Title:
Amazing Nurse Nanako Vol.3 - The Last Spiral |
Format:
Bilingual DVD
2 episodes
60 minutes |
Production:
Pioneer LDC
Radix
Genco
Save Our Nurse Project
Hiroshi Negishi
New Generation Pictures |
Comments:
The pay-off is well worth the price of admission. |
| Overall Rating: |
A- |
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Animefringe Reviews:
Amazing Nurse Nanako Vol.3 - The Last Spiral DVD
By Adam "OMEGA" Arnold
"You are just collateral for your parents debt." - Dr. Ogami
It's been a nice romp and I'm sad to see such an original show like Amazing Nurse Nanako come to a conclusion. But, with every anime that ends, there's another one right around the corner waiting to be watched and dissected. Nanako is one of those shows that I sure won't be forgetting any time soon -- and not just because of the fan service...
Episode 5's highlight isn't the many revelations and numbing action sequences. No, it's seeing Nanako's plight when faced with the fact she has to lighten the plane that Doctor Kyoji Ogami has hijacked in order to avoid crashing into something. Witness Nanako as she throws out everything she possibly can including grenades, missiles, and even some clothing -- all in the hopes of reducing weight. Thing is, nothing's ever good enough for Kyoji and out goes Nanako!
Aside from the Nanako fan service, there are also a few interesting cameos of products and movies to be on the look out for -- such as the appearance of a certain famous archeologist who sports a whip and a trademark hat in the opening credits of episode 5 and the magazine Hobby Japan in the final episode.
Episode 6, The Last Spiral, is a non-stop romp around the Nanakoverse as all the mysteries, the lies, the bouncing breasts, all come boiling over the sides of the pot in the later part of the episode. I would say more about project Green, but the Vatican has 50 soldiers with assault rifles pointed at me right now as I type this.
Being a fan of conspiracy-based shows, Nanako serves as a catalyst that posses the questions that I had only pondered as a possibility. But, actually seeing such a well-planned-out root system that weaves itself through everything from the American Government to the Vatican to Nanako herself, it's amazing to wonder about the planning that the story must have gone through to devise such a well-crafted collage of images -- and have it tie together so flawlessly in the end.
The episodes themselves are divided into several mini-stories. Certain portions are action-filled with loud machine gun fire, while others are more mysterious and conspiracy-laden to advance the plot, and others quiet and flashing back to the past. In fact, when the actual operation begins, the show really makes you ponder all the technical and scientific things that are being spouted. It's like sitting in a college course with an extremely well-endowed female professor.
As I have mentioned before in reviews of the previous volumes of Nanako, the dub voices really make the show more enjoyable. In fact, to this day I still can quote Nanako's hilarious 'fish speech' when she first made her appearance in episode one. For this reason, Nanako's English voice actress, Mariah Martin, steals the show with her constantly cute and over-the-top performance.
It's worth mentioning that a lot of the scenes in these final two episodes have varying pitch levels where one scene has soft-spoken dialogue and others involve sharply-contrasting loud sound effects. I found myself constantly grabbing the remote to lower the volume of my Dolby system.
Aside from that, the final volume of Nanako also makes another attempt at the ending credits subtitles. Where the first volume lacked any subtitles, the second volume allowed the user to turn them on an off via the subtitle track. Well, the third volume has the ending song subtitles rendered directly onto the video stream as the credits roll.
Extra-wise, the disc sports the same great layout as the past two discs and includes a series of character sketches and the final episode's credit sequence (which the box incorrectly identifies as 'Nanakotronic') without any text to obstruct the picture. There is also a final character standee of Nanako in skimpy army fatigues.
Filled with conspiracy theory, cultural eye-candy, and tons of fan service, the final two episodes of Amazing Nurse Nanako are a fitting ending to one of the most original series out there. I'm still at a loss for words on that Venus 2000 revelation though...
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