I bought this DVD set with trepidation, not really because I thought I wouldn’t like it or because I wasn’t sure whether or not I would hate how the action sequences were done COMPLETELY in CGI, but because it wasn’t released in the US yet.  The last time I bought a DVD that hadn’t yet been released in the US was when I bought Bastard!!, and boy oh boy was that an adventure in horrible subtitling.  Suffice to say, I ended up selling Bastard!! and buying the US version when it came out.  Well, it looks like the same thing happened with Vandread, but to a lesser degree.  The subtitling is better, even though there are still errors and the first few episodes are quite confusing, but sometimes while there is no talking, anime websites are advertised… goody.

            The story is this, men and women have been separated and now fear and dislike each other (most of them have never actually seen what the other looks like).  The men create a large fleet and devise a new weapon, crazy mecha with lots of guns and weapons, and go off to destroy the women.  The women kick their asses.  Anyway, a few of the men are ‘captured’ and begin to work with the women to… do something (subtitling issues cause me to be unsure of what the hell they’re really doing).  They are then confronted with a new, alien enemy who is bent on their destruction.  It goes on from there.

            The cel animation in Vandread is quite good and the CGI is excellent.  I wasn’t sure how I’d like the action since I’d heard it was all done in CGI (Re-Boot is good), but they did such a great job with it, that I’m quite glad they decided to go this route instead of using cel animation, which may have detracted from the action if the animation wasn’t VERY good.  As it is, the action is very fast paced and super double good.  Going along with that, the cel animation is above par and, somehow, doesn’t clash seem with the CGI, as I was afraid it would before I watched Vandread.

            The music is fast paced (if I remember correctly) during action and overall well done.  One problem I did have with the show was the idea that the men’s new mecha robot thing could combine with the women’s fighters to form super weapons.  I mean, how the hell does that work?  If you watch the show, you see the robot kind of go into a department in the fighter and suddenly the fighter transforms, sticking the fighter and mecha pilot in the same cockpit.  Oh well, I’m not too worried about it because the people in the show are as confused as I am about how this works, so I figure it’s one of those deals where we’re supposed to nod and smile.  Besides, from what happened in the last episode, I know there will actually be something to explain what the hell is going on (this involves the bad guys and the weapons they show up with at the end).  I also know that Vandread isn’t over.  I suspected this because they ended it so abruptly and with nothing resolved and then because I read that there is a Vandread 2 being made.

            All in all, it’s good fun with some good comedy and great action.

Genre - action/comedy/sci fi

Animation - very good animation and extraordinary cgi animation

Sub vs. Dub - the sub I have is fansubbed, which is a bad thing.  I'll have to decide whether or not it's horrible enough to warrant re-buying it when the show is released in the US

the Good - wonderful CGI, great action, some funny stuff (as far as I could translate from the bad subtitling), good animation, interesting plot

the Bad - unexplained stuff, bad subtitling (will be fixed when released in US), ends without closure (isn't a problem if you know there will be a sequal series, but...), a bit confusing (again because of the subtitles)

Overall - good stuff, I enjoyed it despite the bad subtitling, but I may have given it a higher rating if the subtitles had been better (it would have gone a long way to helping me understand what the hell was going on)