Vandread

In Vandread, men are from Mars and women are from Venus! Well, not quite. Technology has allowed mankind to colonize the entire Milky Way galaxy, and in one star system, the men and women live on two different planets, Taraak and Mejere. A bitter and very literal gender war rages, to the point where they don't even see each other as the sames species anymore!

Hibiki Tokai, a male third-class laborer from Taraak, ends up stuck on a battleship after a botched attempt at stealing a robot. When female pirates capture the Taraakian Vanguard, things don't look like they could get any worse for Hibiki. Unfortunately, they do; when the male crew of the Vanguard fire on their captured vessel out of desperation, they created a giant wormhole, which sucks the Vanguard and the Mejeran pirate's ships into itself! Now, stuck far away from their home planets, these men and women must learn to work together if they ever wish to make it back home.

Liebely, Dita Main

Kakazu, Yumi Japanese

Tokai, Hibiki Main

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Gisborn, Meia Main

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Elden, Jura Basil Main

Asakawa, Yuu Japanese

Orangello, Barnette Supporting

Neya, Michiko Japanese

Balblair, Parfet Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Pyoro Supporting

Iwata, Mitsuo Japanese

Rheingau, Gascogne Supporting

Asano, Mayumi Japanese

McFile, Duelo Supporting

Tasaka, Hideki Japanese

Calessa, Buzam A. Supporting

Soumi, Youko Japanese

Ikeguchi, Kazuhiko Producer

Nagata, Katsuharu Producer

Mori, Takeshi Director, Script, Storyboard, Planning, Original Creator

Tsuruoka, Youta Sound Director

Reviews

Nov 21, 2025

Eva_PhoenixAnime

Recommended

For an anime that’s over 25 years old, Vandread is such a hidden gem that I’m genuinely surprised no one talks about it anymore! This show blends mecha, space adventure, romance, sci-fi, and comedy into one addictive adventure. It’s hilarious thanks to the cast and their antics, thrilling because of the epic mecha battles and transformations, and surprisingly deep with themes of personal growth, identity, and how men and women need each other to survive, no matter the world they’re thrown into.

Firstly, the setting hooked me instantly. Humanity has left Earth and colonised other planets, but over time, men and women split and grew to ... hate each other. This creates not only a tense backdrop for our protagonist Hibiki, a young male with a mysterious past who you can’t help but root for, but also the perfect setup for comedy as he and the women attempt to co-exist on a spaceship full of secrets.

Secondly, Hibiki himself is a great protagonist. He starts off wanting to escape his boring life, and oh boy… does he ever. He ends up stranded on a female-run pirate ship with two other men. Here he’s forced to live with and battle along side the women he’s feared for so long, while also discovering who he is and what it truly means to be himself. Then we get the harem line-up: Dita, the main love interest who constantly chases Hibiki around; Meia, the stoic, hot-headed leader of the female pilots who wants nothing to do with the men; and Jura, the comedic-relief fanservice queen. But don’t let the main cast overshadow the amazing side characters, some of my favourite episodes are focused on them!

Now let’s talk about the mecha and ships, because they’re awesome. Hibiki’s mecha can combine with the women’s ships to create powerful fusion forms, and each combination has a unique design and fighting style. The main spaceship where much of the story unfolds is also super cool, and watching the men and women awkwardly learn to operate it together leads to some really funny moments.

And for an early-2000s anime? The visuals hold up shockingly well. The animation, especially in the battle scenes, is clean, energetic, and honestly puts some modern shows to shame. The CGI mechs look great, and the sound design is straight-up A+.
I can’t recommend Vandread enough. I stumbled upon it randomly and instantly fell in love, and I’m pretty sure you will too :D

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 5, 2021

vesheljinn

Mixed Feelings

tl;dr Was a very nostalgic series for me. Hoewever, now that I've taken the obligatory trip down memory lane, I kinda wish I hadn't. 5/10

Story - 5
Men and women fighting each other was a great concept when I was 8 - we all know the classic chant "BOYS WIN, GIRLS IN THE BIN!". However, 15 years later I sit here and think there's got to be more to do with this premise than what Vandread gave us. After this point was visited and abandoned for all intents and purposes, the real big bad of the show is fairly vague and 100% irredeemably evil. However, it ... doesn't seem much better or worse than an average silver age Spider-Man villain - looking at you Thumper. Though this all would be forgivable in my books for 20 minutes of midless entertainment. That is if I could watch it mindlessly.
Certain professions have certain delights ruined for them - in my case, studying physics, particularly relativity, has forever ruined sci-fi space travel and the concept of galactic empires. Some episodes make my physicist brain twist and tremble in pain (such as the Christmas special), while others are just mildly inconvenient. Nevertheless, I've seen worse.

Art - 8
Can't fault the art - all the ecchi parts look appropriately bouncy, the faces are expressive, and technology looks about as cartoony as you'd expect from any decent anime. I was genuinely surprised finding out that this anime is more than 20 years old at this point.

Sound - 6
No complaints here, nothing too offensive nor spectacular - apart from the ending which reminds me of trashy early 00's MTV pop and therefore is an automatic banger.

Characters - 5
Ibiki is the angsty protagonist, Dita is the simple-minded love interest/interested party, others are all side characters. Seen any anime with a good amount of ecchi elements? Cool, you've seen these characters before. As the series is episodic with a loose overarching plot, side character development takes place on a case by case basis each episode and is more or less forgotten by the time you watch the next one.

Enjoyment - 9
I must hate this anime, right? Nah, I fucking love it. Although I can't in good faith give it a higher overall rating than I have, I found going back to my primary school days and reliving my first ecchi experience as a full-grown weeb simply delectable. Your mileage may (and likely will) vary.

Overall - 5
Finishing the first series didn't feel as good as it did 15 years ago. Sitting in front of the closing credits for the 13th time in 3 days, vibing to the lovely tunes and images on my screen, I didn't really feel the same sense of awe and wonder that space anime tiddies brought to me back then. It's not that no anime tiddy will ever be the same, it's just that these particular sets of cartoon mammaries should have remained in my childhood memories.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 24, 2023

whiteflame55

Not Recommended

The series just doesn't know what it wants to be. It's all over the place in its efforts to build something resembling a cohesive story, trying its hand at multiple genres and doing none of them particularly well. The summary cut that is probably a better show just because it's more streamlined, particularly since I've heard that it evokes Gurren Lagann, and that's definitely in its favor. There are some elements of this that work, but it never gives them enough attention to make them more than side-notes, particularly the motives of the aliens who we have spent this whole season fighting. Just more faceless, ... nameless enemies, and the reveal that they were Earthlings feels kind of pointless without any context.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Vandread Episode 13 Discussion ShanaFlame - Nov 8, 2009	12 replies	by Eva_PhoenixAnime »» Nov 15, 3:32 AM
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