This 39-episode Japanese animated series from the late 80s/early 90s was recently remastered by GKids, and we watched it in September and October, finishing around Halloween. I wanted to try some non-Miyazaki/non-Ghibli anime, and the director, Hideaki Anno, is also the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is more famous, but, I've heard, not really appropriate for younger kids. Nadia has a fascinating mix of Classical and Hebrew Bible themes, in a steam-punk, late 19th-century mold that also draws on Jules Verne and H. P. Lovecraft. But most interesting to me was the "ancient aliens" focus, so widely tossed about these days in (pseudo-) historical documentaries. It doesn't partake in the usual racist tropes (e.g. The Egyptians couldn't have built the pyramids themselves, it must have been aliens), but goes in other directions: the Atlanteans, it turns out, are aliens with advanced technology, having been stranded on earth several million (!) years ago. There are plenty of holes in this narrative, but the basics of it are eye-raising: humanity was genetically engineered by the Atlanteans to serve them (recalling the ancient Mesopotamian Enuma Elish); Adam and the first humans were giants destroyed by these aliens in the flood, along with dinosaurs, etc., whose skeletons are collected as pairs in the Atlantean ruins, the remnants of the ark; the Towel of Babel, another Atlantean ruin, is actually the focal point of a massive, satellite powered WMD. In other words, the Atlanteans are the "God/s" of the Hebrew Bible, but, if not evil, they are very flawed ones, who basically destroy each other through wars. Ironically, Gargoyle, who wants to start a neo-Atlantean empire and re-subjugate humans, argues that humans cannot be left to their own devices, or they will destroy themselves and the world. In another layer of irony, he is revealed to be a human himself at the end of the show. All in all, a very interesting, if confused, ancient aliens plot.
My son strongly identified with Jean, the young, brave inventor, which I thought was a good thing; but the show's portrayal of Nadia was problematic and really showed its age. I could tell my daughter was strongly intrigued by her in the first episode, which emphasizes her bravery and acrobatics, but then Nadia alternately feels jealous and fawning over Jean's intelligence, and is frequently "saved" by him. So my daughter quickly started talking about how annoying Nadia was--also a good thing! Both kiddos were really into the series, but above all for the plot.
And finally, in my view there is no question that Disney's Atlantis took the main characters, and many aspects of the plot, from Nadia. The director Kirk Wise denied knowing about this series, so we were speculating about the various parts of the creative process in which this dependence could have occurred. Interestingly, the Atlanteans in Disney's Atlantis are not aliens, they are just an ancient civilization with advanced technology, much like the Sumerians in the famous 80s Ghibli film Castle in the Sky. There's an interesting bifurcation in Japanese anime between post-apocalyptic worlds, in which WMDs have decimated humanity and their inventions; and Golden ages of ancient civilizations which lived peacefully with advanced technology-until they fall apart.
My son strongly identified with Jean, the young, brave inventor, which I thought was a good thing; but the show's portrayal of Nadia was problematic and really showed its age. I could tell my daughter was strongly intrigued by her in the first episode, which emphasizes her bravery and acrobatics, but then Nadia alternately feels jealous and fawning over Jean's intelligence, and is frequently "saved" by him. So my daughter quickly started talking about how annoying Nadia was--also a good thing! Both kiddos were really into the series, but above all for the plot.
And finally, in my view there is no question that Disney's Atlantis took the main characters, and many aspects of the plot, from Nadia. The director Kirk Wise denied knowing about this series, so we were speculating about the various parts of the creative process in which this dependence could have occurred. Interestingly, the Atlanteans in Disney's Atlantis are not aliens, they are just an ancient civilization with advanced technology, much like the Sumerians in the famous 80s Ghibli film Castle in the Sky. There's an interesting bifurcation in Japanese anime between post-apocalyptic worlds, in which WMDs have decimated humanity and their inventions; and Golden ages of ancient civilizations which lived peacefully with advanced technology-until they fall apart.