Nadia, the Secrecy of Blue Water ( ふしぎの海のナディア , fushigi No umi No Nadia ) is a Anime Japan board of the Studio Gainax, in thirty-nine episodes to which are added a Cartoon film and ten episodes Omake of on average four minutes.

Short summary of the history

Paris, World Fair of 1889. Jean, exceptionally gifted inventor, crosses Nadia, young girl continued by brigands wishing to seize the mysterious blue stone which it has.

Both flee towards the Africa where Nadia thinks of seeking her roots, but find themselves in the middle of a fight relentless between two factions whose stake is the future of the world. Nadia, because of her blue stone, will find herself to play a part much more important than she had considered it.

Characters

  • Jean Rock of the Baltic (VF) /Jean Rock Lartigue (VO): alive exceptionally gifted inventor in his uncle and his aunt, it succeeds in developing a prototype Avion which it wants to present to the World Fair of Paris. Meeting Nadia by chance, it falls in love to the first glance.
  • Nadia: young girl who makes the acrobat in a Cirque. She has a blue stone which attracts many covetousnesses. Wanting to find its roots, and having only few memories of childhood, she thinks of going in Africa to try to find her roots. Of dark skin, it is vegetarian and of a rather difficult nature.
  • Attila (VF) /King (VO): Lion ceau tamed of Nadia (one often confuses it with a cat).
  • Gladys (VF) /Grandis (VO): Adventurous with the continuation of the blue stone of Nadia with her two accomplices Caiüs and Titus.
  • Titus (VF)/Hanson (VO): Genious inventor, it is one of the two assistants of Gladys. In spite of their opposed characters, he is the best friend of Caïus.
  • Caïus (VF)/Sanson (VO): Large sportsman liking the weapons and playing Latin to coil, it is one of the two assistants of Gladys. In spite of their opposed characters, he is the best friend of Titus.

  • Marie: Orphan Gamine collected by Jean and Nadia. She regards them since as her new parents and will appear often very mature for her age.

  • Nemo: Captain of Nautilus. This mysterious character and his crew fight Argon and his men.
  • Electra: Ordering as a second of Nautilus. This hard woman is the right-hand man of the Nemo captain.
  • Argon (VF) /Gargoyle (VO): Chief of Neo Atlantis, an organization wanting to dominate the human beings.

List episodes

Facts

  • the origin of this series goes up in the middle of the years 1970 when Hayao Miyazaki was engaged by a large Japanese producer, Toho, in order to develop ideas of televised series. One of these concepts was Around the world, under the sea (adapted 20.000 miles under the seas of Jules Verne), in which two continued orphans make team with the Némo captain and the Nautilus . This forever produced series, but Toho preserved the rights on the concept. The realizer re-used of them all the same elements in his later projects, in particular in the series Conan, the son of the future and in his film Tenkû No shiro Laputa ( the Castle in the sky ). This last point raised a polemic, certain fans thinking that Nadia was a plagiarism of the feature film of Ghibli (see this comparative). Approximately ten years later, Gainax was chosen by Toho in 1989 to produce televised series which would be diffused on the Japanese educational chain NHK. The concept of Miyazaki for Around the world, under the sea was that which held more the attention of Gainax. Under the direction of Hideaki Anno, the studio of animation took again the Synopsis that Miyazaki had developed and added its own creative key to it.

  • the episodes of the number 23 with number 34, tell the peregrinations of the heroes failed on an island then lost in Africa. This part, sub-contracted in other Japanese and Korean studios, is known for its scenario and its animation relatively lower than the remainder of the series. It was inspired by the other novel of Jules Verne in whom the Némo captain appears: the mysterious island . It is only in the last four episodes that the series returns to its quality of origin.

