NADESICO (BOOK 1)
August 14th 2010 23:00
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: CPM Manga
Writer & Artist: Kia Asamiya
Translation by: C B Cebulski & Noriko Furuhata
Retouch & Lettering: Dan Nakrosis & Dano Ink Studios
Design: Veronica Casson
Cost: AU$4.95/US$9.99
This particular work I picked up in a recent manga madness sale at Madman Entertainment, not a bad buy although according to Wikipedia the particular company that produces this manga has gone belly up. So perhaps the bargain basement price shouldn’t come as any surprise in the light of that particular news. Regardless though of the financial status of CPM Manga this is a rather interesting work, it’s one of those particular works that rather than spawning an anime series has in fact been spawned by an anime series – Martian Successor Nadesico. I haven’t had the chance to catch the anime, my loss no doubt, so although its intimated that the manga differs from the anime I can’t comment on that, instead I’ll focus on what the Lantern’s viridian vigilant gaze has revealed in reading this volume; the opening chapter in a four book series.
No doubt you’re wondering why I’m mentioning these particular facts and why they would have any real relevance to this manga. Ah perceptive as ever, well let’s look at the 2001 connection first shall we? The Jupiterians use these devices called monorises that look like large featureless bricks; it seems in the initial stages of their war against the Untied Earth they dropped heaps of these giant bricks all over the place. Looking exactly like the monoliths from 2001 they serve as a gateway for attacking Jupiterian forces, their ships and attack vehicles can emerge from them and lay waste to the territory in which the monoris is located. Convenient why of waging war. The other 2001 connection is the moon itself, the moon in 2001 was were the first monolith was discovered and lead to the expedition out to Jupiter (the other major connection). In Nadesico the moon was a major battlefield between Earth and the Jupiterians, there was something on the moon that the enemy wanted.
Onto the connections between Star Wars, Robotech and this manga. Our key male protagonist, Akito Tenkawa is a former farm boy from the wild lands of the Martian colonies. He is someone who could be regarded as a bit of a slacker, a guy who has no desire to follow the path of his destiny. Sound familiar, it should, he’s similar to Luke Skywalker in his farm background and being unsure about the path he is to take in life. Although it has to be said that Luke was only a slacker due to having no desire in being a farmer but actively wished to be a pilot. Here the imperative is reversed; Akito has no desire to be a pilot and seeks to be anything but. He’s a slacker because that’s just the way he is, he drifts along in life rather than actively charting his own course. It’s a bit hard to like Akito, he’s rather gormless and his moaning about things can be a bit of a drag.
Now he only becomes involved in the battleship Nadesico through an act of pure bad luck, an encounter with a former acquaintance, Yurika Misamaru, causes him to lose an heirloom that he values deeply and he tracks her down to the military base in Sasebo and manages to get on board the new battleship. Just as Rick Hunter gets caught up by circumstance in the Super Dimensional Fortress – 1 (SDF-1) in Robotech: Macross, and just like Rick Akito finds that he ends up becoming a pilot of one of the battleships combat robots, an Aesti Valis in order to round out the Nadesico’s combat capabilities. In essence the manga is a parody of the whole mecha combat genre, such as Macross, Mobile Suit: Gundam, Starblazers etc. And it does quite well in this regard; the parody is carried out admirably although it doesn’t just limit itself to being purely a parody.
In fact the action and drama that is within this story is just as good as anything you’d find in an episode of Macross or Mobile Suit Gundam. There is plenty of combat and nail bitting suspense mixed in with a great degree of mystery and intrigue. Just why has Nergal Industries built this vessel and why are they so interested in finding out what specifically happened on Mars and just what is it that has prompted the Jupiterians from going to war with humanity in the first place, all interesting questions to be answered in future volumes. It’s page turning stuff and if you like science fiction parody with a liberal dose of nail biting action and a bizarre love triangle thrown in to spice things up then Nadesico is for you.
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