Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (ふしぎの海のナディア Fushigi no Umi no Nadia, lit. "Nadia of the Mysterious Seas") is a Japanese anime series created by NHK, Toho, and Korad which premiered from 1990 to 1991 for 39 episodes. The series was heavily inspired by the works of Jules Verne particularly Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and the exploits of Captain Nemo.
It was later distributed by ADV Films in the United States where ADV's Anime Network broadcasted the series. Reportedly, the series was going to be screened in the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s, but the UK distributor was concerned by the level of violence in the series.
Plot[]
The series centres around Nadia, a young girl of unknown origins, and Jean, a 14-year old prodigy from France. Early in the story, the two protagonists are chased by Grandis Granva, Sanson, and Hanson, a group of jewel thieves who pursue Nadia for the blue jewelled pendant she possesses. After being rescued by Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus, the jewel thieves and both Nadia and Jean join forces and participate in the struggle against the Neo-Atlantean forces, who seek to dominate the world. In the process, Nadia and Jean save the world from violent domination by the Neo-Atlantean forces led by Gargoyle, explore worldly mysteries and the powers of the blue pendant, uncover Nadia's hidden family ties, and ultimately discover the secret origins of Nadia.
Characters[]
Production[]
This show's origins date to the 1970s when Hayao Miyazaki was hired by Toho to develop a television series. One of its concepts was "Around the World Under the Sea", (adapted from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), in which two orphan children pursued by villains team up with Captain Nemo and the Nautilus. It was never produced, but Toho retained the rights for the story outline, while the animator reused elements from his original concept in later projects like Future Boy Conan and Castle in the Sky. In 1988, Gainax was appointed by Toho to produce a series for NHK Educational TV. Miyazaki's outline for "Around the World Under the Sea" captivated the Gainax staff and, under the direction of Hideaki Anno, created The Secret of Blue Water. The series was scheduled to run for two cours, but the show's popularity prompted the network to request more episodes. Production on new episodes ran late. Starting with episode 11, Anno was working up to 18 hours a day. After episode 20, NHK put Nadia on hold due to limited budget. The series returned a month later with episode 21. Production was still slow, and Anno asked friend and Gainax co-founder Shinji Higuchi to take over the direction from episodes 23 to 34, while he focused on crafting the final five episodes. These were occasionally referred to as the "island episodes" by fans who consider them oddly animated and poor-quality filler, a sentiment that even Anno shared. Out of the newly commissioned episodes the director has later stated that he would have saved only episodes 30 and 31 if he were given a chance of omitting them; he produced a shortened compilation of Nadia called "The Nautilus Story", which deletes much of the island/Africa continuity and focuses more on the struggle between Gargoyle and Nemo. Shortly after Nadia completed its first broadcast in Japan, Carl Macek and Streamline Pictures purchased the rights to Nadia. Because of financial difficulties, Streamline could only dub the first eight episodes, released over eight VHS tapes. The dub's cast included Wendee Lee as Nadia, Ardwight Chamberlain as Jean, Jeff Winkless as Captain Nemo, Cheryl Chase as Mary, Melanie MacQueen as Grandis, Tom Wyner as Sanson, Steve Krameras Hanson, Edie Mirman as Electra, and Steve Bulen as Gargoyle. In 1996, Streamline's rights for the show expired. Later, in 2001 ADV Films purchased the series, and commissioned a new dub to be recorded at their Austin-based Monster Island studios. The new dub cast included actual children in the roles of Nadia, Jean, and Marie—Meg Bauman (14, Nadia), Nathan Parsons (12, Jean), and Margaret Cassidy (11, Marie). A Nadia feature film sequel premiered in Japanese theaters in 1992. The events take place three years after the defeat of Gargoyle and Neo-Atlantis. Gainax had no involvement in the production of this movie, and the quality suffered greatly as a result; nearly one-third of the ninety-minute feature consists of frequently edited clips from the show. Due to its perceived poor quality, the movie is not well known in the United States. ADV licensed it and released as Nadia: The Motion Picture on DVD in August 2002.
Pre-production discussion[]
Before the series production, Hideaki Anno suddenly asked the production team why Neo Atlantis wants to conquer the world instead of using their superior technology to live a more comfortable life. More questions arose as to how they plan to conquer the world. An answer to the latter question was given that since the heroes are in a submarine, Neo Atlantis has to somehow conquer the world via operations using submarines. The final answer was that at that time period, the only method of trade is by sea, and Neo Atlantis planned to monopolize the trading routes. Another question that was asked was, since that it is set in a time where powerful empires colonize developing countries and make big profit from them, stopping the trade routes seems to not be evil but justice. Seeing that production was about to begin and no doubt should be left unanswered, Toshio Okada answered at first that the culture at that time viewed colonization as justice, thus Neo Atlantis' actions are evil at the time. Before the end of the meeting, he gave another answer, which was that Neo Atlantis stops the evil empires from colonizing developing countries, just so that it can colonize the whole world, thus it is the supreme evil. However, no answer could be given to the question asked by Hideaki, and 15 years after the anime, Okada wrote a book called "Seikai Seifuku" wa kanou ka? ("Conquering the World", is it possible?) on behalf of the question.
Media[]
Episodes[]
- The Girl at the Eiffel Tower
- The Little Fugitives
- The Riddle of the Giant Sea Monsters
- Nautilus, The Fantastic Submarine
- Marie's Island
- Infiltration of the Secret Base
- The Tower of Babel
- Mission to Rescue Nadia
- Nemo's Secret
- A Crowning Performance by the Gratan
- New Recruits for the Nautilus
- Grandis and Her First Love
- Run, Marie, Run!
- The Valley of Dinicthys
- The Nautilus Faces Its Biggest Crisis
- The Mystery of the Lost Continent
- Jean's New Invention
- Nautilus vs. Nautilus
- Nemo's Best Friend
- Jean Makes a Mistake
- Farewell... Nautilus
- Electra the Traitor
- Young Drifters
- Lincoln Island
- The First Kiss
- The Lonely King
- The Island of the Witch
- The Floating Island
- King vs. King
- Labyrinth in the Earth
- Farewell, Red Noah
- Nadia's First Love...?
- King's Rescue
- My Darling Nadia ♥
- The Secret of Blue Water
- The New Nautilus
- Emperor Neo
- To the Sky...
- Successor to the Stars...
- Nadia The Motion Pictures
See also[]
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire, a film that bears a striking similarity.
- Laputa: Castle in the Sky, an anime film based on a similar idea by Hayao Miyazaki
Notes[]
- ↑ "Seikai Seifuku" wa kanou ka?, Toshio Okada, 2007
External links[]
Other Wikis[]
- Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water on Animanga Fandom