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ADV Films presents
Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water #7: Nadia's Island (1989)

"It seems our days on the Nautilus are far behind us."
- Jean (Nathan Parsons/Noriko Hidaka)

Review By: Mark Zimmer   
Published: March 11, 2002

Stars: Yoshino Takumori, Noriko Hidaka, Muko Mizutani, Kumiko Takizawa, Minoru Inaba, Motomu Kiyokawa, Akio Otsuka
Other Stars: Meg Bauman, Nathan Parsons, Margaret Cassidy, Sarah Richardson, Ken Webster, David Joes, Ev Lunning Jr.
Director: Hideaki Anno

Manufacturer: M.O.F.C.
MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (violence, sexually suggestive dialogue, suggested for 12+)
Run Time: 01h:41m:20s
Release Date: March 12, 2002
UPC: 702727012624
Genre: anime

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
C+	C	C	B+	D

DVD Review

The adventures of young inventor Jean and mysterious acrobat/princess Nadia (together with baby lion King) and little orphan Marie continue, as does the pursuit of nearly everyone for the Blue Water, the jewel Nadia wears as a pendant.

Stranded on a deserted island, Jean, Nadia and Marie, as well as baby lion Kingu, try to make the best of it, subject to Nadia's principles. The vegetarian vs. meateater arguments continue here. Nadia gets food poisoning, and Jean has a runin with hallucinogenic mushrooms. As their affections grow, Kingu begins to grow jealous and runs away. When a typhoon strikes, they find that another mysterious island has appeared nearby, and that it harbors what seems to be a new menace.

These episodes were hurriedly put together when the original run of the series on Japanese television was extended. Not only do these four episodes feel like filler, they look somewhat different as well. There are numerous inserts of much, much poorer quality animation. The characters look vastly different from shot to shot. Many sequences feature minimal animation, being for the most part completely static. Numerous shots are repeated, and there are copious flashbacks that in total make it clear that the budget was stretching to the breaking point here.

There are some good aspects to this disc, most notably the character interactions and some glimpses of Nadia's backstory. However, the love-hate gimmick between Jean and Nadia is wearing a bit thin and I was beginning to feel impatient for the story to move along. Episode 26 features a very extended fantasy sequence that does nothing to further the main plot or really give any additional insights into the characters.

Rating for Style: C+
Rating for Substance: C

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: In addition to the poor quality inserts mentioned above, there is considerable instability of the picture. On several occasions objects and characters that are supposed to be still twitch on the screen. The inserts are not only poorly animated, but they also are blurry and look like fourth-generation dupes.

Image Transfer Grade: C

 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	Japanese, English	yes
Dolby Digital 5.1		no

Audio Transfer Review: Both the English and Japanese tracks are presented in 2.0. The music and dialogue are quite clear and hiss-free. There is some surround activity in the island sequences, but it's fairly subtle.

Audio Transfer Grade: B+

 

Disc Extras

Static menu with music
Scene Access with 16 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
Packaging: Scanavo
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: dual

Extra Extras:

1. Character ProfilesCharacter Profiles
2. Preview of "The Secret Cave"Preview of Disc 8
3. Other ADV disc previews

Extras Review: The extras are scant, as usual. Character profiles for Gargoyle, Emperor Neo and the Neo-Atlanteans are included. A very brief preview of the next volume gives some hints of the next direction to the story, and offers hope that it will be more interesting than this one. Wrapping up the package are brief and generally cryptic previews of Soul Hunter, Princess Nine, Power Stone, Burn Up Excess, Excel Saga and Orphen. Again, nothing to get excited about.

Extras Grade: D

 

Final Comments

A disc of filler episodes that doesn't really advance matters, this disc makes a poor followup to the dynamic disc 6.

 

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