Revisiting Martian Successor Nadesico

Or "a dirge for Gai Daigoji"

Martian Successor Nadeisco is a Japanese animated TV series from 1996, and this is not a review. This is an article that got started when I realised how old my DVD of it was. A review would attempt to judge the subjective experience of it in objective terms. Here, its more a stream of consciousness affair, inspired by its TV tropes entry. I like the series a lot, I think more people should watch it, here's a few things in it I want to discuss. We good? OK.

Nadesico starts out with mysterious aliens known as the Jovian Lizards attacking Mars. It goes terribly for the human defenders. Civilians hiding in a bunker are then slaughtered off-screen, and Akito Tenkawa, the only survivor, screams as the gemstone around his neck glows brightly. Not many comedies start that way. Moving swiftly on.

Nadesico more usually starts with a 12 year old girl saying something cynical and dismissive, before the intro sequence starts. The intro theme features a lot of Gratuitous English, although I'm pretty sure it's parodic gibberish in Japanese too. Its amongst the best openings in 90's anime, but it's also a deliberate misrepresentation of what the show is. Thus begins the latest episode in a sprawling space opera that is actually a comedy more preoccupied with sending up its own genre. It's funny, both as parody and farce. And, as I've hinted at, it's also fond of mood whiplash and black comedy. At the risk of ruining a joke by explaining it, the concept runs along the following lines. Akito Tenkawa is a cook, and fate's plaything. He's basically got a superhero's backstory, and a case of PTSD. A chance encounter sees him meet a childhood friend, Yurika Misumaru, whom he believes would know why his parents were killed. Yurika is the captain of the Nadesico, a privately built battleship created by Nergal Heavy Industries. He joins the crew, looking for answers, only to fall into a robot's cockpit and save the day. So far, so mecha cliche. However, the Nadesico is full of people the regular military didn't want, not least if which is Yurika. She, despite her talents, has the emotional maturity of a toddler, and immediately pursues her childhood crush on Akito. What follows is not so much a love triangle, as a love polygon. Meanwhile, the comms officer is a voice actress, the helmsman is a former secretary built like a pornstar, the engineer joined to ditch his family, and the computer operator is that aforementioned 12 year old girl. It's a ship full of idiots and human resource reports waiting to happen. But I want to talk about just one idiot in particular, and from this point: HERE BE SPOILERS.

Jiro Yamada is an obnoxious blow-hard, who defines his entire existence around a childrens TV show of dubious quality. He's brash, immature, dismisses anyone not on his wavelength, and adopted the name of "Gai Daigoji" because his given name is basically John Smith in Japanese, and he's better than that. Like the vast majority of the cast, he's an idiot, but possibly the biggest idiot as he's the only mecha pilot I've ever seen break his leg while pissing about in the hangar bay. Regardless, we love him, because he's us. We've all been the obnoxious fan, evangelising about some obscure bit of tat, wanting desperately to share your obsession with someone. And more than that, he's so obviously enjoying himself. He's living out his fantasy, with every sign of enjoyment and total commitment to it. There is a sense of audacity, but also innocence. I would give anything to be as happy as this man. Then he dies. Not in combat, which I'm sure he would have been cool with, but through being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a senseless act of murder, killed by an escaping prisoner to prevent him raising the alarm. Jiro for his part is seemingly unarmed and unaware, shot with a pistol, and dying on the operating table. We love him because he was taken from us so violently, and suddenly. His last thought, which ends the episode, are the words, "I'm sorry, Miss Nanako, looks like I'm not gonna take you to the beach like I promised." The following episodes talk a lot about death, and how it gets treated in animes, and Jiro's passing becomes yet another strain on Akito's mental health. As he grieves, he watches the show Jiro loved so much, and encounters a death scene with the same line of dialogue Jiro thought as he bled out in the hangar. The dudes last thought was to pay homage to a pastiche of a 70's super robot show.


Goddamnit, Gai. You big, beautiful, stupid, nerd.

