Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water: Difference between revisions

Set in 1889 and ''extremely'' loosely based on [[Jules Verne]]'s ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]],'' (to the point of being an [[In Name Only]] adaptation), ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]'' tells the story of [[Tsundere|Nadia]], a girl who's trying to find out about her past, Jean, a boy who wants to build a flying machine, and the [[MacGuffin|Blue Water]], a mysterious gem of [[Tsundere|Nadia's]] with strange powers. Their world is home to two shadowy groups in conflict: Neo-Atlantis, who want to rule the world, and the crew of the submarine Nautilus, who have sworn to oppose Neo-Atlantis. These two plots are not unconnected...

This series originally aired starting in 1990 on NHK -- JapaneseNHK—Japanese public broadcasting (the Japanese equivalent of [[BBC]]). Carl Macek's [[Streamline Pictures]] released a VHS of the first eight episodes. Years later, [[ADV Films|ADV]] translated and released the entire 39-episode TV series as well as the maligned, mostly forgotten movie sequel on DVD.

Just for the record, this series was the one that gave Hideaki Anno his first Animage Grand Prix before penning out his biggest masterpiece, ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''... or rather, the reason ''NGE'' is such a mindscrew. It has been purported that the stress of working on a tight schedule, on a series over which he had almost no creative control was a key factor in precipitating Anno into a [[Creator Breakdown|four-year-long bout of depression]] from which he emerged just before (some say while) doing ''Eva''.

* [[Ambiguously Brown]]: invoked and discussed within the story itself. Nadia's brown skin, straight hair, green eyes, and "[[Mukokuseki|stateless]]" anime heroine looks are all in marked contrast to the rest of the crew who all have recognizably ethnic features. Most characters only have a vague idea she might be African... or [[Own Brown Town|Indian]]... ({{spoiler|Turns out she's Atlantean.}})

** Also done very effectively in Episode 35, where merely 3/4 of the exploration of the ruins of Tartessos are entirely in black and {{color|white|wwhite}}, with only the {{color|blue|bblue}} light from Nadia's [[MacGuffin|Blue Water]] being the sole source of color.

** During all twelve episodes of the island/Africa arc, the animation both [[Off -Model|takes a dive in quality]] and resembles a cut rate ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon. (These were produced by other studios in Japan and Korea.)

* [[Bad Boss]]: Other than the usual [[You Have Failed Me...]], Gargoyle will shoot his own [[Mook]] to convince Nadia that he would shoot Marie.

* [[Bamboo Technology]]: Armed with a bit of salvage, Jean builds a camp worthy of the Professor from ''[[GilligansGilligan's Island]]''.

** Its also a [[Xanatos Gambit]]: If Nemo does nothing he will eventually starve but if he tries to remove the mines with conventional means they will detonate. Also because of the shifting tides, the mines will go off eventually. Even if Nemo somehow survives the mines and escapes, Gargoyle can observe how his experimental mines will work in the field and save the data for later.

* [[Blind Without 'Em]]: Jean, with the obligatory [[Dropped Glasses]] scene. To the point that without the glasses, his eyes are drawn much smaller than the usual "anime" size.

* [[Blue Withwith Shock]]

* [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity]]: When the show returns in Episode 35 after the infamous island/Africa arc, it all but neglects the events that happened in them (save episodes 30 & 31), suggesting they were never intended to be part of the plot.<br /><br />Hideaki Anno is even said to have been dissatisfied with the final result of the TV show, and as a matter of fact has made a shorter, more streamlined compilation called "The Nautilus Story", which all but eliminates the filler arc and concentrates on the struggle between Nemo and Gargoyle (some scenes in the more pivotal episodes are cut as well). (This version, clocking in at approximately six hours, was only released in Japan on video and laserdisc.) In fact, this release was as close as Anno came to doing a remake of the show theatrically.

* [[Clip Show]]:

* [[Cross -Dressing Voices]]: Averted in the dub: the three lead roles are played by actual kid actors instead of adult females.

* [[Cross -Popping Veins]]

* [[Death Byby Irony]]: {{spoiler|Electra is electrocuted (although she did not die). Jean, the boy that loves to fly, falls (he gets better). Finally, the Atlantean-supremacist [[Big Bad|Gargoyle]] dies while discovering his true nature -- he is a human adopted by the real Atlanteans, and he never found out before entering an energy field that turns non-Atlanteans to a pillar of salt. Oops.}}

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Nadia reaches this point after learning the truth about herself and the Blue Water, on top of coming to the conclusion that she's a horrible person; which leads her to believe the world would be better off without her. The attempt is foiled, [[Armor -Piercing Slap|but not without repurcussions.]]

