[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nadia_8134.jpg]]

->'"'Are you adventurers? Are you prepared to climb the blue waterfall named The Perilous? Do you seek the truth of the legend that lies therein? If you do, then you must first find me."''
->-- '''Opening narration'''.

Set in 1889 and ''extremely'' loosely based on Creator/JulesVerne's ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea,'' ''Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water'' tells the story of [[{{Tsundere}} Nadia]], a girl who's trying to find out about her past, Jean, a boy who wants to build a flying machine, and the [[MacGuffin Blue Water]], a mysterious gem of Nadia's with strange powers. Their world is home to two shadowy groups in conflict: Neo-Atlantis, who want to rule the world, and the crew of the submarine ''Nautilus'', who have sworn to oppose Neo-Atlantis. These two plots are not unconnected...

This series originally aired starting in 1990 on NHK -- Japanese public broadcasting (the Japanese equivalent of {{BBC}}). Carl Macek's Creator/StreamlinePictures released a VHS of the first eight episodes. Years later, [[Creator/ADVFilms ADV]] translated and released the entire 39-episode TV series as well as the maligned, mostly forgotten movie sequel on DVD.

(Entry originally written by Rob Kelk for [[http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/primer/ The Anime Primer]], and used with permission of the author.)

Just for the record, this series was the one that gave Hideaki Anno his first Animage Grand Prix before penning out his biggest masterpiece, ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''... and possibly, the reason NGE is such a mindscrew. It has been purported that the stress of working on a tight schedule, on a series over which he had almost no creative control was a key factor in precipitating Anno into a [[CreatorBreakdown four-year-long bout of depression]] from which he emerged just before (some say while) doing Eva.

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!!''Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water'' provides examples of:

* {{Adorkable}}: Jean, definitely. Even Nadia's English voice actress has said she would date someone like him in a heartbeat. Hanson, too, once he switches sides.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: invoked and discussed within the story itself. Nadia's brown skin, straight hair, green eyes, and "[[{{Mukokuseki}} stateless]]" anime heroine looks are all in marked contrast to the rest of the crew who all have recognizably ethnic features. Most characters only have a vague idea she might be African... or Indian... ([[spoiler:Turns out she's Atlantean.]])
* AnachronismStew: Most of the non-Atlantean technology seems more appropriate to 1910 or even 1920 than 1889.
* AncientAstronauts: The true origin of Atlantis, and therefore several major characters.
* AncientConspiracy: Behind the separation of the [[MacGuffin Blue Water]].
* AppliedPhlebotinum: The ''Nautilus'' runs on a recycled star drive, and the [[MacGuffin Blue Water]] fires up whenever the plot starts to drag.
* ArcWords: The opening narration.
* ArrowCam
* ArtShift:
** In Electra's flashback during episode 22.
** Also done very effectively in Episode 35, where merely 3/4 of the exploration of the ruins of Tartessos are entirely in black and [[color:white:white]], with only the [[color:blue:blue]] light from Nadia's [[MacGuffin Blue Water]] being the sole source of color.
** During all twelve episodes of the island/Africa arc, the animation both [[OffModel takes a dive in quality]] and resembles a cut rate ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon. (These were produced by other studios in Japan and Korea.)
* BabiesEverAfter: The title character (Nadia, married to Jean), the narrator ( [[spoiler: Sanson]] of the TerribleTrio, married to a much younger lady [[spoiler: [[ShesAllGrownUp the now grown-up Marie]] ]] ), and the most "complex" character ([[spoiler: Electra]]). Hanson, the other half of the team, has kids but we don't see them (or his wife for that matter). Grandis (the boss of the trio), notably is still single, and loving it.
* BadBoss: Other than the usual YouHaveFailedMe, Gargoyle will shoot his own {{mook}} to convince Nadia that he would shoot Marie.
** On one occasion, however, he casually tells a mook who slipped up not to worry about punishment.
* BambooTechnology: Armed with a bit of salvage, Jean builds a camp worthy of the Professor from ''GilligansIsland''.
