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Review

by Josh Lipowsky, Feb 15th 2002

Nadia - Secret of Blue Water

DVD 3: Aboard the Nautilus

Synopsis:
Nadia DVD 3
With Gargoyle's terrible weapon, the Tower of Babel, destroyed, Jean, Nadia and the rest find themselves once again rescued by the Nautilus. Grandis and her henchmen are now apprentice members of the crew, and everyone else pitches in to help too. However, Nadia finds it difficult to trust her former enemy and the people on this strange ship. Now hot on the tail of a fleeing Gargoyle, the pursuers become the pursued. Will Hanson and Sanson be able to save the ship alone? Why was Captain Nemo so shocked to meet Nadia? What are the memories the Nautilus has triggered within Nadia? Watch four more wonderful episodes and find out for yourself!
Review:
The third volume of the DVD series does not leave quite the impression that the previous two did. There are few major plot advancements made in these four episodes and they seem to be mainly light-hearted filler. Which is not entirely unwelcome though.

After facing the threat of world annihilation in the previous volume, the whimsical adventures of this volume provide a nice interlude. In Nemo's Secret Nadia, Jean and King are stranded on the Gratan with the Grandis Gang. Having teamed up in the last volume the truce between them seems to be holding. Because of the state of disrepair the Gratan – or Catherine, as Grandis calls it – is in, the Nautilus picks up the group of hitchhikers. Then in A Crowning Performance by the Gratan the nefarious Lord Gargoyle makes a cameo appearance and traps the Nautilus in a mine field. As the title suggests, the Gratan plays a key role in its escape. New Recruits for the Nautilus and Grandis and Her First Love show the adjustments the group makes to life on the Nautilus and Grandis' new hobby: pursuing the affections of Captain Nemo.

Captain Nemo plays the biggest role on the ship in the mystery of Blue Water. There is little surprise in learning that – just as Gargoyle – Nemo recognizes Nadia and her Blue Water jewel. While this is completely expected, it actually does seem to make Nemo appear just that more mysterious. He appears as the man with the single objective: find and destroy Gargoyle and the Neo Atlanteans. As a character he's nothing new in anime or live action. The great accomplishment of the series though is in taking a predictable character like Nemo and making him seem new and exciting.

But Nadia does not find him to be as new and exciting as Jean or the audience. She has a strong dislike for the captain and his submarine, which is interesting since they're responsible for saving her life. Nadia begins to become just a tab annoying in this volume as she becomes the pacifist hippie of the crew. The Nautilus – because it is a weapon – is evil. The captain – because he is in charge of a weapon – is evil. The crew – because they serve an evil man – are evil. But protests from Jean and the Grandis Gang force her to deal with it.

Until a great little piece of drama at the end. In a fit of conflicting morals and a complete lack of self-preservation, Nadia runs off from the crew after they dock for shoreleave on an island.

Again, this volume doesn't really offer any major advances in the story. It's mostly plot filler so that the heroes can be integrated into the crew of the Nautilus. But it is fun and we do get to find out why Grandis is the way she is. Jean continues to gawk at the Nautilus and King continues being cute. The only really bad part is that Gargoyle is hardly in this volume. He is a great villain and there is a mutual relationship of hatred between him and Nemo, which we will hopefully see more of. It is already obvious and becomes more obvious throughout this volume and the next that Nemo and Gargoyle share a history.

While this volume is entertaining and amusing, it needs a bit more plot than is provided here. After the one appearance by Gargoyle the main excitement comes from chasing King around the Nautilus. Add in the annoying French accents of the dub (which actually seem to become less annoying if all three DVDs are watched consecutively dubbed) and equals an activity reserved for relieving boredom and only that. Fans of the series should watch this once to know what happens but after that, there's really no point.
Grade:
Production Info:
Overall (dub) : C
Overall (sub) : C+

+ Find out the history of the Grandis Gang and why they want the Blue Water
− Find out how much of a tree-hugging hippie Nadia is
Director:
Hideaki Anno
Shinji Higuchi
Scenario: Kaoru Umeno
Storyboard:
Masayuki
Hideaki Anno
Shinji Higuchi
Yuuji Kawara
Toshiyuki Kubooka
Mahiro Maeda
Takeshi Mori
Masa Yuki
Episode Director: Masa Aono
Music: Shiro Sagisu
Original Concept: Hayao Miyazaki
Character Design:
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Shunji Suzuki
Art Director:
Masanori Kikuchi
Hiromasa Ogura
Hiroshi Sasaki
Animation Director:
Hideaki Anno
Tadashi Hiramatsu
Takeshi Honda
Toshiyuki Kubooka
Nobuaki Nagano
Masahiko Ohta
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Shunji Suzuki
Kazuya Tsurumaki
Mecha design:
Hideaki Anno
Shoichi Masuo
Sound Director: Katsunori Shimizu
Executive producer:
Hideki Higuchi
Shinji Ichimura
Yukichi Ohashi
Producer:
Kenjiro Kawato
Hiroshi Kubata
Kenichi Maruyama
Yasushi Yoritsune

Full encyclopedia details about
Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water (TV)

Release information about
Nadia - Aboard the Nautilus (DVD 3)
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