* [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Princesses]]: Subverted. The people who call Nadia "princess" rarely seem to have her best interests in mind.

* [[Evil Plan]]: Gargoyle wants to [[Take Over the World]] by reviving ancient Atlantean technology.

* [[Expy]]: [[The Captain|Captain Nemo]] is Captain Global from ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]''. Anno worked on ''Macross'' and reused the design as a [[Shout -Out]].

* [[False -Flag Operation]]: In Episode 15, Gargoyle easily suckers the [[Eagle Land]] navy into attacking the Nautilus. By sending a Neo-Atlantean agent ''in a mask and a pirate hat'' to drop an "anonymous tip." {{spoiler|They succeed in severely damaging the Nautilus, which only survives by [[Playing Possum|pretending to sink.]] Three of the crew die when the ship's reactor breaches and floods a compartment with radiation, as [[Sadistic Choice|they can't surface to vent the radiation without breaking the ruse]].}}

* [[Fully -Automatic Clip Show]]: A good twenty minutes straight of the movie.

* [[Granola Girl]]: Nadia is a vegetarian, a pacifist, and generally skeptical of technological progress in general -- whichgeneral—which sometimes poses problems in her friendship/budding romance with [[Gadgeteer Genius]] [[Geek|Jean]] -- although—although she does eventually abandon this attitude.

* [[Human Aliens]]: So much so that {{spoiler|they appear to intermarry and reproduce just fine. Apparently, humans were ''designed'' by the alien to this aim. In the end of the anime, it's revealed that Nemo and Nadia are the only "true" aliens left, all enemies including the [[Big Bad]] wherewere, unknown to even themselves, in fact humans.}}

**** As a matter of fact Nadia even lays into Jean when he offers her manmade flowers (that Ensign Fait generously gives the boy) or attempts to compliment her in the abovementioned episode (as Electra advised him to). Naturally, this only succeeds in confusing poor Jean—to the point where he is surprised when she finally plucks the courage to ask him directly for a compliment for an (awkwardly fashioned out of canvas) dress in episode 26. (Fourteen episodes earlier, she doesn't succeed in getting a compliment from Jean about a dress she's wearing since the latter is busy reading a book, but in that case she was sort of expecting him to read her mind and not knowing how else to act.)

** On the flipside, she ''does'' apologize to Jean numerous times for her misdirected anger, even going out of her way to bring him something to eat, go on walks with him, or anything else reconciliatory (in the [[Canon|canonicalcanon]]ical episodes), {{spoiler|but she never gets to do so to Nemo, even though she realizes too late that she could have been nicer.}}

* [[Long -Lost Relative]]: {{spoiler|Emperor Neo is Nadia's older brother.}}

* [[Market -Based Title]]: The Japanese title, ''Fushigi no Umi no Nadia'' ("''Nadia of the Mysterious Seas''"), was basically used by Gainax to forestall [[Executive Meddling]], by ensuring their title followed the same pattern as ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of Thethe Wind]]''.

* [[Meaningful Name]]:

** Nemo's name means "No one" or "Nobody" in Latin, as they helpfully point out.

* [[Musical Episode]]: Episode 34, at the end of the [[Filler]] arc, using [[Image Song|Image Songs]]s strung around an plot of Jean trying to express his feelings for Nadia through song. The English dub cast actually sang their own versions of the songs in this episode.

* [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Nadia, I am your father]]: {{spoiler|Captain Nemo.}}

* [[Non -Human Sidekick]]: King

* [[Not Good Withwith People]]: Nadia. Having spent fourteen years of her life in a circus with a cruel, unloving ringmaster, she dislikes grownups with a vengeance. As such, she does not know how to interact with people. Nemo is also like this when it comes to children, although he does gradually warm up to them.

* [[Not So Different]]: When Jean and Hanson stop fighting over the blue water, they realize they're more mecha geeks and simultaneously [[Squee]] over the Nautilus.

* [[Offscreen Villain Dark Matter]]: averted by Gargoyle's mooks reporting how his dark matter I.E. commerce in wool and banking, is proceeding and how it is paying for things like his submarine and the Tower of Babel.

