Could you imagine a world where women were a threat? No I am not talking about the threat of becoming a gold digger’s cash out. I’m talking about women wanting to eat your very soul, men and women having wars the size of World War II. Imagine having all children created in a lab on the male side, and women choosing each other to have a baby by means of science. My friends this is the story of Vandread, now how it works throughout two seasons… well that’s what I am here for.

The story behind Vandread starts when a 3rd class citizen named Hibiki Tokai of the Men faction boasts he can steal a Vanguard (Large Military Mecha). His attempt is foiled however when the ship the Mecha is stored is takes off into space. He is eventually captured and imprisoned while the ship completes its destination. Unfortunately the day is about to get even worse for Hibiki, the ship is attacked by a female pirate ship and the newest piece of the ship is detached by the commander. In the midst of this the women board the older version of the ship and capture the men.

Hibiki escapes his prison with the help of a robot (Pyoro), while one of the captured Doctor’s (Duero Mcfile) helps the women with their wounded. Hibiki is greeted by his first vision of the female persuasion, he runs into a woman named Dita Liebely who seems too excited to meet him. After hearing all of the terror stories of women beforehand he runs in terror from her and the two run through the ship in classic comedy fashion. Meanwhile, the Male commander doesn’t want to see his ship taken by women. He makes the decision to fire a torpedo and destroy the women, his captured men, and the older section of the ship.

On collision with the ship the torpedo seems to activate some sort of secret power source within the ship. It causes a strange reaction with the torpedo and seemingly implodes the ship and everything around it. Yet instead of being completely destroyed during the blast, the ship appears in a completely uncharted part of the galaxy. It also seems that the outer crystals begin to merge the male and female ship together. Yes I know that sounds utterly dirty but I think you’ll get that a lot from Vanguard, because this is where the real show begins.

Vanguard is in the vein of your typical romantic action comedy. You have your super robotic Mecha action battles, which are shown through a use of Cel-Shaded 3D. And then you have your classic Anime animation, which is used for the characters and most of the environments. Most of the story in the original season is full of the Male and Female crew trying to get used to each other. Seeing as the men are the only ones that can pilot the main ship and the Vanguard, while the women can fly their ships and do pretty much everything else. (Almost like real life).

You have all of the classic Anime stereotypes here, the wise and calm Captain of the ship. The dimwitted girl who wants to know more about the Hero, yet she is smart enough to be the first to discover his inner strength. The coward who is always saying something stupid and being a running joke for it.  We’ve got the untrusting woman who is cold and cruel to the Hero, but she eventually warms her heart seeing his strength. Let us not forget the prudish woman who cares for nothing but herself, but always finds time for the Hero somewhere in her miniscule world.

The charm in Vandread mainly comes from the relationships of the men and women trying to connect. It leads to a lot of comic moments and plenty of sexual innuendo is mixed in also. Seeing as this is Shonen type of Anime, you will see fairly large breasted women… lot’s of shots where they are showing bottoms and lots of skin. Yet that is not to say that you’ll actually see any nudity, it is more of a Teen rating than an actual “Mature” series.

What you can expect is a lot of typical action sequences, while it doesn’t hit the Monster of the week type of thing. Most of the time is spent fighting some of the same aliens over and over again; the main story basically takes place on the ship. So most of the action sequences are pretty forgettable, you’ll be more interested in what is happening with the ship changes and the male and female connections. That isn’t to say that the enemies don’t change later on in the Anime, but by that time you’ll already know what to expect in terms of story anyway.

The second season pretty much continues where the first one left off, I’d spill the beans on what exactly happens but it isn’t necessary. The second season showcases that everyone has pretty much become familiar with each other, the aliens have come up with a new weapon to defeat the humans. The Pegsus system (Basically the control system of the ship) sends out a danger signal to all of the pilots of the Vandread. The dream states that a new enemy is approaching and is literally going to kill everyone.

The main thing that changes in this season is that there is more human interaction; a new enemy appears for the Vandread to fight. Also the crew begins to finally get involved fully in the political war between male and female. This season also brings more off the ship type of action, unlike the first season which is mainly on the pirate ship. You get to see how the crew reacts to landing on planets, running into other types of human beings who don’t have the Male/Female problem they do.

This opens up the series a little more but there isn’t much different in the end. You still have the same type of storyline going on; it usually ends with our 3^rd class hero coming up with great courage and fortitude. Most everything involves his ideas or his dreams with the ship; while this makes him a strong character... it isn’t all that interesting to see the action sequences. Once you get the gist of Hibiki being this under the shell amazing pilot who rarely loses, it starts to lose significance for the fight scenes. And let me tell you… this tends to happen a lot through the series. Kira in Gundam Seed was a pilot in this manner, but there was a difference between Kira being all around strong and what not.

He lost many of the people he cared about in the battles, this made for more of a dynamic where the pilot is strong but not strong enough to stop everything. In Vandread there may be only one or two scenes where you notice he didn’t save the day. My other problem with this Anime is the romantic side of it; there is never a time where you don’t feel that Hibiki and Dita will be together. None of the others really had a chance in this department; the way everything is written they are all comfortable around the hero. His love interest is always predictable and even as a strong male character; none of the other women notice him beyond his will to fight. Yet as cliché as this part of the story may be, I cannot deny that I had quite a chuckle watching the two of them.

On the animation side of things, the art style is blended well with the 3D of the ships. The 3D animation is very well done in this show; normally you get very stiff characters and actions in 3D to Anime. But the animation was fluid enough and action packed with fast aerial dodges and deep space explosions that it was an enjoyment to watch. The characters themselves are very well done also, they aren’t amazingly detailed but they can hold their own in design. Like I said, the most notable thing is the 3D animation of the ships flying through space. The ample curves of the women on the ship are nicely done, but we’ve seen this type of stuff millions of times before.

In conclusion, both seasons of Vandread are very enjoyable. While not exactly bringing anything that new to the table of the Genre, it still holds its own in the comedy and action to keep you watching steadily. I recommend this one as something to pass the time, or if you just really enjoy action comedies. I say if you have the money go ahead and grab Vandread, you won’t be getting anything revolutionary but you’ll be entertained nonetheless.

Final Grade:

Story: Males and Females going to war with each other, it starts off as a very promising opener for a good storyline. Yet, not soon after does it turn into a cliché Shonen title after the first episode.

Video: Very nice 3D animation, ragtag male character designs and curvy beautiful females. (I think we’ve seen that before.)

Sound: The English dub for this one is very nicely done; the music and such is kind of iffy though. I think the most memorable song is the ending theme in the second season.

Overall: 3 Oro’s out of 5