Before anime characters started sporting gravity defying hair and using freaky psychic powers to subvert the laws of physics, we got a few gems like these. Nadia is one of the most popular series of the 80s and one of the best looking, especially over the first few episodes. The visuals are breathtaking and the action is edge-of-your-seat exciting. The action is driven by exciting stunts and the (then) cutting edge inventions from the age of steam make for wonderfully unpredictable getaway vehicles. The first episode alone has one of the best anime chase scenes of the period, as memorable as anything in Castle Cagliostro, and the excitement keeps up from there. The 'villainous' trio pursuing the main character are my only real complaint with the series; they are meant to be both threatening and comical, but they just come off as goofy and tend to get in the way. The pace also tends to slacken a bit after episode two, but the rest of the series is still worth watching for its likable characters and gorgeous visuals. The first couple of episodes are maybe the best in the series and start things off at a frenetic pace, making for memorable entertainment and good fun.

I didn't expect a masterpiece after checking out some of the mixed ratings on a few anime sites, but I loved director Anno's Evangelion and Gunbuster, so I had to check this one out too. I was not disappointed.As far as the story goes, this series is basically Miyazaki's Laputa (Castle in the Sky) mixed with a bit of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This makes sense because the original script was written by/for Miyazaki in the '70s even before the Laputa film.The show starts out by introducing a genius 14 year old inventor, Jean, who happens upon a mysterious (and attractive) circus girl, Nadia. She is soon chased after a gang of Jewel thieves - the Grandis Gang: Sanson, Hanson, and The leader Senora Grandis - who are after her "blue water" stone. Eventually the whole gang befriends each other and joins forces with Captain Nemo of the Nautilus submarine and does battle with an absolutely terrifying villain named Gargoyle in order to save the world from destruction and slavery.The story moves along at a nice brisk pace with lots action and humor. Perhaps the plot is a bit generic, however, Anno more than makes up for that with his signature character development and visual imagery; Shiro Sagisu's musical score works wonders as well, especially in that last episode. Finally, the show does contain some nudity, but it's nothing too objectionable staying in the PG-PG - 13 rating.The only major problem with the entire series is the batch of episodes near the end, the infamous "Island" and "Africa" arcs consisting of episodes 23-34 which were animated in a different studio and directed by a different guy. I've seen numerous people recommend to just skip them all except 30-31 then just watch from 35, but I just watched them all anyway, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Here's my opinion of each of those episodes: ep23: Skip, unless you absolutely need to know how the gang got to Lincoln Island (Nadia give it that name later, who knows why).Ep24: This episode will make you Hate Nadia, and she doesn't deserve that; skip by all means.Ep25: Watchable. There's some decent humor and an off screen kiss scene.Ep26: There's another kiss which is sorta cute, but that's the only good thing in this episode; Skip.Ep27-28: Watch if you want to know exactly how the Grandis gang and Ayerton got back into the picture.Ep29: Hanson and Sanson duel against each other with robotic lions, WTH! There's a touching moment in the middle of the episode which explains why Nadia won't eat meat and can speak to animals though, so the episode isn't a total waste.Ep30-31: Very good for the most part, don't skip! Ep32-33: Skip. These are the two worst episodes in the show bar none.Ep34: An episode where we get to hear the gang sing about their adventures. Nadia has a lovely singing voice in both English and Japanese.After that it's five glorious episodes to the finale! Final rating 8/10

