Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

Lore & Background

The series' origins date to the mid-1970s when Hayao Miyazaki was hired by Toho to develop a television series. One concept was 'Around the World in 80 days by Sea,' adapted from Jules Verne's novel, in which two orphan children pursued by villains team up with Captain Nemo and the Nautilus. It was never produced, but Toho retained the rights for the story outline, while Miyazaki reused elements in later projects like Future Boy Conan and Castle in the Sky. Gainax's initial involvement occurred during an internal power struggle between vice president Hiroaki Inoue and studio president Toshio Okada. During a pitch with NHK, Group TAC requested character designs and settings. Inoue provided a pitch using material created in secret by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Mahiro Maeda. NHK chose to proceed with Inoue's Nadia presentation, though the estimated cost would cause Gainax to lose money. After a meeting where senior Gainax staff demanded Inoue be removed, he left the company. Sadamoto was originally assigned as director but dropped out, and Hideaki Anno was chosen as his replacement.

Reader's Guide

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is significant as a major anime production from Gainax that, despite financial losses, demonstrated the studio's creative ambition. The series contains references and in-jokes to other anime works including Space Battleship Yamato, Macross and Time Bokan. At completion, Gainax had lost ¥80 million on the project and had no rights to the series itself, though they were allowed rights to produce a video game that generated record earnings. The series was later re-licensed multiple times in North America: Streamline Pictures released the first eight episodes on VHS from 1992 to 1993; ADV Films distributed the full series from 2001 to 2002; Sentai Filmworks re-licensed it and released Blu-ray and DVD in March 2014; GKIDS acquired the license in 2022 and released a new 4K restoration. The series also inspired a 1991 feature film sequel, Nadia: The Motion Picture, and a manga adaptation of comedic stories unrelated to the original plot.

Did You Know?

• The series was originally conceived by Hayao Miyazaki in the mid-1970s as 'Around the World in 80 days by Sea' but was never produced.
• Gainax lost ¥80 million on the project and had no rights to the series, but gained rights to produce a video game that generated record earnings.
• Hideaki Anno was chosen as director after Yoshiyuki Sadamoto dropped out to concentrate on design and animation.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion was originally planned as a further sequel to Nadia, but scripts had to be rewritten when Gainax could not secure the rights from NHK.

Born from Turmoil: The Making of Nadia

The genesis of Nadia stretches back to the mid-1970s, when Hayao Miyazaki was commissioned by Toho to develop a television series. Among his pitches was a concept drawing on Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, in which two orphaned children pursued by villains join forces with Captain Nemo aboard the Nautilus. That project never reached production, but Miyazaki would later recycle elements of it into Future Boy Conan and Castle in the Sky. Decades later, the idea resurfaced inside Gainax amid an internal power struggle. Vice president Hiroaki Inoue, producing Gunbuster at the time, secretly assembled a pitch using character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and settings by Mahiro Maeda, bypassing studio president Toshio Okada. NHK selected Inoue's presentation, but the projected costs threatened to bankrupt the studio. When senior staff demanded Inoue's removal, he walked out. Sadamoto was initially slated to direct but stepped back to focus on design work, and Hideaki Anno was brought in as his replacement. The finished series carried nods to Space Battleship Yamato, Macross, and Time Bokan, with some episodes animated in Korea. By the time the final episode aired, Gainax had absorbed an ¥80 million loss and held no ownership rights to the show.

A Verne-Inspired Odyssey: Plot and World

Set in an alternate 1889, the series follows Nadia, a fourteen-year-old girl of unknown origins, and Jean, a warm-hearted young French inventor. Their adventure ignites when a crew of jewel thieves—Grandis Granva, Sanson, and Hanson—pursues Nadia for the blue jeweled pendant she wears, known as the Blue Water. After Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus, rescue the young pair, the thieves and the protagonists unexpectedly join forces to confront the Neo-Atlantean forces, a militaristic faction led by Gargoyle that seeks to dominate the world. Over the course of thirty-nine episodes, Nadia and Jean save the world from violent subjugation, unravel the mysteries surrounding the Blue Water's powers, and gradually uncover Nadia's hidden family ties and secret origins. The entire narrative is deeply indebted to Jules Verne's literary universe, particularly the spirit of Captain Nemo and the sense of wonder that defines Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. The show's 39-episode run aired on NHK General TV from April 1990 to April 1991.

The Road to Evangelion: Legacy and Unfinished Dreams

Nadia's most consequential legacy may be its direct, if painful, connection to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Evangelion was originally conceived as a sequel to Nadia, centering on sixteen "Adams" who escaped the destruction of the Red Noah and triggered a cataclysmic event called the Dead Sea Evaporation Incident. Scripts for all twenty-six planned episodes were written before Gainax discovered it could not secure the rights to Nadia from NHK, forcing a complete rewrite of the entire series. The financial scars of Nadia lingered long after the final episode: Group TAC had requested a feature film and provided a ¥50 million advance, which temporarily reduced Gainax's loss to ¥30 million. Anno was convinced to direct the film after initially declining due to the stress of the television series, and early production work including character designs by Sadamoto got underway. However, the project was abandoned before completion, and the advance was spent on that early work. Gainax was unable to repay Group TAC until after Evangelion's massive success, at which point the studio returned the advance minus costs associated with providing designs and edited footage from the Nadia series.

A Long Journey to the Screen: International Distribution

Nadia's path to international audiences was anything but straightforward. After its original NHK broadcast, the series first reached North America through Streamline Pictures, which licensed and produced English dubs of the opening eight episodes, releasing them on individual VHS tapes between March 1992 and August 1993. Streamline co-founder Carl Macek attempted to pitch those episodes for a television broadcast, hoping network funding would cover dubbing the remainder, but the pitch failed. Orion Home Video later reissued the eight episodes on two VHS tapes in January 1996 under the title The Secret of Blue Water. The full series finally arrived in the United States through ADV Films, which distributed all thirty-nine episodes on DVD and VHS from 2001 to 2002 and secured a broadcast slot on ADV's Anime Network. Following ADV's 2009 closure, Sentai Filmworks re-licensed the property and re-released it on Blu-ray and DVD in March 2014. In 2022, GKIDS acquired the license and delivered a new 4K restoration, ensuring the series reached a new generation in the highest quality available.

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