Nadia, the Secret of Blue Water Episode 32 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Jan 17, 2008 6:14 PM

JTurner

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Jan 2008

537

THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
You'd think that after a filler episode that emerged "moderately" good as "Farewell Red Noah" that "Nadia" would get back on the right track, right?

Sadly, these next two episodes (the first of which is this one), take the show into far, far worse territory. Here our pals crashland into an African tribal village. Instead of providing anything valuable to the overall plot, this sidestory comes across as both totally unnecessary and embarrasingly bad.

Bad as the Island arc was, there were a few (note: I said FEW) moments that could potentially count as contributing to the main plot. The Africa arc has no such saving graces and really has no reason to be in the story whatsoever, even moreso because it comes across as so jarringly out of step and feels tacked-on from the start.

For one, the village is hideously stereotyped, almost as if it came straight out of a lame carbon copy of "George of the Jungle" episode, and get this--its sacred treasures are a tin can of food and a drink that can make anyone who drinks it super-strong and have the ability to run super-fast(!). (One wonders if the writers were still suffering from those island episodes when they wrote this substory.)

Two, the concept and characterizations are even worse than the island episodes; the story plays out like a lame Saturday morning cartoon episode, with the characters taking complete 180-degree turns in their personalities for absolutely no reason. Case in point: in the previous episode, Nadia had admitted that Jean was more important to her than the Blue Water, and heck, embraced him nude. So why does she become madly infatuated with a bland-looking villager who does little more than recognize her Blue Water and give her a totally bizarre compliment? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and it makes even less sense that she even (infuriatingly) resorts to treating Jean hideously when he just risked his life for her. (It would have been marginally excusable if this episode was placed BEFORE Nadia's revelation of her love for Jean, but because it comes at precisely the wrong time, it is seriously detrimental both to her character and appeal. There is no clear reason behind her actions.) In an even more groanworthy way to resolve this uninspired, wirethin "love triangle" (in Episode 33), we find out that the guy is already engaged to an obese warrior woman(!).

The third major flaw is that the new characters have zero personality and do not fit into the atmosphere of Nadia at all. I have a particularly serious problem with the characterization of the aforementioned native villager. He does not come across as a very credible or well-defined character. Why Nadia would get hearts in her eyes at the sight of him (or the utterance of his beyond inept "flattery") is beyond me. He even says that he was born in 1877, but he looks much older than that. The only thing we are permitted to know about this guy is that he knows about the Blue Water and Nadia's birthplace. But we never really learn WHAT he has to say about either Nadia's jewel OR her homeland aside from some vague reference to a "silver city" which is never mentioned again. Very disappointing and a missed opportunity on the writers' part.

The African arc, in short, is stupid, inane, unimaginative, uninteresting, incoherent, pointless, and ultimately damaging to the show and the characters. It's almost as if the writers forgot about the developments that happened in episode 31. There are also even four -- count 'em, FOUR -- eye-catches in this episode. Go figure.

Mod Edit: Fixed poll.

KinetaJun 7, 2022 10:14 AM

Feb 3, 2008 1:21 AM

misashito

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Jan 2008

Yeah, what's up with all those eyecatches?

I really disliked seeing King "cruficied", it just looks wrong.

Feb 3, 2008 10:06 AM

JTurner

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Jan 2008

537

misashito said:
Yeah, what's up with all those eyecatches?

I really disliked seeing King "cruficied", it just looks wrong.

It's all the more stupid, too, because the subsequent episode shows him stuck on that cross for a full day and a half, with no food or water!

There were other problems with this episode as well, as I mentioned above, but the tarnishing of the characters bothered me most of all. I get a feeling that the writers weren't really thinking things through when they wrote this episode, hence the bizarre inconsistency with the Africa warrior's age--how could he claim to be thirteen when he looks and sounds like he's 18-20? Honestly, I can't think of anything valuable to the plot that occurred while in the Africa village. Even on the Nautilus Story compilation of the show, Eps. 32-34 are omitted. Two book adaptations of the show also ignore these stories. Ironically, Episode 35 even quickly forgets these episodes, which even suggests that the Africa village sidestory was never intended to be part of the original continuity.

JTurnerFeb 3, 2008 12:29 PM

May 6, 2014 9:46 AM

CCL_Sama

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May 2008

390

Nadia turned into a bitch alright... Jean should just dump her!

Apr 10, 2016 7:14 PM

sauveterre

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Sep 2010

201

The only thing that connects the Africa arc to the main story is what happens to the Garfish that appeared at the very end of episode 31. Stop watching 32 and move onto episode 35 when the third eyecatch appears.