* BarbieDollAnatomy
* BatmanGambit: Gargoyle lures Nemo into a trap using himself as bait. He knows Nemo will do anything to follow him and so leads TheCaptain to a cavern which he blocks off with mines.
** It's also a XanatosGambit: If Nemo does nothing he will eventually starve, but if he tries to remove the mines with conventional means they will detonate. Also because of the shifting tides, the mines will go off eventually. Even if Nemo somehow survives the mines and escapes, Gargoyle can observe how his experimental mines will work in the field and save the data for later.
* BeachEpisode: Repeatedly. Most of Grandis' backstory can only be explained when she is in a hot tub or on a beach.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo
* BerserkButton: Nadia easily loses her temper over trivial matters, particularly when anybody eats meat. (She eventually changes that behavior, and of course, Jean [[EasilyForgiven constantly forgives her]].)
* BetweenMyLegs: When Nadia stands up in the bath.
* BigBad: Gargoyle
* BigDamnHeroes: Often with the ''Nautilus'', pulling the gang to safety in the nick of time. Subverted later, where help arrives just a minute too late [[spoiler:in Tartessos]].
* BlindWithoutEm: Jean, with the obligatory DroppedGlasses scene. To the point that without the glasses, his eyes are drawn much smaller than the usual "anime" size.
* BlueWithShock
* BlushSticker: Jean.
* BowtiesAreCool: Hanson and Sanson wear one as part of their uniforms.
** [[{{Geek}} Jean]] also wears a bowtie.
* {{Brainwashed}}: [[spoiler: Nadia in episode 38.]]
* BrokenBird - Nadia, due to her personal experiences with adults; particularly her circus ringmaster at the beginning of the series. This causes her to distrust adults and people in general, believing they either want to use her or simply want the Blue Water she possesses. Thankfully, she gets better with help from Jean, Grandis, and the ''Nautilus'' crew.
** Electra and Captain Nemo also qualify, albeit for entirely different reasons.
* CanonDisContinuity: When the show returns in Episode 35 after the infamous island/Africa arc, it all but neglects the events that happened in them (save episodes 30 & 31), suggesting they were never intended to be part of the plot.\\
\\
Hideaki Anno is even said to have been dissatisfied with the final result of the TV show, and as a matter of fact has made a shorter, more streamlined compilation called "The Nautilus Story", which all but eliminates the filler arc and concentrates on the struggle between Nemo and Gargoyle (some scenes in the more pivotal episodes are cut as well). (This version, clocking in at approximately six hours, was only released in Japan on video and laserdisc.) In fact, this release was as close as Anno came to doing a remake of the show theatrically.
* TheCaptain: How much bigger a Captain do you need than Captain Nemo?
* CharlesAtlasSuperPower: Sanson breaks out of prison by ''bending the bars''. Later he stops the punch from a mecha twice his size. Both were bare handed.
* CirclingBirdies
* {{Cliffhanger}}
* ClipShow:
** Over ''twenty minutes straight'' of the sequel movie is show clips, recapping the entire story thus far.
** Also, the MusicalEpisode consisted almost entirely of reused footage, which was used MusicVideo style as background for the songs.
* CollapsingLair
* ConvenientEnemyBase: Twice!
* CoolBigSis: Electra and Grandis appear to take turns filling this spot for Jean and Nadia.
* CoolShip: Several.
* CrossDressingVoices: Averted in the dub: the three lead roles are played by actual kid actors instead of adult females.
* CrossPoppingVeins
* DeadPersonConversation
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Electra is electrocuted (although she did not die). Jean, the boy that loves to fly, falls (he gets better). Finally, the Atlantean-supremacist [[BigBad Gargoyle]] dies while discovering his true nature -- he is a human adopted by the real Atlanteans, and he never found out before entering an energy field that turns non-Atlanteans to a pillar of salt. Oops.]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Nadia is gradually transformed from a cold, aloof, temperamental pessimist to a caring, trusting young woman as a result of her relationship with Jean.
