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  • Secret #6: Hideaki Anno.

  • Although Hayao Miyazaki can be credited as conceiving what eventually became known as

  • Nadia, the real talent behind the show is Hideaki Anno, one of the co-founders of the

  • Japanese animation studio, GAINAX. Anno was born in the Yamaguchi Prefecture

  • of Japan on May 22, 1960. When he was 14, Anno saw the Japanese TV series

  • "Space Battleship Yamato," which left a lasting impact on him as an aspiring filmmaker.

  • At the age of 24, Anno was a key animator on Miyazaki's "Nausicaä of the Valley of

  • the Wind." Anno's desk was so littered with comic books,

  • magazines, and other reference materials that Miyazaki wondered how Anno would be able to

  • clean up after the film was finished. Many elements of Anno's personal life are

  • incorporated into his work, including constant fear, vegetarianism, shyness, and his troubled

  • relationship with his father. He is said to have created the protagonists

  • for "The Secret of Blue Water" — the ever-optimstic, kindhearted inventor Jean and the suspicious,

  • eccentric circus performer Nadiabased on his light and dark sides.

  • Working on the show proved to be a nightmare for Anno.

  • Tight production schedules caused a lot of stress for the director, even more so because

  • he had almost no creative control on the show. The resulting turmoil led to four years of

  • depression for Anno. Somewhere during this period he created what

  • would be his most personal work, described as an attempt to put his feelings, passions,

  • and troubles onto film. The resulting show, "Neon Genesis Evangelion,"

  • was arguably his biggest success, and the work that Japanese animation fans mostly remember

  • him for today. "His and Her Circumstances" was his last animated

  • show as a director. Anno temporarily withdrew from animation to

  • concentrate on experimental live-action movies such as 1998's "Love and Pop", "Shiki-Jitsu"

  • in 2000, and "Cutie Honey" in 2004. Recently, however, Anno has made a comeback

  • with his "Rebirth of Evangelion" movies, a tetralogy that retells his controversial saga,

  • charting the story in different directions. Like Nadia, Anno's future is uncertain, but

  • one can be sure that he will continue to seek ways to express himself visually and mentally

  • in any new project he tackles.

  • Secret #7: GAINAX.

  • As any fan of Japanese animation can tell you, lots of studios in the land of the Rising

  • Sun have created noteworthy titles that catapulted them into success.

  • But in the case of GAINAX, "Nadia" was the company's first major entry to be recognized

  • by more than just fans. GAINAX was founded by a group of fanboy animators

  • in December of 1984. Their first project, the expensive, ambitious

  • sci-fi tale "Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise," premiered in Japanese theaters three years

  • later. The film, which was directed by GAINAX's co-founder,

  • 24-year-old Hiroyuki Yamaga, opened both critics and audiences' eyes to the artistry and imagination

  • of the budding animation studio. This was followed by "Aim for the Top! Gunbuster",

  • a six-part direct-to-video Anime series directed by Anno, which also won considerable acclaim

  • for its energy and style. "Nadia" followed soon after, and proved to

  • be the company's introduction in creating television serials.

  • Since "Nadia," the studio has produced several series for video and TV which have fascinated

  • Anime buffs worldwide, including "Otaku no Video, "His and Her Circumstances," "FLCL",

  • and "Mahoromatic." But as mentioned, GAINAX's most popular work

  • is the 26-part TV series "Neon Genesis Evangelion." Its success spawned a tidal wave of merchandise

  • as well as two theatrical movies. The company has also produced video games

  • most of which are available only in Japan. Regardless of what GAINAX continues to produce,

  • the studio will always be remembered for its achievements in animation — "Nadia" included.

  • Secret #8: "The Infamous Island Episodes"

  • "Nadia" was originally intended to have an estimated 27 episodes.

  • However, when it became so popular in Japan, NHK requested that GAINAX produce more episodes,

  • extending the episode count to 39. Neither the studio nor Anno were ecstatic.

  • As mentioned, GAINAX was already experiencing trouble keeping the show on schedule and meeting

  • their sponsor's demands. Anno was unable to handle the burden of doing

  • an extra season for a TV show he had little to no creative control over.

  • So he turned direction over to his assistant Shinji Higuchi for episodes 23 through 34.

  • Furthermore, to cut down on costs (the budget was already spiraling out of control), other

  • studios in Japan and Korea were commissioned to produce the twelve new episodes.

  • The results proved to be disastrous, both artistically and for the reputation of the

  • show. During this filler sequence (known by fans

  • as the "infamous island episodes"), the animation varied wildly in quality, and the stories

  • for each of these episodes veered the show dramatically off course.

  • What was once a compelling, intriguing sci-fi mystery had turned into something slapstick,

  • off-beat, and very out of place. Characters were becoming caricatures of themselves,

  • or in some cases, inexplicably regressing, losing most, if not all, of the development

  • they had established throughout 22 prior episodes. Instead of adventures around the world or

  • under the sea, Jean, Nadia, and their friends were routed through all sorts of bizarre,

  • wacky situations. Simply put, all of this was nothing like viewers

  • had come to expect from "Nadia!" The overall nature of the filler sequence

  • seemed more like a Looney Tunes cartoon instead of a Jules Verne-inspired serial.

  • At one point, Jean's actions seemed more like Wile E. Coyote, not a curious intelligent adventurer.

  • [Jean Screaming; Cartoonish Crashing]

  • "Nadia" took hits from critics and fans because of these filler episodes.

  • Only by Episodes 35-39 (which Anno had been concentrating on during all this turmoil)

  • would the show return to its initial roots wherein lay its appeal, but even then, the

  • damage was done for many fans. Even Anno agrees that "Nadia" would have been

  • improved drastically if these fillers were removed.

