The show follows Jean Roque Raltique, a young scatter-brained inventor who spends most of his time creating half-baked inventions. While in Paris, Jean meets a girl named Nadia and instantly falls in love with her. Nadia, who has no memory of her birth and only a lion cub named King as a friend, is distrustful of other humans, and snubs Jean. As it turns out, she is being hunted by a trio of jewel thieves who are after the Blue Water, a large jewel that is Nadia's only link to her past. Jean helps Nadia escape and the two find themselves on the run from the jewel thieves. That is until they find a safe haven on the mysterious submarine The Nautilus, which is under the command of the equally as mysterious Captain Nemo. However, this is just the beginning of an adventure that will not only reveal Nadia's past but uncover secrets of the world; as well as start a battle the will hold it's fate in the balance.
Nadia starts off like a Ghibli film, which isn't surprising since the original concept was from Hayao Miyasaki, however Anno makes it his own (even throwing in biblical references near the end). One of the best things about this series is Anno's handling of the conflict between the crew of the Nautilus and the Neo-Atlantians, who serve as the series main antagonists. The Neo-Atlantians intend to use their advanced technology to conquer and reign over humans, which they see as inferior. Their leader, Gargoyle, makes a charismatic villain: cool, collected, and sophistic; possessing a silver tongue and merciless sadism. The crew of the Nautilus is a collection of people who have lost their homes to the Neo-Atlantians, and are determined to stop them at any cost. Leading them is Captain Nemo, who while cold and distant, retains a heroic demeanor by sticking to a strong set of morals. The sharp differences between the two factions and their leaders are put to good use and is one of the shows driving factors.
In the middle of these two battling sides are Jean and Nadia, two maturing youths with unique views on the world. The enthusiastic young inventor Jean is obsessed with technology, holding it on the highest pedestal and believing it could do no wrong. As the series progresses, he has experiences that force him to question his faith in technology as well as learning what it means to grow up. Meanwhile, Nadia has an affinity for animals and nature, an little trust in other humans. She detests hunting, and condemns anyone who participates in the action, even when it is essential for food. Through her journey, she finds that living on nature alone is more difficult than she believes, and learns to value other people. The development of these two youths is double-edged. It provides some of the series most compelling moments, and provides a good amount of character development for the entire cast, not just Jean and Nadia. However, it can also be very heavy-handed in execution, even preachy at times. On top of that, it eats up time that could be spent developing other parts of the plot. This is especially true for the deserted island arc mid-way through the series.
Speaking of the deserted island arc, it is the absolute low point of the series. For a time, the series takes the focus off the conflict between the Nautilus and Neo-Atlantians, and instead focuses on Jean and Nadia's relationship. This was not a good decision. For the entirety of this arc, taking up about a fourth of the show's run, Jean and Nadia's relationship more or less stays the same. Worse yet, there is no sign of the Neo-Atlantians or the Nautilus, making this stretch of episodes unbearably boring. The following arc, in which they travel to Africa, is similarly dull. Sure, there are some discoveries that progress the plot in these episodes, but it is hardly worth all the wasted time.
This is all really a shame, because a lot of the story elements unexplored are quite interesting. The back-stories of Nemo, Gargoyle, and Electra (Nemo's second in command) are all fascinating, but relatively little time is spent on them. Despite being one of the plots most interesting aspects, Nemo and Gargoyle's rivalry barely is explored; which is practically a crime. The growth of the Neo-Atlantians' technology is also barely explored; they just seem to materialize more powerful weapons out of nowhere with every encounter. Some of these complaints may seem trivial, but given this anime was 39 episodes long, it certainly had enough time to explore them. Instead, it opts to stick with Jean and Nadia having pointless misadventures on a deserted island.
While the storytelling quality is not constantly good, the art and animation are at least. The character designs and backgrounds are nothing jaw-dropping (especially by Anno's standard), but good none the less, and certainly get the job done. Character designs remain on model throughout the show, and while some backgrounds might be bland, they effectively create a believable world. The animation is quite impressive for a TV anime of its time. Movement is fluid, and is supported by Anno's keen sense of cinematography and editing. The spectacular battles between the Nautilus; and a nightmarish sequence which gives insight on why Nadia is so against the killing of animals, notably benefit from Anno's direction. The musical score is more or less like any other animated adventure, but is used accordingly and supports the story very effectively. Overall, quite a nice package production-wise.
Despite not putting its time to the best use, Nadia is certainly a solid watch. It has a strong, likable cast of characters and an intriguing plot. On top of that it is backed by the talents of a legendary director (albeit, early in his career). If it had not been for the incredibly poor use of time midway through the show, this could have been something great. As it stands, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is a decent animated adventure that showcases the talent of a prominent anime director.
