Vandread: Second Stage: V.1 Survival (ep.1-4) [DVD]

Features

• Type: DVD
• Studio: Geneon (Pioneer)
• Language(s): english, japanese
• Subtitle(s): english
• Director(s): Hiroyuki Yokoyama, Kazuki Tsunoda, Ken'ichi Takeshita, Makoto Bessho, Masato Ujibe, Seiji Mizushima, Shigeru Ueda, Shin'ichi Tôkairin
• Actor(s): Tony Oliver, Mari Devon, Dan Lorge, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Yumi Kakazu, Julie Maddalena, Fumiko Orikasa, Yu Asakawa, Catherine Battistone, Beau Billingslea

The sequel to Vandread picks up where the 2001 TV series left off. In the future, men and women live separately; Hibiki, Duero, and Bart are three lone males among the all-female crew of the Nirvana. Dita's pursuit of Hibiki is complicated by Jura's desire to have him father a child and the arrival of Misty, who thinks he's cute. Vandread remains an agglomeration of discordant elements that never quite gel. Flat drawn animation of the characters is intercut with three-dimensional CG space battles. The generally silly tone plays against such tear-jerker story lines as "Blossoming Path"; the grim plot about humans being harvested for their organs is juxtaposed with a Tenchi-like rivalry for Hibiki's affections. Characters clad in scanty "fan service" costumes deliver statements about the power of women. Second Stage is sometimes amusing, but it's rarely coherent. Rated 13 Up: Profanity, brief nudity, violence, sexual humor. --Charles Solomon