Jul 11, 2016 2:30 PM

Resurrection_man

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Jul 2016

I was able to zone out during the island arc but this episode felt like a punch in the gut. I think this episode also had the worst art I've seen in the filler arcs so far. In many scenes the characters looked like children's drawings.

Jul 11, 2016 2:41 PM

JTurner

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Jan 2008

537

CausticDA said:
I was able to zone out during the island arc but this episode felt like a punch in the gut. I think this episode also had the worst art I've seen in the filler arcs so far. In many scenes the characters looked like children's drawings.

That's why I warned you to skip it. This episode is absolutely terrible. And so is episode 33 and 34.

Apr 5, 2017 7:18 AM

Lashiec

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Aug 2013

I think the writers were smoking some of those mushrooms Jean ate back on the island when they wrote this episode. Although I did find it funny when Ayerton kept yelling "jambo!"

Nadia is fickle and disloyal, I would say this ruins her character a bit but the island episodes already did that.

Apr 5, 2017 7:12 PM

JTurner

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Jan 2008

537

Lashiec said:
I think the writers were smoking some of those mushrooms Jean ate back on the island when they wrote this episode. Although I did find it funny when Ayerton kept yelling "jambo!"

Nadia is fickle and disloyal, I would say this ruins her character a bit but the island episodes already did that.

A bit? These episodes ruin her character DRASTICALLY.

But on the flipside, they also feel VERY disconnected from the rest of the show. Episode 35 forgets that they ever happened. THESE EPISODES WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE MADE, PERIOD. There's a reason why these episodes are considered the nadir of the show.

Sep 3, 2017 3:33 PM

#10

Rei_III

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Dec 2015

6449

One of the two worst episodes of the show, even the mediocre other ones were better than that.

0/5 Thank you for the bonus poll option, this time I'll use it!

What?!

Also,from before but I forgot to post it:

How can you forget to draw part of the character cell?

On a side note, all the Nadia threads look like weird anti-eps23~34 propaganda or street protest. XD This is going too far.

@CodeBlazeFate Just what does Hamma-Hamma/hammer-hammer means? First, a robot in ZZ and now a tribal african boy in Nadia. XD

Rei_IIISep 4, 2017 12:03 PM

About Gundam

Oct 19, 2017 12:12 AM

#11

Lease_of_Life

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May 2016

158

Uh, weren't Jean and Nadia a couple since episode 17?

I'm getting confused.

...

By the way, this episode's animation is AMAZING. The characters are barely recognizable. There's even a frame in which Marie and Jean are the same size!

And who knew a show whose main character is black could be this racist against blacks?

I was actually surprised by this episode's quality. The previous filler episodes are exceptionally bad, but this one is horrifying.

Lease_of_LifeOct 19, 2017 1:01 AM

"I will become his world and will make him my world" - You really should know who said this.

"Firing at unarmed citizens is a feat that those without courage and a chivalrous spirit simply cannot accomplish." - Oskar von Reuenthal

"No way Spirited Away is better than Akira. NO WAY." - Kanye West

Dec 14, 2017 5:35 AM

#12

Farabeuf

The Shrike

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Nov 2009

11353

The art, story, characterizations in this episode are all pitiful. Garbage.

"Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii

There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

May 23, 2018 1:58 PM

#13

RafaelDeJongh

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May 2012

25827

Oh boy here we go again with the horrible animation :| thought I was rid of it for good after that one episode :/

Boy was this episode bad, didn't had any trivial addition to the story whatsoever and as I am expecting this might not really end properly or at all...

Dec 1, 2018 12:57 PM

#14

vigorousjammer

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Mar 2014

2752

The animation here was just horrid. Also, what the heck was up with all of the eye-catches one after the other at the beginning of the episode?

::End of Transmission::

What have I been watching?
Click here and find out on my viewing blog, "Vigorous Viewing"

Sep 8, 2019 10:58 AM

#15

St0rmblade

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Aug 2017

2987

This was atrocious in every conceivable sense. Definitely the worst episode of Nadia so far. -1/10. I'm literally laughing at how bad it is. FOUR eyecatches, THREE of which happen in the first SIX minutes of the show (I'm not counting the OP and the stupid unnecessary recap), Sanson shooting at Garfish from an air baloon with a pistol (!), air fortress *dramatically* shooting Gratan only to blow it away right into the African village (oh my god), which is accompanied by a truly amazing sequence of our heroes spinning inside Gratan with stupid faces and talking far longer that they should have. I will just remain silent about the animation in this episode, sometimes I felt that it was nonexistent. And oh, what a cliffhanger at the end! What will our newly established African hero do to save a lion he cares so much about from the evil grasp of an incredibly nuanced and complex villain?

