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by Luis Reyes |
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"Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water"
Vol. 1 "The Adventure Begins" An adaptation of Jules Verns' "20,000
Leagues Under the Sea"
Episode 1: "Girl at the Eiffel Tower"
The industrial revolution drives not only progress, but also the first global arms race as distrustful nations
ready themselves for attack. However, the tide of progress also generates optimism for the approaching 20th
century. Precocious Jean and his frumpy uncle have traveled from their provincial French village to the 1889 World
Fair in Paris to enter their flying craft in an aeronautics contest. As would-be aviator after would-be aviator
plunges into the Seine, the two grow more confident about their chances of winning the prize money. However, a
beautiful foreign girl, the eponymous Nadia, passing on a bicycle steals Jean's attention and the love struck genius
follows her into trouble. A shapely ginger-haired jewel thief flanked by a couple of misshapen thugs attempt to rob
Nadia of a mystical amulet hanging around her neck, even going so far as to purchase the young orphan from the ring
master of the circus for which she works as an acrobat/lion tamer. But Jean's penchant for constructing
increasingly more elaborate, and situationally appropriate machines enables him to rescue Nadia and confound her
pursuers, if only temporarily.
Episode 2: "The Little Fugitive"
Drifting away from Paris on the Seine in Jean's somnolent sail boat, the kid genius and Nadia head for Jean's
home where he assures the little fugitive that his aunt and uncle will gladly take her in. Nadia, in ambiguous and
saddened tones, explains that she doesn't even know in what country she was born. Bereft of a homeland the tides of
colonialism have landed her in Paris. In this moment of pensive introspection, the jewel thief and her minions catch
up with them, only to be foiled once again with Jean's mechanical ingenuity. By nightfall, the two arrive at Jean's
home where his aunt is firmly against Nadia staying with them, hardly a problem as Jean has his own home, left to him
by his father, just down the road where he invites Nadia to stay. Jean reveals a little of his past as well,
explaining that his father, an adventurous sailor, has been lost at sea for many years, presumed dead by everyone
except Jean. Relentless, the villainous trio arrives in the morning in their own super-equipped, armed to the teeth
wonder of modern science Gartan (an all-purpose, all-terrain, egg-shaped vehicle) to hunt down the elusive duo,
disrupting Jean and Nadia's tender moment. However, the heros escape again, soaring away in one of Jean's untested
aircraft, only to discover its design flaw over the Atlantic Ocean.
Episode 3: "The Riddle of the Giant Sea Monster"
Lost at sea, rain pouring down on them, Jean and Nadia come across the American battle ship Abraham commanded by
the mustached captain Melville whose mandate is to destroy the sea monsters lurking along the Atlantic trading
routes. When Jean and Nadia tell their story thus far, the captain is incensed that three reprobates would pursue
these children so mercilessly. However, Nadia has moral misgivings about the implications of being rescued by a ship
built to rain death down upon people. At dinner, Jean also learns that Nadia is vegetarian as well as a fervent
pacifist. Jean, fascinated with the technical wonders of the battle ship, is sobered by Nadia's point of view.
Hardly a threat, Grandis and her goons catch up with the ship, but are outgunned into submission. However, a real
threat to the ship comes later that evening when a sea monster looms on the horizon ready to strike, a sea monster
whose right to live Nadia vociferously defends.
Episode 4: "Nautilus, the Fantastic Submarine"
Hurtled into the sea once again to float forlornly with the tide, Jean and Nadia begin to spat about their
predicament before the sea monster - in actuality Captain Nemo's submarine Nautilus - swallows them up. But Captain
Nemo - a stern, determined man whose stoicism drives an emotional wedge between him and other people - aims his sites
on a larger prey, the enigmatic Gargoyle. Electra, Nemo's golden-haired British assistant whose interest piques when
she overhears Nadia talk about Blue Water, is kind to the Nautilus' guests, but locks them in a room alone for days
while Nemo concentrates on tracking Gargoyle. After a disappointing defeat, the Nautlius resurfaces and Electra
ushers Jean and Nadia to the deck where a rebuilt version of Jean's aircraft awaits them.
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In the original 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo is the adversary to industrialism and war that
attacks military vessels. In these first few episodes "Nadia" casts Nemo in the role of stoic moralist, outraged
at Gargoyle's murderous proclivities. However, director Hideaki Anno injects enough intrigue and mystery into the
feud between the emotionless Nemo and the as of yet unseen Gargoyle - and the legend behind the Blue Water amulet
that Nadia wear around her neck - that the playing field remains wide open for the rest of the series.
But volume one focuses on the relationship between Nadia and Jean, each a layered character with a big heart
whose goodness isn't compromised by saccharine sentimentality. Propelled by intellectual curiosity, Jean's
impassioned thirst for understanding the unknown attracts him to Nadia, an exotic, dark-skinned beauty among a sea
of pale-skinned Europeans. But Jean doesn't gawk at Nadia's short skirt or blush whenever he rubs up against her.
He is simply enraptured with her uniqueness, too driven by his inquisitiveness to be bothered by social graces.
He has a naive idealism that is at once reassuring and pathetic, especially when Nadia's suspicious nature introduces
him to concepts such as deceit and industrial pitfalls.
Nadia is by no means irretrievably cynical. She has merely faced the cruelty of an increasingly materialistic
and self-centered populace too many times to give her trust as eagerly as the optimistic Jean. Longing to discover
her country of origin, Nadia is a victim of European colonialism, most likely uprooted from the far corner of some
empire and dumped into the throes of a changing western world that, as it stampedes toward the 20th century, is
having a bit of identity crisis of its own (an identity crisis that would eventually lead to World War I). The only
remnant of her past, the amulet Blue Water, mystically warns her of approaching danger as if the spirits of her
ancestors watch over her with a caring eye. Witness to the basest nature of mankind, Nadia has grown into a
pacifist, a vegetarian and an advocate of animal rights, no matter how foreign or dangerous they seem to be.
Ideological opposites, Jean and Nadia teach each other - Jean sharing his fascination with the wonders of
the world and Nadia instilling in him a keener sense of human guile.
Nearly all the characters are as well developed - the ringmaster shrouded in a pall of gloominess, cold enough
to sell Nadia to Grandis for a satchel of gold; the delusional scientist/cook who believes that his mission to hunt
sea monsters is top secret, though it appears in international newspapers; the militaristic Captain Melville whose
passion for the hunt surpasses reason; the emotionally barren Captain Nemo; the tempered and articulate Electra;
Jean's typically French Uncle who encourages his young nephew to pursue his outrageous inventions; Jean's typically
French auntie who, though seemingly draconian in her discipline, only wants the best for her missing brother's
child. Grandis and her goons play off as archetypical mafia thugs and are the most uninteresting of the bunch.
Hopefully the mysterious Gargoyle will prove a far more engaging enemy.
Anno immerses these vibrant characters in an equally vibrant world patched together from elements found within
the novels of Jules Verne (loosely based on "20,000 Leagues," the world of "Nadia" appears as a pastiche of Jules
Vern's imagination). The uncredited mechanical designs compliment character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's creations
with wonderfully imaginative turn of the century devices.
The opening episodes confound physical logistics in contriving situations through which Nadia and Jean can
grow closer. However, once at sea, the encompassing plot involving Nemo and Gargoyle drives this anime - a plot
in which the roles Jean and Nadia are to play have yet to be developed. And the faint impressions of anime
conventions - the goofy villains, the jokes riffing off sexual repression - rarely derail this charming, dynamic
anime.
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