WMD
Guild Member
Tbh if we get to the point before the island episodes before I go, so 22 episodes so dont have to start until the 2nd than i dont mind. I can finish when i get back and fill in my thoughts for the last few episodes when I get back.
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water simulwatch
- Thread starter Neil.T
- Start date
Okay, so taking everything into account, here's a proposal:
The simulwatch could start on Thu 1 Aug at the rate of one episode a day, initially skipping the Island episodes. We could then include them as a sort of "bonus round" following the end of the main series, after everyone has watched episode 39. We'll leave a gap in between, like what we did with The End of Evangelion in the Eva simulwatch.
Would this set-up suit everyone okay?
The simulwatch could start on Thu 1 Aug at the rate of one episode a day, initially skipping the Island episodes. We could then include them as a sort of "bonus round" following the end of the main series, after everyone has watched episode 39. We'll leave a gap in between, like what we did with The End of Evangelion in the Eva simulwatch.
Would this set-up suit everyone okay?
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Just a quick reminder to folks who are wanting to join in with the Nadia simulwatch that it starts tomorrow. 
Check the opening post for the full schedule.
Also, opening post edited to display @D1tchd1gger's HIDIVE code.
Check the opening post for the full schedule.
Also, opening post edited to display @D1tchd1gger's HIDIVE code.
Captaaainuniverse
Time-Traveller
I could watch watch it an episode a day, if hidive lasts. Would probably be up for the island episodes too if I'm into it, but I don't think many people will come back to then, considering they apparently don't add much to the plot
Patient-X
Railgun
Just a quick reminder to folks who are wanting to join in with the Nadia simulwatch that it starts tomorrow.
Check the opening post for the full schedule.
Also, opening post edited to display @D1tchd1gger's HIDIVE code.
Episode 1
And so it begins!
Just a couple of minor detail observations from me here as I find my feet with the series and start to get to know the characters.
I think the biggest surprise for me in this episode was Jean's voice: he sounds so young! I wasn't expecting that. (He's voiced by a female VA in Japanese, I know.)
Another detail I noticed is the Evangelion-style caption for the episode title. So they pre-date Eva, then. Do they pre-date Nadia, too? I mean, can anyone tell me if that style's used in Gunbuster at all?
And so it begins!
Just a couple of minor detail observations from me here as I find my feet with the series and start to get to know the characters.
I think the biggest surprise for me in this episode was Jean's voice: he sounds so young! I wasn't expecting that. (He's voiced by a female VA in Japanese, I know.)
Another detail I noticed is the Evangelion-style caption for the episode title. So they pre-date Eva, then. Do they pre-date Nadia, too? I mean, can anyone tell me if that style's used in Gunbuster at all?
Episode 1: Grand Theft Boat
1889 was a very different time, but I don't think people's view of boat ownership was ever that casual. Lets just assume Jean took it back to its rightful owner later. Incidentally, one thing that I don't think occurred to me last time round is that, presumably, the choice to set the show in 1889 would be at least in part because it was exactly a hundred years before the present day (the show started airing in '90, but allowing for pre-production, there's no way that's a coincidence). I feel the show plays a bit too fast and loose with its period setting for my liking, but I don't think steampunk had really been coined as a visual language at this point in time, so I'll try not to be too hard on them. I do really like how Hanson's tank is programmed with punch cards and a church organ though.
But yeah, it's been so long. The first time I ever saw Nadia, it was in French and, funnily enough, I now know it must have been this episode - I definitely remember the part on the Eiffel tower. Only had the vaguest of clues as to what was going on though. Also the OP was not as good.
Speaking of watching the show in other languages, the I remember the English dub for Nadia being fairly decent. Notably, they got child actors to play the child parts for this one. Unfortunately, while I think he gets into it a bit more later on, Jean's VA does sound a bit like he ought to be on Allo Allo with that accent at the moment, so I'll probably stick with the Japanese for a while at least.
I still have a VHS copy of Gunbuster, so should be able to find that out for you.
1889 was a very different time, but I don't think people's view of boat ownership was ever that casual. Lets just assume Jean took it back to its rightful owner later. Incidentally, one thing that I don't think occurred to me last time round is that, presumably, the choice to set the show in 1889 would be at least in part because it was exactly a hundred years before the present day (the show started airing in '90, but allowing for pre-production, there's no way that's a coincidence). I feel the show plays a bit too fast and loose with its period setting for my liking, but I don't think steampunk had really been coined as a visual language at this point in time, so I'll try not to be too hard on them. I do really like how Hanson's tank is programmed with punch cards and a church organ though.
But yeah, it's been so long. The first time I ever saw Nadia, it was in French and, funnily enough, I now know it must have been this episode - I definitely remember the part on the Eiffel tower. Only had the vaguest of clues as to what was going on though. Also the OP was not as good.
