Meia Gisborn

Set in a universe where humans have colonized the galaxy, and in one star system, men and women are completely segregated (on completely different planets: Mejere by the women, Taraak by the men) causing the gender war to be more than just a metaphor.

Male protagonist Hibiki Tokai, a third-class laborer, takes up a bet to steal a high-tech humanoid robot, known as a Vanguard, from a male attack force battleship about to fight the "evil females." Still on board when the battleship takes off, Hibiki is caught in a battle with female pirates that causes all of the ship's crew to evacuate, except for Hibiki, Duel McFile, and Bart Garsus. Stuck on board and held as prisoners by female pirates, things seem to have hit an all-time low for Hibiki until the retreating men retaliate by firing torpedoes at the ship to prevent it from falling into women's hands. The Paksis Pragma, the mysterious, living core of the battleship, eradicates the missile, forming a worn hole that sends the pirates and warship to a distant part of the galaxy, fusing the battleship with the female pirates' vessel. The fusion results in a quirky ship with very smooth lines, a host of technical problems, and various hidden capabilities that become apparent later on. The Vanguard Hibiki attempted to steal has also been altered along with three of the women's fighters, known as Dreads, allowing the separate ships to combine. The fusion of Hibiki's mecha with one of the fighters is called a Vandread, the eponymous mecha.

In this alternate, futuristic universe, men and women (at least on Taraak and Mejere) consider each other to be completely separate species (Hibiki gains the nickname "Mr. Alien" from Dita Liebely, the female protagonist), and the three men put up with much abuse at the hands of their female captors, but gradually make their presence accepted: Hibiki as a mecha fighter and technician, Duel as a skilled doctor and engineer, and Bart as the ship's helmsman and navigator.

The story of the first season revolves around the crew's trip back to the system where their respective home worlds are. Along the way, they encounter strange, robotic machines, both enigmatic and rather Borg-like, although they do not communicate at all. After a few attacks with the unknown enemy, the crew manages to take some alien data samples from a desert planet. The data is read out: "Blood platelets, white blood cells, red blood cells..." Their alien enemies kills human beings and harvests their body parts from them. Not only this, but a later encounter with the flagship of the "Harvesters", the name given to the enemy, reveals that the robots were sent out by the people of Earth, the same planet humans originated from, whose colonists would eventually colonize Mejere, Taraak, and countless other planets.

At the start of the second season, they rescue an escape pod from the Harvesters. The pod contains a girl, Misty Cornwell of Pluto, the last planet in the Earth's solar system to be harvested, and a virus which enters the ship's systems. When the correct password is entered, the virus shuts down and the crew is given access to the hidden data that the pod brings, revealing why the Earthlings are harvesting their own species.

Following the initial drive to colonize, pollution has devastated Earth, making any life on the planet near impossible. Huge metal gears now cover the Earth's stratosphere in an attempt to create a living environment for people in massive structures surrounding the planet. Earthlings, alone and dying on the toxic planet, began to question the humanity of the colonists. Eventually, they convinced themselves that only the inhabitants of Earth are human, and all other humans exist solely to ensure their continued existence. Their solution, therefore, was to send out the Harvester fleet of machines created from the same basic material as the Nirvana's core, the Paksis Pragma. The Harvesters raid and dominate colonies to obtain body parts, allowing the Earthlings to replace their own dying bodies, thus becoming immortal through the lives of others.

Furthermore, it is revealed that the leaders of the original colonists who founded Mejere and Taraak --- led by Hibiki's parents, Grandpa and Grandma --- were unwilling to lose any future natural-born children to the Harvester Fleets, and so decided upon what they considered to be a most painful but absolutely necessary sacrifice: separating the original male and female colonists on two separate planets to create artificially-created twin-races of genetically-engineered sons and daughters through the mixed-cloning of the First Generation (the majority of whom still remain secretly secured in cryo-stasis and guarded by the man who raised Hibiki), who would serve as the substitutes to be harvested by Earth, instead of what would have otherwise been the natural-born children of the original colonists.

For the crew, fighting is not just about defeating their enemy and surviving; they need to rush back to their respective home worlds in time to warn their people. But will the leaders of the planets listen to their almost impossible tales?

When her Dread unites with Hibiki's Vanguard, they become the Vandread Meia-type, the incredibly high-speed “White Wing”, which resembles an American Silver Eagle. Its main, as well as only known, form of attack is a high-velocity ram that pierces nearly all enemy units in its path.

