Fushigi no Umi no Nadia DVD-BOX

Created/Updated 2001-11-05


Animephile Rating: F (5.0)

Comments:

There is rarely ever something completely original. In fact, there can only be one truly original thing. All works are inspired by others. It can be a fine line between copying and parodying sometimes. In this case, the more appropriate word is homage, not parody. Hey, I learned something from "Comic Party." Not!
Watching the entire 39 episodes in one weekend (Whew!) made me think about originality of anime stories. When is it acceptable to base something on previously existing work? I feel that as long as the creators love the original work, the new work based on it will not harm but rather help the original work. Dictionary.com(TM) defines homage as "special honor or respect shown," and that it is. Also, when it is done right, other future works will pay homage to it. It's a two-way thing.
Speaking of homage, Nadesico is, to me, the last of the truly worthy homage to the genre known as anime. Did I mean to say "parody" instead of "homage" there? Absolutely not. I meant "homage." I have no doubt that Nadesico is not well understood here. How do I know? Well, I see it all over the forum postings. It is only truly meaningful to those who were intimately exposed to anime from the old times. I know that Nadesico was extremely well received in Japan. Obviously, there are more old-timers there. I am somewhat saddened because I feel that the generation of original otaku is starting to disappear.

Fushigi no Umi no Nadia pays homage to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne as well as to some of the even older anime like Future Boy Conan, which by the way, is based on "The Incredible Tide" by Alexander Key. It doesn't stop with just anime and novel. Think "The Blues Brothers" from 1980! In turn, many later anime pays homage to Fushigi no Umi no Nadia. And they're all worthy in my opinion.

Perhaps it's the old-timer talk, but to me, Fushigi no Umi no Nadia marked the high-point of Gainax studio. It was all downhill from there.

This boxset cost me over 500 dollars. Is that expensive? Not at all! To me, it is priceless. Besides, it made me realize, even more so than I was already aware, how unworthy most of the newly released anime series are. In that sense, it's sure to save me money in the long run. Maybe not :) Either way, it is one gorgeous boxset. It is so well done that it makes "Blood the Last Vampire" boxset look like a plastic supermarket shopping bag. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the idea.

On a lighter note, I was totally unaware of the fact that Hidaka Noriko played the role of Jean. That surprised me, but it didn't take too long to feel that she was right for the part. Takamori Yoshino-san, who plays Nadia, reminded me of Kingetsu Mami and to a lesser degree, Asada Yoko. I don't think any of them were/are particularly popular. I'm actually quite fond of their somewhat plain and yet subtly special voices. On a general popularity vote, people with obviously special voices like Sakura Tange, Enomoto Atusko, et al. will win, but that's just the way things go with general population.

Image1: Doesn't this make you want to yell out, "You lucky son of a *(#&#!" to Jean? Hmm, maybe this isn't the best example.
Image2: This frame is a complete progressive frame and yet there are hints of the previous frame. This is similar to what happens on R2 Ayashi no Ceres DVD, just not as bad.

Images:

Back to Nadia Index Page
Back to Animephile Homepage