Product Details

• Actors: Spike Spencer, Mark Laskowski, Phil Ross, John Swasey, Rob Mungle
• Directors: Nobuyoshi Habara, Tatsuo Sato
• Writers: Michitaka Kikuchi
• Producers: John Ledford, Mark Williams
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Adv Films
• DVD Release Date: February 27, 2001
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000059S0N
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #120,771 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Animation > Characters & Series > Martian Successor Nadesico

• For more information about "Martian Successor Nadesico - Paradigm Shifts (Vol. 4)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Revelations, threats, and decisions pile up as this rollicking sci-fi adventure comedy continues. The Nadesico is to be commandeered by the United Earth Forces and Akito, the reluctant hero of the series, relieved of his duties. Both Nergal Heavy Industries and the military are very interested in Akito, as he seems to have demonstrated an ability to teleport between planets using the blue Chulip Crystals found on Mars. Typically, he doesn't remember how--or if--he teleported from Mars; he only recalls waking up on Earth. Meanwhile, Yurika refuses to give up her one-sided romance with Akito and cheerfully defies the ambitious Erina Won. Megumi and Minato make an astonishing discovery about the identity of the "Jovian Lizards" who are at war with Earth: the pilot's capsule in the captured Jovian mobile suit contains toys from the spoof '70s mecha series "Gekigangar III"! Director Tatsuo Sato takes the story to new heights of absurdity in "Let's Go with Hot-Blooded Anime": the casts of Nadesico and "Gekigangar" watch each other's programs, borrowing ideas for weapons and complaining about the plots. Among American TV cartoons, only Rocky and Bullwinkle and The Simpsons dared this kind of outrageous self-parody. Unrated; suitable for ages 10 and up for minor sexual innuendoes and violence, largely restricted to robot versus robot. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nadesico is Fabulous Anime, a Great Mecha-Comedy Story!, December 29, 2000

By	"sirenpapillon" (the United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martian Successor Nadesico - Invasion (Vol. 1) (DVD)

Nadesico is a fantastic mecha/sci-fi/comedy story with a little bit of tragedy. You could almost say it's Evangelion meets Ranma meets Gundam Wing. It takes the best out of those series and turns it into this great anime! The animation is very nice, especially for a TV series. The color is very nice, especially. The characters are very good, however *pauses* my favorite character, Yamada-san....well, that's a semi-spoiler. Even the most minor characters get a little depth, although...What can I say? They are minor characters, after all. The music is very good-the opening is excellent, and the ending is good, and the BGM's didn't particulary stand out but were well suited and very pleasing to the ear. Overall, Nadesico is a great parody with some seriousness that will leave you in awe of this awesome anime series.

Now, ADV markets this as "Japan's most popular anime series", however, I tend to doubt this. However, I don't live in Japan either, so...It's certainly good enough to be the most popular series! The packaging was pretty nice, and the DVD was pretty nice, no problems with sound. The subtitles were a little large, in one part they use a smaller subtitle, however, that was only for that certain situation. The extras are nice, I thought the idea of translation notes was a nice extra, because that's something you only usually find on fansubs. The character bios were a little on the corny side, but overall the extras were pretty nice. The setup was nice, I little to no difficulty moving around. The DVD and the extras were good, overall. Now, if only ADV would include a picture gallery or interviews with the seiyuu...

Nadesico is one of the best anime TV series avaliable, and definitely worth the money. I suggest watching the subbed version, the dub was alright but not great. It truly deserves 5 stars. The characters are good, the animation is great, the comedy is excellent, the music is well-suited and nice-you simply can't go wrong with this title!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Series, May 23, 2001

By	"shsieh2" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martian Successor Nadesico - Invasion (Vol. 1) (DVD)

Sci-fi anime has a well-deserved reputation for being violent, dark, and angsty. Depending on your tastes, this isn't necessarily a bad thing; but it certainly gets tiring. Somewhere on the way, a wonderfully underrated series named Martian Successor Nadesico came along with an opposite approach, choosing to take a comedic stab at the sci-fi genre. And it works...extremely well.

On first glance, Nadesico seems to operate on same rather unoriginal premises. A young man (Akito Tenkawa) is forced to pilot a mech and fight for others in spite of his feelings to the contrary; a seemingly air-headed captain (Misamaru Yurika) takes the helm; and half a dozen girls swarm around a single love-interest. But instead of succumbing to some stock anime stereotypes, Nadesico plays off of them, utilizing them to great effect. And it's not all smiles and laughter; when you least expect it, Nadesico comes up with some emotionally wrenching moments, as well as some truly inspiring ones. Whether it's pathos or comedy, this series has it all. And let's not forget the intentionally campy anime series within the series, Gekiganger 3, which serves as an emotional focal point for the characters-- as well as providing some hilarious in-jokes about mecha anime.

All in all, Nadesico is an outstanding series. Volume 1 introduces the characters extremely well, while providing some surprises which hint at just how deep the series is. Although some of the latter filler episodes, which have guest directors and writers, vary in quality, these first episodes are pure gold. A very entertaining watch; see for yourself why the series was voted "Best anime" in Japan.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining As Both A Story and a Parody, December 19, 2000

By	Carl Malmstrom (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martian Successor Nadesico - Invasion (Vol. 1) (DVD)

ADV Flims markets this series in the US as something like "Japan's Most Popular Anime Series". While being very popular in Japan (and for good reason), it's not even the most popular anime title they've ever brought over - by a long stretch. That's fine, though. Nadesico is a series that doesn't even take itself too seriously.

Nadesico blatantly parodies not just mecha-genre anime, but shojo romantic comedy and classic anime of the 1970s and early 80s. It does it with such style, though, that it's terribly easy to forgive its occasional lack of subtlety.

The basic premise of the series is that roughly two hundred years in the future, the Earth gets invaded by aliens from somewhere out around Jupiter. After being pushed back to the boundary of Earth, one of the major corporations of the planet decides to retake some of the valuable technology left on Mars. Most of the capable people left have been drafted into the military. Left with the choice between intelligence and stability, they take the former.

The series eventually ends up reaching beyond this premise, but for the first four episodes - the first DVD - we see the crew working it's way to Mars and all of the troubles this presents. The action and comedy are fast and the plot definitely follows a "take no prisoners" sort of approach with your attention.

ADV has done a decent job with the DVD here. The one continual complaint - I find it a valid one, but many see it as nitpicking - is that much of the on-screen Japanese text has been replaced by English overlays. This does have the advantage not fracturing your attention. However, people like me can sometimes be purists who would rather slow down and watch everything frame-by-frame. This issue should not, however, stop you from buying the DVD.

"Nadesico" is a solid, funny series with some very clever parody. ADV should be congratulated for bringing it to the US is not for some of the liberties they've taken with both the advertising and the video itself. I definitely recommend the DVD and the series.