Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture – Prince of Darkness

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Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture – Prince of Darkness (機動戦艦ナデシコ -The prince of darkness-, Kidō Senkan Nadeshiko -Za purinsu obu dākunesu-), also known as Prince of Darkness Nadesico or Nadesico the Movie: Prince of Darkness, is a 1998

Most of the original Nadesico crew return in order to prevent the Earth from experiencing another war. Some of the crew have undergone slight changes; the Aestivalis pilot Ryoko now sports her naturally black hair color, but others (such as the pun-loving Izumi) have not changed at all. Two new crew members from Nadesico B join the original Nadesico crew, the first is a young boy named Ensign Hari Makibi, who like Ruri is a genetically engineered prodigy and has exceptional control over machines. The second is Saburota Takasugi, a former member of the Jovian Federation Defense Force who now serves as the Nadesico B's Tactical Officer, unlike other Jovian's who are generally chivalrous and very respectful of women, Saburota is something of a womanizer.

While at Akito's Grave (it had been two years since Akito's disappearance) Ruri discovers that Akito is still alive. Akito explains that he and Yurika had been captured, while conducting Boson Jumping experiments by the Martian Successors. Akito had been tortured, his brain severely effected to the point of not being able to taste anything (thus being unable to cook) and his skin shining white like a comic book.

Akito gives Ruri his recipe for Ramen Noodles as a way to remember the person he used to be. Akito leaves after fighting the Martian Successors and obtains a high powered battleship from Nergal in order to go to Mars and Rescue Yurika, The Nadesico C also heads to Mars intent on arresting the Martian Successors. After fighting and killing the Martian Successors leader Akito is able to rescue Yurika, meanwhile after taking control of all the Martian Successors' computers, Ruri is able to disable their weapons and force the Successors to surrender. Following their victory Akito departs, not wanting Yurika (who was regaining her consciousness) or anyone else to see how he has changed. When asked by Ryoko if they should go after Akito, Ruri says that Akito will return eventually and if he doesn't then she would go and find him personally because Akito was an important person to them all.

Companion game

Nadesico: The Blank of Three Years, a video game for the Sega Saturn, was released September 23, 1998, one month after Prince of Darkness hit theaters. The game takes place immediately after the TV series ends, and before the movie begins, filling in on details that leads up to the plot of the movie. However, the game was never translated and released outside Japan.

Characters

Crew of the Nadesico-B

• Lieutenant Commander
  Ruri Hoshino - now sixteen, Ruri is the captain of the Nadesico-B and idolised by much of the military as the Electronic Fairy. She is glad to see Akito is still alive, but hurt to see how much he's changed. She views new crewmate Hari (a product, like her, of genetic engineering) as a younger brother. Her first name refers to 瑠璃 (Ruri, "lapis lazuli
  ").
• Ensign
  Infinite Life Sutra
  .
• Saburota Takasugi (Shin-ichiro Miki)- previously seen as an officer in the Jovian Federation, Saburota is now a First Lieutenant in the UESF, and serves as Ruri's Tactical Officer. He has dyed his hair blond.

Other members of the Unified Forces

• Commander
  Jun Aoi - now captain of his own ship (the UESF 3rd Fleet battleship Amaryllis
  ), Jun has grown but is still completely overwhelmed by the personalities around him. In particular, he is bullied by Yukina into letting her join the Nadesico-C's mission.

• Akito Tenkawa
  - thought to be dead, Akito proves to be the Prince of Darkness of the title. One of many Class A Jumpers abducted by the Martian Successors, he was subjected to experiments that have damaged his body, destroyed his sense of taste (a terrible fate for a cook), and hardened his personality; he has no compunction about killing those who block his mission to rescue Yurika.
• Lapis Lazuli (Yukie Nakama) - A young girl with long, ice-blue hair. Lapis is another product of Nergal's labs, created with the hopes of re-creating the success of Ruri Hoshino, and is part of the One-Man, One-Ship Project. When the Martian Successors betrayed Nergal, Lapis was among those abducted and was experimented on. The experiments ended up destroying her ability to feel emotions. Lapis was later rescued during a rescue operation conducted by Nergal, and given the Nergal-designed Corvette Eucharis, which she controls entirely on her own. Lapis later becomes partnered with Akito, and together, supplements their destroyed senses. (Her name refers to the blue gem, lapis lazuli.)
• Yurika Misumaru - also thought killed during jumping trials, Yurika was another abductee. The Martian Successors have fused her with the Ruin that controls all Boson
  Jumps, giving them an unprecedented level of control. Her rescue is the key objective of both Akito and the Nadesico-C's mission.
• Inez Fressange
  - generally believed to be dead, Inez was actually hidden as a Nergal subterfuge when the abduction of Class A Jumpers became apparent. She rejoins when the Nadesico-C is launched, and is key to jumping it to the final confrontation on Mars.

External links

• Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture – Prince of Darkness (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Animerica preview/review