* TheDeterminator: Played partly for laughs with Grandis at the beginning. But applied dead seriously in the final episode, where [[spoiler: Emperor Neo manages to make his unpowered robotic body move by sheer force of will to save Nadia.]]
* DisneyDeath: Jean, before being revived.
* DistantFinale: A grown-up Marie lists what everyone is doing years after the story is complete.
* DramaticWind: Whenever Nemo looks off into the distance and broods.
* DreamSequence
* DressHitsFloor: Most of the female cast at one point or another. This ''is'' a StudioGainax production!
* DrivenToSuicide: Nadia reaches this point after learning the truth about herself and the Blue Water, on top of coming to the conclusion that she's a horrible person; which leads her to believe the world would be better off without her. The attempt is foiled, [[ArmorPiercingSlap but not without repercussions.]]
** Electra does the same when she finally learns that Nemo actually ''does'' care about her, and tries to shoot herself. Nemo talks her out of such behavior.
* DroppedGlasses: Minor subversion: the glasses are repaired almost immediately to demonstrate the technological capabilities of the ''Nautilus''.
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Subverted. The people who call Nadia "princess" rarely seem to have her best interests in mind.
* EvilChancellor: [[BigBad Gargoyle]] used to be this, before pulling off a (mostly) successful coup and moving on to better things.
* EvilCounterpart: Nemo and [[BigBad Gargoyle]] are always going on about their vague but important pasts.
* EvilOverlord: Subverted. While Neo ([[spoiler: Nadia's brother, Venusis]]) is the emperor of Neo Atlantis, [[spoiler: he is just a puppet created by [[BigBad Gargoyle.]]]]
* EvilPlan: Gargoyle wants to TakeOverTheWorld by reviving ancient Atlantean technology.
* ExplosiveInstrumentation
* {{Expy}}: [[TheCaptain Captain Nemo]] is Captain Global from ''SuperDimensionFortressMacross''. Anno worked on ''Macross'' and reused the design as a ShoutOut.
** Since the series and ''Evangelion'' shared character designers, a few faces are unmistakably similar. Most notable is Shiniji, whose unmistakably girly face is mostly due to being drawn more similar to ''Nadia'' than any of the male characters.
* FaceFault: Mostly in the {{Filler}}.
* TheFaceless: Except for his death scene, the villain is always masked.
* {{Fanservice}}:
** Nadia runs around in her Circus Acrobat costume for most of the series, despite having a full wardrobe available to her. When she does change clothes, she wears sheets and cutoffs.
** Electra is that blonde in the pic up there. She's [[{{Gainaxing}} quite bouncy]] in the show.
* FalseFlagOperation: In Episode 15, Gargoyle easily suckers the EagleLand navy into attacking the ''Nautilus''. By sending a Neo-Atlantean agent ''in a mask and a pirate hat'' to drop an "anonymous tip." [[spoiler:They succeed in severely damaging the ''Nautilus'', which only survives by [[PlayingPossum pretending to sink.]] Three of the crew die when the ship's reactor breaches and floods a compartment with radiation, as [[SadisticChoice they can't surface to vent the radiation without breaking the ruse]].]]
* FauxActionGirl: Much is made of Nadia being a circus acrobat, but she manages to remain useless most of the time. As the first episode demonstrated, LeParkour skills are great if you're only saving yourself. Not so great when you've got an acrobatically disinclined {{geek}} along for the ride.
* FauxAffablyEvil: [[BigBad Gargoyle]]
* {{Filler}}: There is a long arc about 2/3 of the way through the series that involves the kids not doing much on an island then escaping and not doing much in Africa while the rest of the cast has adventures off screen. Their low quality simply earns them the polite title the [[FanNickname Island Episodes]].
* FirstKiss: Actually named an episode after it, even if one of them is high on mushrooms when it happens. A more traditional one happens later. Unfortunately it is treated as a cruel tease, because the writers quickly press reset on the leads' relationship immediately after.
