Amazon.com video review:
The second installment of this anime adventure gets even grittier than the first. Our intrepid preteen inventor Jean and his charge Nadia are sea bound after their first run-in with the Nautilus. A small island looks like paradise until they are shot down. They find a dark kingdom full of warlords turning the island into a giant power station while enslaving or killing the island's residents. One lone survivor is little Marie, who quickly joins our adventurers as they try to escape. The armed-to-the-teeth baddies make the bumbling Grandis (also stuck on the island) seem even more cartoonlike. Chases, gunfights, captures, and escapes are all part of these four episodes (numbers 5 to 8), but by the end we will have a new villain to contend with and a few secrets will be revealed about the highly prized blue water necklace that Nadia wears around her neck. Ages 10 and up. --Doug Thomas
Amazon.com video review:
These first four episodes introduce a long, involving anime series that should provide a wonderful stepping stone for youngsters being weaned from Pokémon. Based partially on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water begins as Jean, a young French boy who builds airplanes, teams with his uncle to enter a flying competition at the 1899 World's Fair in Paris. It's there that the preteen Jean meets and immediately falls for the exotic Nadia, who leads an unhappy life as a circus performer. Jean turns protector when Nadia is chased by a trio of bumbling villains who are after the mysterious "blue water" in Nadia's necklace. Their pursuit leads to the open sea, where Jean and Nadia board an American battleship searching for a vengeful sea monster, ultimately revealed as Captain Nemo's submarine, Nautilus. This first series from Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) has some of the charm and rich detail of the films of Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke) but features cardboard villains that could be distant cousins of Pokémon's Team Rocket. Nadia, Secret of Blue Water stepped into the limelight in 2001, 12 years after its original production, thanks to myriad similarities to Disney's ambitious animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire, including period setting, design, characters, story, and a mystical blue necklace. Nadia has the added benefit of its scope, 39 episodes spanning 16 hours, affording fans many more adventures ahead. Rated 12 and up for violence, but suitable for ages 7 to teens. --Doug Thomas
