6 reviews
After finishing the TV show for a second time, I decided to give this obscure yet polarizing follow-up a chance.
My appreciation of the Nadesico show mostly comes from the likeable cast and the humor, whether it arises from kooky homages to older science-fiction or from the cute character drama. Despite thouroughly enjoying the show, I have never been particularly impressed with the "serious" parts of the overarching story or the "main" characters. I think this makes me the perfect audience for this film.
Without getting into spoilers, the movie should not play well to an audience that is deeply involved in Akito and Yurika's story, yet will be completely inscrutable to anyone unfamiliar with the TV show. Nevertheless the story takes place a couple of years after the events of the show and more-or-less picks up where we left off.
On a technical level, there is little to fault the movie on. The soundtrack sounds familiar if unremarkable, but the animation is mostly very pleasing to the eye. The art style differs slightly from the show (and even more so from the manga) but the old character designs fit nicely into this new look. There are some visual references to the show and they do not clash with the rest of the film.
The movie's biggest detriments are its short running time (only 75 minutes without credits) and its confusing tone. There is a lack of development of the story -especially the ending- and characters -especially the new ones- and occasionally the pace makes the film unintelligible. Arguably, those criticisms apply to the show as well, but the stylish and "dark" Prince of Darkness cannot fall back on campy and cute moments to make itself more accessible to the viewer.
The film can be as dead-pan as Ruri, and viewers have to decide for themselves what should be taken seriously or what is tongue-in-cheek (or both). Certainly, making fun some of the drearier plot points would require a darker sense of humor than the show ever did. Most of the film is however faithful to the show approach's to parody and homage: it is simply taking from a wider range of influences beyond "Gekiganga". It is a shame that most of the new ideas are not fully explored, and that most characters only get a couple of scenes. The movie would make for an effective pilot to a new series, if nothing else.
Overall, I enjoyed the film as a glimpse into this universe's future, and as a higher budget and artsier take on the Nadesico formula. If you want to leave your memories of the show mostly intact, maybe stick to the Gekiganga OVA. This was a welcome -if ultimately incomplete- epilogue to the TV series that bettered my understanding and appreciation of the original ending.
My appreciation of the Nadesico show mostly comes from the likeable cast and the humor, whether it arises from kooky homages to older science-fiction or from the cute character drama. Despite thouroughly enjoying the show, I have never been particularly impressed with the "serious" parts of the overarching story or the "main" characters. I think this makes me the perfect audience for this film.
Without getting into spoilers, the movie should not play well to an audience that is deeply involved in Akito and Yurika's story, yet will be completely inscrutable to anyone unfamiliar with the TV show. Nevertheless the story takes place a couple of years after the events of the show and more-or-less picks up where we left off.
On a technical level, there is little to fault the movie on. The soundtrack sounds familiar if unremarkable, but the animation is mostly very pleasing to the eye. The art style differs slightly from the show (and even more so from the manga) but the old character designs fit nicely into this new look. There are some visual references to the show and they do not clash with the rest of the film.
The movie's biggest detriments are its short running time (only 75 minutes without credits) and its confusing tone. There is a lack of development of the story -especially the ending- and characters -especially the new ones- and occasionally the pace makes the film unintelligible. Arguably, those criticisms apply to the show as well, but the stylish and "dark" Prince of Darkness cannot fall back on campy and cute moments to make itself more accessible to the viewer.
The film can be as dead-pan as Ruri, and viewers have to decide for themselves what should be taken seriously or what is tongue-in-cheek (or both). Certainly, making fun some of the drearier plot points would require a darker sense of humor than the show ever did. Most of the film is however faithful to the show approach's to parody and homage: it is simply taking from a wider range of influences beyond "Gekiganga". It is a shame that most of the new ideas are not fully explored, and that most characters only get a couple of scenes. The movie would make for an effective pilot to a new series, if nothing else.
Overall, I enjoyed the film as a glimpse into this universe's future, and as a higher budget and artsier take on the Nadesico formula. If you want to leave your memories of the show mostly intact, maybe stick to the Gekiganga OVA. This was a welcome -if ultimately incomplete- epilogue to the TV series that bettered my understanding and appreciation of the original ending.
- thefrench1796
- Nov 7, 2023
- Permalink
Prince of Darkness is a movie loosely followed from the popular 1990s anime Martian Successor Nadesico. Maybe fans wanted a movie of the series and the studio decided to make one, so here it is. Colorful but storywise, what choice did they have, typing this?! I saw the movie back in 2003. I grew up watching Nadesico and when I was 17 (in 2003), with I started to work and have money, having to purchase the TV series DVD box set and then the movie, it's went I sat and watched it, before I went rushing in watching all the movies that I could get, as I slowly forgot about the Nadesico series, for me to decide to review it and give my opinion on what I thought about it.
