The Secret of Blue Water

Hi there,

To begin this adventure I think it can be great that the first post on "Steampunk Tales" is abaout what let me know the Steampunk world: the Anime Nadia - The secret of Blue Water.

Nadia And Jean, The main character of the series.

The mind behind this anime is Hideaki Anno (knowed also for the series Neon Genesis Evangelion). It take ispiration from another Anime, "Castle in the sky" created by Hayao Miyazaki, and is loosely based on the masterpiece of Jules Verne "twenty thousand legues under the sea".

It is settled in the last years of the XIX century. The main Characters of the series are a fourteen years old girl, Nadia, and a fourteen years old boy, Jean. Nadia is a circus performer that hide a strange secret. She has a pendant with a particoular blue stone since she was born. She meets Jean in Paris, where the boy was going to take part in a demostration with his uncle.
Jean save Nadia from a group of thiefs that want the gem that Nadia has around is neck. In the gateawey from this peaple they became the protagonists of a journey in which they meets the crew of the "Nautilus", a submarine equipped with high technological stuffs, that goes beyond the Humans knowledge of the time. At the head of the crew there is the Captain Nemo, a key figure of the entire story. During their journey, Jean and Nadia will lives many adventures and know new friends and enemies.On their way, they will discover the story of human beings, and of the ancient civilization of Atlantis came before the same men.

In the end, the plot hides many shades and key of reading. There are a lot of references to the holy scripture, and to other media like the Verne's work. Neon Genesis Evangelion, that for many is the Anno's masterpiece, contains some quotes of "Nadia". By many ways Nadia - The secret of blue waters can be considered an extension of the concept of Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky. We can find many similarities in the way of acting of some characters of the two works, and do some parallels (we can compare, among the others, the character of Grandis and Captain Dola).
Must be added, also, that the plot is influenced to the thought of some philosophers like Nietzsche or Kant, and from the existentialism movement. In fact, you can find certain quote of these thinkers, expecially in the word of Nemo.

From many points of view, I prefer Nadia to NGE, in this one there is, however, a better characterization of the protagonist. If you are a followers of Anno, or not, you may watch this anime that is one of the best works of the 90' years.