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Vandread: Difference between revisions
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An examination of gender politics and cultural divisions played out as a [[Space Opera]] [[Mecha Show]]...no, really.
In the far-flung future, there are a pair of colony worlds: ''Tarak'' and ''Mejale'', locked in a constant state of [[Space Cold War]].
Tarak is the Orwellian, industrial, militarized planet of men. All food is synthetic, flavorless pills. [[Rated "M" for Manly|All public gatherings are related to sports, marching, and being manly]]. Everyone wears a uniform. [[Cloning Blues|Babies are made by merging your genes with those of your buddies in a factory]], and they are raised by dedicated orphanages/schools.
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The story follows a young man named Hibiki Tokai, a factory worker from Tarak who wants more than anything to be a mecha pilot. When his attempt to steal a [[Humongous Mecha]] get him thrown into the brig of reconstructed battleship, things seem to be looking down...until the ship gets attacked by [[Space Pirates]], and Hibiki, a [[Bishonen]] doctor, a cowardly officer and a malfunctioning robot wind up as prisoners on a ship full of women. [[Rock Bottom|Things couldn't possibly get any worse]].
That's when the pirates find themselves stranded on the far end of the galaxy, with a mysterious alien force out to kill them. But, as a result of some serious [[Plot Technology]], the pirate vessel merges with the men's starship, and one of the "Vanguard" mecha and three of the pirates' "Dread" fighters are altered. The Vanguard, piloted by Hibiki, can combine with any of the three Dreads into a form with amazing abilities.
All of the sudden, Hibiki's the focus of [[The Unwanted Harem|three girls with different personalities]] whom all want to try and "merge" with him. Of course, [[Het Is Ew|none of them have any concept of heterosexuality]], and Hibiki doesn't even seem to know about ''any'' sexuality. They clumsily rediscover their biological imperatives as they fight a mysterious shadow enemy across the universe.
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* [[Cool Old Lady]]: Magno Vivan.
* [[Cool Starship]] (Nirvana, obviously. Not to mention the massive and terrifying Harvester motherships)
* [[Covers Always Lie]] Adverted for the most part but that [[Dark-Skinned Redhead]] on the complete boxset? She appears in the last two episodes despite it looking like she's a main character.
* [[Cosplay Otaku Girl]] (Celtic wears a costume even while on duty, but that's just to protect herself from nasty boy germs)
** Only in the first season. Second Stage has her in a different costume each episode, none of them terribly "protective".
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** Then again, there is only ''one'' depicted lesbian pair, and half of that one is [[Bi the Way|after Hibiki]].
*** There's also one other, but we don't get to meet Ezra's Ouma until the penultimate episode, as she was left on Mejale Yup, this is still very much a [[Seinen]] fantasy
*** Still one more: There's also Meia's parents in her flashback, though her Ouma was kind of butch. The flashbacks also shown that Meia's had a lover or two during her troubled period.
*** It seems actually pretty safe to figure that ''most'' of the Mejale women ''are'' lesbians (or [[No Bisexuals|Bisexuals with no other option]]); the one who is after Hibiki seems to be drawn to the...novelty of having babies that way, sort of the equivalent of a modern lesbian asking a guy to be her sperm donor. Besides, it'd be a rather ''different'' sort of series if it spent much time on the sexual implications of [[One-Gender Race|One Gender Races]].
* [[Disney Death]] ( {{spoiler|Gascogne. She gets better}})
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* [[Evolving Credits]]
* [[Everyone Can See It]]: No one seems to object to Dita constantly smothering Hibiki, and every time someone brings this trope up, he [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|vehemently denies it.]]
* [[Eyes Always Shut]] (Ezra)
** Averted? She opens her eyes once after giving birth for a few seconds.
* [[Eyecatch]]: Usually shows Jura, Dita, Meia, or Hibiki and their respective mechs. Season two usually shows their combo forms along with the respective pilots.
* [[Fantastic Racism|Fantastic Sexism]]: Due to their upbringing, the men of Tarak and the women of Mejale have been led to believe that the other is a demonic monster hellbent on destroying them.
* [[First Girl Wins]]: Not that she would allow any rivals anyway.
* [[Flash Step]] Vandread Meia can do this.
* [[Forgotten Birthday]]: Subverted. They TRY the whole "pretend everything is normal"-thing on Meia. She sees through them instantly, and when Misty ask why everyone is acting funny, Meia explains that tomorrow is her birthday. So, instead, they they start making plans on how they manage to keep her from hiding from the party...
* [[Gainaxing]]
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* [[Genki Girl]]: Dita, especially around Hibiki.
* [[Girl in a Box]] (How the crew finds Misty)
* [[Girls Have Cooties]] (Inverted with the aforementioned Celtic)
* [[Giver of Lame Names]]: Pyoro, who gives Ezra's baby the name "Pyoro 2", and calls the Super Vandread "Vandread Pyoro". None of the other characters are too fond of them.
