Review

Nadia starts out like a Miyazaki anime and ends like a Hideaki Anno anime. Miyazaki in fact wrote some of Nadia's story concepts which were shelved for a few years before Gainax was contracted to do the show by Japanese broadcaster NHK, which explains the many similarities, conceptually, between Nadia and Miyazaki's film, Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Gainax works have always been a mix of emphasis between sci-fi and story, but if Honneamise was obsessed with the sci-fi details, Nadia is at the opposite end: completely committed to storytelling.

Nadia is loosely based on the premise and setting of Jules Verne's classic novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, from which it appropriates the general premise of Captain Nemo and the Nautilus. The Nemo of Nadia is much different from Verne's Nemo, however, and the show quickly evolved into a struggle against the evil organization, Neo Atlantis, who wants to rule the world (natch).

In the final five episodes, the show undertakes a heavier sci-fi transformation for its climactic, cosmic ending. Nadia's end is overwhelmingly influenced by the old school anime shows of the 70s and early 80s, shows like Yamato and Captain Harlock, and is an apotheosis of all that old school anime tried to convey and accomplish. It's a big, blowout Gainax ending and cemented Nadia's greatness.

The Island Episodes

Nadia is a 26 episode anime that's consistently excellent throughout and features a tour-de-force ending. Actually, that's only partly true. Nadia is actually 39 episodes long, with thirteen episodes sandwiched in the middle of the show that were not entirely created by Gainax.

The 13 additional episodes (#22-34), known as the Island Episodes because they feature Jean and Nadia shipwrecked, were farmed out to anime companies in Korea and are characterized by many as "filler" material. The episodes have inferior animation compared to earlier episodes and, more importantly, strike a radically different tone from the rest of the show. They are primarily humorous-- nothing wrong there, but the characters often behave completely differently from the characters as you knew them.

Although some can't stand the Island episodes, others love them, mainly because they give a chance to get to know Nadia and Jean in greater depth. Should you watch them at all? My recommendation is to watch only episodes 1-21, then 35-39 the first time you watch the show. These are the 26 episodes completely done by Gainax, and stand as a complete work. Later on, you can return to the Island episodes. If they're not to your taste, skip them, but if they entertain you, it's a great chance to hang out with these beloved characters again even after seeing the show's ending.

Omake

Gainax produced ten "omake" bonuses for Nadia, 3-4 minute shorts that strike a mix of tones. Some are humorous: a beauty pageant is held aboard the Nautilus; Nadia finds some evidence incriminating Jean, who "pulled a Shinji," so to speak, with some ecchi pictures. Some fill in little bits of the plot, like an Otaku no Video-style interview with Elektra, who explains what happened to the Nautilus after the battle of the Kermadec Tonga trench. The omake were produced and storyboard by none other than a young Kazuya Tsurumaki, whose playful experimentation in the omake foreshadows later Gainax moments: one omake is animated as if the characters were stick puppets, while another uses black and white photos of Anno Hideaki.

Nadia the Movie

Don't watch it. Gainax had nothing to do with it. The characters don't behave as they did in the series. That's it.

Official Links

Official Page (Japanese) - also check out Gainax's new Return of Nadia artbook, in the same format as the Groundwork volumes.

ADV Films - released the Nadia series in the US in two massive, affordable box sets.

Fansite Links (don't visit any till you've seen the whole show-- spoilers galore on all these sites)

Tamarro Forever presents Nadia - you could honestly spend hours on this excellent site. Content is translated into seven different languages, this is the single best Nadia resource on the web, but also has the worst HTML i've seen in years...! Full of fascinating info on the show's origins, audio dramas, historical info, and comparisons both relevant (see below) and irreverent (Mr. T versus Neo Atlantis).

• Special highlight: Nadia and Evangelion side-by-side comparison - absolutely illuminating, with tons of pictures

Marc Hairston's Nadia Page - tons of Nadia info, including the usual synopses and such but also cool stuff like Homages in Nadia, an extensive Nadia and Laputa comparison, and a debunking Nadia and Disney's Atlantis comparison.

Nadia Omake - download the Nadia omake here, since they will probably never be officially released in the US. THE OMAKE HAVE MAJOR SPOILERS, though, so watch them after the show.

Illusion City: Nadia - general Nadia fansite with good info on merchandise like books and video games

A Homepage for Elektra - nice to see an individual character for such an old anime.