VanDread Episode Rating Graph

Combined, the fleet of ships continues to destroy ship after ship of the harvest fleet. But the Main Mothership is another story, and even the combined Super Vandread is no match for it. With Hibiki captured by the leader of the Earth Harvest fleet, and the Dreads similarly restrained, all looks lost. But as the leader of the Harvest may find, it will take a lot more than a few wounds and losses to keep Hibiki and his friends down. With one last strike, Earth intends to end all resistance...and it may take the combined might of everyone with the will to live to stop the Harvest fleet once and for all.

It's Christmas time on the Nirvana, which results in confusion for the guys and excitement for the women - even Magno. BC is the only one to stay at her station, and she just might find something strange in the comet that happens to be passing by. Meanwhile, when Hibiki and the other guys find an old video that shows a family celebrating Christmas together, they are startled to see that it shows man and woman living under the same roof! The source of the men's problems is not the contents of the video, however - they've just found out that gift-giving is part of the Christmas custom, and they all have only a few scarce hours before having to do it!

The crew of the Nirvana come across a planet that is almost completely covered in water. There is one island on the planet, but before they have time to investigate they must face cubed shaped opponents. Jura is as determined as ever to unite with Hibiki, and this is the perfect opportunity for her to do so - although the result may not be what she was necessarily expecting. As Hibiki and Jura crash onto the surface of the planet, the Captain and B.C. go down to investigate, and meet the locals, who seem to be willing to be harvested by the Harvest fleet. Meia and Dita try to desperately hold off the new Harvest fleet ship that is approaching the planet, but it may take Hibiki to motivate an extremely depressed Jura to fight in the new Vandread in order to save everyone.

With the Nirvana back on track, all that is left now is to defend Tarak and Mejale from harvesting. But the Nirvana and the veteran pirate ship with it might not even be close to being able to fight off three or four motherships. It has come time to unite the two cultures in battle against the one, true enemy that threatens them all, but it may take Hibiki and his newfound knowledge about proving one's own existence to motivate them all to join the final battle against Earth's Harvest fleet.

Hibiki finds himself captured by a ship full of women after being abandoned by his fellow citizens, with the exception of two other unlucky men - Bart Garsus, a cowardly, self-proclaimed ""helmsman"" and Duero, a highly educated student who had become a doctor on a whim to stay alive. Things look pretty dire for the men - but while the pirates are deciding about the fate of their new male prisoners, a mysterious enemy begins an attack on them. Now, in a life or death battle, everyone, even the men, must work to escape this new threat. Bart manages to weasel his way into piloting the ship (even though he has no idea how to), and Duero makes use of his medical skills. A despondent Hibiki, left without anything to contribute, feels that he can do nothing to change his pathetic existence - that is, until the vice-commander gives him some words that he will soon not forget...

The threat is past, but the new ship is unstable, leaving the crew baffled at how to operate it. One by one, the men are taken from their cells in order to try to help out with the repairs of the ship. However, there may be no time for lounging around, as Dita and Gascogne go missing on a supply and information-gathering mission, and the ship plunges into a nebula and asteroid field that threatens to tear the ship apart. It's left to the crew to once again work together to overcome their difficulties. In the aftermath, the crew discovers that it will take 270 days to get home, as they have been thrown to a remote part of space. With this new knowledge, the men and women realize that working together is a necessity to get themselves home.

The Nirvana comes upon another Mission, though the inhabitants are decidedly hostile and use a law of ""take what you want by force"" in order to survive. Hand to hand combat is the only way to prove the Nirvana crew's strength, and BC, as the highest ranking officer on the away team, chooses to fight in order to prove the Nirvana's good will. The enemy, however, isn't about to stop for a simple fight, and the Mission becomes infested by Harvest fleet units. With energy weapons useless against these new enemies, Barnette's antique gun selection using old fashioned ""bullets"" may be the only thing to keep the Mission from being harvested, although an old acquaintance may make an appearance as well...

Now that things have calmed down relatively, Hibiki now discovers that he still has a major problem - Dita, who still is very interested in him, and whose highly curious actions are starting to get on his nerves. Hibiki having no experience with dealing with women, is at a loss with what to do about the situation, and ends up inadvertantly hurting Dita's feelings. In a rare moment of depression, Dita goes so far as not to talk to Hibiki and state that in battle she won't even combine with his Vandread. The rift may seem impossible to bridge, but Hibiki even goes to Gascogne for advice on what to do. Dita begins to realize that her feelings for Hibiki may go beyond simple curiosity, but hopefully it won't be too late to forgive and forget...

