(L) Vandread

[Forbin]

Originally Posted by Nerroth

The doc is easily the coolest of the guys on the ship at this stage, and it's kind of annoying how the setup seems to be one of the Dread pilots all fawning over the (appropriately clueless) Vanguard pilot, but ehh...

Then you haven't seen the whole story. Each guy is important. (Yes even Bart). And while Hibiki is the major star of the show, each guy has his little spotlight and is shown how important he is to the team. (Though Bart's story is very sad).

[C.A.]

Bart is awesome, after that episode everyone loved Bart. There was a time when that episode is always mentioned as one of the best episodes in all anime.

[Duo Maxwell]

Well of course. Rule of thumb: whenever

Spoiler for Do not click if you haven't watched it:

Spoiler for I said do not click, didn't I? You have one last chance:

a loli dies

It becomes best ep in the whole anime.

Everyone is likable in this anime, that's why I rate it quite high in my list. They got proper development, and thing got wrapped up nicely. Still wait for a day where this one appear in SRW, although the setup is kinda hard.

[C.A.]

Yea Vandread is a good mecha anime, at the peak of Gonzo's prime.

Hibiki is really an amazing super robot pilot, the cast was colourful and had great development. The mecha were quite interesting and the 3D fights are pretty good for its time.

Also I used to post in another forum on how I'd expect Vandread would be in SRW, using Alpha 3's squad system and similar stats. It has spoilers, only for those who finished watching both seasons:

Spoiler for Vandread SRW:

Vandread would be a super robot series, but the mechs behave more like reals.

Nirvana will come as a ship:

Spoiler:

Terrain = Air A, Land B, Sea C, Space S, Size: L
It has a Barrier that blocks 2500, any more and it takes full damage.

Crew: Bart(main), Magno, Buzam, Ezra and the girl in teddy bear costume lol

Weapons:

For a start, it only has weak missiles [p] 1-4 range and beam turrets 1-6 range, which I think it doesn't even have in the anime lol. But I came up with such weapons because it would be useless without any lol.

Then there will be a stage for Bart's famous episode and Nirvana will get an upgrade:

Homing Laser [Map] same configuration as Gunbuster's Homing Laser in @3.
Homing Laser [ALL]1-10, Probably has damage similar to Elthorium's Photon Torpedoes in @3, it also ignore size.

Hibiki's Vanguard:

Spoiler:

It's basically a real robot in any sense. The Men, Tarahk have Vanguards with better stats for captains and weaker stats for grunts.
Terrain: C A C A, Size S

Pilot: Hibiki, he has stats thats like a good super robot main character, with even melee and range attack.

Weapons:
Head vulcans [p] 1 range
Beam rifle [p][PLA] 1-5
Sword [p] 1

The Dreads:

Spoiler:

Basically all the girls dreads are the same. The Women, Mejeiru, all have Dreads with better stats for captains and weaker for grunts.
Terrain: A B C A, Size M

Pilots: Dita, Meia, Jura, Barnette

Weapons:
Beam [p][PLA] 1-4
Missiles 1-7

Dita, Meia and Jura's Dreads can combine with Hibiki, Barnette has nothing. But Barnette will encounter an event later *Read on below*.

Vandreads:

Spoiler:

The Vandreads basically function like Getter Robo lol, but you have to put Hibiki's Vanguard and the girls' Dreads in a same platoon to combine them or switch forms.

Halfway through the game there will be a chapter where Super Vandread/ Vandread Pyoro will be formed, like the first time they got this combination in the show. Super Vandread will not be usuable for another 10 chapters until a chapter where they learn to combine at will, like the anime had. But after the first Super Vandread event all Vandreads will get an upgrade like in the anime.

Vandread Dita:

Spoiler:

Basically a super robot that behaves like a powerful real robot, meaning good agility and defence. It is efficient in both range and melee attack.
Terrain: A A C A, Size M

Pilot: Hibiki and Dita.

Weapons:

Lance [p] 1-3, melee weapon
Lance Beam [PLA] 1-7
Twin Lance Beam [ALL] 1-8
Twin Lance Special attack [p] 1, the finishing move used on the mother ship at the end of Vandread season 1, ignore size and barrier.

After the Super Vandread event, Vandread Dita will get a boost in all stats and land/space S.

Vandread Meia:

Spoiler:

Basically a high speed and movement melee unit.
Terrain: A B C A, Size M
It has Bunshin ability

Pilot: Hibiki and Meia.