Speaking of watching the show in other languages, the I remember the English dub for Nadia being fairly decent. Notably, they got child actors to play the child parts for this one. Unfortunately, while I think he gets into it a bit more later on, Jean's VA does sound a bit like he ought to be on Allo Allo with that accent at the moment, so I'll probably stick with the Japanese for a while at least.
I still have a VHS copy of Gunbuster, so should be able to find that out for you.
Greboruri
Kiznaiver
If you mean the font, pretty sure it's same one used in the latter episodes of Gunbuster.
I do, yeah.
I mean that font being used for captions generally, but also it appearing on a black background as a title card specifically.
The captions overlaid on-screen in DARLING in the FRANXX are very much a callback to those. Since they've now apparently been absorbed into the visual language of anime, I'm interested in learning where they first appeared.
I like that too; it's a clever touch.And the means to play in no doubt. Gotta have in VCR in your set-up.
(I do.)
I do really like how Hanson's tank is programmed with punch cards and a church organ though.
Have you seen Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy, Prof? The church organ controls for a piece of a bad guy's gadgetry, along with something totally resembling that ring-shaped contraption Jean rides in our first episode here, are both in the mix! Influence continues to be passed down the line.
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WMD
Guild Member
Episode 1 here we go!
The painted images in the intro showing the stormy seas were amazing. Really foreboding with the voiceover.
The OP was so 80s and hit all the anime staples, running, looking into the distance etc.
I'm watching the english version and it really struck me how efficient the dialogue is in the first half of the episode. We learn so much with very little said. How technically proficient Jean is. Not just an inventor but very analytically as well and his air speed device is amazing! Also he gets sea sick, but isn't intimidated, is an orphan but refuses to accept it, needs money to realise his dreams.
Also with Nadia that she feels like an outsider, is self conscious but a total badass at the same time!
The villains intro reminded me of both Laputa and Pokemon! And it was I treat g to see that one of the 'goons' was actually the inventor of their tech. That took me by surprise. Also the bit where they crashed into the bridge made me burst out laughing, such a good subversion of what I was gona be them just crashing into water.
The painted images in the intro showing the stormy seas were amazing. Really foreboding with the voiceover.
The OP was so 80s and hit all the anime staples, running, looking into the distance etc.
I'm watching the english version and it really struck me how efficient the dialogue is in the first half of the episode. We learn so much with very little said. How technically proficient Jean is. Not just an inventor but very analytically as well and his air speed device is amazing! Also he gets sea sick, but isn't intimidated, is an orphan but refuses to accept it, needs money to realise his dreams.
Also with Nadia that she feels like an outsider, is self conscious but a total badass at the same time!
The villains intro reminded me of both Laputa and Pokemon! And it was I treat g to see that one of the 'goons' was actually the inventor of their tech. That took me by surprise. Also the bit where they crashed into the bridge made me burst out laughing, such a good subversion of what I was gona be them just crashing into water.
WMD
Guild Member
Episode 2
"It's some sort of boat!" Thank you captain obvious.
I like how this episode shows us that whilst Jean is clearly a boy genius, he isn't perfect and not everything he does will work out. We see several of his inventions get them out of a sticky situation only to break down a short while later which allows to villains to keep on their tails.
His hydrofoil boat and wind up torch I especially liked. The torch is actually very similar to the wind up torches of today where to charge the battery by winding! Just using the energy immediately rather than storing it.
Its interesting to see that an older anime was so willing to put a spotlight on western racism. It's going to be interesting to see how much a role it plays in Nadia's and others character development.
"It's some sort of boat!" Thank you captain obvious.
I like how this episode shows us that whilst Jean is clearly a boy genius, he isn't perfect and not everything he does will work out. We see several of his inventions get them out of a sticky situation only to break down a short while later which allows to villains to keep on their tails.
His hydrofoil boat and wind up torch I especially liked. The torch is actually very similar to the wind up torches of today where to charge the battery by winding! Just using the energy immediately rather than storing it.
Its interesting to see that an older anime was so willing to put a spotlight on western racism. It's going to be interesting to see how much a role it plays in Nadia's and others character development.
I haven't, unfortunately - I kept meaning to watch it while it was on Netflix, but never got around to it and now it's disappeared from their catalogue :/ Need to see if I can pick it up sometime.
Very much this. You've even got the birds in the sky at the start. The Nadia OP is like an anime opening distilled to its purest form.
There is also a music video which, frankly, needs to be preserved for future generations.
No one alive will ever have as much energy as Miho Morikawa does here.
WMD
Guild Member
Haha that's amazing!