** The spin-off Japanese-only MegaDrive game by Namco (which is a loose retelling of the show) handles this much better. There, it's treated as a genuine turning point in Jean and Nadia's friendship and there are no mushrooms involved.
* FlashBack: Most main characters get some exposition in this way. Over ''twenty minutes straight'' of TheMovie is made up of flashbacks.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Nadia, though she's suspicious of most adults.
* FullyAutomaticClipShow: A good twenty minutes straight of the movie.
* FuroScene: Two with Nadia. The first one is shared with Electra and Marie and the second one (on a western bathtub) is with Grandis.
* GadgeteerGenius: Two of them -- [[{{Geek}} Jean]], the heroic and goodhearted main character, and Hanson, a member of the Grandis gang.
* GranolaGirl: Nadia is a vegetarian, a pacifist, and generally skeptical of technological progress in general -- which sometimes poses problems in her friendship/budding romance with GadgeteerGenius [[{{Geek}} Jean]] -- although she does eventually abandon this attitude.
* GravityIsAHarshMistress: Gravitational Cognizance variety.
* GoodCostumeSwitch: Grandis is the first villain of the series and wears a military uniform. When she announces her HeelFaceTurn she's wearing a dress and it becomes her standard outfit (unless she's going into battle).
* HeadPet: King, on occasion.
* HeelFaceTurn: Grandis and her minions, somewhat unique in that it happens about 1/4 of the way into the series.
* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Nadia obviously has feelings for Jean, but she impulsively declares otherwise to both Grandis and Marie when both call her out about it. (Naturally, since she has never known anything about love before, she does not know how to acknowledge it or express herself.)
** Even funnier because in episodes 17 and 30, after she denies it to Marie, she ends up approaching Jean for attention anyway (the former episode to give him a snack of seaweed).
* HeroicBSOD: While [[GadgeteerGenius Jean]] is, at heart, a [[ThePollyanna very optimistic and cheerful character]], there are at least two moments where he becomes completely depressed: first, in Episode 15, when he traumatically overhears a sailor he's friends with gassed to death (he is surprisingly melancholy after that), and then, in episode 16, when he learns that [[spoiler:[[BigBad Gargoyle]] killed his father]]. This latter revelation crushes [[GadgeteerGenius Jean]] so much that he considers giving up inventing until Nadia, who doesn't like seeing him so gloomy, tries to cheer him up and succeeds by suggesting him to build another aircraft so that they can go on another airflight.
* HiddenEyes
* HomingLasers: One of the Nautilus' primary weapons. Seems like HideakiAnno [[{{Gunbuster}} loves these]]!
* HumanAliens: So much so that [[spoiler:they appear to intermarry and reproduce just fine. Apparently, humans were ''designed'' by the aliens to this aim. In the end of the anime, it's revealed that Nemo and Nadia are the only "true" aliens left; all enemies including the BigBad were, unknown to even themselves, in fact humans.]]
* HumansNeedAliens: During the time he holds Nadia captive, [[EvilChancellor Gargoyle]] lauds this as the Neo Atlantians' "right" to rule humanity.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Most anything Nadia wears.
* IncrediblyObviousBug
* IrisOut: With pause for comment.
* IronicEchoCut
* {{Jerkass}}: Nadia comes across like this several times in the show when she takes her rage out on [[GadgeteerGenius Jean]] and Nemo, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech saying rather undeservedly cruel things to both.]] (She gets even worse in both the Island and Africa arcs.)
** In episode 20 she becomes [[GreenEyedMonster extremely jealous of Jean's friendship with Electra]], irrationally believing that the latter is going to take Jean away from her (when, in fact, nothing romantic is happening between Jean OR Electra). Her inability to express her concern with losing Jean nearly ruins her own relationship with him. (All that Jean is doing is just trying to learn more from Electra so that he can help mankind and Nadia herself; despite being stuck in the books at times, he is obviously very dedicated to helping her, to the point where you feel sorry for the boy every time Nadia takes out her anger on him.)
