Kidô senkan Nadeshiko: Prince of Darkness

After finishing the TV show for a second time, I decided to give this obscure yet polarizing follow-up a chance.

My appreciation of the Nadesico show mostly comes from the likeable cast and the humor, whether it arises from kooky homages to older science-fiction or from the cute character drama. Despite thouroughly enjoying the show, I have never been particularly impressed with the "serious" parts of the overarching story or the "main" characters. I think this makes me the perfect audience for this film.

Without getting into spoilers, the movie should not play well to an audience that is deeply involved in Akito and Yurika's story, yet will be completely inscrutable to anyone unfamiliar with the TV show. Nevertheless the story takes place a couple of years after the events of the show and more-or-less picks up where we left off.

On a technical level, there is little to fault the movie on. The soundtrack sounds familiar if unremarkable, but the animation is mostly very pleasing to the eye. The art style differs slightly from the show (and even more so from the manga) but the old character designs fit nicely into this new look. There are some visual references to the show and they do not clash with the rest of the film.

The movie's biggest detriments are its short running time (only 75 minutes without credits) and its confusing tone. There is a lack of development of the story -especially the ending- and characters -especially the new ones- and occasionally the pace makes the film unintelligible. Arguably, those criticisms apply to the show as well, but the stylish and "dark" Prince of Darkness cannot fall back on campy and cute moments to make itself more accessible to the viewer.

The film can be as dead-pan as Ruri, and viewers have to decide for themselves what should be taken seriously or what is tongue-in-cheek (or both). Certainly, making fun some of the drearier plot points would require a darker sense of humor than the show ever did. Most of the film is however faithful to the show approach's to parody and homage: it is simply taking from a wider range of influences beyond "Gekiganga". It is a shame that most of the new ideas are not fully explored, and that most characters only get a couple of scenes. The movie would make for an effective pilot to a new series, if nothing else.

Overall, I enjoyed the film as a glimpse into this universe's future, and as a higher budget and artsier take on the Nadesico formula. If you want to leave your memories of the show mostly intact, maybe stick to the Gekiganga OVA. This was a welcome -if ultimately incomplete- epilogue to the TV series that bettered my understanding and appreciation of the original ending.