There comes a time in every boy’s life when he must get into his giant robot and go off into space and complain about how he has to save the world. This is one of those times.
Kia Asamiya is a popular artist in both Japan and America due to his work in manga. Writing such titles as Nadesico and Silent Mobius, Asamiya has crossed over the pond to also work on American comics such as Batman: Child of Dreams and Uncanny X-Men. The manga turned anime series, Martian Successor Nadesico, had a small five episode run on the Cartoon Network but wasn’t kept on the main line up for the Toonami block.
The story for Nadesico starts after a mysterious attack on Mars by the people of Jupiter. The Nergel company has made a war ship designed for a secret mission that not even the crew seems to be fully aware of.
The crew is composed of a captain who’s an overenthusiastic teenage girl, Yurika Misumaru; a pilot who just wants to cook, Akito Tenkawa; an overly obsessed mecha anime otaku, Guy Daidoji; and a calm calculating girl, Rurui. Yurika and Akito are childhood friends from the time when they both lived on Mars. Although Yurika thinks of Akito as her fiance ,Akito wants to run as far from her as he can, believing she will be the death of him.
Asamiya’s illustrations bring forth a different look into traditional anime style. The big eyes and small noses are there but his approach gives the characters an imperfect look creating them to be more human in perspective. The girls are not all over the top cute or hot (some of them are but not all of them) which gives of the idea of these people being more realistic in a cartoon-ish sense. The male characters are just as different; while some have the modern anime style, others have a retro feel (like watching Getter Robo or Mazinger) and the rest have big chins and more detailed noses to show how manly they are.
I’m not to sure if I know what’s going on in the series. I understand all I’ve written about, but the reason for the Nadesico going to Mars is something I don’t understand. The characters haven’t said anything at all and maybe it’s part of the story’s mysterious intrigue, but I think that possible ploy works against the manga.
Everybody is a funny read because of their personalities and their beliefs. In spite of the characters’ entertainment value, I still feel like a lot is being left out ’cause I can’t follow the story; something is still nagging me about it.
Despite this set-back in the story, an all around good manga and it is good to see where Asamiya first started out. However, the first volume of Nadesico gets a 3/5.
Thanks to CPM for letting us review Nadesico, Volume 1!!