Vandreadヴァンドレッド- Series Review

Vandread is an atypical harem anime. Instead of the females all in love with the male leads, they want to kill them! Releases include Geneon and Funimation. The Geneon release, if you can still find it, contains 26 episodes over 8 DVDs, widescreen format, Japanese and English languages with subtitles, clean opening and closing animations, TV commercials, cover gallery, and a few other nifty extras. Whew! The Funimation set only contains the episodes and dual languages with subtitles, none of the other extras. The basic plot opens up with men and women living on different planets. While technically not at war with each other currently, the men devise a battle strategy to get even with the women they simultaneously despise and fear. After a battle in which the men are soundly beaten, three male victims are captured and imprisoned aboard the woman’s’ vessel. A new menace to the galaxy begins to threaten the survival of both “species” and the men and women must learn to work together to get rid of this alien threat.

Chock full of sexual innuendo and tension, it never goes over the top. The women are lead by the pirate captain known as Boss, and her sub-commander B.C. The crew must put their faith in the brash young hero known as Hibiki, a 3^rd class citizen from the men’s planet, and the 4 female pilots he’s often paired up with to fight the alien threat. Initially the CGI effects are dull and unrealistic, but by the 2^nd half of the series it is really quite well developed. The interactions between the men and women are quite hilarious, but there are enough tender and heart-wrenching moments to please fans of both genders. Homage to old school animation abounds, including the mechs which combine to power up. As of this writing (May, 2009), the Geneon box set is up to 50% off since Geneon went out of business. This makes it comparable in price to the Funimation box set, with loads of extra goodies included, so it’s a real bargain! Highly recommended not only to harem fans who like Tenchi, but also any mecha-heads (like yours truly) and comedy lovers.

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