Episode 2
It's easy to see the Hayao Miyazaki influence in the early stages here, with capers involving bungling villains and crazy flying contraptions.
The Miyazaki films that have those elements in them have always been the ones I've been kinda slow to warm to, though, and this continues for me with this series.
In other news, I only just noticed this morning that our Prof is now a moderator. I'd better watch my ****ing language, then.
It's easy to see the Hayao Miyazaki influence in the early stages here, with capers involving bungling villains and crazy flying contraptions.
The Miyazaki films that have those elements in them have always been the ones I've been kinda slow to warm to, though, and this continues for me with this series.
In other news, I only just noticed this morning that our Prof is now a moderator. I'd better watch my ****ing language, then.
D
Deleted member 4555
Guest
You're too easily distracted with other stuff, dude!
Episode 2
Wait, the boat was Jean's all along? I misread that situation entirely... Other than that, I don't have much to add on this one. We get a bit more development for Jean in terms of his motivation, and it's kind of amusing to see his pleased reaction when Nadia falls on him (new best pickup line: "Let me show you my greatest invention! It's upstairs"), but I think it's fair to say the series hasn't really begun in earnest as yet.
Hot take: Porco Rosso is my favourite film he did for Ghibli.
Wait, the boat was Jean's all along? I misread that situation entirely... Other than that, I don't have much to add on this one. We get a bit more development for Jean in terms of his motivation, and it's kind of amusing to see his pleased reaction when Nadia falls on him (new best pickup line: "Let me show you my greatest invention! It's upstairs"), but I think it's fair to say the series hasn't really begun in earnest as yet.
Hot take: Porco Rosso is my favourite film he did for Ghibli.
In other news, I only just noticed this morning that our Prof is now a moderator. I'd better watch my ****ing language, then.
Greboruri
Kiznaiver
I think it is Gunbuster. I really can't remember an other anime prior to that which does that in that style. It's a Hideaki Anno trademark. It was really refined in Evangelion and was carried through in his other works thereafter. It's very prominent in his works immediately after End of Evangelion, like Love & Pop and Kare Kano. It's a bit hard to pin down what influenced Anno to use title cards like this. Some point to Jean-Luc Godard as an influence. Apparently the 1971 film The Andromeda Strain uses white text on a black background several times. That film is also referenced numerous times in Evangelion. But Kihachi Okamoto's 1971 film Battle of Okinawa is probably the main culprit. That film is one Anno favourites and uses onscreen text in the same way Gunbuster does.I do, yeah.
I mean that font being used for captions generally, but also it appearing on a black background as a title card specifically.
The captions overlaid on-screen in DARLING in the FRANXX are very much a callback to those. Since they've now apparently been absorbed into the visual language of anime, I'm interested in learning where they first appeared.
WMD
Guild Member
In Alcoi in spain today for a friends wedding but watched episode 3 yesterday and made some notes.
Episode 3
I really like the calm granny recap voiceover. A calm before the storm as it were.
We harbour forst real conflict between jean and Nadia. Her reverence for all life and desire for a peaceful way of life. And how jean just doesnt get why she wouldn’t be excited to be on a battleship. Also his shock at the idea of a vegetarian is pretty funny.
It was also interesting to see the Navy not have any insidious scheme for the main characters. They have their own mission but they genuinely helped the kids out as it was the right thing to do.
The way the creatures are seeded seemed pretty obvious to me that they were submarines but I guess its true to the world that characters in it wouldn’t be able to jump to that conclusion.
Episode 3
I really like the calm granny recap voiceover. A calm before the storm as it were.
We harbour forst real conflict between jean and Nadia. Her reverence for all life and desire for a peaceful way of life. And how jean just doesnt get why she wouldn’t be excited to be on a battleship. Also his shock at the idea of a vegetarian is pretty funny.
It was also interesting to see the Navy not have any insidious scheme for the main characters. They have their own mission but they genuinely helped the kids out as it was the right thing to do.
The way the creatures are seeded seemed pretty obvious to me that they were submarines but I guess its true to the world that characters in it wouldn’t be able to jump to that conclusion.
I'm half-contradicting myself with what I said in that earlier post, because those elements I mentioned before come through probably most strongly in Porco Rosso, and yet I'm a fan of that film.
I keep meaning to watch the dub of it, too, sometime. I haven't heard the English dub yet.
You've reminded me of the intentional caption overload in the early stages of Shin Godzilla now. That was a workout for the eyes!
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Episode 3
I really liked the use of parallax layers in that early cut of the battleship turning. Shirou Sagisu's music is already very recognisable, too.
And I'm warming to Jean before I'm managing to warm to Nadia at the moment. Although she's probably written that way on purpose.
And my favourite VA Kouichi Yamadera's in this episode!
Hooray!