Full of Parodies (Episode 25-28)

In the whole seris of Nadia TV animation, Vol.7 is not as great as the rest of the series, having full of jokes from Japanese animation or Japanese monster movies such as Gamela, Godzilla or Ultraman series.
Basic idea comes from Jules Verne's novel MYSTERIOUS ISLAND with some of borrowed settings. Nadia's unpredictable character runs wild and make-believe of heroines Hayao Miyazaki created can also be found (particularly NAUSICAA). Overall you can skip it if you purchase the series individually so I recommend to have second volume of Box series to see these slow and rather peaceful (no gargoyle attacks) episodes with the exception of personal brawls.

Verdict: Nadia's In Mysterious Island
Rating: 68 out of 100
Recommended for: Die-hard Nadia fans. I recommend second volume of Box series containing the latter half of Nadia episodes.

[Saturday, August 25, 2007]

"Worst...animation...everr." (Imagine Comic book guy)

Mon Dieu! (Heh, I'm not even French) Let me just begin by saying that the only thing that saved this Nadia DVD from getting 2, 1, or even NO stars is the fact that it's "NADIA" and I will stay loyal to the characters no matter what. However, this is near unforgivable in terms of animation quality, and, even worse, the awful concepts for the episodes.

I'd heard all kinds of complaints about these episodes online (I went on a HUGE Nadia kick for about a month, in which I went out and literally blew all my money on Nadia DVDs every week, and I'm happy I did it because I'm finished the series now), but I never thought it would be this bad. As I opened the shrink wrap, I thought, "Ah, how bad could it be? Maybe it'll just be really funny or something...Bad animation? Yeah right! I'll bet it's just dated-looking." My response to that now is: "What was I thinking? I'm an idiot for being so naiive!!!"

The first episode rather frightened me. It was alright through the beginning, with some funny moments regarding Nadia, Jean, and Marie's problem of finding water and food. However, I nearly choked on my own saliva when, out of NOWHERE, Jean eats these brightly colored mushrooms for no reason other than the fact that it was most likely a reference to some kind of hallucinoginic (sp?) drug. Dear god. The spores don't even move! I dealt with the fact that Jean/Marie/Nadia's hair colors and designs changed every other frame, but for mushrooms to be animated so poorly...*sarcastic* Just awful. ^^;;; In more than one frame, you can actually see paint smudges in the cels. I kid you not. Just watch Nadia's hair- sometimes, the glare of the camera that took the photo of the cel is showing on the painted surface of that cel. It's laughable. The kiss shared by Nadia and Jean after the episode kind of saved it, but not really. I was just in shock, and couldn't enjoy any bit of the humor or romance (whichever you think it was. ^^ I can't tell)

The next episode was a bit better, with Jean and Nadia kissing again, this time Jean was NOT high. Yee hah. However, he didn't remember the first kiss, and this threw Nadia into a very bad fit. *sigh* I enjoyed this episode the best, just because it left out most of the bad hijinks. Oh wait, I'm forgetting the incoherent and very strange sequence in which Jean falls from a cliff (what the-? I thought he was supposed to be smart!) and imagines a whole sequence where he invents a huge bomb (!) and a jet. Oh...please help me. I was so confused, and all I could think was "No way...he didn't just imagine that, did he? Jeez, this is awful. I think that those mushrooms are still taking affect."

Well, I'm going to cut myself off here, because this would go on forever if I don't stop now. You get the idea; "NADIA" is a wonderful series, with great characters and storyline, however this volume is degrading to the series as a whole. I can assure you; immediately after I viewed this, I was in such a state that I grabbed a piece of paper, scribbled "Worst animation EVER!" on it, and placed it between the plastic cover and the insert showing the title, so that I would remember not to watch it ever again. (See, it's bad, but I couldn't resist taking it with a little bit of humor) *blinks* *facefault* Anyway, I suggest skipping this unless you are a die hard fan. And I mean DIE HARD, because this tested my patience for "Nadia" more than I even thought possible.

[Monday, October 20, 2003]

The Mediocre Island Episodes, Continued.

At one point on this volume, Marie complains, "this is getting ridiculous!" She may as well be speaking for everyone else who has to sit through the seventh entry in the NADIA series. It happens to be the (first) weakest thus far, as the content consists of four more of the infamous "island episodes", which slow down everything and delay the important plot points.

