<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: No improvement over Volume 7, but not without its assets.
Review: The highest points of Volume 8 are as follows: a text interview with Meg Bauman, who voices Nadia in the English dub. Very informative, and entertaining, (although text-based) and enough to make one want to meet her. And it is nice to learn more about Nadia's past, including why she is such a strict vegetarian and her origin (in the best episodes on the volume: Episodes 30 & 31).Otherwise, the eighth volume is barely an improvement over Vol. 7. Episode 29 has its amusing moments, such as the "999,999,999,999,000" line, but it uses the characters rather poorly. With the exception of Jean and Marie, everybody acts out of character and crazy (Nadia is still irritable for at least part of the episode, Sanson & Hanson have an uncharacteristically bitter cold war, and Grandis is so lost in her infatuation over Captain Nemo that she is viable to fall prey to sleazy seductions by Ayerton). Episodes 30 and 31 are better, the latter being the best, but they still suffer from some silly moments and occasionally bad animation. As mediocre as the Island Episodes are, they are far from the worst in the series. That prestigious title belongs to the African Episodes (Episodes 32 & 33). Oh my god, these episodes are HORRIBLE. Badly directed, ridiculously executed, very poorly animated, and outrageously (and thinly) plotted, these episodes look like they belong in a Saturday morning cartoon, and an uninspired one at that. But that's not all - Nadia gets even worse in these episodes, and is written totally out of character and rather contradicting: if she is so distrusting and anti-social, and just admitted that she'd rather have Jean over the Blue Water, then why would she take it back by acting as though she is drawn to Hamahama, a Native warrior (who recognizes her and knows about her birthplace), and treat poor Jean disrespectfully all over again, when she trusts this stranger no more than she trusts anyone? Even the new characters are caricatures; the warrior Nadia becomes "infatuated" with is rather wooden and lacks character, and the villian, Grandis's ex-fiancee, is so bland and one-dimensional a character that one wonders why Grandis fell for him in the first place. I feel too sick to say anymore about these episodes, so I will drop it here. Except for one thing: I'm sorry the show had to include these HORRIBLE episodes. Worse, the DVD ends with the FIRST of these episodes, and that's unsatisfying a conclusion to a volume, and dampens it even more. Only after these two wretched African episodes does the show get back on its feet. Technical and aural presentation are the same, and the voice acting on both language tracks are decent, despite some rather stupid dialogue on the last episode (and narration).
Rating:
Summary: Only two out of four episodes are watchable on this DVD.
Review: Well, the previous volume of NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER was truly dreadful to watch (though the non-existant "plot" DID go somewhere toward the end) and a slapping insult to the show. This next entry has its moments (not to mention very nice extra: a text interview with Meg Bauman, the thirteen-year-old actress who plays Nadia in the English dub which warrants a read), but overall, it's barely an improvement over Volume 7. Although the voice casts on both the English and Japanese tracks try their best, their efforts cannot compensate for the artistic, plotting, and scripting flaws the last volume shared which sadly still exist here. Although there are some lines which come off as funny, the dialogue is mostly stupid; the first 22 episodes had much better writing. (Add to the fact that the narration recaps are totally STUPID: whoever wrote these recaps which say stuff that didn't even happen in these episodes should have been fired. No offense to the English dub team, of course. The problem lies with both with writers Hisao Okawa and Kaoru Umeno as well as the NHK executives who forced the poor guys to write such terrible stories in the first place.) As far as the content goes, only two out of the four episodes on this DVD are watchable (Episodes 30 & 31); the first one not only doesn't add anything to the plot, but just an excuse to show off more character stupidities and pointless sequences. Here, we see Sanson and Hanson constantly bickering like children whose cold war turns into a race involving two mechanical lions resembling King(!). Although some interesting information is provided at one point about why Nadia is such a strict vegetarian (and one amusing "999,999,999,999,999" line), this episode overall is wasted, misplaced, dragging filler crap. Grandis sums it up best: "This is getting ridiculous!" The second and third episodes, although not without some silly moments and fourth-rate animation (Jean's eyes popping out of his head at the sight of mosquito bites on Nadia's legs; Grandis being seduced by Ayerton for wine; the pointless construction of a mechanical chariot pulled by boars), are at least not as offensive as the horrible Lincoln Island arc. Where things *really* get interesting is when Nadia and Jean venture into some sort of long-forgotten factory where it becomes clear that there is more to their island home than they thought. In a spellbinding sequence, Nadia becomes entranced by an invisible force and disappears into a dull wall, leaving her clothes in Jean's arms! Behind this wall is some sort of monotone alien-robot-computer voice which identifies itself as Red Noah, who has a lot to reveal to Nadia -- including the origins of her identity and the Blue Water. To reveal anything else about what new information is given in this engrossing episode would be giving spoilers. However, it may be daring to say that it culminates with a superbly plotted finale where Jean dashes to rescue Nadia while Grandis and the others take off in their Gratan. All the while, the island shakes in terrible tremor and starts to submerge. This is the highest point of the volume, and is enough to make one believe that the show will finally get back on target. But then along come the Africa Episodes (Episodes 32 & 33). My God. I could not believe the show could actually get worse all over again after a brilliant episode, but regrettably, it does. The African village that our heroes land in is very poorly depicted: did the animators even *visit* an African village? Even more disturbingly, the new characters are *caricatures*, not real characters (especially Grandis's ex-fiancee, who is so one-dimensional that one wonders why Grandis even fell for him in the first place). Add to this a completely STUPID and totally irrelevant (not to mention utterly hopeless) plot and uncharacteristic antics far worse than anything that's come before, and you have the ROCK-BOTTOM episodes of NADIA. On a personal note, I really, really despised the way Nadia was portrayed here: as with the Lincoln Island episodes, her actions in the African arc completely contradict everything that she's ever done in Episodes 1-22. However, what really make these episodes stink is that the writing is bad. Not laughably bad. Not even painfully bad. I mean EXCRUCIATINGLY BAD. Wow, what a pointless sidestory. I personally wish that ADV Films had cut this part of the story (in addition to the worst of the filler episodes) out of the DVD release altogether. This is absolutely the HUGEST insult to an otherwise brilliant series. And the way that these episodes are tied up (in the first episode of Volume 9) makes the fact that they were ever written all the more ludicrous. All in all, those who have been disappointed by Volume 7 will find little to resuscitate their interests with Volume 8; the first and last episodes on this DVD obviously HAVE to go, but the second and third episodes are watchable. My recommendation? Stick with the good episodes on this disc, but skip the horrible stuff. And you'll be pleased to know that, after a horrible first episode on Volume 9, NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER will return to its initial roots wherein lies its appeal.