**** As a matter of fact Nadia even lays into Jean when he offers her manmade flowers (that Ensign Fait generously gives the boy) or attempts to compliment her in the abovementioned episode (as Electra advised him to). Naturally, this only succeeds in confusing poor Jean—to the point where he is surprised when she finally plucks up the courage to ask him directly for a compliment for a dress (awkwardly fashioned out of canvas) in episode 26. (Fourteen episodes earlier, she doesn't succeed in getting a compliment from Jean about a dress she's wearing since the latter is busy reading a book, but in that case she was sort of expecting him to read her mind and not knowing how else to act.)
*** In that same episode, Nadia [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech furiously declares to Nemo that she hates him and the ''Nautilus'' crew; he slaps her for saying that, adding in a stern tone, "Please don't say sad things like that" ("You have made me very sad." in the dub).]]
** On the flipside, she ''does'' apologize to Jean numerous times for her misdirected anger, even going out of her way to bring him something to eat, go on walks with him, or anything else conciliatory (in the [[{{Canon}} canonical]] episodes), [[spoiler:but she never gets to do so to Nemo, even though she realizes too late that she could have been nicer.]]
* JustBetweenYouAndMe
* KikukoInoue: Electra
* KillSat: Neo-Atlantis' "Tower of Babel", a ground-based WaveMotionGun bounced off a satellite to rain death from above.
* LampshadeHanging: For King's non-animal behaviors.
* LethalChef: Subverted with Grandis.
* LightningGlare
* LimitedWardrobe: See FanService above...
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Emperor Neo is Nadia's older brother.]]
* LostCurls: In early production art, a later version of Nadia has textured hair which the designers admitted they liked, but found difficult to animate.
* LoveAtFirstSight: About the sole reason Jean is following Nadia from the beginning.
* LoveableRogue: The Grandis gang. In most ways they end up being much bigger heroes than the [[DesignatedHero title character]].
* LoveMartyr: Electra.
* MacGuffin: The Blue Water itself.
* MacrossMissileMassacre: The primary form of Sub-to-Sub combat.
* MagicFromTechnology
* MarketBasedTitle: The Japanese title, ''Fushigi no Umi no Nadia'' ("''Nadia of the Mysterious Seas''"), was basically used by Gainax to forestall ExecutiveMeddling, by ensuring their title followed the same pattern as ''NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind''.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Gargoyle's suite is immaculate red and worthy of the dinner party he invites sponsors to. The only flaw is his mask and KKK style hat.
* MeaningfulName:
** Electra, as in ''ElectraComplex'' which basically sums up her relationship with Nemo.
*** Actually, she's even closer to Electra of mythology than that: her main motivation is revenge against the people who killed her parents. [[spoiler:And at one point, she even threatens to take it out on her adoptive father.]]
** Sanson is a very strong, vain, and bullheaded man. Like the Biblical Sa''m''son.
*** Meanwhile, Hanson's name may be a pun on "Handsome", which he, uh, isn't.
** Nemo's name means "No one" or "Nobody" in Latin, as they helpfully point out.
*** And "Nobody" in Spanish is ''Nadie.''
*** On a minor note, Nadia is also similar to "Nadar", the Spanish word meaning "to swim".
* MeatOVision: Jean saw Marie as a plate of turkey after eating some mushrooms.
* MeatVersusVeggies: The source of Nadia's BerserkButton, as explained above. She tries to impose her views on her friends while turning a deaf ear to Jean's reasoning that they only eat meat for food, not to do murder. Nadia eventually abandons this aggressive attitude, though, when she finally confesses her tragic past to Jean and Marie.
* {{Montages}}
* MouthFlaps: In an interview, Gargoyle's English voice actor mentions being incredibly lucky to voice a character who always wears a mask; that way, matching the flaps isn't a concern.
* MrExposition: Various characters at different times.
