Earth Forces -- and it may the end of the line for the jolly pirates, unless Gram can save them.

"The Mars Daybreak" has no deep message to impart, no tormented heroes, no realistic action, no complex storylines, and (admittedly) not a hugely imaginative concept. But its lack pf pretensions is one of the reasons it's such an endearing series -- it's a simple adventure yarn with floating cities and mecha.

Along the way it develops a plot arc -- mysterious artifacts, treasure, Martian history, and a villain (Kubernes) who actually seems halfway competent (unlike the idiot president) and has a Round Buckler shaped like a mermaid. Lots of underwater battles, killer construction equipment, sword fights and battles with Earth Forces. In fact, the final few episodes become downright grim, as Gram and Vestemona becomes the only things between the pirates and death.

But fortunately "Mars Daybreak" never takes itself entirely seriously -- most of the episodes focus on the quirky pirates. We get lots of comic relief, the required onsen episode with required double-entendres ("Wow, I guess mine IS twice as big as yours"), some haunted-house spookiness and lots of good-natured internal clashes (the captain becomes obsessed with a hit-and-run sub).

Gram is a likable hero: mellow, friendly, and honest about having no life goals except making enough money to live on. The pirates are a colourful bunch as well -- stern but kindly Captain Elizabeth, stoic Sea Witch Ester, vaguely immature Aki, timid psychic Megumi, chilly pilot Yagami, and a talking cat and porpoise. Even the Earth Forces officers are well-done (including the aptly-named Captain Doolittle).

The one flaw? Vestemona redeems herself somewhat late in the series, but before that she's a self-righteous, snotty brat who despises everything. She and Gram eventually fall in love, but she practically stalks him across Mars first -- and tries to convince him to go back to being starving and unemployed.

Fortunately Vestemona is not enough to taint the rest of "The Mars Daybreak," which succeeds in being a gung-ho sci-fi story with an action-comedy twist. Definitely worth seeing.

I got this while it was on sale and was greatly impressed with both the animation and storyline. The story has to deal with the people and development of Mars and since Mars has no true natural resources of value at this time depends primarily on financial and technical support from Earth making the government of Mars and its people controlled under Earth rule. Then you have the group of pirates of the ship Aurora who with their pirating of earth bases and instillations try to help the people of Mars much like modern day Robin Hoods. It's here you meet Gram Rivers(Voiced By Tomokazu Seki/Johnny Yong Bosch) who after trying to help one of his friends out of a situation comes to pilot a robot battle mecha and meets up with the crew and captain of the Aurora. While along their adventures Gram soon becomes the surrogate brother of the granddaughter of the President of Earth Enora Taft(Voiced By Akino MURATA/Colleen O'SHAUGHNESSEY) as well as his old girlfriend who is now part of the earth military forces Vestemona "Vess" Lauren(Voiced By Houko KUWASHIMA/Melissa FAHN). There of course is more to the series but you'll just have to watch those. The episodes were entertaining,funny,and exciting I'm definitely glad I decided to get this series. The video is standard format with sharp clear pictures and the audio is clear and clean as well both Japanese and English voice actors did a great job with this series so to all mecha fans who want a touch of
a little bit of piracy mixed-in I say give this one a shot...

The name is odd when you see it.But its a beautiful well written story with everything a person could dream of action drama excitement filled with turns left n right you wont expect in a anime.I brought it bast on something new but I got into it the story begans with a simple man who doing some raiding to make ends meat then progress to him being a fighter n finding himself this anime the charaters all have heart n shows what they would do for one another how the main person in this anime finds love and what he will do to be with the one he loves I love the ending as well I wasnt disappointed this will keep you on the edge of your seat the voice cast is awesome the anime is great its beautiful and well worth buying I am not going to give the story away but you will have to take a chance buy it and see for yourself what I am talking about some anime in the end kills the story this all comes together perfect you will luv watching this as much as I have .

Excellent story and plot, has its funny moments, and awesome mecha fighting. To me for such a short series compared to other mecha series, like the Gundam series, it stood up there with them.