Rating: 
Summary: Only two out of four episodes are watchable on this DVD.
Review: Well, the previous volume of NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER was truly dreadful to watch (though the non-existant "plot" DID go somewhere toward the end) and a slapping insult to the show. This next entry has its moments (not to mention very nice extra: a text interview with Meg Bauman, the thirteen-year-old actress who plays Nadia in the English dub which warrants a read), but overall, it's barely an improvement over Volume 7. Although the voice casts on both the English and Japanese tracks try their best, their efforts cannot compensate for the artistic, plotting, and scripting flaws the last volume shared which sadly still exist here. Although there are some lines which come off as funny, the dialogue is mostly stupid; the first 22 episodes had much better writing. (Add to the fact that the narration recaps are totally STUPID: whoever wrote these recaps which say stuff that didn't even happen in these episodes should have been fired. No offense to the English dub team, of course. The problem lies with both with writers Hisao Okawa and Kaoru Umeno as well as the NHK executives who forced the poor guys to write such terrible stories in the first place.) As far as the content goes, only two out of the four episodes on this DVD are watchable (Episodes 30 & 31); the first one not only doesn't add anything to the plot, but just an excuse to show off more character stupidities and pointless sequences. Here, we see Sanson and Hanson constantly bickering like children whose cold war turns into a race involving two mechanical lions resembling King(!). Although some interesting information is provided at one point about why Nadia is such a strict vegetarian (and one amusing "999,999,999,999,999" line), this episode overall is wasted, misplaced, dragging filler crap. Grandis sums it up best: "This is getting ridiculous!" The second and third episodes, although not without some silly moments and fourth-rate animation (Jean's eyes popping out of his head at the sight of mosquito bites on Nadia's legs; Grandis being seduced by Ayerton for wine; the pointless construction of a mechanical chariot pulled by boars), are at least not as offensive as the horrible Lincoln Island arc. Where things *really* get interesting is when Nadia and Jean venture into some sort of long-forgotten factory where it becomes clear that there is more to their island home than they thought. In a spellbinding sequence, Nadia becomes entranced by an invisible force and disappears into a dull wall, leaving her clothes in Jean's arms! Behind this wall is some sort of monotone alien-robot-computer voice which identifies itself as Red Noah, who has a lot to reveal to Nadia -- including the origins of her identity and the Blue Water. To reveal anything else about what new information is given in this engrossing episode would be giving spoilers. However, it may be daring to say that it culminates with a superbly plotted finale where Jean dashes to rescue Nadia while Grandis and the others take off in their Gratan. All the while, the island shakes in terrible tremor and starts to submerge. This is the highest point of the volume, and is enough to make one believe that the show will finally get back on target. But then along come the Africa Episodes (Episodes 32 & 33). My God. I could not believe the show could actually get worse all over again after a brilliant episode, but regrettably, it does. The African village that our heroes land in is very poorly depicted: did the animators even *visit* an African village? Even more disturbingly, the new characters are *caricatures*, not real characters (especially Grandis's ex-fiancee, who is so one-dimensional that one wonders why Grandis even fell for him in the first place). Add to this a completely STUPID and totally irrelevant (not to mention utterly hopeless) plot and uncharacteristic antics far worse than anything that's come before, and you have the ROCK-BOTTOM episodes of NADIA. On a personal note, I really, really despised the way Nadia was portrayed here: as with the Lincoln Island episodes, her actions in the African arc completely contradict everything that she's ever done in Episodes 1-22. However, what really make these episodes stink is that the writing is bad. Not laughably bad. Not even painfully bad. I mean EXCRUCIATINGLY BAD. Wow, what a pointless sidestory. I personally wish that ADV Films had cut this part of the story (in addition to the worst of the filler episodes) out of the DVD release altogether. This is absolutely the HUGEST insult to an otherwise brilliant series. And the way that these episodes are tied up (in the first episode of Volume 9) makes the fact that they were ever written all the more ludicrous. All in all, those who have been disappointed by Volume 7 will find little to resuscitate their interests with Volume 8; the first and last episodes on this DVD obviously HAVE to go, but the second and third episodes are watchable. My recommendation? Stick with the good episodes on this disc, but skip the horrible stuff. And you'll be pleased to know that, after a horrible first episode on Volume 9, NADIA: THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER will return to its initial roots wherein lies its appeal.
<< 1 >>
|
