Vandread
Mecha titles set in Space are timeless classics within the Anime realm. They aren’t as big or popular as they used to be in the past decades compared to present times, but even so, they are unforgettable in their legacy. There are so many titles that fall under this category, and honestly, they can be hit-or-miss overall. There are the undying legends, the moderately good titles, and the sad excuses for anime. In any case, it's always best to know what you’re getting into in advance.
Vandread, also known as “Vandread Stage One” and “Vandread First Stage,” is a 13 episode TV anime series falling under the genres of Action, Ecchi, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Shounen, and Space. The series ran from the 3rd of October to the 19th of December, as a Fall 2000 title. It was produced by GDH, Dentsu, and Media Factory, licensed by Funimation and Geneon Entertainment USA, and brought to life by Studio Gonzo.
The main staff behind its production include Mori Takeshi as Director, Yamamoto Yuusuke as Episode Director, Tsuruoka Youta as Sound Director, and Tokairin Shinichi as both Episode Director and Storyboard. The anime is rated PG-13 for Teenagers 13 years or older.
Vandread is an original series adapted from the two-volume manga of the same title, published in 2000 by Artist Akane Kotetsu and Authors Mori Takeshi and Gonzo. Additionally, it is adapted from the three-volume Light Novel of the same title, published in 2000 by Author Mori, Takeshi, and Artists Akane Kotetsu and Kuroda Kazuya.
A sequel TV anime series titled “Vandread: The Second Stage” was released in Fall 2001, and it spanned 13 episodes. A single episode OVA was also released as a Summary of the first series titled “Vandread: Taidou-hen” in 2001.
In the universe of Vandread, it's almost like men only hail from Mars while the women only hail from Venus, but thankfully that really isn't the case. Set in a certain distant fictional future, humanity’s advanced technology has finally allowed them to colonize the entirety of the Milky Way galaxy. As per code, within a one-star system, the men and women are set to live on two different planets.
The planets are named Taraak and Mejere, respectively. As time passed, a very bitter and quite literal gender war sparked and continued to rage relentlessly. It got so bad that the two genders no longer saw each other as belonging to the same species anymore.
Protagonist Hibiki Tokai is a male third-class laborer from the planet Taraak who finds himself stuck on a battleship after an utterly botched attempt at stealing a robot. His situation only gets worse from there on out as female pirates from the planet Mejere happen to capture the Taraakian Vanguard at the time. When things look like they cannot possibly get any worse for Hibiki, his luck takes a turn for the worst as the male crew members of the Taraakian Vanguard open fire on their own captured battleship out of sheer desperation.
This action creates a giant wormhole, which proceeds to suck both the Vanguard and the Pirate's ships into itself. Now the unlikely two crews find themselves far away from their home planets, left with no choice but to cooperate. After so long, men and women must learn to work together again if they ever hope to find their way back to their respective homes.
Depending on the viewer, Vandread will either be a moderately good series or a poor excuse for an anime. Vandread is a poor excuse for an anime. Sci-Fi may be a featured genre, but there are no intelligent Sci-Fi aspects to it, there are no emotion-packed slice-of-life aspects that can warm the soul in it either, and even as a pure harem-romance anime, it comes off as very flimsy and pointless. Overall the anime just seems very weak, random, and meaningless.
The Story of Vandread follows the “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” premise, Which, once again, isn’t the case. As cheesy as it sounds, it had some potential to amount to something more, but unfortunately, it just doesn't go anywhere but downhill.
The story merely feels like a failed attempt at staging a cliche harem story in space set in a distant future. As expected of a Mecha space anime with multiple combining Mechs, there are many space battles, but even this aspect comes out as boring. It even has its fair share of episodes with futuristic technology as the core, but even these feel exasperating and tedious to watch. That's as far as the story will go. There is almost none and whatever can be salvaged of it is utterly pointless.
The Characters of Vandread are also extremely weak. It almost feels like there were no noteworthy characters outside of overused anime harem stereotypes, and none of them are memorable either. Only one character got a shred of character development within a specific character development arc, but even that was terribly predictable and boring.
The remaining cast lacked any realistic motivations or unique characteristics and were typical archetypes like the happy-go-lucky air-headed girl, the guy who is just there for comic relief, and so on. And no, it isn’t even good comedy.
The Art and Animation of Vandread are decent. It is not necessarily bad, but there are the shortcomings of inconsistent character designs and a meager budget overall. They make many attempts at decent fanservice, as expected, which are worthy at times but more often than not, they end up being bad with a high tendency to fall flat.
The Animation isn’t necessarily bad either, but the use of CGI comes across as jarring, which is to be expected due to the year of production. Overall not a great watch, but this aspect is decent at least.
The Sounds and Music of Vandread are decent as well. Nothing about this aspect is memorable, though, and it doesn't hit hard either. They don't use audio much, and this is fine since the series isn’t one rife with suspense or drama.
The Opening theme is "Trust" by Salia, and the Ending theme is "Himegoto" by SiLC, which were both good and commendable. The Voice Acting was good, but nothing praise-worthy as the series itself is not deep or emotional, with no need to express anything with some gravity.
Overall Vandread is tedious to watch, meaningless, pretty stupid, and not even adequately visually stunning to cover its many shortcomings. If you’re in it for the fanservice, though, there is a chance that you would enjoy it as an extremely casual watch. Compared to this, the sequel series “Vandread: The Second Stage” is much better. It features some decent character development and a good plot too.
If you found the first season to be decent, then the second season will definitely be a treat for you. While the sequel is recommended, the Prequel is not. Despite all this, if you are a fan of the genres and are interested in this series, give it a try. If you don't like what you're experiencing after an episode or two, do not hesitate to drop it and go to the sequel.
