"Fushigi no umi no Nadia" (1990) TV series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

13 April 1990 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Family | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi | War

Plot:

Nadia is a teenaged circus acrobat, an orphan searching for her father at the turn of the 20th century...

Plot Keywords:

Sea | Orphan | Acrobat | Jewel | Young Girl

Cast

Noriko Hidaka	...	Jean (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Carl Domaski	...	Additional Voices / ... (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Judson L. Jones	...	Additional Voices / ... (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Craig Kanne	...	Red Noah (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Talbot McKitt	...	New Nautilus Radio (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Nathan Parsons	...	Jean (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Nanker Phelge	...	Additional Voices / ... (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Guy Roberts	...	Additional Voices / ... (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Douglas Taylor	...	Gargoyle's Cabinet / ... (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
James Arnold Taylor	...	Additional Voices / ... (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Clay Towery	...	Gargoyle's Cabinet / ... (39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Meg Bauman	...	Nadia (38 episodes, 1990-1991)
Toshiharu Sakurai	...	King / ... (37 episodes, 1990-1991)
Shawn Sides	...	King (37 episodes, 1990-1991)
Yoshino Takamori	...	Nadia (36 episodes, 1990-1991)
Karen Kuykendall	...	Narrator (35 episodes, 1990-1991)
Kumiko Takizawa	...	Grandis (33 episodes, 1990-1991)
Martin Blacker	...	Sanson (33 episodes, 1990-1991)
Margaret Cassidy	...	Marie (33 episodes, 1990-1991)
Corey Gagne	...	Hanson (33 episodes, 1990-1991)
Sarah Richardson	...	Grandis (33 episodes, 1990-1991)
Ken'yû Horiuchi	...	Sanson (32 episodes, 1990-1991)
Yûko Mizutani	...	Marie (31 episodes, 1990-1991)
Ev Lunning	...	Captain Nemo (25 episodes, 1990-1991)
Akio Ôtsuka	...	Captain Nemo (23 episodes, 1990-1991)
Jennifer Stuart	...	Electra (23 episodes, 1990-1991)
Kikuko Inoue	...	Electra (22 episodes, 1990-1991)
Billy F. Harden	...	Nautilus Chief Engineer (21 episodes, 1990-1991)
Richard Smith	...	Nautilus Co-Pilot / ... (21 episodes, 1990-1991)
Greg Gondek	...	Nautilus Sonar Officer (20 episodes, 1990-1991)
Don Bisbee	...	Nautilus Pilot / ... (17 episodes, 1990)

Series Directed by
Hideaki Anno		(27 episodes, 1990-1991)
Shinji Higuchi		(17 episodes, 1990-1991)

Series Writing credits
L.B. Bartholomee		(39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Hisao Ohkawa		(39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Jules Verne		(39 episodes, 1990-1991)
Hideaki Anno		(29 episodes, 1990-1991)
Kaoru Umeno		(24 episodes, 1990-1991)

Series Produced by
Hiroshi Kubota	....	producer (1 episode, 1990)

Series Original Music by
Shirô Sagisu		(unknown episodes)

Series Film Editing by
Akio Satsukawa		(unknown episodes)

Series Art Direction by
Masanori Kikuchi		(unknown episodes)
Hiromasa Ogura		(unknown episodes)
Hiroshi Sasaki		(unknown episodes)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Shunji Suzuki	....	second unit director (unknown episodes)

Series Art Department
Hideaki Anno	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 1990)
Shôichi Masuo	....	storyboard artist (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Deb Adair	....	sound re-recording mixer (unknown episodes)
Katsunori Shimizo	....	sound director (unknown episodes)

