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Rating: 
Summary: Slow but worthy climb back into excellence for the series.
Review: Let's all pretend that the infamous Lincoln Island and two African episodes (the last of which concludes on this DVD--in a way so bad that the fact they were ever written is all the more ludicrous) never existed. Okay? OKAY?!Good. After the unmentionably poor African arc wraps up, the penultimate volume of NADIA finally gets back on its feet. The second episode on this disc -- the last of the filler episodes -- a musical montage actually features an important turning point: Jean writing a song to confess his feelings to Nadia, causing her to think twice before she throws another temper tantrum for no good reason at him. Although it's better than the African episodes, this episode is hardly one of the best. I liked the songs and thought the actors on the English and Japanese tracks did great jobs delivering them, but once again the writing is pretty stupid, and the first five minutes (before Sanson, Hanson, and Grandis sing their song) -- which attempt to "transition" the bad material back to the good -- are regrettable. After this episode (not to mention numerous other dreadful ones prior to this volume), the show finally gets back on the right track. The artwork retains the rich, crisp quality of the first twenty-two episodes, and the characters no longer act anomalously or stupidly. More importantly, the script on both the subtitled and dubbed tracks is EXCELLENT and completely devoid of the unbelievably atrocious writing the filler episodes suffered from. (One assumes GAINAX had these final five episodes - in addition to the first twenty-two - in mind all along when they began production on this show.) The only catch is that it happens only for five episodes. Yep, this chapter, in addition to the second as well as the remaining three on Volume 10, are the closing episodes of NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER. This can be seen as good and bad. It's wonderful that the show manages to finish off even more strongly than it began, but at the same time, it does feel somewhat disappointing that it comes after so much inferior filler garbage. On the flip side, if one ignores the worst of the filler episodes - pretending that they never happened, in other words - then it becomes easier to appreciate the final five episodes... especially since there's much to enjoy in them. What's really amazing about the third episode on this DVD, in fact, is the way it looks and builds to an emotional climax with a heartfelt resolution. After our heroes disappear into some sort of whirlpool and descend into Nadia's long forgotten homeland of Tartessos, the artwork becomes black & white for about 75% of the episode. Only the blue light of Nadia's shimmering jewel, occasional red wavelengths, and a painting of Noah's Ark are in color in contrast to the darker images. This style continues as Jean and company explore the ruins of the kingdom and Nadia confesses her darkest secrets -- about her homeland, identity, burden, responsibility, destiny... and ultimately, her self-loathing. The combination of an interesting artistic style, poignant scripting, and tugging at all the right heart strings, make this episode rank as arguably one of the very best of the show, which is saying quite a lot for this volume (especially considering that the first one-and-a-quarter episodes are pure dreck). The good qualities of Episode 35 are so strong that any issues one may have with it are probably going to come off as excessive nitpicking. Some of the "secrets" Nadia reveals about her homeland feel somewhat rushed (the writers COULD have used the filler episodes as an opportunity to hint at them), yes, but are still engrossing to hear. Also, this isn't really a flaw by any means, when Jean and company sing "Happy birthday" to Nadia on the Japanese language track, the song is song in ENGLISH("Engrish"?)! On the dub, Jean and his friends instead sing something along the lines of, "It's your birthday today, may all your wishes come true", which works just as wonderfully, but at the same time may be enough to address questions - was it natural to sing "it's your birthday today" in 1890 rather than "Happy birthday to you"? This is no real problem, as mentioned, but it is a curiosity, nevertheless. I'm not going to reveal anymore about this volume, for doing so would be the equivalent of giving more spoilers. Yet it will not be so daring to commend this volume for having enough good to outweigh the bad, contrary to the previous two installments. Even if the first episode on this DVD clearly belongs in the trash (and the first five minutes of the second are regrettable), the extremely strong content of this volume's remainder more than make up for it. And how does it affect the dub? Well, despite strong vocal performances from the talented cast, all that is wasted in the case of the worst episodes of NADIA, but when the show returns to brilliance, then, the dub does likewise. The only sad factor is that there's only one more volume to go after this, but in the meantime, avoid the horrid bits of this penultimate volume and start watching from where the good kicks in. You won't be disappointed. Oh, and there is another cool extra: a text interview with Nathan Parsons, who voices Jean, which is not as interesting as the Meg Bauman interview, but still good and informative.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Best of the Series
Review: Nadia is my favorite anime series, but this volume has a few weak episodes. Of the four episodes on this disc, 2 are weak and 2 are great. The first one is the final episode of the African adventure. The African adventure is a substory that doesn't add much to the overall plot of the series. In other words, it's a forgetable episode. The next episode is a song episode. Each character gets a song and the songs are played over a montage of scenes from previous episodes. I imagine this episode was made to cut down on production costs. Again, it's a forgetable episode.
The third episode , however, is a key episode in the series. In this episode, Nadia learns who she really is. This discovery is key in underdanding the superb ending of this series. In the forth episode, we see the heroic return of a lost character who was thought to be dead. This episode explodes with action and suspense.
Even though two of the episodes are weak, I recommend that fans of the series pick it up. You'll need this one to understand the last episode of the series which, in my opinion, has one of the best endings in all of anime.
Rating:
Summary: Slow but worthy climb back into excellence for the series.
Review: Once the first episode on this DVD has passed (the last of the AWFUL African episodes), the penultimate volume treats the viewers to an emotionally moving entry and the production values and storyline finally get back on track. Actually, this happens on Episodes 35 & 36. The second episode suffers from some silly, uninspired writing and choppy animation and transitions, but it is STILL FAR better than the African episodes, and it features some great songs (its a music video episode), and the VAs on both language tracks do an excellent job on the songs, especially Meg Bauman (Nadia). (The rest of the cast does a decent job, too.) What makes this volume so good is that we get to see Nadia transform from being a rather bratty, stubborn, distrustful, self-centered girl into a caring, brave, adventurous young woman. It begins in the music video episode, where she seeks Jean's attention and suddenly becomes aware about how badly she has occasionally acted around him (thanks to an amusing little song Jean writes -and sings-). In the next episode, we see that she has changed her behavior and is brave enough to reveal her deepest secrets... including that of her identity. The grand moment comes (SPOILER ALERT) when she expresses grief over what a horrible wench she has made of herself and of the perils she is destined to bring to the world, and, in a chilling sequence, attempts to fall to her death rather than live to face her problems. She doesn't die, of course. She's saved by the Blue Water and, upon seeing how Jean and the others were so worried, concerned, and truly care about her, apologizes for everything hurtful she has done to them, especially Jean. (END OF SPOILER) This is done so effectively and emotionally that it will be enough to move one who has been irritated at her outrageous behavior for about half of the series (myself included). This, in addition to the fact that the animation becomes more crisper and the extra: a text interview with Nathan Parsons, who voices Jean (not as interesting as the Meg Bauman interview, but still good and informative), brings the ninth entry high above the last two volumes. The narration for Episodes 33 & 34 is still pretty stupid (no offense to Karen Kuykendall's excellent grandmotherly voice and line readings), but this annoying factor disappears after the title for Episode 34 comes on. I should also mention that the dialogue in Episode 33 is HORRIBLE. Uninspired, incomprehensible, and totally contradictory, it features lines that are really painful and barely improved in the English dub version of this episode. Aural, technical, and voice acting aspects are still as good as on the first eight volumes, and get especially better by the next three episodes.
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