Games ‘Nadia: The Secret Of Blue Water’ Blu-Ray Review: An Anime Classic That Laid The Foundations For ‘Evangelion’ Ollie Barder Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I cover gaming in Japan as well as the pop-culture here. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience. Got it! Jul 25, 2022, 02:42am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin At the start of the 90s, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water was aired on Japanese television. It went on to be a huge hit and a defining work for Gainax . So this new Blu-ray release of one of the most iconic anime series ever created has a lot to live up to. Nadia was and still is a fascinating anime. Covering the mysterious life of its titular protagonist, it deals with strange maritime events before the start of the 20 th century. With ships being destroyed by supposed “sea monsters”, but there’s more going on here than first appears. If this sounds familiar to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne , then you would not be mistaken. This anime indeed features a Captain Nemo and a submarine brimming with advanced technology called the Nautilus, but that’s where the similarities end. The real villains here are in fact those from Neo Atlantis and the technology that runs the Nautilus is not of Nemo’s creation. In fact, Nadia pulls from almost every ancient culture myth you can think of and then some. Not leaving out aliens of course and talking whales. What made Nadia special though was how the story was carefully paced. Each week the story was carefully covered and succinctly contained within an episode, while revealing snippets of the mysteries behind Nemo, Nadia and the villainous Neo Atlantis leader, Gargoyle. However, what made Nadia so successful ended up having NHK, the broadcaster and investor behind the series, asking for more episodes. This resulted in some of the most criminal types of filler episodes ever made, known amongst fans as the “Island Episodes”. MORE FOR YOU ‘Demon Slayer’ Season 2 Finally Has An Actual 2021 Release Date Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Not A Sure Thing, Says Director ‘Genshin Impact’ Still Refuses To Increase Anniversary Rewards, Despite Fan Outcry These happen after the halfway mark and have very little impact on main plot. They also have a noticeable drop off in terms of production quality. Thankfully, these are skippable and allow you to watch the amazing finale, which is definitely one of the best endings to an anime series. 'Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water' has undergone a new 4K restoration for this release. GKIDS Talking of endings, spoilers aside, the introduction of the amazing New Nautilus is still one of my all-time anime highlights. Designed by the hugely underappreciated Shoichi Masuo , who would go on to work on The Irresponsible Captain Tylor , its sleek silhouette remains one of the best looking ships in anime. If only Bandai Spirits would re-release their Soul of Chogokin New Nautilus toy, all would be right with the world. Though, I am still grateful that it was included in Super Robot Wars X . Despite Nadia being a truly tough production for Gainax, it ended up being a great series (even with the filler episodes). Not least because much of the production materials for Nadia resulted in the creation of Neon Genesis Evangelion . So to have GKIDS pick up Nadia and undertake an all-new 4K restoration is definitely appreciated. You may remember that I covered the Sentai Filmworks Blu-ray release back in 2015 and that was entirely great. However, this new collection is definitely better. Despite both versions being at the same resolution, the GKIDS release has an improved visual clarity over the previous version due to the higher fidelity of its source material. You also get a nice little artbook included with the set this time around too. Overall, this is probably the best version of Nadia to date and comes highly recommended to fans of the show, as well as newer viewers that want to see what all the fuss is about. Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is released on Blu-ray on August 2 and can be pre-ordered from the GKIDS online shop for $39. 48. Disclosure: GKIDS sent me a copy of this Blu-ray set for the purposes of this review. Follow me on Twitter , Facebook and YouTube . I also manage Mecha Damashii and do toy reviews over at hobbylink. tv . Read my Forbes blog here . Ollie Barder Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.