  • In fact, the only episode he would have saved was the 31st, "Farewell, Red Noah"— and

  • to a lesser extent, parts of Episode 30, "Labyrinth in the Earth."

  • Unlike most of the aforementioned fillers, these were the only episodes to provide any

  • actual meat to the story. Because of all this, GAINAX has never made

  • another series as long as "Nadia." Had the show been produced at its intended

  • episode count, who knows what could have been? Like the title character's murky past, this

  • question remains a mystery. However, Anno did produce a "compiled" release

  • of Nadia known as "The Nautilus Story", which aimed to focus mainly on the show's major

  • plot point: the struggle between Captain Nemo and his ruthless archenemy, Gargoyle.

  • Released only on video and laserdisc in Japan, this version pares the 39-episode show down

  • to six hours, eliminating all but fifteen minutes of the filler sequence.

  • Unfortunately, many of the show's other important episodes are also shortened and/or cut from

  • the compilation. Jean's Japanese voice actress Noriko Hidaka

  • recorded narration to bridge the missing pieces together.

  • Fans disenchanted with the shipwreck the show's second half turned out to be have often requested

  • Anno to remake Nadia, but this was as close as he ever got.

  • Secret #9: "Nadia & Evangelion"

  • Several episodes of "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" include references to Bible stories

  • and religion, such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adam and Eve, the Genesis of

  • our world, and the Tower of Babel. Similar elements can be found in another GAINAX

  • production, "Neon Genesis Evangelion." In this post-apocalyptic tale about three

  • children piloting robotic giants to save their world from monstrous invaders, Christianity

  • and Western religion were used rather extensively. For instance, there were tense action sequences

  • culminating with explosions in cruciform patterns. Much of these references owe to director Hideaki

  • Anno's own readings in Jungian psychology and archetypes.

  • In fact, it is interesting to note how alike "Nadia" and "Evangelion" are, stylistically,

  • artistically, and emotionally. Both shows feature character designs by Yoshiyuki

  • Sadamoto. They were also scored by composer Shiro Sagisu.

  • And Anno, as mentioned, served as director. The visual design of shy, introverted protagonist

  • Shinji Ikari has even been described by Sadamoto as "Nadia with a masculine makeover."

  • Most of the other characters in Evangelion bear some striking resemblances to their Blue

  • Water counterparts. If the lead characters of "Nadia" were based

  • on Anno's light and dark sides, then this show's children triumvirate "heroes" — Shinji,

  • fiery tempered Asuka Langley Sohryu, and eccentric Rei Ayanami — all represented Anno's personality

  • in general. To this day, there are numerous discussions

  • of how both shows compare, but that is also another story.

  • Secret #10: "NadiaThe Motion Picture."

  • In spite of "Nadia"'s tumultuous production period, it still delivered a satisfying conclusion.

  • But two years after its first run on Japanese television, distributor Toho decided to produce

  • a full-length movie to cash in on "Nadia"'s popularity.

  • The result, infamously known as "Nadia: The Secret of Fuzzy", (or "Nadia: The Motion Picture"

  • worldwide) was a 90-minute feature with no involvement from GAINAX nor Anno.

  • In fact, their only "contribution" to the project was recycled footage from the series

  • which made up a third of the film; the remaining hour was an original story set three years

  • after the events of "The Secret of Blue Water". Unfortunately, this "new" tale was both contrived

  • and inconsistent with all that had happened in the original show.

  • Furthermore, the animation suffered from the same inferior, cheap and rushed quality as

  • the island/Africa episodes which almost sank the show.

  • As with that sequence, both critics and fans reacted negatively to the movie.

  • Unsurprisingly, "Nadia: The Motion Picture" is seldom mentioned today.

  • In the midst of all this creative disaster, GAINAX had initially been hired to work on

  • the film by (now defunct) Japanese animation company Group TAC (who had funded the project).

  • While GAINAX contributed to the main plot and additional characters, according to Yasuhiro

  • Takeda from The Notenki Memoirs: "[A]t the actual production phase, things

  • just weren't happening.... Things continued to worsen, until finally

  • we had to just apologize and tell [Group TAC] that we couldn't do it."

  • What GAINAX did gain from the doomed project, however, was an advance payment of 50 million

  • yen (half a million dollars) to help recoup the losses they suffered from working on the

  • show. It wouldn't even be until years later after

  • the success of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" that GAINAX would finally pay their debts to TAC.

  • "Luckily," writes Takeda, "[TAC] were willing to overlook the cost of Sadamoto's character

  • designs and the editing of all that television footage.

  • We gladly pocketed the savings and returned them the rest."

  • In short, "Nadia" was a series of ups and downs, and continues to receive criticism

  • for its faults. But it still remains a favorite of many Anime

  • fans from the 1990s, its core storyline, colorful characters, and mixture of Jules Verne marvel

  • with steampunk adventure continuing to outshine such drawbacks and captivate newcomers.

  • -[Bubbling] -And so our adventure comes to an end as we

  • return to our ship and set sail for home. We hope we answered many of your questions

  • and expanded your insights about "NadiaThe Secret of Blue Water."

  • Much of the information you've been listening to has been taken from various sources, including

  • Yasuhiro Takeda's "Notenki Memoirs," published in America by ADV Manga, and available to

  • read online at www.gwern.net/docs/2002-notenki-memoirs, the folks at evageeks.org, evaotaku.com, "The

  • Most Holy Gainax Cult" at sleepisfortheweek.org, wikipedia.org, khara.co.jp, and finally Dr.

  • Marc Hairston, a longtime "Nadia" fan, for his extensive article about both the show

  • and its dub in the November 2001 edition of the magazine Animerica.

  • I'm Jon Turner. Thanks for listening.

Secret #6: Hideaki Anno.

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