Unlike the TV series, the film's central character follows Ruri Hoshino who was seen in the first film who helped on board the first Nadesico in the TV series but this time, she takes control of a new battleship named the Nadesico-B, a successor of the previous battleship.
Ruri and her new crew take on board a mission where Ruri later finds herself meeting up with old crew members from the former Nadesico battleship, which rails the story to making it the follow up, for what it is trying to do. Due to this, the two main central characters from the TV series, Yurika and Akito are later revealed with their story arcs. Since the TV series departs from Akito and Yurika getting each other, so it's hard to imagine how a follow up from them would be but somehow this movie makes it work. It just seems tacked on, with how the fit their story arc into this movie and did whatever they could to get it different because of that dynamic. Of course they want to be left alone but it feels very forced and rigid with the follow up.
During the film, Akito finds himself trying to recuse Yurika who is kidnapped and placed in a ruins for her energy, where Atiko tries to save her, where Ruri finds herself trying to help him and try to reunite the rest of the crew. As the film follows from the TV series and aims to unite the previous characters with Ruri and allowing them to team up with her new crew-member. It gives a chance to see where those characters are up, too before embarking on that mission to help Atiko save Yurika.
The film takes a heavy glimpse in city life, unlike the TV series. The TV series was mostly bold, natural like settings such as rocky to forest terrain, city ruins and of course, outer space. In this film it's mostly set in and around a lively inhabited city. More or less, the kind of vibe you get from Tokyo. It maybe allows to get a quick glance into the lifestyles of various characters, they're trying to get back onto the crew, to give this sense on how they moved on but because there were so many stories for these characters in the TV series, there's almost little time to settle in with those characters, with their lifestyle back in their civilian lives.
It makes the movie feel more zany then the relaxed vibe that was from the TV series. Makes me wish this was more of a TV series, even if it was a short as 6 to 12 episodes, it could have fitted it well as the sequel it is making itself, out to be, giving those characters the time to form stories to a similar or even slightly shorter length to what was found, then. Clearly it was maybe a movie to anyone new to the Nadesico series but I think they would just feel a bit lost and maybe having more fun, watching this film then anyone, like myself who watched the TV series, before watching this.
There's is a change, a minor change in almost all the characters, maybe just to get to recognize them from the first film but maybe worth noting that the most dramatic change of character design is the central character Ruri Hoshino, who is a young girl in the TV series and with the movie set two years later, where she's sixteen and is a captain of the Nadesico-B. Maybe fitting to notice that, which does help with the continually to help the film take off and get into but maybe would have been fitting if all the other characters had a bit more added to explain where they are up to. The other characters were interesting, so it was a shame they weren't portrayed as well in the film unlike the TV series. It feels like the movie was quick to end and didn't care how almost all the characters were, other then, they moved on and are pulled, for that one last mission, I think they could have just taken their time with it and not place it as a film. Take a quick buck from the fanbase who enjoyed the stories across all characters, told from the TV series and have this film distract us with a colorful pop culture, style presentation.
Unlike the TV series, the film's central character follows Ruri Hoshino who was seen in the first film who helped on board the first Nadesico in the TV series but this time, she takes control of a new battleship named the Nadesico-B, a successor of the previous battleship.
Ruri and her new crew take on board a mission where Ruri later finds herself meeting up with old crew members from the former Nadesico battleship, which rails the story to making it the follow up, for what it is trying to do. Due to this, the two main central characters from the TV series, Yurika and Akito are later revealed with their story arcs. Since the TV series departs from Akito and Yurika getting each other, so it's hard to imagine how a follow up from them would be but somehow this movie makes it work. It just seems tacked on, with how the fit their story arc into this movie and did whatever they could to get it different because of that dynamic. Of course they want to be left alone but it feels very forced and rigid with the follow up.
During the film, Akito finds himself trying to recuse Yurika who is kidnapped and placed in a ruins for her energy, where Atiko tries to save her, where Ruri finds herself trying to help him and try to reunite the rest of the crew. As the film follows from the TV series and aims to unite the previous characters with Ruri and allowing them to team up with her new crew-member. It gives a chance to see where those characters are up, too before embarking on that mission to help Atiko save Yurika.
The film takes a heavy glimpse in city life, unlike the TV series. The TV series was mostly bold, natural like settings such as rocky to forest terrain, city ruins and of course, outer space. In this film it's mostly set in and around a lively inhabited city. More or less, the kind of vibe you get from Tokyo. It maybe allows to get a quick glance into the lifestyles of various characters, they're trying to get back onto the crew, to give this sense on how they moved on but because there were so many stories for these characters in the TV series, there's almost little time to settle in with those characters, with their lifestyle back in their civilian lives.
