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Tarak
The
male culture of Tarak was founded nearly a century ago
by a man known only as "Grandpa". Though their
planet is essentially a wasteland, the men have striven
to live on it through sheer force of will. Through the
will of "Grandpa" and the seven other men
of the first generation, the Tarak Empire seeks to establish
victory over their gender counterparts.
Tarak
culture seems to emphasize many stereotypical traits
of men. Honor, strength, and courage are very highly
valued ideals on Tarak. Keeping a "promise",
perservering through even the most dire of situations,
and helping the weaker men are all things that are taught
to the men of Tarak at a very young age. Strength though
force and action are recognized as such. This is partly
why Hibiki agrees to try and steal a Vanguard, even
though he has second thoughts about it. He wishes to
show his strength, as well as prove that his way of
thinking is correct.
Tarak
is a culture divided into classes - those of the first
generation, held in the highest regard, those of the
"elite" or highborn class who end up as the
society's best soldiers and businessmen, and the third-class
citizens, who are essentially the grunts of Tarak society
and do most of the manual labor and hard work. While
many men accept this class structure, there are definitely
those, like Hibiki (a third-class citizen) who seek
to escape it and move up in society, something which,
most of the time, ends up in failure. On the other hand,
people with the best education, like Duero, or in the
families with the most clout, like Bart, are held in
higher regard than a "peon" like Hibiki.
 Because
there is such an emphasis on intangibles such as honor
and strength, some other common elements of the Tarak
culture seem to suffer. Reproduction is achieved by
manufacturing new men in factories. Food only comes
in one flavor, and comes in one form (pill), although
there are many different colors of pills to choose from.
Festivals are held every year, but don't appear to be
anything else other than a way for the more physically
fit of the men to show off their muscles. While there
is less of an emphasis on recreational activities, the
Tarak culture as a whole doesn't aoppear to need it
because of what it values.
As
far as women are concerned, films and propaganda teach
the men at an early age that "women are demons",
and that they, among other things, rip out men's livers
and eat them. While not many men have survived to see
what a woman looks like, those who have have come back
with wild and exaggerated stories about what women are
like. This all serves to further fuel the men's determination
to defeat the women and establish dominance.
Mejale
The
Mejale society is one that was established by a mysterious
woman known only as "Grandma". Along with
her council Grandma and the rest of the first generation
set down the rules and rule over the world of Mejale,
which contains a fair amount of green and healthy ground
to grow crops on.
Mejale
society tends to focus on being outwardly the best -
whether it be at gardening, cooking, or any other activity.
To that end Mejale's inhabitants are very competitive
and are continuously working to be the best at what
they do. As a result of this, the bar of achievement
for many activities in Mejale society is continuously
raised, as individual women keep breaking the limit
on what can be done with something. Mejale has highly
advanced power, farming/food, and technology.
 However,
there is a dark side to this competition to be the best.
More often than not, women fight with each other over
what is the best, and in a continuous race to be the
best at what they do, no matter what, they consume more
and more amounts of resources on their planets and colonies,
to the point of saturation. Some women even go so far
as to conspire, plot, and otherwise use underhanded
tactics in order to be regarded as the best or most
innovative of their culture. The infighting and the
massive resource consumption has led to more than one
section of the planet collapsing and shutting down due
to resource problems, and many women are left without
homes or a place to go.
Magno's
all-female pirates are gathered from disillusioned or
dissatisfied women who are tired of the competition
in Mejale society. They work to profit for themselves
by attacking targets and taking the treasure for themselves.
Magno's pirates have gained the hate of Mejale rulers,
and the admiration of some others in society who seek
to break the cycle of competition and backstabbing.
The
women of Mejale society tend to have more emphasis on
activities other than the ideals of their culture than
Tarak does. They celebrate Christmas, and encourage
gift-giving and birthday parties. Their system of reproduction
is a nurturing one, in which an "Ohma" female
donates an impregnated egg to a "Fama" female
who then carries it to term. Because of this, Mejale
society as a whole tends to be slightly more emotionally
varying about some things than Tarak is, and this shows
in the range of personalities that have emerged from
Magno's crew of pirates.
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One
thing about Vandread that makes the series entertaining
is the setting of two separate cultures divided my gender.
Both the males and the females of the colonization society
that left Earth founded their own cultures with distinctly
different rules and customs, and even though they eventually
came to be at war with one another, both societies had
a part of the collective human culture with them. This
section is dedicated to giving you a little more insight
into both the male and female cultures of Vandread, and
help you understand why it's such a big deal that the
two cultures have clashed when Hibiki, Bart, and Duero
find themselves on a ship filled with women.
