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jeriendhalShort Take: "Inspired by" Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Nadia follows the adventures of a mysterious young girl named Nadia, and her friend Jean, as they wander the seven seas aboard Captain Nemo's marvelous Nautilus, and avoid the attentions of the evil Gargoyle.
Mind you, the story is a bit complicated that that. We are talking about a Japanese production after all. Actaully, Nadia slightly ahead of it's time even for anime, hitting some remarkable emotional marks that most people didn't expect until Eva came out.
Anyway, what's nominally a kids series seems to straddle the period when "dramatic" anime was found in Yamato and Gatchaman, and later nineties shows that showed considerably more emotional depth and rich characterizations. Which doesn't mean that Nadia is inferior by modern standards, but it still carries some typical production baggage from the earlier time (such as the occasionally Odious Comic Relief (hereafter refered to as the "OCR") of Grandia and her gang, and Nadia's pet lion cub King)
Pluses:
1. Characters - Nadia isn't just a one note cutie of a girl. While she has a tendency to walk around in short-shorts and a cut-off top, she's still just thirteen year old kid, sometimes overcome by the events around her, and occasionally falling into the depths of despair because of her deep felt loneliness. Her friend Jean is more of a straight-up kid, a proto-geek who is literally overwhelmed by all the SCIENCE! the Nautilus carries, though he's given a grace note when confronted with the fact of his father's death. Even the OCR have their moments to shine, actaully giving good advice to Jean and Nadia on how to act in the dangerous, adult world they've found themselves in. And in the center of it is Captain Nemo, who has his own secrets he's trying to keep, even while he puts up with Nadia's occasional bouts of annoyingly childish rants about being on a ship "Full of murderers" (doubly annoying because she's been confronted with evidence, repeatedly, that the enemy is far, far worse than Nemo.)
2. SCIENCE! and Adventure!: One of the nicer vibes of the series is the deeply held wonder about the world of SCIENCE!, avancements in knowledge that will make the world a better place (or destroy it). Coupled with that is the sense of adventure, as the Nautilus explores the depths of the oceans and runs into giant sea creatures, ancient Atlantian bases, and the occasional enemy submarine.
3. Seriousness: Aside from the OCR, most of the characters aren't jokes, and the situations aren't either. A little girl sees her parents shot right in front of her. Nemo shoots an enemy soldier in cold blood. Gargoyle's minions have absolutely no compunction against blowing away a couple of kids after promising them they wouldn't hurt them. And the Nautilus's crew have reasons why they're so bent on destroying Gargoyle and his forces, and realize that occasionally this requires moral compromises.
Minuses:
1. The Bad Guys: On the other end of the character spectrum, Gargoyle and his minions are pure Bond Villians, never showing an ounce of originality in their schemes. In particular, the English voice actor doing Gargoyle is quite awful, sounding like he's doing a bad Orson Welles imitation by "Pinky and the Brain."
2. Lack of Victoriana: Perhaps I'm spoiled by the Steampunk vibe from later series (particularly the "Read or Die!" OVA), but the vehicle and equipment designs of the show just don't feel very 19th Century. The Nautilus in particular looks like nothing so much as a spaceship from Space Battleship Yamato.
3. The Whine: Okay, admittedly I watched the first twenty episodes in a row, and Nadia is just a kid, but God she does not learn. Complaining that the Nautilus crew insists on eating MEAT (and fish at that), and that they're a bunch of murderers for killing people hell bent on killing THEM (Nemo shoots a soldier who, even though wounded, is still trying to put a rifle bullet into her head)just comes across as willfully stupid.
But those faults aside, it's still an incredible piece of animation for it's time, and well worth the expense of getting.
Mind you, the story is a bit complicated that that. We are talking about a Japanese production after all. Actaully, Nadia slightly ahead of it's time even for anime, hitting some remarkable emotional marks that most people didn't expect until Eva came out.
