Little cute Nadja Applefield lives in a British orphanage, the Applefield house. She's the local Cool Big Sis, dances around to distract herself and wonders how is her mother doing in Heaven, while steeling herself for ther 13th birthday when she'll have to leave her home and start building her own life away from the orphanage.One day, however, her life changes. Miss Applefield, her guardian, brings her a trunk with several pretty things (a diary, a Pimped Out Dress, etc) and a letter. In the paper, someone tells her that her "dead" mother actually is alive. Nadja is understandably confused, so Miss Applefield explains that she was given away by her mom unwillingly, since said mother was very ill and not expected to live for long; by the looks of it, though, she did survive her Soap Opera Disease, and Nadja can certainly hope to meet up with her once she leaves Applefield House and makes a good name for herself in the real world.But before Nadja can digest all the news, two Bad Men come up to steal her things. Specially, Nadja's medallion, which seems to be connected with her past. After being rescued by a Mysterious Protector and a fire almost destroys the Applefield Orphanage, Nadja stuffs her belonging in her suitcase and takes off to search for her mother, her past, and answers to her questions.Ashita no Nadja (明日のナージャ, Ashita no Nāja, lit. "Tomorrow's Nadja") also had a manga adaption started after the anime run started and before the anime run ended. It was serialized by Kodansha in the manga magazine Nakayoshi and collected in two bound volumes. The anime series was produced by Toei Animation right after the end of oneCash Cow Franchise, and before the beginning of another. It premiered in Japan on the anime satellite television network Animax and the terrestrial TV Asahi network, as well as several local cable channels. The series is available on DVD (in Japanese) containing two to three episodes each.Ashita no Nadja has examples of:
Changeling Fantasy: Subverted: Rosemary loved to dream she was a lost princess who would someday find her true noble family, but the "princess" was Nadja and not her... And when she found out... boy, did she snap.
Coming of Age Story: It starts when Nadja has to leave the only home she has known, travelling with the Dandelion Troupe to find her origins and grow up...
Compressed Adaptation: The manga. They shortened it, thus taking away many characters (which means loss of Character Development), including but not limited to: Keith, Rosemary, Marianne, Jose, and Carmen.
Cool Big Sis: Sylvie "the Songbird" Arte, Julietta. And actually, Nadja used to be one in Applefield House, and sorta has these dynamics with little Rita.
Domestic Abuse: Just another reason to hate Hermann Preminger.
Dropped A Bridge On Her: Though she doesn't die, Rosemary's calm departure from the Mansion once she loses to Nadja quite feels like this.
Also, Miss Applefield got a shelf dropped on her. It happened pretty much off-screen, save a flashback, and only to have the Orphanage of Love disbanded and give Nadja yet another reason to angst.
Let's not forget how Jose gets hit by a carriage right after he and Carmen have resolved to separate but stay in friendly terms until they truly reach their dreams.
Evil Plan: Hermann's plan to steal Nadja's brooch, ruin her chance to claim the Preminger fortune (though she doesn't care about money and only wants to meet up with Colette) and become heir.
Evil Uncle: If what he does to get his niece's inheritance doesn't qualify Hermann as such...
Forgotten Childhood Friend: Rosemary is in the background during the first two episodes, but is only formerly introduced as a close friend of Nadja's from the orphanage way later.
Freudian Excuse: Hermann never had a chance to make friends during his childhood because his father kept him too busy with the training to succed him and now resents Nadja for being chosen over him despite this.
Also, Nadja is voiced by Ami Koshimizu. IIRC, it was Koshimizu's first famous role.
There's also Youta Mochizuki as Thierry, Fuuko Misaki as Marianne and Kouji Yamamoto as Raphael, whereas Shishido played Sakurako... Hana Yori Dango reunion, indeed.
Ill Boy: Stephan, Abel's crippled and long-lost son.
Inadequate Inheritor: Hermann being perceived as such by his father is what started the plot. If not for this, Nadja and Colette would probably never learn about each other being alive.
Karma Houdini: Though Hermann, Rosso and Bianco go to jail, Rosemary goes away without more punishment aside of Nadja slapping her once and beating her verbally.. Also, Antonio never was punished for his Screw the Rules, I Have Money! mentality, aside of failing to woo Julietta.
Ladykiller In Love According to Julietta, Leonardo stopped flirting with other girls when Antonio became his rival in love, paying more attention to her.