* [[Gondor Calls for Aid]] (Actually, they came unbidden)
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** {{spoiler|Actually, it is subverted, she survived and repaired the defeated ship, now under her control.}}
* [[Het Is Ew]] (In the [[Christmas Episode]], everyone except Dita had this reaction to the video showing a man-woman couple and their daughter)
** Everyone except Dita and Hibiki. Hibiki was more subdued than Dita, but you can tell he liked the idea.
* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]] (What we have here... [[Hiroyuki Yoshino|Hibiki]]: [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|(H)Allelujah Haptism]], [[Yumi Kakazu|Dita]]: [[Super Robot Wars|Seolla Schweitzer]], [[Fumiko Orikasa|Meia]]: [[Bleach|Kuchiki Rukia]], [[Yuu Asakawa|Jura]]: [[Fate/stay night|Rider]], [[Michiko Neya|Barnette]]: [[Full Metal Panic!|Melissa Mao]], [[Tomokazu Seki|Bart]]: [[Nadesico|Gai Daigoji]])
** English Version: (Once again, many, [[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex|Togusa]]: {{spoiler|(Guy!BC)}}, [[Blaz Blue|Bang Shishigami]]: (Hibiki), [[Magic Knight Rayearth|Hikaru Shidou]]: (Dita), [[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex|The Major]]: (Jura), [[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex|Batou]]: (Kokoperi), [[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya|Yuki Nagato]] (Belvedere Coco), [[Digimon Tamers|Yamaki]] (Duelo) [[Digimon Tamers|Renamon]] (Gascogne) and many more... )
* [[His Quirk Lives On]]: when {{spoiler|it looks like Gascogne}} dies by [[Heroic Sacrifice]], Barnette volunteers to take over her job, and adopts her signature clothing style and some mannerisms.
* [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum]] (Hibiki; just ''combine'' with someone already and get it over with!)
* [[Hot Shounen Mom]] (Ezra, once she gives birth anyway)
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* [[Important Haircut]] ({{spoiler|Bart}})
** {{spoiler|[[Bald of Awesome]]}}
* [[
* [[Incendiary Exponent]]
* [[Instant AI, Just Add Water]] (Arguably, this along with the Paksis is what happened to Pyoro to bring him from [[Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence|brick to human-level sentience]].)
* [[Instant Expert]] - Characters seem to be able to pilot completely unfamiliar ships and mechs flawlessly despite having no experience in their operation.
** Subverted (albeit briefly) when Hibiki first pilots his Vanguard.
*** Or when the Woman first pilot the Vanguards, or when Hibiki uses his Vanguard on a planet's surface (with gravity) for the first time, or when he first combines with Jura, all giving them at least some problems for a few scenes.
* [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] (The Paksis, both the one on the Nirvana and {{spoiler|the one controlling the Harvester fleet}})
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* [[Mid-Season Upgrade]]: Bart manages to give the Nirvana a [[Beam Spam]] attack in the second season, and the Super Vandread shows up as well, merging all the girl's Dreads with Hibiki's Vanguard.
* [[Mission Control]]: BC usually performs this role, but Magno sometimes assists or takes command.
* [[The Mothership]]
* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: Practically every female character but the captain.
** In hindsight, {{spoiler|BC probably doesn't count anymore. Unless that's your thing of course...}}.
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* [[Sentient Phlebotinum]] (The Paksis is eventually revealed to be this, explaining a lot of really weird events earlier in the series.)
* [[She Is Not My Girlfriend]]: Hibiki vehemently invokes this trope anytime others mention how close he is with Dita. Dita likes to think otherwise however.
* [[Shout-Out]]: When Dita first meets Hibiki, she does the handmotion from [[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]] (goes with the Bah bi bah bom baaaaaaa). Also, there's a poster for the show on the wall in her room.
* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]
* [[Sitch Sexuality]]: Most of the women hate men as the enemy, but as the series progresses, many of them seem to have been in same-sex relationships due to a lack of options rather than preference. It also seems as though none of the men on Tarak pair off (this is, after all, a ''[[Seinen]]'' fantasy show, not a [[Yaoi Guys|shonen-ai]] vehicle).
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* [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] (The Paksis)
* [[Supporting Harem]]: While Meia doesn't seem romantically interested in Hibiki, Dita, Jura, and Misty all seem to want him at one point or another. Jura's seems more like [[The Tease]], but Misty and Dita eventually butt heads about their rivalry regarding Hibiki.
* [[Synchronization]] (Bart and the Nirvana)
* [[Telepathic Spacemen]]
* [[The Three Faces of Eve]]: Dita (child), Meia (wife), Jura (seductress)
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