Martian Sucessor: Nadesico

in the near future (might be the present) a war is being raged against the planet earth. our home planet is being ravaged by a horrifying enemy known only by the name we gave it- Jovian Lizards. no humans have seen the face of the enemy that has decimated their homeworld. the little we know about our nemesis is this: they have a technology that allows them to disappear and reappear anytime and any place they want. we dont know why they are fighting us. the earth's military has been fighting a losing battle against them for a significant amount of time. finally, a wealthy company named nergal decides to build its' own battleship and put together its' own crew. they pick a young, bubbly, fun-loving girl (yurika) to command the ship. they pick a young man (akito tenkawa) to be the main mobile suit fighter. they pick three females to fight along with them. megumi is picked to be at the helm and make sure all systems are go. the nergal and its' flight set off on their lofty mission to defeat the Lizards once and for all. the earth's military sees this as humiliating because it proves their absolute uselessness at defending earth against its' forimable foe and they also see this as "glory hogging" (that's a word, right?) nergal encounters the enemy and with akito's help starts to make headway. oops, i forgot an important character ruri-chan. she is a young 11 year old (i think?) who communicates with the ship's computer. a HUGE, and i mean HUGE shock is revealed halfway through the series about the Lizards' identity. (I'm not going to spoil you!) the nergal's crew continues to fight valiantly. along the way, yurika falls in love with akito...and so does megumi...akito largely ignores yurika...ruri-chan finds out about her 'missing' childhood...a helmswoman "falls in love" with the enemy..and many, many other surprises. oh, and did i happen to mention that yurika's father is the captain of the earth's military vessel? and that he's a pervert who is constantly hitting on his daughter?? and that the entire series pays homage to an older japanese mecha series?? along the way, there is laughter, heartache, loss, death, battles, suspense..the list goes on and on. the nergal has a huge crew and i don't think there is one character who wasn't fleshed out. now THAT'S an accomplishment. the series has one of the best endings I've ever seen..or maybe i just liked it so much because i am biased towards the characters. even the so called "enemy" gets totally fleshed out. i give nadesico a NINE out of ten. great mecha/character design, great plot, excellent music...you'll have to see for yourself. i don't know, i guess if you hate mecha don't bother...but if you can get beyond the genre thing, you are in for quite a treat!!

Written By Amarris