Vandread, Vol. 3: Great Expectations (2000)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka
Directed by Takeshi Mori
Character Design by Kazuya Kuroda

Features:

• character design gallery
  
• textless openings
  
• commercials
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• jiggle factor high
• wassailing
• anti-feminist silliness

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: Nope. Presented letterboxed.

My Advice: Buy it for a laugh

Three new episodes continue the tale of the Nirvana and the human race, which has now been separated into different cultures and planets along gender lines.

In the first episode, “Impossible,” the crew of the Nirvana tries to further their attempts to return home, but Hibiki has just made matters worse by alienating a wicked peddler, who wants to steal the secrets of Dita and the Vandreads. The second episode, “More Barbaric than Heaven,” has the crew stocking up on supplies on a water planet. A native culture awaits the arrival of their mythical “Munya,” but when aliens actually attack, the Nirvana is caught in the middle. The highlight of this episode is the long-awaited combining of Jura and Hibiki’s crafts to form a Vandread. In the third episode, “White Love,” Christmas comes to the Nirvana, with hopes for a white Christmas and whimsical joy to spare.

The characters are getting more interesting as the series wears on. While I still have little idea what all these women see in Hibiki--okay, many of them have never seen a real man before, but Hibiki?!--at least it’s a bit more interesting now to see Jura and the other girls on the screen, even though Jura’s negative reaction to the shape of her Vandread is a bit overplayed and inexplicable. We get to see a bit more of the Captain in this batch, which is a great treat, as she and her first officer are developing into truly neat characters. I hope to see a great deal more of them in the future, along with the ship’s male doctor. Hibiki seems to still be struggling with himself and how he wants to deal with all of these women and his role as a fighter pilot. This is a shame, as it’s getting a bit tiresome, but it is quite amusing in places, as well.

The plots continue to be rather annoyingly gender stereotypical, which is all the more a shame since the rest of the series is so clever and funny. When the trader in the first episode arrives, his first idea is to sell the women cosmetics. It’s not clear why they feel they need such things or why they would go so crazy over make-up, but they do here. A gender-segregated theme is just waiting to be abused or hallowed and exploited for the possibilities; hopefully, this series will do less of the former and more of the latter as it wears on.

The audio and video here are excellent. The colors are all clear and saturated with no problems. The audio is wonderful, even when there is a battle going on or the music is rising.

The extras are a bit minimal, like the previous volumes of this series. There is a textless opening for each episode, which is nice, commercials, and a gallery of character drawings. The disc also comes with a couple of nice, foiled trading cards. Mine had Jura posed as the was on the cover for one of the cards, and the other card showed the crab Vandread that she creates with Hibiki.

In short, if you’ve been enjoying this series, you will be well-pleased with this disc. If you’ve been on the fence about this one, then this disc might convince you to give it another shot. These plots were interesting, and we get to see more of the secondary characters we’ve been wanting to get to know. Plus, maybe now Jura will cease her annoying pursuit of combining with Hibiki.