Meia's silver dread is the fastest dread Nirvana has. As one of the three that were exposed to Paexis' light, when merged with Hibiki's Vanguard her dread becomes a Vandread that was known as Vandread-Meia or the ”White Wing“. It is shaped like a silver eagle and is the fastest mecha seen in the series. With its immense speed and maneuverability, it can easily dodge all attacks, and it attacks opponents with its speed by piercing through opponents. This Vandread represents speed.

When not in her Dread, Meia's weapon is a laser ring which was given to her by the Captain.

Meia lived happily with her mothers in Mejeru until her Ohma abandoned her and her Fama after getting involved in a scandal. The two of them then lived under the blame and scrutiny of the public regarding their Ouma's mistake. A short while later, a sudden system failure in their living unit forced a mass evacuation. This is when Meia lost her mother, who was left behind with the adults due to the capacity of the evacuation ships. She was left to witness an explosion which devoured her mother and the other adults who were left behind.

Since the incident, Meia was left alone to survive on the streets in her new unit. She then led a life of gangsters and street fights until the point where she met up with Magno Vivan, who recruited her as a pirate.

The initial episodes of Vandread shows Meia as a morose, silent crew of Nirvana. She rarely smiles (the couple of times could be counted in one hand), and only speaks when spoken too, unless she was reporting to the Captain or issuing orders. At the beginning it was shown that she dismissed men and was disgusted with herself when she needed help from them. Over time, this hatred fades and she developed a strong bond with Hibiki based on the respect both of them had for each other. Her unfeeling, cold person was caused by her bitter past, and has caused her to avoid being close to someone in fear of being hurt. Thanks to the warm atmosphere in the Nirvana and the arrival of Kahlua and Misty, she softened up, and by the end of the series had changed into a kinder person, to her old team-mate's surprise.

As the Chief/Leader of Nirvana's Dread Team, she shoulders a heavy responsibility when in battle. She kept a close eye on the apprentice pilots (especially Dita) and held great concern to her team's safety (she even used her Dread as a decoy to lure the enemies away from Dita and Jura). Her quick thinking and sharp mind earned her the crew's respect.

Unknown to the others, except for Duerro, Meia suffers from claustrophobia.

Meia Gisborn, at first, has the behavior of an Amazon, she detests men and is sickened whenever Hibiki saves her. She rarely smiles (only doing so a few times on the first season and the second season (Second Stage), including the time she smiled when she had to babysit Ezra's baby, Karu, as well as during the final fight with the enemy). She suffers from claustrophobia and has a traumatic past.

As a young girl, the life support systems on her home quadrant failed, a new system that her “Ohma” (Woman-Father) had personally designed, thus there was a system-wide failure that forced a sudden mass evacuation. Meia's Ohma eventually escaped and left her family behind, leaving Meia to be raised by her Fame and leading her to become a problem child, often getting into fights and ripping her every single one of her Ohma's photos for abandoning them. Meia lost her mother when she pushed her daughter aboard the last ship off the quadrant among the crowds trying to get on. Alone, she resorted to a life of crime and street fights to make a living, due to the insecurity she felt from people blaming her parents for the catastrophe, as well as slowly losing the will to live. Amongst the few belongings she was able to keep from her former life were a sample marked “A6” close to her which is presumably a research sample from her mother's work and as well a jewelry music box which was a Christmas present for her before her Ohma left and a her metal headpiece given to Meia's Fama by her Ohma that Meia "borrowed" and her mother allowed her to keep.

She joined the pirates when Magno Vivan, accompanied by Gascogne Rheingau, appeared and tossed a laser ring to her, telling her if she wanted to die so badly, she can try dying doing something cool. With a new will to live, she gained ranks quickly. As squadron commander, she leads the other Dreads in battle and is usually called “Leader” or “Chief” by others. She eventually came to terms with her Ohma's abandonment and her mother's death and placed a photo of the three of them together, with her Ohma's head taped back on, in the mirror of her jewelry box.

Despite her stoic and strict nature, everyone looks up to and appreciates Meia and normally tries to throw a surprise birthday party for her. However, she despises such occasions and once she flew off in her Dread to scout ahead of the Nirvana, just so that she would not be irritated by the crew. Despite her initial hatred for men, she ends up respecting Hibiki for his strong spirit, even noticing their similarities, they are both trying to prove their own existence. As the series progresses she also learns how to express her true feelings, realizing that the love that her Mother and Ohma had for her was strong, as well as she should pass it forward.

In the manga, Meia is the acting captain of the Nirvana.

Meia Gisborn is the stoic, silent leader of the Mejeer Pirate's Dread Team. She is one of the three pilots whose Dreads were exposed to Paexis' light during the start of the series.