* MsFanservice: Nadia is AmbiguouslyBrown, spends the majority of her screen time in a {{Stripperiffic}} circus costume (which includes a loincloth), and is [[{{Jailbait}} quite nubile for a fourteen-year-old girl]]. Plus, she's an agile acrobat.
* MultinationalTeam: Nemo's crew is assembled from people who hate Gargoyle for various reasons. It seems Gargoyle is unpopular the world over....
* MushroomSamba: Involving actual mushrooms!
* MusicalEpisode: Episode 34, at the end of the {{Filler}} arc, using {{Image Song}}s strung around a plot of Jean trying to express his feelings for Nadia through song. ([[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech It eventually devolves into one where Jean calls the latter out for her bad attitude and moodiness]].) The English dub cast actually sang their own versions of the songs in this episode.
* MysteriousAntarctica: Nemo's base is here. Also the WorldTree.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Nadia has this kind of look on her face in Episode 20 after she learns from Electra in the bath scene that ''Nautilus'' is merely fighting to destroy Gargoyle and that she is not in danger of losing Jean to Electra as Grandis had suggested. Earlier, she was stubbornly determined to believe Nemo and the ''Nautilus'' were both evil and was quite nasty to Jean ([[GreenEyedMonster in a fit of jealousy]]) when he attempted to compliment her (as advised by Electra). She looks quite remorseful for making such bad calls of judgment.
* [[LukeIAmYourFather Nadia, I am your father]]: [[spoiler: Captain Nemo.]]
* {{Narrator}}: Later revealed as a slightly older Marie.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Gargoyle
* NarratorAllAlong: As above.
* NonHumanSidekick: King
* NotGoodWithPeople: Nadia. Having spent fourteen years of her life in a circus with a cruel, unloving ringmaster, she dislikes grownups with a vengeance. As such, she does not know how to interact with people. Nemo is also like this when it comes to children, although he does gradually warm up to them.
* NotSoDifferent: When Jean and Hanson stop fighting over the blue water, they realize they're more mecha geeks and simultaneously {{squee}} over the ''Nautilus''.
* NumberTwo: Electra.
* OcularGushers
* OneBuwwetWeft
* OfficialCouple: Nadia and Jean.
* OffScreenVillainDarkMatter: averted by Gargoyle's mooks reporting how his dark matter, I.E. commerce in wool and banking, is proceeding and how it is paying for things like his submarine and the Tower of Babel.
* OracularUrchin
* OrphansPlotTrinket: The Blue Water.
* OtherStockPhrases
* PantyShot: Considering what Nadia wears...
* ParentalAbandonment: Many of the characters are orphans or otherwise deprived of their parents, from Nadia up to Gargoyle, the BigBad.
* ParentalIncest: Nemo initially viewed and treated Electra as a surrogate daughter to replace his own children whom he believed were both dead. However, she had actually already fallen in love with him upon reaching puberty, but decided to continue to keep it a secret as she felt it would just be unrequited after accidentally overhearing how he felt about her. They eventually get together though [[spoiler:after she finally snaps and confesses her feelings when she realizes that he no longer has any need of her as a surrogate daughter now that his real daughter Nadia had finally turned up again.]]
* PillarOfLight: Whenever the Tower of Babel fires up.
* PlotHole: So exactly what does Nemo hope to accomplish by blowing up Gargoyle's ships while never actually doing anything about his shipyards?
* ThePollyanna: Jean is a shoo-in for a inventors' competition which he ditches to save Nadia, and not only does his plane crash but he is perpetually on the run and in constant danger. And yet, through it all, he is cheerful and even enthusiastic about the technology from both sides in general. (The only exceptions are when he and Nadia are exploring Gargoyle's base, and when he reacts in horror to two deaths—one of an escaped fugitive, and another of a crew member.)
* {{Precursors}}
* PreviouslyOn
* PublicDomainArtifact: Just about everything in Jules Verne's closet that wasn't nailed down. Plus the "Blue Water" from ''BeauGeste'', of all places.
