DVD Corner

Vandread- The Ultimate Collection DVD Review

“Vandread” works when it doesn’t focus on the humor.

The plot: After Hibiki stows away on a battleship to steal a Vanguard, he winds up getting stuck on the ship as it departs. Now, Hibiki finds himself caught in the battle between men and women. You see, in this universe, men and women are enemies and live separately on different planets. Anyway, as the story progresses, we learn that the men and women have a common enemy in the form of robots known as the Harvesters. Can the men and women put aside their differences to fight for their survival? Episode plots involve female pirates, Christmas celebration, male/female tension, robot mech suits known as Vanguards, a mysterious machine enemy of both the men and women known as the Harvesters, characterization, space fighters known as Dreads, a trader/con-artist, a baby, other planets, loading up on supplies, relationship between Dita and Hibiki, telepaths, and of course, a climactic battle with the Harvesters. “Vandread” was a two season anime series that lasted 26 episodes. 2 OVAs titled “Integral” and “Turbulence” were also made, but they are basically re-caps of both seasons.

On paper, “Vandread” sounds like a fairly serious sci-fi anime series, but unfortunately, that’s not quite the case. Granted, there are several moments of serious spaceship battles and drama amongst the characters (which are all the best moments), but there are also obnoxious humorous moments involving robots, an Orangatang, and Dita blabbering on and on and on. Personally, the humor took me out of the story because it didn’t jive well with the war elements of the story.

Plot aside, “Vandread” contains a lot of eye-candy animation. The planet environments, robot vehicles, character designs, and point of view shots all look superb. Unfortunately, the 3D animated ships look a bit shoddy and out of place. Naturally, I can forgive the weak effects considering the show aired ten years ago, but one can’t deny the fact that it still looks funky.

Summary: “Vandread” isn’t one of the best anime shows around, but it has enough interesting elements to warrant a rental.

The 4:3 fullscreen picture quality is first rate. The character designs, environments, and ship battles are a feast for the eyes.

This set contains English and Japanese Stereo tracks. The English track is solid. The voice work is respectable, but the action sequences could have sounded a little sharper.  As for the Japanese voice track, it is superior in every way.

Trailers for “Jyu-Oh-Sei,” “D.Gray-Man,” “Kenichi,” “Air,” “Tsubasa,” “Dragon Ball Z,” “Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki,” “Project Blue Earth SOS,” “Blue Gender,” “Murder Princess,” “Last Exile,” and “Heroic Age.”

June 3, 2010 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Vandread- The Ultimate Collection DVD Review