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silverthunder) wrote2008-03-12 10:24 am
silverthunder) wrote2008-03-12 10:24 am
Vandread
Okay. As of last night, I have seen all of Vandread, barring the OVAs which I heard are mostly summaries with a few additional scenes mixed in. In any case, the storyline has finished and I have watched all of the episodes. No more new material.
So, now I can post my thoughts on the series.
First of all, I want to say that I liked this series. A lot of times, I don't understand why I like a series, especially since Cody has started showing me a few more of his favorites, which are not series I would normally have been interested in. Most of them involve lots of pretty girls or lots of mecha or both. This one is both. And before this, Cody had shown me a couple of other series that seemed to have themes I would be more interested in - but my reaction was pretty 'meh'. This one really struck a chord with me.
I honestly think that what draws me to any particular series is characterization. It doesn't have to be excellent (although that helps). It just has to make me care about the characters somehow. The Vandread characters were vibrant, likeable, and exciting. Interactions between them were fun and lively, and had my undivided attention. I cared about what they did and was excited to see what happened to them next.
The plot of Vandread is a very interesting one. First and foremost, the separation of men and women is really a good story idea, worthy of exploration. The propaganda video the men are showing at the beginning is hysterical. I also liked the misunderstandings and confusion that arose from the separation. As a result of this, interactions between characters are a lot less colored by our society's perceived notions of the opposite gender - although there are different percived notions, and gender stereotypes are still present in a few places. I really find the idea of het relationships being the "unnatural" ones appealing (I am a yaoi fangirl, after all). It flips things around. The budding relationship between Hibiki and Dita (being the primary and most noticable romance) is the subject of scorn or disgust initially and fascination later on. The show doesn't touch on it much (its target audience being primarily male), but it's clear that homosexual relationships are the norm. Men are pairing with other men, and women are pairing with other women (the latter gets a LOT more focus, of course). Highlight the following text if you don't mind spoilers: Because of this, I don't find it that surprising that Bart continues to pursue BC even after discovering that she was a man in disguise. I can only imagine that he'd be more comfortable with her/him as a man than as a woman. In any case, the Hibiki/Dita dynamic was way more interesting to me because it was considered abnormal by the rest of the cast. Maybe I just like the idea of initial awkwardness, exploration, and love that defies societal standards.
Aside from that, the storyline is also interesting. I don't want to give away too many details, but the idea of the 'harvest' is really quite creepy. I'd be more than a little freaked if I learned that someone had sent me into space to breed so that they could later pluck off parts of my body like plants for their own needs.
The pacing in the series is sometimes off - occassionally it feels like they rushed through something that should have been lingered or they lingered on something that should have been passed through quickly. Sometimes things come up and it seems like they came out of nowhere because they weren't introduced smoothly enough. A lot of plot points that I recognize as being important and obviously plotted ahead of time seem almost like they were thrown in at the last second. But overall, the story moved along without stumbling and with a minimum of filler (the filler that it does have is actually interesting, too). And the battle scenes were, of course, excellent.
I want to note that the music and animation in this series are fabulous. I think music has a lot to do with setting the mood and creating a more entertaining series. Vandread does a great job with this. And the animation is consistant, crisp, and smooth.
So, yeah. It's not one of my all-time favorites, but I was very impressed with this series. Definitely worth a few re-watches.
I'm also seriously tempted to write Vandread fanfic, but I won't say too much about that because I don't know if it'll actually happen. I did start writing an original story that steals the idea of the male/female separation, but again, I don't know if it'll go anywhere yet.
We'll have to wait and see, I guess.
So, now I can post my thoughts on the series.
First of all, I want to say that I liked this series. A lot of times, I don't understand why I like a series, especially since Cody has started showing me a few more of his favorites, which are not series I would normally have been interested in. Most of them involve lots of pretty girls or lots of mecha or both. This one is both. And before this, Cody had shown me a couple of other series that seemed to have themes I would be more interested in - but my reaction was pretty 'meh'. This one really struck a chord with me.
I honestly think that what draws me to any particular series is characterization. It doesn't have to be excellent (although that helps). It just has to make me care about the characters somehow. The Vandread characters were vibrant, likeable, and exciting. Interactions between them were fun and lively, and had my undivided attention. I cared about what they did and was excited to see what happened to them next.
The plot of Vandread is a very interesting one. First and foremost, the separation of men and women is really a good story idea, worthy of exploration. The propaganda video the men are showing at the beginning is hysterical. I also liked the misunderstandings and confusion that arose from the separation. As a result of this, interactions between characters are a lot less colored by our society's perceived notions of the opposite gender - although there are different percived notions, and gender stereotypes are still present in a few places. I really find the idea of het relationships being the "unnatural" ones appealing (I am a yaoi fangirl, after all). It flips things around. The budding relationship between Hibiki and Dita (being the primary and most noticable romance) is the subject of scorn or disgust initially and fascination later on. The show doesn't touch on it much (its target audience being primarily male), but it's clear that homosexual relationships are the norm. Men are pairing with other men, and women are pairing with other women (the latter gets a LOT more focus, of course). Highlight the following text if you don't mind spoilers: Because of this, I don't find it that surprising that Bart continues to pursue BC even after discovering that she was a man in disguise. I can only imagine that he'd be more comfortable with her/him as a man than as a woman. In any case, the Hibiki/Dita dynamic was way more interesting to me because it was considered abnormal by the rest of the cast. Maybe I just like the idea of initial awkwardness, exploration, and love that defies societal standards.
Aside from that, the storyline is also interesting. I don't want to give away too many details, but the idea of the 'harvest' is really quite creepy. I'd be more than a little freaked if I learned that someone had sent me into space to breed so that they could later pluck off parts of my body like plants for their own needs.
The pacing in the series is sometimes off - occassionally it feels like they rushed through something that should have been lingered or they lingered on something that should have been passed through quickly. Sometimes things come up and it seems like they came out of nowhere because they weren't introduced smoothly enough. A lot of plot points that I recognize as being important and obviously plotted ahead of time seem almost like they were thrown in at the last second. But overall, the story moved along without stumbling and with a minimum of filler (the filler that it does have is actually interesting, too). And the battle scenes were, of course, excellent.
I want to note that the music and animation in this series are fabulous. I think music has a lot to do with setting the mood and creating a more entertaining series. Vandread does a great job with this. And the animation is consistant, crisp, and smooth.
So, yeah. It's not one of my all-time favorites, but I was very impressed with this series. Definitely worth a few re-watches.
I'm also seriously tempted to write Vandread fanfic, but I won't say too much about that because I don't know if it'll actually happen. I did start writing an original story that steals the idea of the male/female separation, but again, I don't know if it'll go anywhere yet.
We'll have to wait and see, I guess.