The Candidate for Goddess – The 2000 anime series
The Candidate for Goddess (Japanese title: 女神候補生, Hepburn: Megami Kohosei , lit . “Goddess Cadet”) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yukiru Sugisaki. The series takes place in the distant future, where humans live among space colonies on a single habitable planet called Zion. The plot follows Zero Enna and his fellow candidates as they try to prove themselves worthy of piloting the "Ingrids", also called "Dee". These gigantic humanoid weapons are humanity's only significant defense against a hostile alien threat known as the "Victim".
The Candidate for Goddess was serialized in Wani Books Comic Gum monthly magazine. A total of 26 chapters were collected into five tankōbon (volumes) and released between 1997 and 2001. The manga was later translated into English and released in North America by Tokyopop and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. The Candidate for Goddess was adapted into a 12-episode anime series directed by Mitsuru Hongo and produced by Xebec, which was a subsidiary of Production IG. The adaptation aired on Japan's NHK BS2 satellite channel in early 2000. The anime series, titled Pilot Candidates for its North American release, it aired briefly on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in 2002. An original video animation (OVA), serving as the thirteenth episode, aired in Japan in 2002.
Since the debut of The Candidate for Goddess on Japanese television, a limited number of CDs and artbook illustrations for the series were released. The overall reception for The Candidate for Goddess it was mediocre. While its animation was generally praised, its complex storyline, compounded by its very short length, was met with mixed reviews. Reviewers were dismayed by the lack of story closure at the end of the television episodes and even its OVA extension.
History
The series Candidate for Goddess takes place a millennium after the star year 4084, when a cataclysmic event called the "Crisis of Systems" resulted in the annihilation of four planetary systems. Since Zion is the only remaining planet with the capacity to support human life, humanity must cling to life in space colonies. Now, in the star year 5030, Zion is under constant threat of invasion by extraterrestrial life forms dubbed the "Victim" (犠牲者, Giseisha ). To combat their alien enemies, humans have developed a quintet of giant, mechanized weapons called "Ingrids", or "Dee" due to their female, humanoid resemblance. A school called the "Goddess Operation Academy (GOA)" is established to train the specific few who have the ability to pilot the Ingrids. They are typically young men and must meet several requirements: they must be in good health, they must be 14 to 16 years of age, they must have an EO blood type, and they must possess the potential for “EX,” superhuman abilities that secondarily connect nerves of the pilot to Ingrid's interface. Since the EX is physically and mentally taxing on the pilot, the replacements must be eliminated by the GOA within a reasonable amount of time. [4]Each pilot is also paired with a female fixer, who maintains the Ingrid and manually blocks painful feedback from the Ingrid to the pilot during missions.
The plot of The Candidate for Goddess focuses primarily on Zero Enna, a brash trainee who has recently left the home life of the colony with his mother to pursue his dream of becoming an Ingrid pilot. Shortly after arriving at GOA, Zero becomes lost and unconsciously called to a hangar by a mysterious voice, suddenly finding himself inside the cockpit of one of the Ingrids just before a victim attack. Since each Ingrid is specifically calibrated for their pilot, this would normally mean death. However, the Goddess instead plugs into Zero's nervous system and physically shows herself to him in a vision. After a few moments, Ingrid ends the bond with Zero, and is freed by Ingrid's pilot, who then takes him into battle with the Victim. Zero is rushed unconscious to the academy infirmary.
Anime series
Twelve episodes of The Candidate for Goddess , starting with "Curriculum 00" and ending with "Curriculum 11", were broadcast on Japanese satellite channel NHK BS2 from January 10 to March 27, 2000. Bandai released the series on four volumes on DVD from April 25 to July 25, 2000 The thirteenth episode was released directly to DVD as an OVA in Japan on May 25, 2002 as Special Curriculum: The Candidate for Goddess . A DVD box set titled Emotion the Best: The Candidate for Goddess was released by Bandai Visual in Japan on April 22, 2011 and includes all 12 episodes of the broadcast plus the OVA.
In early 2001, Bandai Entertainment acquired the North American distribution rights to The Candidate for Goddess with plans to air the series on Cartoon Network. An English dub was completed by Mix Magic, Inc. in Hollywood, CA. According to Bandai's Jerry Chu, the series has been rebranded Pilot Candidates because the company wanted to move away from the term "goddess" for the sake of Cartoon Network and because they believed the new title was more descriptive of the series. The channel had originally intended to air the series on its popular afternoon anime block Toonami that fall, and had considered including a reversible cover or alternate-angle intro animation with the original title if fans so they required. However, the anime was delayed and eventually premiered on the Saturday Adult Swim late night block on February 24, 2002. Despite airing in the more mature programming list, Pilot Candidates it was censored, including the removal of nudity, violence, tobacco use, and religious references. This was likely due in part to the fact that it was originally intended for Toonami and the episodes had already been completed with the demographics intended to be children. Four DVDs containing the series were released in North American stores between November 1, 2001 and May 21, 2002. All twelve episodes of the series were released in the box set Pilot Candidate Complete Collection on October 11, 2005. On March 8, 2016, Discotek Media had announced the licensing of the series and unreleased OVA to be released on June 28, 2016.
Technical data
Manga
Author Yukiru Sugisaki
Editor Wani Books
Magazine Comic Gum
Target seinen
1 edition 1997 – 2001
Tankōbon 5 (complete)
Anime TV series
Regia Mitsuru Mushroom
Char. design Shinichi Yamaoka
Mechanical design Shingo Takeba, Junya Ishigaki
Music omoyuki Asakawa
Studio Xebec
Network NHK
1st TV January 10 - March 27, 2000
Episodes 12 (complete)
Duration ep. 23 min