The first eight episodes (and the Nautilus episodes) were slowgoing, yes, but they had their reasons, and were engaging to watch with deeply moving character interactions, exciting action sequences, an engrossing plot which maintains one's interest as each episode progresses, an ever-present sense of danger and imaginative marvels to behold. All that is gone in the island episodes, which consist of third-rate writing, uncharacteristic antics from our pals, and pointless sequences which not only don't suit the story, but threaten to sink the show, too. The animation quality, in addition, no longer has the rich, high-quality production values the aforementioned episodes have, but now look like the kind of stuff you'd see on a poorly made Saturday Morning Cartoon. Normally, I am not bothered by this, but in the case of NADIA, where it was aiming for higher qualities earlier, it is disappointing to see the same fate befall the artwork. This problem came about because GAINAX subcontracted the animation to other studios in Japan and Korea. Unfortunately, it also becomes an even more insulting characteristic of this DVD too.

There's barely any story to this arc other than just some badly drafted garbage written to kill time. While there are some moments that come off as undeniably funny (Jean getting intoxicated from hallucinogenic mushrooms) or endearing (a cute, yet not stimulating screen kiss), these are few compared to the more outrageously offensive "plot" the writers were forced to come up with. And where does this story go? Nowhere. All it does is reduce the characters to stupid antics -- Jean starts doing these goofy gags similar to a LOONEY TUNES cartoon, such as eyes popping out of his head when he realizes he has just stepped off a cliff... but doesn't fall until about ten seconds later. King spends much of the time dancing on a distant rock, waving palm tree leaves, by some sort of statue as if to pray for rain (What the Hell?!), and Marie, shockingly, chases the lion cub around the beach sadistically, swinging him by the tail and tossing him sky high -- RIGHT INTO THE SUN! (Problem: since when has Marie shown such malice six volumes ago?) Worst of all, Nadia is portrayed as a selfish, crazy, unappreciative brat, spending about half the entire volume bitching about how "eating meat makes you evil" and showing no gratitude nor paying any attention to *anything* Jean tries to do for her -- not even risking his life to find a cure for her fevers and stomach pains (all received from eating a decaying spinach can). She even becomes stupid enough to kiss Jean *while* he's stoned from the mushrooms, only to throw a tantrum uncharacteristic to anything we saw previously after discovering that he doesn't even know about it. (Hey, he was drugged while trying to save you, Nadia!) This out-of-character behavior also spoils a romantic interlude where Jean and Nadia are sitting under the stars with the telescope. It is also a far cry from what she was portrayed as in the first 22 episodes. There's even one silly dream sequence where Jean dreams that he's unveiling invention after invention before Nadia and Marie, who squeal excitedly (and repeatedly), "Amazing! You certainly are a certified genius, Jean! Great job!" None of this keeps in spirit with the story, much less work.

Doesn't all this just sound awful? Seeing it is actually far worse than even summing it up. If anything, this wretched Lincoln Island sequence (the first two episodes -- and part of the third episode on this DVD) could -- no, SHOULD -- very well have been cut from the story altogether. It does nothing to add to the show other than just weigh it down with a mess of futile waste.

Surprisingly, the remaining material is somewhat more interesting -- our pals discover a strange island floating on the waters where they run into Ayerton, the scientist from the U.S.S. Abraham. After doing a humorous (and tedious) recap of the battleship incident, he talks about how he ended up on the island and even describes the "Kings of Terror" he ran into. Of course, they turn out to be none other than Grandis, Sanson, and Hanson! There's even a hilarious "dummy" argument Sanson and Ayerton get into. And at least the plot goes *somewhere* -- the kids decide to stay with the gang. Unfortunately, the last bit of the episode then returns to the stupidities. Although some of them are quite funny, like Sanson's advice to Jean on how to handle Nadia (Sanson: "Do you know the one thing men have that women are looking for?" Jean: "A moustache?" Sanson: "NO!!! Power!"), others are depressingly bad and just don't cut the mustard. Sure, it's nice that Nadia tries to cook for Jean to make amends for her mistakes, but how could Jean possibly faint from eating her meal, foaming at the mouth for CHOKING ON A WHOLE FISHBONE?! This could never have happened in real life, and I don't think GAINAX would have written this sort of scenario if they had been on target.

Ironically, the quality of this DVD is similarly disappointing. The visual transfer looks jaded (no wonder; I bet someone at GAINAX tried to destroy the masters for these episodes!), for one, and the scripting on both the English and Japanese language tracks are horrible (especially the narrations), even though the voice actors try their best to cover them up.

It's nonetheless a crying shame to see this kind of material come from NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER. Especially since the previous five and-a-half volumes were so brilliant. Alas.

[Wednesday, August 28, 2002]

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