The series uses Gai's love, Gekiganger 3, as a commentary on both itself and a Greek Chorus. It shows how anime used to be, versus how it was after stuff like Gundam. It even uses it as the basis for a clipshow, where the Gekiganger characters mock the show for falling behind schedule, forming a meta möbius strip. But more importantly for today's discussion, Gekiganger is how we find out if these characters are or aren't fans. But let's put a pin in that for a moment, as we need more context. 

So, while mainly concerned with laughs and in-jokes, Nadesico does actually have a plot running in the background. Mostly, this is a framework to hang the parody on, something to provide the necessary explosions, and justification thereof. But it is there, and ultimately its as subversive in much the same way the humour is. Nergal Heavy Industries is an example of corporate greed and war profiteering, the titular Nadesico itself not being altruistic creation, if a warship can be such a thing(1). No, Nergal wants to reclaim Mars for its stockpiles of alien techno-gubbins. It turns out Nergal is not only as shady as balls, it also knows more about the aliens than they let on. So does the regular military. While the Jovians have only used unmanned weapons and seemingly made no declaration of war, thus obscuring their identities, they are in fact human. Actually exiles driven off Mars, and then erased from history. What was previously a just war of self-defence, proves to be as mucky as any other, with shades of grey everywhere. The crew does not take the news well, resulting in the end of at least one relationship, and a death by misadventure. What? Oh yes, this series is still a comedy. But now we find ourselves edging closer to its deeper point.

Here it is: the Jovian "Lizards" are fans of Gekigangar 3. An entire race of Jiro Yamadas. This makes them likeable as individuals, but the anime does not think this is a great idea. While affectionate in its parody, Nadesico is an argument against escapism, as evidenced by what happened to Gai, and what the Jovians actually are/do. The Jovians base their entire society around Gekigangar, taking on a religious fervour. Unfortunately, Gekiganger is a shallow puddle of cliches, plus the Jovians themselves were originally right-wing separatists. They view Earthlings as inherently evil monsters, while describing themselves as "The Superior Male Forces". Predictably, their attitude to women isn't great either, being something in between geeky embarrassment, and sexism disguised as veneration. The series isn't exactly woke, but the ladies in the cast are either bemused or insulted. If this is sounding anything at all like a certain modern fandom, perhaps one set in space with a historically black and white view of morality, yes, you'd be right. Everyone believes they are the rebels, not the empire(2), and Nadesico does not endorse this myopia. While the Jovians view themselves heroic protectors of life, they place little value on the lives of those opposing them, because they are the bad guys. Their leaders like it that way, and quite happy exploit that zealotry while being as cut-throat as Nergal. The most heartbreaking moment in the series is when the cast tries to broker peace following an actual anime convention, only for the Jovians dark side to be made obvious in the most brutal way possible. Yes, that's right, a convention, and while its spot-on as a depiction of such things, that episode ends very badly. They thought being fans would bridge the gap, and sadly fandom ultimately fails them, prompting Akito to reject Gekigangar. But, while presenting this tragedy to us, Nadesico also rejects cynicism and despair, remaining optimistic despite it all.

I may be reading too much into it, but the series stops short of blaming fandom, and the team of halfwits and weirdos that crews the Nadesico do ultimately win on their own terms. The ending sadly isn't as strong as the rest of the series, but at least its true to the tone of the work. In the final 3 or so episodes things get real, but it's not the depression grand tour that Evangelion and it's imitators took. Maybe the writers found themselves in a corner, and decided to go out with a bang. Things are definitely played with less humour, but then the series always did know when to take things seriously. And perhaps, mocking anime tropes only to play them straight for the climax is an example of having your cake and eating it too(3). But, remember the point I made about black and white morality above? You know which character brings that up in the final episodes? One of the series' few actual arseholes, someone whom was never a fan of Gekigangar, and preferred animes where both sides had realistic reasons to fight. He'd have a point, if he didn't immediately follow that with justifications for his own greed. Its not Gekiganger that's wrong, its us, and those power-brokers manipulating people. In this case, the long plans of a weapon manufacturer,an Earth Government trying to cover is own backside, and a political class defined by war. The crew of the Nadesico seem to know this, if not put that way, and they certainly don't accept it. After much faffing about, they opt to remove the actual reason for the war, the alien technology on Mars. And when presented with the option to undo everything via timeywhimey in the climax, the cast chooses not to. Instead, they choose to remember both the good & bad. You could almost say it was breaking a cycle, or something, given that so much aggro was caused by conspiracies to hide the truth and “pragmatic” thinking. It ends with them accepting Gekiganger 3 for what it was, and valuing the time they spent together, above erasing the past. Please don't ask me about the movie.