  • the preliminary designs of the characters of Nadia and the captain Némo, both being of black color, show that they were to have a morphology much nearer to that of the inhabitants of Black Africa. However the producers were afraid which the Japanese public does not adhere to the series because of the skin color of these main characters. Nadia, the secrecy of Blue Water is indeed the first series of Japanese animation in which the black characters had a so important role. Also Yoshiyuki Sadamoto modified the drawing of the characters, in particular their face and their hair which is right in the final design - Nadia having even purple hair instead of blacks. These modifications made it possible to have the downstream of the producers to preserve the skin color.

  • At the beginning of the first episode, an inscription apparently in Swahili appears and is read by a voice of man defying the televiewer to follow it towards the adventure: “If you are one of these adventurers able to leave to research of true forms mythical beings living well beyond the gigantic named water falls Périlleuses , if such, it is really your search will be necessary for you initially to find me, me. ” (translation of the version doubled in French). It is a taken up idea of the Cryptogramme of Arne Saknussem in Voyage in the center of the Earth of Jules Verne.

  • the series contains many winks with other Japanese series, as one could expect it on behalf of Gainax which was founded by Otaku S (of the fans of animation). One raises for example that the trio of Grown was inspired by malicious by the series Time Bokan of the Tatsunoko and that M78, the system from which the people come from Nadia, is also the native system of Ultraman. The most obvious reference is the character design of the Némo captain who is a homage supported to the commander Henry J. Gloval of the series Super Dimension Fortress Macross (also known under the name of Robotech). Lastly, it would seem that certain resemblances to Tenkû No shiro Laputa ( the Castle in the sky ) of Hayao Miyazaki were forced, Hideaki Anno having benefitted from the roots common to these two projects. One can find some similarities with another film of Miyazaki, namely Kiki the small witch, project carried out a few months before the commencement of the series. See Comparative

  • Gainax also strewed the series with references to its former work: for example, on the commemorative plaque of the launching of Nautilus another commemorative plaque written in telamon was fixed: “Eltrium, launched in space in year 7962 of the sidereal calendar” (episode 15); however Eltrium is the name of the vessel built for the evacuation of the Earth in the series Gunbuster.

  • Several video games based on elements of the universe of Nadia were published by Gainax. Some take again all the elements of the series in an original screenplay (plays of adventure left on PC98, BORN, PC-Engine and Sega Megadrive) and others take again only the characters out-context (a play of Mah-jong on PlayStation in whom the characters of Nadia meet those of other series of Gainax). Many of other derivative products left in the years 1990 because of popularity of the series; since, Gainax continues to punctually exploit it while leaving the intended products to a public of fans.

  • Some affirm that Nadia, the secrecy of Blue Water caused inspiration for the cartoon Atlantis, the empire lost of the studios Disney because of the Atlantis, of course, but also of the similarities in the evolution of the intrigue, the characteristics of the main characters and secondaries… a site dedicated to Nadia makes the comparative one. However, so some go until qualifying Atlantis, the empire lost of bad Plagiat, others find arguments affirming the opposite.

  • In the scenario of Nadia, the secrecy of Blue Water , Hideaki Anno takes again some ufologic theories by claiming that the man would have been created by the extraterrestrial ones. This topic of the artificial man enables him to give a dimension Métaphysique to the series. Its following work, Evangelion, will have a very strong similar set of themes.

References

In addition to the references to Jules Verne, the cartoon is rich in references mythological, historical, artistic or geographical. Let us note inter alia:

External bonds

  • Nadia, the secrecy of Blue Water, History of the diffusion on Range One
  • Nadia, " Secret The off Blue Water" , Very complete French Site devoted to the series
  • Nadia Blue Toilets, French Site on the series and omaké the
  • Gainax.fr, French-speaking Site on the studio gainax

See too

  • Evangelion : another animated realized by the Studio Gainax
----

Random links:Canton of Saint-Malo-South | Glorious islands | Lilū | Raymond Cayouette | Break (data-processing)

© 2007-2008 speedlook.com; article text available under the terms of GFDL, from fr.wikipedia.org