In the mid 1970's, prior to obtaining his well-deserved status as Japan's greatest animator ever, a young Hayao Miyazaki was hired by Japanese movie giant Toho to develop ideas for TV series. One of these concepts was "Around the World Under the Sea", based on Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," in which two orphan children pursued by villains team up with Captain Nemo and his mighty submarine, the Nautilus. Although it was never produced, Toho nonetheless kept the rights to the story outline. Miyazaki would reuse elements from his original concept in later projects of his, most notably the terrific action-adventure CASTLE IN THE SKY. Ten years later, in the mid-1980's, animation studio Gainax was commissioned to produce an original Anime series to be broadcast on television network NHK. Under the direction of a brilliant but angst-ridden artist known as Hideaki Anno, the studio selected Miyazaki's concept, and crafted an engaging story set in a steampunk 1889 France, with interesting characters, amazing animation (for its time), and a mixture of comedy, romance, mystery, and drama. The result was NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER, which has since become a worldwide fan favorite.The story begins at a Paris World Exposition Fair where Jean, a nerdy but charming and instantly lovable inventor boy of fourteen, becomes smitten with a pretty, dark-skinned girl his own age. The girl, known as Nadia, is an unhappy circus acrobat with no clue about her past other than a jeweled necklace she wears. After rescuing her from a trio of comic bandits (the Grandis Gang) Jean earns Nadia's trust. The two set off on an even bigger adventure to find Nadia's birthplace, which supposedly lies in Africa. Along the way, they have run-ins with a supercharged submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo and his pretty but overprotective first officer Electra as well as a shadowy cult of Nazi-like masked soldiers known as Neo-Atlanteans led by the misanthropic, sinister Gargoyle, who wants Nadia's pendant at any cost. In the course of their around-the-world adventure, Jean and Nadia adopt an orphaned little girl, Marie, who senses that her new guardians will become more than just close friends. Although Nadia's explosive temper poses problems, Jean's patience and loyalty keeps their relationship afloat, and her growing love for the boy gradually transforms her as a person.NADIA has all the makings of a classic series: a well-rounded cast of characters, unforgettable sequences, and a long, involving action adventure. There is a distinctive "Miyazaki-esque" style to the visual designs of the leads, yet only Jean seems to emerge as a Miyazaki creation. Which is arguably what makes him the most lovable character in the whole show. It's easy to see why Nadia finds herself falling for him--who wouldn't want to be with a boy as intelligent, genuinely compassionate, and impossibly generous as Jean? While he does display clumsiness in terms of social graces around the opposite sex, it only makes him all the more appealing as a character. Nadia herself, by contrast, is not always lovable. In addition to having serious anger management issues, she also has unbending and irrational principles about killing, eating meat, or trusting grown-ups. She does, however, display courage and, as mentioned, finds herself growing to care for Jean. Actually, Anno has said that he created Jean and Nadia based on his "light" and "dark" sides.For all its assets, however, NADIA suffers from one fatal flaw that prevents it from being the classic it aims to be--it doesn't always stay afloat throughout its 39-episode count. The first twenty-two episodes are old-fashioned adventure at its best, with humor, young love, traumatic situations which involve death, and compelling, engrossing mysteries as we learn about Nadia, the Nautilus, and the Atlanteans. In episodes 23-34, however, it devolves into a painfully dull, unengaging, haphazard, incoherent Saturday morning cartoon, with warped characterizations, sloppy animation, and even worse scenarios totally devoid of imagination or credibility. (In all fairness, these dreadful half-hours weren't supposed to have existed; distributor NHK requested that they be made after the show became a smash hit in Japan.) In the final five episodes NADIA does recover, delivering a satisfying finale, but it's hard to compensate for the damage that has been done. Simply put, the show would have been far better if it were eleven episodes shorter.For their part, however, ADV Films deserves a shout-out for their work on bringing this series to American audiences. The visual and aural transfers are competently done, but it's their translation that really shines. The English dub, a wonderful achievement for the now defunct Austin-based Monster Island studios, is notable for casting three actual children in the roles of Jean, Nadia, and Marie--Nathan Parsons (12), Meg Bauman (14), and Margaret Cassidy (11), respectively. For inexperienced youngsters, all three do exceptional jobs, and are amply supported by an excellent cast of adults, particularly Sarah Richardson, Corey Gagne, Martin Blacker (as the Grandis Gang) as well as Jennifer Stuart (Electra), and Ev Lunning Jr. (Nemo). All show liveliness and enthusiasm for the characters and give the performances of their careers. Ditto for the use of genuinely believable accents--it adds a national flavor to the characters (although Jean's sometimes shaky French dialect takes some getting used to).Is NADIA a complete waste of time? Not at all; as mentioned, the characters are fully-realized, and for twenty-two episodes and the final five, the show does indeed deliver an entertaining, consistently engaging adventure story with just the right amount of heart, humor, and drama. It's just too bad that it goes downhill in the second half (despite delivering a phenomenal conclusion). Otherwise, this series would truly be worthy of the praise it receives as one of the greats. The best way to appreciate NADIA is to view episodes 1-22, then 31 (the only "filler" episode to have any genuine plot development), and finally 35-39. It will provide for a much more pleasing experience.

"Fushigi no umi no Nadia", or "Nadia of the Strange Sea" is loosely based on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, however, I say 'loosely'. Anno Hideaki, who would later be recognized for his direction on 'Neo Genesis - Evangelion', directed this series in cooperation with NHK(Primary Japanese TV station), intended to be broadcast on TV.The story centers on an intelligent(a nerd:), inventive boy named Jean(pronounced jAn-g) and a mysterious girl named Nadia. A close encounter with a trio of mercenaries led by a very attractive red-headed lady, Jean finds himself attracted to Nadia and a whole lot of adventures.Of course, if you wanted to break down the series into recognizable formulas you could say: 1)The boy is nerdy but will stop at nothing to make the girl happy and rescue her, should the girl find herself in perilous situations 2)The girl kicks ass(and literally does too:) 3)The story is immensely complex 4)The action scenes are some of the most memorable in recent history, especially the detailed movements of machines left me breathless and in awe 5)Did I say the story is immensely complex?Anno Hideaki, in later interviews, commented that the direction of the plot and character interactions for Nadia wasn't really what he wanted and he actually considers Nadia to be something of a failure.Nadia was aimed at the primetime viewers of animation, namely, roughly anyone under the age of 14, I'd say. So, there are some dark overtones within the story that fans of Evangelion would easily identify with, however, the overall plot got 'serviced' to facilitate the wishes of NHK, so, I'd recommend this animation heartily to any one(even adults), however, with the intent of insuring future generations of literate human beings, how about guiding the kids to read the original '20,000 leagues under the sea' afterwards?If you felt compelled to root for the bad guys in Nadia and loved their attire, and had previous experiences of warm and fuzzy feelings whenever you saw a red, double bladed light saber, why not watch 'Evangelion', a true master piece from the same Anno Hideaki, or perhaps 'Memories', an omnibus of animations that are best watched than explained.If, on the other hand, you wanted a child just like Jean or wanted to build a time machine that sent you into the same era, I suggest 'Future Boy Conan' from the master of Japanese animation, Hayao Miyazaki.