P.S. This is the person that directed this disaster
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=132877

St0rmbladeSep 8, 2019 11:15 AM

Apr 29, 2020 2:29 AM

#16

TheCrimsonEye

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Jan 2014

533

Well we are back to getting caught up in the cringe and oh man all this cringing just might be enough to ignite my fuse that will make my head explode ^-^ because . . . THIS . . . WAS . . . PAINFUL.

The character models look just all over the place throughout the whole episode and the animation is shall we say taking quite a few shortcuts with jerky and looped sequences and as for the characterization . . . well we will get to that but there might have been a nuclear assault since the characterization was vaporized from existence awful just awful :)

Already had a sinking feeling in the beginning of the episode with all those transitions but when their hot air balloon got punctured and it blew them all through the night into the morning right to Africa . . . SMH man so stupid so unnecessary. No one comes out of this episode looking good Ayerton being useless and pointless, Grandis referring to the marriage that brought ruin to her and her Father as a beautiful memory of her youth (might be mistranslated but still WTF XD) but the worst offender has got to be Nadia as she falls for this new guy right away (yeah once she gazed into those creepy cold off model eyes it was love clearly 🤣) what a complete joke you had a meaningful nice romantic reunion scene with Jean last episode but screw any of that right!?! Gotta keep these wacky scenarios happening but hey why should the people helming these episodes remember what they did in the previous episode that is crazy obviously a wacky meaningless plot is far more important 😒

And the treasure of the tribe is just a can of food (yeah yeah sure why not it makes too much sense) and we are treated to another ridiculous King opening a can scene and him drinking some steroid juice yeah sure seems like a good use of time. Then King is captured by a villain who I am sure will add a bunch of excitement and be a legitimate threat in the following episode and once again SMH the supposed warrior is wondering how they have not defeated this guy when he does not know to put out his torch to remain undetected . . . maybe this one dimensional looking villain will actually be a threat with instincts like that . . . maybe it was meant to be a joke I just . . . I do not know anymore. Well nothing left to do but keep pushing forward!

TheCrimsonEyeApr 29, 2020 2:34 AM

Feb 2, 2021 4:36 PM

#17

Fortress_Maximus

Offline

Feb 2012

3738

pity, so the end of the island arc was merely a local maximum in the quality. We're now on a downwards slope.

So the silver pillar Tartessos gave the village was a can of food?

Ayerton is a freaking conman.

Speaking of conmen, the hunter that captured King was the man who swindled Grandis, right?

ALSO WHY ARE THERE SO MANY EYECATCHES? I counted at least four. Did the timeslot Nadia air in originally suddenly get more advert breaks? They've should've edited them out in the home video versions.

Novels I have read/am reading pending approval: since November 10 2022

Jan 27, 2022 2:52 PM

#18

Kiirabu197

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Apr 2020

Needless to say, this was a horrible episode. Marie's character was the only enjoyable thing about it.
Now for the German dub, the "evil" dude at the end with the mustache does sound a lot like Meowth's voice actor from Pokémon, I don't know if they're the same but that was kinda funny.
Edit: Yes, they're actually the same person: Gerhard Acktun as Gonzalez and Meowth. ^^

Feb 24, 2022 4:09 PM

#19

Goblin_Techys

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Feb 2022

This was honestly one of the worst episodes for this anime. Like I read online how the island arc trashed the various relationships built. But man does this episode try to 1-up the worst aspects in how awful it is.

Jun 22, 2022 10:06 AM

#20

Crack

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Feb 2021

2347

Worst episode yet. Pretty damn convenient how native Africans are warm and welcoming to fucking white people and assume they're not European imperialists who're going to send over a crew to illegally force them into slavery, AND they know everything about the Blue water and talk to them in their language. Not to mention the beginning which looked more like a student presentation with the 3 or 4 eyecatchers

Mar 13, 8:22 PM

#21

AzafuseKingTora

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Jul 2021

344

Nadia dumps Jean for some (admittedly cute) rando we just met even though she's devoted to Jean.

The statues have a dick and everyone runs in slow-mo. Also, why are there 4 eyecatchers?

This villain is somehow more childish than the Looney Tunes-esque gags. Moustache twirling, seriously?

@Crack I suppose they were only welcoming because of Nadia

AzafuseKingToraMar 13, 8:33 PM

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Nadia, the Secret of Blue Water Episode 32 Discussion

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