Series Animation Department
Tsukasa Abe	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Tadashi Abiru	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hideaki Anno	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Nam-Ryeol Baek	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Yasushi Date	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiroshi Dobashi	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Masaru Fukumoto	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiroaki Gôda	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Keiji Gotoh	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Masahiro Hamamori	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiromasa Hanawa	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Tadashi Hiramatsu	....	animation director / animator (unknown episodes)
Tomohiro Hirata	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Takeshi Honda	....	animation director / animator (unknown episodes)
Isamu Imakake	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Suguru Itô	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Yoshiaki Iwasaki	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Takayuki Kanauchi	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiroyuki Kanbe	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Masakuni Kaneko	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Masahiro Kase	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Toshihiro Kawakami	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Toshihiro Kawamoto	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Kumiko Kawana	....	animation director / animator (unknown episodes)
Kumiko Kikuchi	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Se-Chang Kim	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Kazuchika Kise	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Takahiro Kishida	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Noboru Koizumi	....	animation director / animator (unknown episodes)
Toshiyuki Kubooka	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Hiroshi Kugimiya	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Kazuya Kuroda	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Yûko Kusumoto	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Masayuki	....	animation director / animator (unknown episodes)
Shôichi Masuo	....	animator / mechanical designer (unknown episodes)
Hidenori Matsubara	....	animation director / animator (unknown episodes)
Shin Matsuo	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Takenori Mihara	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Nagisa Miyazaki	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Katsuhito Mukai	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Takanobu Murakami	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hisao Muramatsu	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Shuko Murase	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Mitsuyuki Mutsuzaki	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Nobuaki Nagano	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Masaki Nakao	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Takehiro Nakayama	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Kazuto Nakazawa	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Katsuhiko Nishijima	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiroyuki Nishimura	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiroki Noguchi	....	animation director / animator (unknown episodes)
Akihiko Nomura	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Yoshio Ôhashi	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Minoru Okamoto	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Haruo Ôkawara	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiroyuki Okuno	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Takahiro Omori	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Gazô Ôta	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Tokihiko Ôta	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto	....	animation director / character designer (unknown episodes)
Takuya Saitô	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Tetsuhito Saitô	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Masakatsu Sasaki	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Keiko Shimizu	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Mackie F. Steinbeck	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiroki Sugano	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Eiji Suganuma	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Kôji Sugiura	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Shunji Suzuki	....	animation director / animator / ... (unknown episodes)
Kôichi Takada	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Hiroki Takagi	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Yuji Takahashi	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Akira Takeuchi	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Atsushi Takeuchi	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Katsumi Terahigashi	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Tadashi Tsubokawa	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Kazuya Tsurumaki	....	animation director / animator (unknown episodes)
Toshiyuki Tsuru	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Akira Watanabe	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Hiroshi Watanabe	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Naoko Yamamoto	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Tetsuya Yamamoto	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Akihiko Yamashita	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Yoshiaki Yanagida	....	animation director (unknown episodes)
Makoto Yoshida	....	animator (unknown episodes)
Mie Yukutake	....	animator (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

• Gainax
• NHK
• Sogovision
• Toho Company

Distributors

• Club Super 3 (1999) (Spain) (TV)
• Orion Home Video (USA)
• Telecinco (199?) (Spain) (TV)

Also Known As:

Nadia of the Seas of Mystery (Japan) (literal English title)
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (USA)
The Secret of Blue Water (Japan: English title)

Runtime:

25 min (39 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Gainax

Trivia:

Gainax, the production company, has a reputation for being frugal when it comes to animation in some of their productions. This sometimes means that they will reuse animation; not only from the current production, but from other series they've produced if the budget becomes too tight. This is apparent in one episode of this series - when the Nautilus is doing battle against a pack of Garfish, footage of missile tubes opening is lifted from _Top o Nerae! (1988) (V)_. Also, stock footage of the ocean waves beating against the sand from the Island episodes and the explosion caused by the Tower of Babel's energy beam in this series ends up being used again in _"Shin seiki evangelion" (1995)_.

Quotes:

[at the beginning, we see a plaque with foreign writing]
Opening Voice: Do you seek adventure beyond the treacherous waterfalls? Do you seek the mythical being the dwells in this unreachable place? If you do, then you must first find me.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#34.11)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Burû Wôtâ

One of the greatest anime series of all time.

This series, a creation of Studio Gainax, is a perfect example of why I love anime. It has everything: Adventure, romance, action, comedy, and drama. Oh, does it have drama. And all of these elements are brought together in such a way that "perfection" doesn't do it justice. Running for 39 episodes, this series starts out in Paris in the late 1800's. Jean (pronounced the French way), a young boy with an incredible knowledge for designing aircraft, meets a girl named Nadia. Nadia is a mysterious girl, and quite unusual. Her companion is a grey lion cub named King, and they are being chased by a band of jewel thieves (Graten, Samson, and Hanson, three of the coolest anime characters ever)because Nadia has a pendant around her neck, a diamond-shaped, blue crystal. But, that's just a small part of the story, for you see, that crystal holds a secret capable of destroying the world. Nadia and Jean meet other characters, including the enigmatic Captain Nemo, captain of a high-tech, almost futuristic submarine named the Nautilus (the series borrows some elements from the Jules Vernes novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, then adds it's own spin to them). They also encounter the series' true villain, the leader of a society called Neo Atlantis. This villain, named Gargoyle, is perhaps the single most evil villain I've ever seen, as well as one of the coolest. He's very proper, with a calm, smooth voice, not loud and over-the-top like most typical villains, and hides his face behind a mask (take Darth Vader's coolness and multiply it by about 10, and you've got Gargoyle). Eventually, the series explores the secrets of Nadia's past, her relationship with Nemo and Jean, and the awesome power her pendant, the Blue Water, unlocks. The series' finale, the final four episodes, are some of the best viewing you can get (why, oh why can't American animation be this good?), with heart-wrenching drama and glorious animation. The music, by the same composer as the Evangelion music, is heavenly, and the character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto are as good as his Eva character designs (the man is an artistic genius). The opening and ending themes are fantastic, also. All in all, this series is the only anime I can think of that equals Neon Genesis Evangelion in every respect, and in some may actually surpass Eva. After all, Eva was great, but lacked a cool villain (and Gargoyle is one of the coolest). If A.D. Vision ever gets around to releasing this officially over here, buy it (and please buy the subtitled versions, the voices are just TOO GOOD to watch a dubbed version). An 11 out of 10.