Les Yay: Nadja and Rosemary are a textbook exampel of Romantic Two-Girl Friendship, until the latter snaps and becomes sworn enemy to the former.
Mad Love: Rosemary has a crush on Fernando, who treats her like crap.
Manipulative Bastard: Antonio, Hermann, to a degree Oscar. Rosemary takes it to new extremes. Duke Preminger also counts for what he did to Colette and Nadja just because the latter was born from a marriage he didn't approve.
Missing Mom: Nadja's mother, Colette Also, Francis's mother. Who is also Keith's Missing Mom, of course
Moral Myopia: When Keith finds out about Nadja choosing Francis, he berates brother his twin for "wanting to keep a free spirit like Nadja in a Gilded Cage" in his opinion. Well, Keith... who are you to single-handedly decide that Nadja will undoubtly be unhappy with the guy she has chosen - a guy who is not you? At least ask Nadja about it instead of treating her like your property.
Parental Abandonment: Nadja and all the Applefield kids, Francis and Keith, Antonio (Disappeared Dad, distanced from his mom), Harvey and TJ, Kennosuke and Hanako, Rita...
Plucky Girl: Nadja, in the best tradition of young shoujo heroines.
Promotion to Parent: Kennosuke and Harvey had to take care of their little siblings (Hanako and TJ) once their parents died. Also, Emma cared for her nephews when they lost their mother.
Proper Lady: Julietta, Emma, Hilda, Marianne, the deceased Countess Harcourt.
Rags to Royalty: Nadja is the direct heiress to an Austrian clan.
Rebellious Princess (in the very end, as she refuses to fully take over the clan per her grandpa's orders and, with Collette's approval, returns with the Dandelion Troupe.
Rich Bitch: Fernando's aunt, oh so much. Subverted with Marianne, who is blunt and selfish but doesn't use her riches to make self look better than she is.
Sacred First Kiss. Subverted. Nadja is mad as Hell at the Black Rose Thief for kissing her... but this isn't her first kiss. That one was given to her by Francis... who happens to be Black Rose's twin younger brother, but nobody knows that.
Sad Clown: Abel Geiger is a more or less normal one with great wisdom and knowledge, but his backstory is maybe the saddest in the whole series.
She Cleans Up Nicely: Nadja often dresses up elegantly for special occasions, some of them being VERY plot-important. When Rosemary sees Nadja like this, her already frail self-esteem crashes and she had a huge Freak Out
Shrinking Violet: Rosemary, pre Freak Out. This series shows very clearly that, when a Shrinking Violet does snap... snap she does
Spanner in the Works: When Hermann betrays them, Rosso and Bianco ruin his plans as they let Nadja escape from the room they're locked in and tell her where to find their reports, which is ultimately Hermann's perdition. At the same time, Hermann thought Rosemary would be his puppet, but she proved him brutally wrong by being more ruthless and smarter than he thought.
Tenchi Solution: Nadja keeps wavering between Francis and Keith. By the end of the series, the three meet up and reach a common agreement so they leave it there for a while, until they're more mature. Still, it's hinted that Keith is more than willing to pull an I Want My Beloved to Be Happy if needed...
Too Dumb to Live: Colette. When she was about to elope with Raymond, one of the family's servants filled her music box with some gold coins and a note explaining it all. Colette eventually sold the box without even suspecting there was something valuable inside it.
Twin Switch: When Francis is mistaken as Black Rose, he refuses to discard his identity and fully intends to pay for Keith's acts as a Gentleman Thief. Keith himself is very distressed by the prospect.
Wicked Stepfather: While Hermann's stepson isn't the main victim of his wickedness (aside from how Hermann treats Oscar's mother), it doesn't change the fact Hermann is somebody's stepfather and a wicked person. While Hermann occasionally pressures Oscar into marrying some wealthy woman, it's unlikely it'd be any different if they were related by blood. In fact, the only relevance Oscar not being Hermann's biological son has to the plot is that it's the main (or only) reason Duke Preminger doesn't consider making Oscar his heir.
Count Waltmuller averts this trope by allowing Nadja to live with him. She decided to return to the Dandelion Troupe, anyway.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: When Nadja dolls up to find out the truth about her Body Double and her stolen medallion and sees Rosemary posing as her, Rosemary claims at first that she's been kidnapped and blackmailed by Hermann. Nadja falls for it and Rosemary destroys her Gorgeous Period Dress.
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