Weapons:

Claw [p] 1-3, melee weapon
Beam [p][PLA] 1-4
Special dash attack [p] 1, the high speed dash attack thats always used to finish bosses, ignore size and barrier.

After the Super Vandread event, Vandread Meia will get a boost in all stats and air/space S.

Vandread Jura:

Spoiler:

Basically a high defence long range unit.
Terrain: B A A A, Size M
It has a barrier that blocks 2500 damage and 1250 damage for the rest of the platoon, any higher damage = full damage.

Pilot: Hibiki and Jura.

Weapons:

Claw [p] 1-3, melee weapon
Beam [PLA] 1-7
Barrier Beam [ALL] 2-8, the beam attack with all 6 barrier discs.

After the Super Vandread event, Vandread Jura will get a boost in all stats and sea/space S.

Super Vandread:

Spoiler:

Basically a super robot thats around the same level as Banpreos in @3. It is effcient in attack/defence/evasion and attack
Terrain: S S A S, Size M
It has Bunshin
It has a barrier that blocks 2500 damage and 1250 damage for the rest of the platoon, any higher damage = full damage.

Pilot: Hibiki, Dita, Meia, Jura and Pyoro.

Weapons:

Beam [PLA] 1-6 range
Sword [p] 1-4, melee weapon
Barrier Beam [ALL] 2-8 range, Probably as powerful as, Gunbuster's Buster Beam in @3.
Special sword attack [p] 1, Super Vandread's ultimate move, probably has attack power similar to Shin Getter's Stoner Sun Shine, its 2nd most powerful attack in @3, ignore size and barrier.

Super Vandread can also transform into bird form:

Weapons:

Beam [PLA] 1-6 range
Claw [p] 1
Special dash attack [p] 1-4, probably as powerful as Combattler V's Chodenji Spin, ignore size and barrier

After the 2nd Super Vandread event, you can choose to keep Super Vandread as 1 mech and have no need to separate them into 4 units in a single platoon.

Gascogne's repair/resupply vehicle:

Spoiler:

Basically a repair/resupply vehicle with high hp and low agility.
Terrain: A B C A, Size M
It has a barrier that blocks 1500 damage and 750 damage for the rest of the platoon, any higher damage = full damage.
Has repair and resupply

Pilot: Gascogne

Weapons:

Claw [p] 1, melee attack
Beam [PLA] 1-6 range

Gascogne starts with this unit, but at the first Super Vandread stage, Gascogne will 'die' following the anime. After this stage Barnette will take over this unit. Gascogne will appear again probably in a very late stage(probably 1 of the last 5 stages.) as a special event unit piloting the Earth 'Mothership' class.

Some other points:

Spoiler:

Duero, Pai and Parfait will probably be characters that just hang around to talk and for events.

That mercenary guy with an orang utan will probably have a unit that will be an ally for sometime and maybe join you at the last stage. He will have his ship and his orang utan's mech.

Vandread enemies will be the Men(Tarahk) and Women(Mejeiru) and also the Earth mechs. The Men and Women will join you as allies in the final Vandread stage to fight the Earth mother ships.

Also, Hibiki has Yuuki(Brave) Seishin and Dita has Ai(love) Seishin.

How Vandread will fit into an SRW series is probably very hard. With Earth as an enemy, a whole bunch of mecha anime probably would be devoid of storylines or be completely unable to coexist.

[LoweGear]

Bart is living proof that going bald = 100% more cool.

[Nerroth]

The only Gonzo series that I really remember is Transformers: Galaxy Force, and I got into that more because of my long-standing Transfandom than anything.



How is the Japanese voice cast for the show? As I said, the eps on the Funimation site only had the dubs...

[C.A.]

The Japanese cast is great, http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...ime.php?id=269

They're a pretty experienced cast and gave the characters pretty good interactions. It was a time when moe wasn't very well developed concept in the west, so there were people who don't like Dita's moe pitch. Dita was my favourite girl though.

My favourite is Gascogne and her girls going 'Smile smile~!' lol

[Duo Maxwell]

Originally Posted by C.A.

My favourite is Gascogne and her girls going 'Smile smile~!' lol

Talking about Gascogne, well...

Spoiler for Again, do not click if you haven't watched it yet, and there is no second warning this time:

they kinda cheapen her death a little, though. At that time I'm still new to anime world and young so I was really happy to see her returning, but thinking back at how I was depressing at her "death" now, I'd say that the anime would be better. Her "death" work pretty well for character developments, I must say.
Sorry for wanting your favorite girl go death, but that's how I think .

One thing about Vandread, is that I can't remember character names, even my favorite one (the silver hair girl with bird like fusion), except for Hibiki, Bart and Dita.

