Anime: Kidou Senkan Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness 1f6i39

I think my greatest misconception was in expecting a sequel movie to the original series, which would either: A) Continue the story from the point when it cut off in the 26th episode, or B) Take place some time in the future, give a short recap, and then continue in a new adventure. Martian Successor Nadesico – The Prince of Darkness was definitely of the B variation, but not at all in the way that I expected. [br]First of all – there was no recap! You just get to guess what happened in the last 2 years! Well gee, thanks, I’m flattered that the show’s creators think I’m so smart that I can bridge all the gaps within the unmentioned time period without an explicit explanation. But, guess what… I can’t fucking do that!!! [br]During the process of the show, they only insinuate on what happened. How did all the characters from the series come to be where they are today? How did the UESF and the Jovians reach a peace treaty? What the hell is going on?? [br]Furthermore, there is also no explanation of the events that occur during the movie itself. Like, most importantly – Who in the hell are the Martian Successors? How were they established? What motivated them to act? Why do they oppose the status quo? I would really, really like to know that! Do this show’s creators enjoy keeping people in the dark that much?? [br][br]Ok, so, rants aside… [br][br]Animation (7): [br]Well, as one would expect from an anime movie, the animation style is like that of the series only polished and more… “enhanced”. So animation wise it’s all good (just so long as you found the series’ animation agreeable). [br][br]Sound (7): [br]Smooth sound, ok music… same old I guess… [br][br]Story (2): [br]Story? What story? Oh, you mean this movie’s story. Puh-lease, this movie has no story (at least not one worth mentioning)! As I’ve said before, this movie is a follow-up (and a highly inadequate one, at that), which would mean that the movie’s story is the series’ story, right? Wrong! The idiots who cooked this thing up, hell knows what they were thinking, decided that this production could survive with a semi-independent storyline. Well, wasn’t that a bright idea! Let me give you the clip notes version – this show gives a blurry introduction, a crappy, half-assed excuse for a recap, and then proceeds with and unintelligible preparation sequence that lasts over an hour for a 5-minute conflict with an opponent that doesn’t even put up a fight!! One word – LAME!!! [br][br]Characters (5): [br]What can I say – they just slap on the series’ characters on this thing and, since there is no recap, there is no justification for any development whatsoever, which, for most of the characters, amounts to 0! You might ask why a 5 and not say, a 3, but, thing is, the characters aren’t really faulted, it’s just that the way the story allocates them sucks! [br][br]Overall (5): [br]… I guess it wasn’t a total waste of 80 minutes.

Prince of Darkness could be easily called the twenty-seventh episode of Martian Successor Nadesico. It is the awaited conclusion to the original story, wrapping up things and tying together plot threads that were left open in the ending of the television series.

The animation, being two years younger, is more up to date, and it gets difficult to distinguish whether characters look different because they're a few years older or because the style has been improved. Some differences are noticeable, and altogether the slight aging of the characters was done well. The frames are clearer and the special effects in space are more intricate, obviously thanks to CGI technology.

Don't be fooled though: while the animation is better, it's still the same old Nadesico below the fancy surface. Real character development in Prince of Darkness is quite reserved, with the people of the original story. The few new faces do not leave a permanent impression, not with the little screen time they can get in an eighty minute film. The writing does have a problem with plausibility. While the peculiarity of certain character development exhibited is explained away, it feels more like an excuse than anything else. There is also a glaring error in continuity that bugged me, but it didn't hurt immersion too much.

The story does have the feeling that it was fleshed out only to get a proper frame in which to explain what has happened to Nadesico and her crew. It's not too shoddy, but the main plotline does take backseat to showing us the familiar people and their lives. The writers do keep to their style of throwing some surprising things in your way, so the going never gets boring.

The soundtrack uses some of the old Nadesico music, but employs also some new songs and background music. The new additions are satisfactory and of the same quality you had in the television series. The production values of the soundscape and of the visuals are obviously higher than in the television series, making the film a good experience.

Prince of Darkness cannot in any way work as a standalone film. While there is a succinct explanation of the events before the film, they are more a reminder to those who saw the series than anything else. It is vital to Nadesico as a wholesome viewing experience and a story, though, and as such is mandatory to all who watched all of Nadesico and enjoyed it - or, barring that, want to at least know what happened afterwards. Retaining the familiar characters and the same quality of humour and writing, it's a worthy sequel to Martian Successor Nadesico.