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]

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The Easy Breezy Weekly Fan Newsletter Issue #1

This post is written by committee for the Easy Breezy Fan Club. We hope you enjoy!

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The new TV anime project from Masaaki Yuasa-san has finally arrived and it's as great as we'd hoped! Episode one was an exciting introduction to the characters, their motives and their interests. Here is an introduction and our thoughts on them:

• Midori Asakusa: Otaku-type. Specific interest in architecture, mechanical design and town planning. Small in stature and ego but highly passionate and eccentric about her interests. Kami-nihilist and mad scientist type.
• Sayaka Kanamori: Producer-type. Utilitarian minded with an eye for financial gain and project management. Awkward in stature but not timid, she has a hidden drive and disingenuous facade. Statistician and autist-wrangler type.
• Tsubame Mizusaki: Beauty-type. Upper class girl with a talent for human-form artistry. Attractive style and with a extroverted but open heart. Rebellious princess and repressed otaku type.

The OP is so catchy! I can't get it out of my head.

Tsubame-chan is my favourite. Her distinctive Yuasa-san style character design and ojou-sama archetype appeal to me a lot, she looks just like Yuasa-san's version of Miki-chan from Devilman! Midori-chan is the most relatable and as such acts as my main character, as I would guess was intended. However Kanamori-shi is the clear fan favourite! Her design is unique and striking, and as such allow for some fun poses. Her style is not my type, but I think she is a fun character that bounces off Midori very well. Her accent and verbal ticks feed into her moe appeal. All the voice actors are also refreshing, some voices you don't normally hear in anime.

The characters are all distinctive and have distinctive silhouetting, well done character designer Asano Naoyuki-san. With such talent on board I'm not even surprised the show is so good.

I want to join the Robot club! Cute zeon-type monoeye model in the background too.

My favourite part of the show so far is the setting design. The architectural design is dynamic yet consistent, fantastic but grounded. The juxtaposition of old and new architecture is usually an emergent phenomena in town design, with Japan's crowded cities and relaxed building restrictions being the perfect petri-dish for such seemingly bizarre hodgepodged constructions as shown in the show. It's Midori-chan's eye for such things and her ability to see the abnormal which intrigues me. Most people would think twice about the clock that cannot be seen for example. The city is built like a labyrinthine mansion, which is surely the best setting possible! I hope and trust we will see more intricate and clever setting design over the series.

We also got this nice end illustration from Aoki Toshinao-san of the girls in the style of his characters from (the excellent) Hisone & Maso-tan. Hopefully we get more art like this every episode.

Where will the story go from here? We here at the club are sure it must lead to the girls making their own anime, or so it seems. They will have to create a new school club (Eizouken) since Tsubame-chan cannot join the anime club, and with the girls working together as setting artist, character artist and producer we're sure it'll work out. They're just like Anno-san, Akai-san and Yamaga-san!

We here at the Easy Breezy Fan Club sure are excited to see what is coming up and will be sure to release issue #2 when the next episode comes out! Faito Yuasa-sama! Faito Eizouken!

Complementary Eyes in Koisuru Asteroid

The first episode of Koisuru Asteroid aired today, and the character designers at Dogakobo Studio are again showing their prowess. This time the animation is more subtle, with the emphasis being put on character action and colour design. In particular I noticed the eyes.

Images should be clicked to view in full.

Mira, right & Ao, left

First is the protagonist, Mira. Her genki enthusiasm for astronomy drives her character, she is a person driven by passion rather than analysis. Her love of stargazing is mostly aesthetic and her knowledge of the subject is small (for now), but the emotions she feels towards it are stronger than the more analytically inclined can muster. Her eyes are the most striking in the show, befitting of the main character. They depict the moment of the appearance of the first star over a sunset in a darkening sky, a moment of mystery and wonder. Immediately captivating but not complex, this is contrasted with her bashful counterpart, Ao.

Ao's eyes reflect a more subtle image. One of the deep-blue serene night sky and the possibility of a coming sunrise. Being complementary to Mira's colour-wise, her single highlight-cum-star is orange, possibly the final star of the night. The night sky is only truly visible when the sky has fully darkened, which her blue eyes depict. This more complex image is one of Ao's analytical mind and her vast knowledge base on the topic, one that Mira is sure to coax out of her.

Inose, left & Sakurai, right

Next are the two Geologists of the club, Inose and Sakurai. While their eyes are individually simplistic, together they form a married couple. Inose's are emerald with a maroon tint, while Sakurai's are inversed: maroon with an emerald tint. This is a beautiful little visual marker of the link between the two and their relationship as boke senpai and tsukkomi kouhai.

Other characters elicit less interest in their eyes, with more focus on colour as generic indicators of their types. The relaxed (ara ara) club president has relaxed, "boring" brown eyes, while the Tomoyo-esque over-protective best friend character has purple eyes; which in the world of anime often indicates a depraved insanity. But I would assume a suppressed version in this case.

The show really is something pretty to look at, and it's nice seeing Dogakobo keep building on their past works to become moe gods. The Dogakobo girl (and specifically eyes) will define the next few years's moe, taking the reins from the KyoAni girl of the previous decade.