[C.A.]

Well, you're new to anime then and Japanese names could be a little hard to memorise.

I can remember all main characters, all of them who piloted something, but not the rest lol

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by C.A.

Yea Vandread is a good mecha anime, at the peak of Gonzo's prime.

Hibiki is really an amazing super robot pilot, the cast was colourful and had great development. The mecha were quite interesting and the 3D fights are pretty good for its time.

i agree, he bangs both Dita and Meia, even if it is off screen and after anime was finish. That still put him one up on a lot of whinny mecha pilots.

[Ottocycle]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

i agree, he bangs both Dita and Meia, even if it is off screen and after anime was finish. That still put him one up on a lot of whinny mecha pilots.

Wait, that actually happened?

And this show is special to me. It's the show that brought me into anime in the first place.

Its ending was in a word, perfect.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by humbug23

Wait, that actually happened?

And this show is special to me. It's the show that brought me into anime in the first place.

It's ending was in a word, perfect.

read the earlier pages, there was a sequel plan that feature Hibiki/Dita's daughter and Hibiki/Meia's daughter. Unfountnately the sequel never got the green light.

[C.A.]

Originally Posted by humbug23

And this show is special to me. It's the show that brought me into anime in the first place.

Its ending was in a word, perfect.

Vandread seems to be one of those benchmark anime that made people into anime fans, I'm not sure how it happened, but it really made Gonzo famous at that time.

The ending was one of the better mecha endings as well.

[Ottocycle]

Originally Posted by C.A.

Vandread seems to be one of those benchmark anime that made people into anime fans, I'm not sure how it happened, but it really made Gonzo famous at that time.

I can say that at least for our home country, it showing on TVmobile at the early morning while kids are taking bus to school made a big impact. Well at least for me. And since my first full show's a robot show, that made me a mecha fan from the outset.

I remember a friend gaping at the scene where Hibiki walks into Jura's boobs, and that was a time when ecchi isn't all that well-known too.

[C.A.]

Originally Posted by humbug23

I can say that at least for our home country, it showing on TVmobile at the early morning while kids are taking bus to school made a big impact. Well at least for me. And since my first full show's a robot show, that made me a mecha fan from the outset.

lol I see.

I was watching subs some time before it aired on TVMobile and always had been watching anime on TV so Vandread naturally came into my attention and I just watched it.

Vandread is a good first mecha anime to have. At least moderately better than Gundam Wing, or having a depression from Evangelion as a first mecha anime lol

EDIT: lol at the ecchi.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Duo Maxwell

One thing about Vandread, is that I can't remember character names, even my favorite one (the silver hair girl with bird like fusion), except for Hibiki, Bart and Dita.

.. h-how could you forget the name of the blue goddess, Meia Gisborne?!?!?! BURN HERETIC

()

*ehem*

Anyways, Vandread may not have been my first anime, but it was the first I've seen with completely 3D CG mecha action, and I loved every minute of it.

[C.A.]

Yea Vandread has really good 3D animation, I still think its better than some 3D used these days.

[Ottocycle]

Originally Posted by C.A.

Vandread is a good first mecha anime to have. At least moderately better than Gundam Wing, or having a depression from Evangelion as a first mecha anime lol

EDIT: lol at the ecchi.

I swear if I got to any of those angsty series first, I wouldn't even be here. I already couldn't take those two episodes of Hibiki's raison d'etre angst at all back then, and now I know that is relatively light by anime standards.

Yeah on hindsight I love my laziness for not being able to get up early to catch Gundam Wing even though I thought it looked awesome. :3

@Lowe: Yeah. That was one of my first impressions. IT WAS GLORIOUSLY SHINY!

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by C.A.

Yea Vandread has really good 3D animation, I still think its better than some 3D used these days.

Agreed. Even though detail, effect and shading have gone up in recent years, in terms of fluidity of movement and actual integration, Vandread still tops many of today's anime using 3D CGI (the only one I've seen come close is Kirameki Project, and that was a 5 episode OVA).

Originally Posted by humbug23

Yeah. That was one of my first impressions. IT WAS GLORIOUSLY SHINY!

*looks at Super Vandread Pyoro*

My Shiny Precious...

[C.A.]

For nice mecha 3D CG, Macross is the best for recent years. Aquarion had good 3D animation though it looks awkward at times.

I cannot remember what was my first harem or ecchi anime, could be Vandread.

Super Vandread was super sleek, super cool, it reminds me of Cybuster and the Lord of Elementals.