Remember the "mysterious" Guicy troops we caught a glimpse of at the close of the opening sequence?  Well, they foreshadowed the plot & gameplay developments that are revealed after you finish your first campaign on the Moon (maps 1-12).  Upon conquering map 12, your Union army captures Base Nectaris (depicted as a domed fortress in the screenshots below) -- the last Guicy stronghold on the moon.  In all other Nectaris games, capturing Base Nectaris is the ultimate objective and signals the victory of the Union.  Not so in Neo Nectaris, in which the battle with the Guicy is just beginning...  because key Guicy personnel and troops evade capture and are able to escape, via shuttle, from Base Nectaris (you can see the shuttle blasting off in the second and third image below).

And so, here we have an example of how cinemas actually add to the Neo Nectaris gaming experience:  After com- pleting the  first campaign (maps 1-12) on the Moon, you are treated to a cinema that introduces the new development in the Guicy / Union War.  The Guicy have escaped in a shuttle and you must now pursue them ... to Mars.  Mars?  Yes, a huge Union fleet is sent to Mars -- which turns out to be a secret military / research outpost where the Guicy have created BioHeiki  ( literally "Biological Arms / Weapons).  When gameplay resumes, the lunar battlefields will be re- placed by Martian battlefields and the BioHeiki will be gradually introduced over the course of three successive maps.
  
Mars, of course, is the quintessential destination for the relocation of the Guicy / Union War, since this planet has long been associated with war and bloodshed (the Greek god of war, Ares, is better known by his Roman name, Mars).  I know I am corny, but I love stuff like that.  I am curious as to whether the Japanese narrator in Neo Nectaris makes any explicit allusions to the Western mythology of Mars (although even the implicit allusion would not be lost on Japanese gamers, I'm sure...just think about all the Greek / Roman mythological references in Famicom games).