* PuppetKing: Emperor Neo. [[spoiler: quite literally]]
* PuttingOnTheReich: The Neo-Atlanteans. They greet each other with a reversed version of the Nazi salute (right arm extended, then placed to chest). In addition, they also wear black uniforms reminiscent of the Nazi Schutzstaffel, and black Ku Klux Klan-like hoods (officers in charge wear orange).
** This is made especially explicit in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4tjjXxC7-w their Omake Theater feature]].
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Anything that Nadia says out of unjustified anger. Inverted in Episode 35, where Nadia admits her faults and that she hates herself.
** Humorously, Grandis calls Electra out for wanting to kill them all in episode 21 just to defeat Gargoyle (when the ''Nautilus'' is trapped by the villain's superweapon).
** Electra gives one to Nemo as well in Episode 22 during her memorable breakdown scene.
* RelationshipUpgrade: All the couples in the series who successfully end up together.
* RockPaperScissors: Sanson has bad luck at this game.
* RomanticFalseLead: A villager from the Africa arc who recognizes the Blue Water. [[spoiler:It turns out that he's already engaged.]] [[AssPull This arc is both out of step with the rest of the show and frankly, doesn't make sense]], since [[spoiler:Nadia admitted that Jean was important to her in the previous episode. The motivations behind her subsequent betrayal of Jean and behavior in Africa is not at all clear.]] Unsurprisingly, [[CanonDisContinuity Episode 35 promptly disregards this two-episode side story]].
** Could also qualify as a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, although the island/Africa arc has plenty of such pointless scenes, hence the reason why it is criticized so harshly.
* SandBridgeAtLowTide: The only way to access their escape pod during the unfortunate island arc. (Get the picture yet? SKIP THE ISLAND AND AFRICA ARCS!)
* SchizoTech: One of the more infamous examples is an '80s-looking telephone on board the ''Nautilus'' (in 1889), which is supposed to [[spoiler:be thousands of years old]].
* SeekerArchetype
* SelfDestructMechanism: Jean installs one in the cockpit of the plane he builds, and Nadia touches it, [[spoiler: resulting in her and Marie's death. Though it was [[AllJustADream just a dream.]]]]
* ShadowArchetype
* ShoutOut: To ''Franchise/IndianaJones'', ''Film/{{Gamera}}'', ''{{Tarzan}}'', ''UchuuSenkanYamato'', ''TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' and [[GunBuster others]].
** And, of course, multiple shout-outs to Jules Verne's works that weren't directly used in the plot.
** The shout-outs in ''Secret of Blue Water'' are innumerable. You think you have found all of them, but there's still more. There's an allusion to something outside of the story, often in RealLife, like every five minutes. That's among the things that make the series great. It latches onto everything.
** Some plot elements seem to be Shout-Outs to R.A. Wilson and Bob Shea's [[{{Illuminatus}} Illuminatus-Trilogy]]. But then again, Illuminatus itself already contained several Jules Verne Shout-Outs, so yeah...
* {{Sneezing}}
* SnotBubble: Especially when it comes to King.
* SpiderSense: The Blue Water flashes red when Nadia's about to be in danger.
* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Nadia'' has certain similarities to [[HayaoMiyazaki Miyazaki]]'s ''Laputa: CastleInTheSky''.
** More than you'd think; the original plot outline/treatment was written by Miyazaki himself back in the 70s – pre-''Laputa,'' and in fact reused by Miyazaki for his film when Gainax sat on the story and didn't use it for 20-odd years.
* SteamPunk
* StockFootage
** In the sequel movie, about 30 minutes (one third of the entire running time) was taken up by a long flashback sequence (made from footage from the TV series, re-cut without regard for chronological order).
* StockPhrases
* SubmarinePirates
* TankGoodness: The Gratan.
