The classic anime, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is getting a blu-ray box set release on the 23rd of November in Japan. That’s today. Unfortunately I doubt anybody is going to get this for me and I must resist the temptation to buy it myself because Christmas is a season where others must be put first and all that jazz.
What makes this anime so great?
Well the story of the anime is based on the works of French fantasy and sci-fi author Jules Verne and follows a young French inventor named Jean and a former circus performer named Nadia, a girl of mysterious origins who wishes to return home. The two are chased by a trio of jewel thieves but are rescued by Captain Nemo and his submarine before an even larger enemy emerges.
Sounds intriguing. Even more impressive is the list of people involved in the production of this anime.
The series originally started as a concept that the legendary Hayao Miyazaki came up with for Toho but was never produced. Toho retained the rights to the story and commissioned studio Gainax to produce an educational series for NHK. Now Gainax are guys who strive to be original and never do the obvious, just look at some of the titles to come out of the studio: Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, FLCL, His and Her Circumstances, Gunbuster and Evangelion. Well the Gainax staff loved the concept that Miyazaki created and with Hideaki Anno (director of Evangelion for one thing) acting as director and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto as character designer they took on the task of animating the show which ran for 39 episodes from 1990 to 1991.
This new release contains 7 blu-ray discs with all 39 episodes spanning 135 minutes plus a 111 page booklet filled with 74 pages Illustrations. The box illustrations have been drawn by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto who I’m a big fan of and I highly recommend Der Mond which is a book that collects his works.
If I am honest I do not need this release. What I really want it for is the nostalgia. The blu-ray set looks incredible and I would love to have it in my collection, Sadamoto’s illustrations taking pride of place amidst the other anime collections but it is hardly life or death. The anime is probably floating around out there online since nobody on this side of the globe owns the rights to it but whenever I see the opening theme I’m reminded of the sheer exuberance of anime and the joy it once filled me with as a carefree kid. I mean… can you resist the intro?
Genkinahito 