Meanwhile, everything descends into farce, plotholes appear, time travellers turn up, Yurika tries to detonate the ship, plotholes are called out, and Akito comments that the last episode of Gekiganger was terrible.

Conclusion
In my younger days, I liked Nadesico simply because it made me laugh. Later, because I recognised myself in it. And now, for all those things, plus its critique of fandom and what arguably counts as left wing politics. Perhaps it is just because I am old now, or maybe because time has changed its meaning. If you have to be a fan of something, you could do a lot worse than this.  Go watch the first episode dammit. 

Footnotes

1. I'd love to see a Marxist reading of the show.
2. Or in more Japanese terms, honestly believe the Republic of Zeon was fighting a war for independence, not a genocidal power grab.
3. Although, using that phrase makes me guilty of grammatical pedantry.

The Space Marine Problem

 

Or “how to ruin something through repetition”

This article is like the fifth iteration of an article that I write every time there's an editorial about Space Marines on BLOS, or a new rulebook for them is announced. And a new one has been. A completely new Space Marine codex was just revealed, with new units, the controversial Bolter Discipline rule, and a new rule giving them a bonus attack in the first round of combat. I have no actual reason to believe this will be less than a quality product. GW has been pretty good in 8^th edition, and nobody actually has this book in hand. So, fingers crossed. The thing is though, I do feel that a lot of unwarranted complaining has preceded this announcement, and I'd hate to think this was influencing the design process. To get my own bias up front, I play Orks, I basically could not run a shooty army until I got a codex, which was a long wait, but it was worth it(1). This means I only have, um, limited sympathy for people complaining about their army being flawed, when they were first in line for new releases. I also find this sort of article to be an unproductive and inherently negative use of my time, but once it's published, I can put it down, and move on. I have clouds to yell at. So lets get into this, The Space Marine Problem.

The Problem, as expressed by the Internet

Since 8^th edition launched there has been a general feeling that Space Marines are underpowered in some quarters. There is not a single issue highlighted, more a general feeling that things aren't right. Some point to the fact Marines now suffer penalties to their armour save, and are proportionally more vulnerable to Mortal Wounds. Some complain that bolters do not ignore armour saves of light infantry. Some feel that 8^th edition favours generally favours quantity over quality, as templates have been removed for simplicities sake. Some point to marines generally not being better performers in the tournament scene. Some point enviously at other factions, which may actually do something better than a marine. Some point at the open nature of 8^th ed allowing for things like “Imperial Soup”, where you mix and match and remove the unpopular beakies. Stuff like regular Tactical Marines have been unpopular for a while, often ignored in favour of the cheaper Scouts. As I say, its rarely one agreed complaint. Meanwhile, the response from people not currently playing a Marine faction is along the lines of “What? You've been the company favourite forever, adapt.” None of viewpoints are completely without merit, some more than others TBH, but its ultimately missing The Space Marine Problem.

What's Actually Wrong

So, here's the actual problem. Its not a matter of how this faction in all its variety is designed, nor of game mechanics, its more appearances. Space Marines are described as the best of the best, the closest thing the setting has to superheroes, rare and special. They are positioned as the starter army, with 40K designed around them. They have also become, over time, a majority of the forces in the game. This has created something of a conflict between their key concepts and how to play. Tactics 101? Tool your army to murder Space Marines, and you'll probably be OK. However, there is an unavoidable assumption that Marines should be the best army, special, but they absolutely cannot be that and ubiquitous at the same time. Sliced bread is pretty amazing, objectively, but do you care since its everywhere? This is not a problem of things being underpowered, this is a problem of mediocrity through over-exposure. If, say, Astra Militarium was the defacto default and given the same focus, Marines would look utterly spectacular in the comparison. The rules as they are do back that up. If we go straight to the bottom and compare Conscripts with Tactical Marines, the beakies trounce the cannon fodder. Some stats are actually double, nothing is worse, and the area where the beakies match the plebs is foot speed. You do pay for this, but well, you should, shouldn't you?(2) Actually competent Guardsmen fair a little better, but it's still a case where there is an overt gap in capabilities. So why don't we judge Marines higher in the army rankings? Why are they reputedly poor performers in tournaments? It certainly not because they lack in other areas, they are very well-supported. It's because everything else is judged against them as a baseline, and everyone knows how to beat them. This is The Space Marine Problem, and it will not be solved by just making units “better”, or applying an army-wide special rule, as GW seems to be doing.