A very vivid and horrifying nightmare plagues not only Hibiki, but also Dita, Meia, and Jura as well. While they struggle to figure out the meaning of this strange dream, a mysterious pod appears which the Harvest fleet seems to have a vested interest in. Deciding to capture the pod, the Nirvana launches its pilots to retrieve it - but when the events of the nightmare repeat themselves, Hibiki and the others must do whatever they can to make sure that their nightmare doesn't turn into a chilling reality. The contents of the pod, meanwhile, may prove to make things more interesting on the Nirvana than ever.

Things are getting even more hostile on board the Nirvana, as the women vow never to depend on the men again for help. Rabat helpfully returns Hibiki after his ordeal battling against the aliens, but is immediately jailed with the other men for his trouble. Despite Meia and Magno's objections, Barnette and the rest of the women are still determined to fight the Harvest fleet mothership without Hibiki or the other men. With no navigation possible for the Nirvana, and no Vandreads, the women face what seem to be impossible odds, but feel that their own strength of will will make them victorious...

Things have once again lulled, and the crew now can turn to more important things - such as using cameras to observe the continuing soap opera between Misty, Dita, and Hibiki - a battle the Misty appears to be winning with her knowledge about men and women. A depressed Dita's feelings are hurt, and a guilty Hibiki is left wondering what to do to cheer her up again. Meanwhile, Jura becomes tired of all the beating around the bush and is determined to resolve the rift between Dita and Hibiki once an for all...

The Nirvana nears home, and only has to pass through an incredibly large electromagnetic storm in order to be in their home solar system. However, during yet another battle with the Harvest fleet inside the storm, Hibiki is lost, thrown to parts unknown. As the crew of the Nirvana frantically searches for Hibiki, Hibiki finds himself on a planet with people that have a unique take on destiny and the ""spirits"" that guide them. In order to clear his turbulent mind, Hibiki must now pass the ""trial of himself"" in order to leave - but all the doubts from before may come back to haunt him. Meanwhile, Duero makes an interesting discovery about Hibiki's heritage.

Another Harvest fleet mother ship has come to attempt to attack the Nirvana, and the crew, this time, sets out confidently to destroy it using the same methods as before. However, a new form of enemy beats back the attack of the Dreads and Vandreads, and after Jura suffers serious injury, Gascogne is forced to pull rank and push for a retreat, towing an unwilling and furious Barnette from the battlefield. Jura's injury and condition cause Barnette and Hibiki to bristle and Gascogne's seemingly cold and calm attitude, and a heated argument ensues. Hibiki and Barnette find, however, the Gascogne knows much more about the pain of losing someone than anyone else, and that staying calm is the only way to win battles. And Gascogne is willing to teach everyone that lesson, at any cost...

Every single year, Meia dreads one day - her birthday, when the crew attempts to surprise her with a party. Meia has managed to run away every single year, but this year, Hibiki is here, and he decides to help out the women. Shaking up the plans the women use every year, Hibiki's scouting cuts off every possible escape route for Meia. But when Meia decides to go to Magno with her complaints, Hibiki and the others have to find the perfect thing to keep Meia busy until they can plan the party - even if it happens to be a certain newborn baby.

The Nirvana has finally reached its home solar system, but the Harvest fleet's remaining mother ships are not far behind. Despite this, the crew decides to hold a party to celebrate their coming home - that is, until they encounter their last obstacle to their home planets - a Tarak mobile mine field that threatens to destroy them all! With no desire to break through the field because it might slow down the Harvest fleet behind them, the crew of the Nirvana is left to guess the password to call off the system before it destroys them. Unfortunately, only senior officers of Tarak know the password, and time is quickly running out - until the password comes from a most unexpected source...

The crew of the Nirvana, minus the men, find themselves at an absolutely crucial moment. They're facing off with an alien flagship, and at the same time, learn some very disturbing details about the aliens' origins. The aliens themselves have some secret weapons, which prove to be a very unpleasant surprise for Meia and her Dread squadrons. Meanwhile, the men free themselves thanks to Rabat, although Rabat's reasons may be far from virtuous. Despite the men's latecoming help, the Dreads are badly beaten and outnumbered, and the Nirvana retreats to the temporary safety of a gas giant. Once there, Hibiki starts working on his attack plan. All he has to do is destroy the enormous enemy force, by himself if he needs to. But with everyone's confidence except Dita's flagging, will he come through?