Anyway, what's nominally a kids series seems to straddle the period when "dramatic" anime was found in Yamato and Gatchaman, and later nineties shows that showed considerably more emotional depth and rich characterizations. Which doesn't mean that Nadia is inferior by modern standards, but it still carries some typical production baggage from the earlier time (such as the occasionally Odious Comic Relief (hereafter refered to as the "OCR") of Grandia and her gang, and Nadia's pet lion cub King)
Pluses:
1. Characters - Nadia isn't just a one note cutie of a girl. While she has a tendency to walk around in short-shorts and a cut-off top, she's still just thirteen year old kid, sometimes overcome by the events around her, and occasionally falling into the depths of despair because of her deep felt loneliness. Her friend Jean is more of a straight-up kid, a proto-geek who is literally overwhelmed by all the SCIENCE! the Nautilus carries, though he's given a grace note when confronted with the fact of his father's death. Even the OCR have their moments to shine, actaully giving good advice to Jean and Nadia on how to act in the dangerous, adult world they've found themselves in. And in the center of it is Captain Nemo, who has his own secrets he's trying to keep, even while he puts up with Nadia's occasional bouts of annoyingly childish rants about being on a ship "Full of murderers" (doubly annoying because she's been confronted with evidence, repeatedly, that the enemy is far, far worse than Nemo.)
2. SCIENCE! and Adventure!: One of the nicer vibes of the series is the deeply held wonder about the world of SCIENCE!, avancements in knowledge that will make the world a better place (or destroy it). Coupled with that is the sense of adventure, as the Nautilus explores the depths of the oceans and runs into giant sea creatures, ancient Atlantian bases, and the occasional enemy submarine.
3. Seriousness: Aside from the OCR, most of the characters aren't jokes, and the situations aren't either. A little girl sees her parents shot right in front of her. Nemo shoots an enemy soldier in cold blood. Gargoyle's minions have absolutely no compunction against blowing away a couple of kids after promising them they wouldn't hurt them. And the Nautilus's crew have reasons why they're so bent on destroying Gargoyle and his forces, and realize that occasionally this requires moral compromises.
Minuses:
1. The Bad Guys: On the other end of the character spectrum, Gargoyle and his minions are pure Bond Villians, never showing an ounce of originality in their schemes. In particular, the English voice actor doing Gargoyle is quite awful, sounding like he's doing a bad Orson Welles imitation by "Pinky and the Brain."
2. Lack of Victoriana: Perhaps I'm spoiled by the Steampunk vibe from later series (particularly the "Read or Die!" OVA), but the vehicle and equipment designs of the show just don't feel very 19th Century. The Nautilus in particular looks like nothing so much as a spaceship from Space Battleship Yamato.
3. The Whine: Okay, admittedly I watched the first twenty episodes in a row, and Nadia is just a kid, but God she does not learn. Complaining that the Nautilus crew insists on eating MEAT (and fish at that), and that they're a bunch of murderers for killing people hell bent on killing THEM (Nemo shoots a soldier who, even though wounded, is still trying to put a rifle bullet into her head)just comes across as willfully stupid.
But those faults aside, it's still an incredible piece of animation for it's time, and well worth the expense of getting.
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Date: 2004-10-20 01:22 pm (UTC)Actually, I'm not that annoyed with the OCR. After they joined the Nautilus' crew, they were mostly alright, particularly Sansen, who seemed the most philisophical of the bunch (when he's not in I'm So Bloody Handsome mode). And Grandia's fawning over Nemo was worth it for Electra's reactions (particularly the "Stare of Death" contest they had.)
Ah, well, back to The Triplets of Belleville.
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Date: 2004-10-20 02:41 pm (UTC)They are opponents, not enemies. :)
And I already have set two, which is how I know things really build to a head (despite some rather silly adventures along the way and a bit too much mugging from the "way too intelligent" critter.
I just didn't lend it to you yet because I haven't yet watched the (badly reviewed) movie.