* TeenGenius: Jean. The kid actually beat the Wright Brothers by twenty-four years! He also invented a helicopter. And a rocket. And a music recorder. Which, if you take it at face value, means he invented the speaker, the microphone, the amplifier, and vinyl records. Which means he may well have invented the vacuum tube. And plastic. He also seems to have invented the Ukulele.\\
\\
In a dream sequence, he goes on to invent the television, the computer, and the ''A-bomb''. He also invented an ice cream machine.
* TerribleTrio: Grandis and crew are an {{Expy}} of the TimeBokan gang, with the twist that this time the fat guy is the genius engineer and the skinny guy is the strongman.
** TrueCompanions: They bicker and quarrel and are inseparable.
* ThatsNoMoon: An island that the gang had been situated on turns out to be the [[spoiler:Atlantean battleship Red Noah.]]
* TheSweatDrop
* TechnoBabble: Whenever someone explains how all this tech works.
* TimeCompressionMontage
* TransformingMecha: "Catherine", a.k.a. the Gratan.
* TrapDoor: Basically one of [[BigBad Gargoyle's]] trademarks.
* {{Tsundere}} (Type A-1): Nadia (she gradually gets better, however, [[FanonDisContinuity if you don't count her actions in the filler arc.]])
* TheUnreveal: If you expected some huge revelation regarding Gargoyle's face, you'll be disappointed. Besides some suspicious resemblance to [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Fuyutsuki]], his face is completely unremarkable.
* {{Underboobs}} Nadia inadvertently reveals hers while adjusting her top. Naturally, [[AccidentalPervert poor Jean can't help but look.]]
* WeaponOfMassDestruction: The Tower of Babel, located in several places in the show: Gargoyle's base, Tartessos, and, ultimately, Red Noah.
* [[WhatTheHellHero What The Hell, Nadia?!]]:
** Sums up everyone's reaction after Nadia's suicide attempt; especially Grandis and Sanson. The former [[ArmorPiercingSlap wallops her for it]], the latter [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech chews her out for being selfish and scaring them all]]. ("Quit playing this tragic little game of yours!") Jean calls them off, and forgives Nadia.
** Marie when she witnesses Nadia lay into Jean (unfairly and undeservedly) in episode 10. (Nadia eventually apologizes to him for that.)
** When Nemo shoots a Neo-Atlantean to save her from being shot, Nadia accuses him of "murdering in cold blood". From that point on, she stubbornly determines to despise him... despite Jean's attempts to reason with her that she would have died if Nemo hadn't acted.
*** In episode 20, Nadia misunderstands Jean accepting a reprimand from Nemo (for nearly endangering the ''Nautilus'' with yet another failed invention). She makes the situation even worse by laying into Nemo. Then she nearly ruins her own relationship with Jean out of jealousy when she irrationally and wrongfully believes she is losing him to Electra -- when, in fact, the latter had given him advice on how to please Nadia. (She regrets her mistakes, though, after talking with Electra in a bath scene.)
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue
* WifeHusbandry: Not played entirely straight with [[spoiler: Electra and Nemo. [[{{Squick}} Nemo thought of her as a daughter for thirteen years before they get together, and apparently never thought of her as anything else until after the destruction of the ''Nautilus''.]]]]
** Played more straight, however, with [[spoiler: Marie (age 4 in the main story) and Sanson (age 27).]]
* YouAreWhatYouHate: [[spoiler: the [[BigBad Big Bad]] Atlantean-supremacist Gargoyle]] didn't know [[spoiler: he actually was a human that was adopted by Atlanteans]].
* YouCantFightFate: Nadia is destined to use the Blue Water to change the world. There's nothing she can do about it. [[RefusalOfTheCall Though she tries]]. [[DrivenToSuicide Way too damn hard]]. [[spoiler: [[ClingyMacguffin The Blue Water wouldn't let her]]. Funny thing? After she gives in, it turns out that the Blue Water permits her to change the world by ''destroying'' it - [[SweetAndSourGrapes by using it to resurrect Jean.]]]]
* YouHaveFailedMe: [[BigBad Gargoyle's]] way of dealing with some subordinates that have failed to meet expectations.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle
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