It makes the movie feel more zany then the relaxed vibe that was from the TV series. Makes me wish this was more of a TV series, even if it was a short as 6 to 12 episodes, it could have fitted it well as the sequel it is making itself, out to be, giving those characters the time to form stories to a similar or even slightly shorter length to what was found, then. Clearly it was maybe a movie to anyone new to the Nadesico series but I think they would just feel a bit lost and maybe having more fun, watching this film then anyone, like myself who watched the TV series, before watching this.
There's is a change, a minor change in almost all the characters, maybe just to get to recognize them from the first film but maybe worth noting that the most dramatic change of character design is the central character Ruri Hoshino, who is a young girl in the TV series and with the movie set two years later, where she's sixteen and is a captain of the Nadesico-B. Maybe fitting to notice that, which does help with the continually to help the film take off and get into but maybe would have been fitting if all the other characters had a bit more added to explain where they are up to. The other characters were interesting, so it was a shame they weren't portrayed as well in the film unlike the TV series. It feels like the movie was quick to end and didn't care how almost all the characters were, other then, they moved on and are pulled, for that one last mission, I think they could have just taken their time with it and not place it as a film. Take a quick buck from the fanbase who enjoyed the stories across all characters, told from the TV series and have this film distract us with a colorful pop culture, style presentation.
I have seen the series, MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO, and loved it. Not many scifi series have a marvelous mix of action, humor, and, of course, gorgeous babes and do it well. NADESICO: THE SERIES has it and the movie continues it.
I was a bit misled by the title: THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS, because I was expecting a dude resembling Dracula, but I still got a kick out of the movie. The humor that, in my book, made this show more enjoyable than DRAGONBALL or any of it's incarnations and it being a scifi show to boot quenched my appetite for anime scifi.
Well, I am not going to ruin it for you, so if you wanna know what the movie is about, you will have to watch the series first. After that, watch the movie. Its a riot!
I was a bit misled by the title: THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS, because I was expecting a dude resembling Dracula, but I still got a kick out of the movie. The humor that, in my book, made this show more enjoyable than DRAGONBALL or any of it's incarnations and it being a scifi show to boot quenched my appetite for anime scifi.
Well, I am not going to ruin it for you, so if you wanna know what the movie is about, you will have to watch the series first. After that, watch the movie. Its a riot!
- slammerkin_stacking
- Jul 9, 2004
- Permalink
To begin with lets get one thing straight, i loved the series. The humour, the characters, the style, everything. It ended with a few un-answered questions though so i was keen to see the movie in the hope that it would explain some of these.
It answers some...
.....badly
Then it asks lots more...
....and explains none of them.
The characters are butchered (some relegated to one line, while newer characters we care nothing for dominate the screen time). The film is devoid of humour and missing most of the TV series themes.
The one great thing about Nadesico was that it was fun, this is just a depressing piece of s**t. Its like the makers got confused and thought they were making an Evangelion movie not a Nadesico one (for the record I love Evangelion, but I liked Nadesico for not being the same).
In short if you love the series AVOID. Its like Highlander II and Star Wars the Phantom Menace, it actually takes away some of your enjoyment of the originals, particularly when you find out some of the horrible things they have done to the charters.
I think this is actually the movie I hate most in the world. There are some crap films that I just think are crap. This actually offended me.
Right, I'm off to take a shower, since this film made me feel unclean.
It answers some...
.....badly
Then it asks lots more...
....and explains none of them.
The characters are butchered (some relegated to one line, while newer characters we care nothing for dominate the screen time). The film is devoid of humour and missing most of the TV series themes.
The one great thing about Nadesico was that it was fun, this is just a depressing piece of s**t. Its like the makers got confused and thought they were making an Evangelion movie not a Nadesico one (for the record I love Evangelion, but I liked Nadesico for not being the same).
In short if you love the series AVOID. Its like Highlander II and Star Wars the Phantom Menace, it actually takes away some of your enjoyment of the originals, particularly when you find out some of the horrible things they have done to the charters.
I think this is actually the movie I hate most in the world. There are some crap films that I just think are crap. This actually offended me.
Right, I'm off to take a shower, since this film made me feel unclean.
- gloomcookie666
- Apr 29, 2005
- Permalink
i thought it was very bad,
they should of made another film to explain this one.
the two main characters where just practically cut out of the whole film.
and it spoiled everything for me. i loved the series i thought it was ace, but the film was awful.
if you are a fan of nadesico please do not see the film because it will kill your
appreciation for the series.
oh and also the new characters they have thrown in where bad
they should of made another film to explain this one.
the two main characters where just practically cut out of the whole film.
and it spoiled everything for me. i loved the series i thought it was ace, but the film was awful.
if you are a fan of nadesico please do not see the film because it will kill your
appreciation for the series.
oh and also the new characters they have thrown in where bad
- meliado_peacecraft
- Oct 13, 2005
- Permalink