Monday 3 February 2020

Nadia's OP: Determining Influence

One of Anno's less celebrated works, but certainly one of his best is the 1990/91 animated TV programme "Nadia of the Mysterious Seas", or as it's usually localised, "Nadia: Secret of Blue Water". Being loosely based around the works of 19th century French novelist Jules Verne, the story is set in the whimsical "La Belle Epoque", a Romantic period of the late 1800s hailed as the "end of history" by contemporaries and as a time of peace and prosperity in Europe.1

The works of Verne are often seen as one of the primary aesthetic influences on history's most famous anime director, Miyazaki. His earlier works especially echo the traditionalist pull of a past where technology and nature could work in tandem. Nausicaa and Laputa are my favourite examples of his obsession with both the intricacies of mechanical contraptions and with the all-encompassing power of nature which I like to call "agrarian steampunk".

This article is free from spoilers so please read even if you haven't seen the show

Nadia was originally conceptualised by Miyazaki but never made it to production. A decade or so later the idea resurfaced and eventually fell onto Hideaki Anno to direct. Anno is known to have always been a acolyte of Miyazaki's, so I'm sure he was more than pleased to take the project on. While it is unclear how much of the show's material comes from which man, the distinctive footprints of all three men are clearly visible throughout, and nowhere so much as straight of the bat in the (truly excellent) OP.

[You can follow along with the OP here]




The first thing we see is a dove appear in the blue sky. The impact is strengthened by the first note hitting simultaneously. As this happens Verne's name appears as the primary credit. The bird is then replaced with an unconventional aeroplane, a mainstay and icon of Miyazaki's works2, which flies off into the distance as the title screen fades in.

00:17 :- ふしぎの海のナディア : Fushigi no Umi no Nadia

Now if this title aesthetic doesn't scream Ghibli I don't know what would. Compare it to the (Japanese) title splashes for Laputa or Mononoke or Totoro, the fluid hand-drawn stylised characters giving a feel I can only describe as Miyazaki-esque.

Next the main cast is introduced in the order: Nadia, Jean, Marie/King then Grandis, Sanson and Hanson. I'll take this moment to talk character designs. Nadia is a fascinating juxtaposition of unique and familiar. She feels very Ghibli heroine, with her Nausicaa-like paranoid/distrustful personality despite her more traditionally maiden traits. The first time I saw her in action I could see the Anno in her face, and I was totally correct. Drawn by the character designer of both Nadia and Eva himself, Mr Yoshiyuki Sadamoto drew this helpful diagram poking fun at his own work back in 1996:

Source unknown. I can't even find the unedited version. I do believe it is Sadamoto's art however.

Her being coloured is the real elephant in the room, as apart from a vague similarity to Gundam's Lalah I see this as a visual key to Nadia's unique charm and outlook in a dangerous world. As with Lalah, her foreign exoticness gives her an adjacency to the mystical world and an alignment with nature's great world spirit, unperverted by modern technology. This dichotomy is the centre of Miyazaki's central conflict, often visualised with his contradictory love of both nature and machines.

The other side of this conflicted is portrayed in our heroic Frenchman Jean, whose design looks straight out of a 19th century Vernian romance novel. Jean's genius for mechanics and engineering and his innocent trusting in authority is alike to one of Miyazaki's heroes: Jirou Horikoshi, who's biography Miyazaki would later go on to animate in The Wind Rises (and who is also voiced by Hideaki Anno, isn't the world a rich but small tapestry?)

The last design I'll talk about is that of Grandis. Her militaristic form-hugging red uniform giving a clue to her domineering nature. It's a cross between both French and British military uniform's at the time. The double-buttoned coat and riding breeches from the frogs and the bold red from l'rosbifs. We do get to see her more motherly side in the third shot though.

00:46 - 00:47 :- I spent too long removing the sky from this. Hopefully it was worth it. See the unedited version here.

Next we get a classic OP running section, with all the mentioned characters out on a jog along an endless grassy ridge. The exaggerated running style reminds me of Ghibli run-cycles like with Lupin or Mononoke's Jiko. I've isolated the cycle itself removing the panning sky to let you see better. Very cool right?

We get a quick shot of Grandis' minitank wreaking havoc on the streets of Paris
Robotank as the song builds up. Then on release we get two of my favourite frames of any OP. The two cast shots are played each for 420ms each punctuated by the release of the song's climax. The characters, first facing and then in profile wear stern, defiant expressions like they are having their passport photo taken. This turn along with the blurred flashes in the background make it feel like a criminal mugshot. This induces a feeling of persecution and fugitivity, obviously relevant to the story, while having the more literal function of getting you used to the character's designs from another angle. To me this little visual flare stinks of Anno, following the Gainax tradition of full cast shots in their OPs.3

00:51 :- This gif should be timed exactly. Really, I can't get over how great this bit is: gives me the tingles every time.

Next we get a slow moving shot of the Nautilus, my mind goes to it being a homage to the original Macross OP, but it's too vague to really be valid. Although Anno did work on Macross and is a fan. Next is an intriguing but incomprehensible image, one that will become more obvious as the show progresses.

Next up is another pivotal character, Captain Nemo. Directly pulled from Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, his stern authority tells us the invaluable wisdom: "Don't forget to try in mind" as he stoically gazes at the horizon. This dodgy translation of "Remember to use your head", is truly sage advice, thanks captain.

1:10 :- Not actually spoken by Nemo, obviously.

After our dose of masculine guidance we get some feminine. Nadia (now naked) appears before us backlit by stars. Gazing directly at the viewer the message that "Love makes everything sparkle far better than jewels do" is sung, telling us to avoid the temptations of the material world and focus on our personal connections. The secretive blue water then fades in over the top, something mysterious and dangerous, an enigma. Despite Nadia's warning we just must work out the Secret of Blue Water, as it takes over from the princess and fills the screen with a quartered, fractalling, cryptic pattern, pulsing with an unnatural energy. This bit is so Anno he does it again in Evangelion.

1:13 :- One frame before NHK winds up and sticks their logo in the middle...

And with that, the camera splashes up out of the ocean toward the sun in a satisfying swoop, thus ending the OP.

A combination of three great men's mastery in storytelling that transcended time, Nadia is a story on a grand scale that can't be rivaled by many anime. The excellent execution does the storytelling proud, and the essence of the show cannot be attributed wholly, or even in majority, to any one man: it is a temple built upon another built upon another. This is truly a show that no discerning person should miss from their watchlists.


1 - This was also said famously after the fall of the Berlin wall and by extension European Communism just 100 years after. And I'm sure it's been said before.

2 - See Porco Rosso, Nausicaa, Wind Rises, et cetera.

3 - Gunbuster, Kare Kano, Mahoromatic, He is My Master, Gurren Lagann, Medaka Box all have this in their openings. There are probably others too. I'm not saying this is exclusive to Gainax but that is staple of Gainax productions.

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1 Comments:

At 3 November 2021 at 23:37 , Blogger CammyJFTW said...

great article. Enjoy the gifs.

 

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