The Why
This is ultimately a problem of GWs own making. They always favoured beakies, but things didn't really get out of hand until 3rd edition, an admittedly bloody long time ago, but there we are. It was during this period GW favoured the "mini-dex" concept where there was a single major Beakie codex which would receive a supplement to make more specific chapters. This grew into the Index Astartes series of articles, and is the forerunner to army variants found in the modern 8th Ed codex, although it would take 20 odd years before this applied to everyone. GW now had an easy to do a 40k release, just to apply a new special rule to the Marines and add a new model or three , and you're done. Easy money in the sort term. The long term effect was that Marines became the default, these new armies pushed non-beakies to the back of the queue for support, and marine players would begin to squabble jealously over who got what hat. Each subset of the Marine faction assumes, on some level, that they are the best Marines and there's such overlap between them. The first codex the Blood Angels got was shared with the Dark Angels. Does every first founding chapter/legion deserve its own book? Should Deathwatch be its own thing? Should maybe they and Grey Knights be under the Inquisition banner? With so much overlap in rules and models, does this not become like picking between flavours of potato crisp? If, just if, GW had been more restrained, this would be less of an issue. And now, things have gone full circle, with the mini-dex concept returning for this new release. 

To their credit, GW has demonstrated the self-awareness to address these problems, as there's evidence of it long term. Notably, the Black Templars and Salamanders got rolled back into the main Marine rules, and it would be hard to argue with a straight-face that Space Wolves aren't their own thing. Their most recent attempt is the entire Primaris concept, which is proving to be something of a long term revamp of the army from the foundations up. Its too early to say if this will work, and speculation enters the realm of tinfoil hats and chemtrails. On the one hand, this would bring Beakies closer towards their fictional depictions, but what its mainly done so far is highlight the “weaknesses” of the traditional Marine. Almost, as if, GW wants Marine fans to buy a completely new army? Right now, what they mainly do though is add yet more units to a faction already very well-equipped to the point of redundancy. It is FAR too early to tell what the new Codex will mean for the faction, but if they are getting a new bonus rule for the Fight Phase, one hopes for a price increase. Even so, none of this doesn't actually address The Space Marine Problem. Should GW update all Space Marine factions to Primaris, or otherwise rebalance things with their new codex, that would leave us in exactly the same position of beakie over-exposure, and potentially over-correcting versus other factions. Remember, the tactics you would use to defeat Primaris are the same as other forms beakies; they are good, but they are still ultimately a small/quality force with no special resistances to anti-tank guns and Mortal Wound effects. They are fated to be the new average.

The Solution

I dunno, is there one? Fanbases are notoriously hard to please. One possibility I've already hinted at is to put the toothpaste back in the tube, and simply release marines less often. Yes, they sell, but that's confirmation bias at work. If only marines are sold, only marines sell. Let the diehards have the Horus Heresy setting, and start amalgamating these chaps into omnibuses. If this seems unfair, well, its still more in the way of spin-offs than your average Xenos race gets. Alternatively, people could gain some self-awareness and realise how “first world problems” this all is and accept Marines can't be the entire game. But that's probably even less likely than the first solution. Whatever, I'm done being grumpy now.....

Mind you, I'd loot this walker.

Foot notes

1. Then there was the 7^th ed book, but lets not get sidetracked.
2. If you think the answer is “no”, maybe you should stop reading.