* [[Other Stock Phrases]]

* [[Parental Incest]]: Nemo initially viewed and treated Electra as a surrogate daughter to replace his own children who he believed were both killed. However, she had actually already fallen in love with him upon reaching puberty, but decided to continue to keep it a secret as she felt it would just be unrequited after accidentally overhearing that was how he felt about her. They eventually get together though {{spoiler|after she finally snaps and confesses her feelings when she realizes that he no longer has any need of her as a surrogate daughter now that his real daughter Nadia had finally turned up again.}}

* [["Previously On..."]]

* [[Putting Onon the Reich]]: The Neo-Atlanteans. They greet each other a reversed version of the Nazi salute (right arm extended, then placed to chest). In addition, they also wear black uniforms reminiscent of the Nazi Schutzstaffel, and black Ku Klux Klan-like hoods (officers in charge wear orange).

* [[Relationship Upgrade]]: All the couples in the series who successfully end up together.

* [[Rock -Paper -Scissors]]: Sanson has bad luck at this game.

* [[Romantic False Lead]]: A villager from the Africa arc who recognizes the Blue Water. {{spoiler|It turns out that he's already engaged.}} [[Ass Pull|This arc is both out of step with the rest of the show and frankly, doesn't make sense]], since {{spoiler|Nadia admitted that Jean was important to her in the previous episode. The motivations behind her subsequent behavior in Africa is not at all clear.}} Unsurprisingly, [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity|Episode 35 promptly disregards this two-episode sidestory]].

** Could also qualify as a [[BigNon LippedSequitur Alligator MomentScene]], although the island/Africa arc has plenty of such pointless scenes, hence the reason why it is criticized so harshly.

* [[Schizo -Tech]]: One of the more infamous examples is an 80's-looking telephone on board the Nautilus (in 1889), which is supposed to {{spoiler|be thousands of years old}}.

* [[Self -Destruct Mechanism]]: Jean install one on the cockpit of the plane it build, Nadia touches it {{spoiler|resulting in her and Marie's death. Though it was [[All Just a Dream|just a dream.]]}}

* [[Shout -Out]]: To ''[[Indiana Jones (Franchise)|Indiana Jones]]'', ''[[Film/Gamera|Gamera]]'', ''[[Tarzan]]'', ''[[Uchuu Senkan Yamato]]'', ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' and [[Gun BusterGunbuster|others]].

** Some plot elements seem to be Shout Outs to R.A. Wilson's and Bob Shea's [[Illuminatus|Illuminatus-Trilogy]]-Trilogy. But then again, Illuminatus itself already contained several Jules Verne Shout Outs, so yeah...

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: ''Nadia'' has certain similarities to [[Hayao Miyazaki|Miyazaki]]'s ''Laputa: [[Laputa: Castle in Thethe Sky]]''.

* [[Teen Genius]]: Jean. The kid actually beat the Wright Brothers by twenty-four years! He also invented a helicopter. And a rocket. And a music recorder. Which, if you take it at face value, means he invented the speaker, the microphone, the amplifier, and vinyl records. Which means he may well have invented the vacuum tube. And plastic. He also seems to have invented the Ukulele.<br /><br />In a dream sequence, he goes on to invent the television, the computer, and the ''a-bomb''. He also invented an Ice Cream machine.

** [[True Companions]]: They bicker and quarrel and are inseperable.

* [[The Sweat Drop]]

* [[The Un -Reveal]]: If you expected some huge revelation regarding Gargoyle's face, you'll be disappointed. Besides some suspicious resemblance to [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Fuyutsuki]], his face is completely unremarkable.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?|What The Hell, Nadia?!]]:

** Sums up everyone's reaction after Nadia's suicide attempt; especially Grandis and Sanson. The former [[Armor -Piercing Slap|whallopswallops her for it]], the latter chews her out for being selfish and scaring them all. Jean calls them off, and forgives Nadia.

** When Nemo shoots a Neo -Atlantean to save her from being shot, Nadia accuses him of "murdering in cold blood". From that point on, she stubbornly determines to despise him... despite Jean's attempts to reason with her that she would have died if Nemo didn't act.

* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]

* [[You Have Failed Me...]]: [[Big Bad|Gargoyle's]] way of dealing with some subordinates that have failed to meet expectations.

[[Category:Nadia: The Secret Ofof Blue Water]]