Fushigi no Umi no Nadia Gekijou You Original Ban

After I finished Nadia: the Secret of Blue Water, I was astounded at the ending; the show was a beautiful tribute to humanity and everything it can create. The final episode resolved the plot incredibly satisfyingly, but just out of curiosity I decided to give the movie a try. I knew going in that it was going to be disappointing, as it wasn't made by most of the same crew... but hey, I wanted more Nadia, and I thought at least it'd be bad in an interesting way like the main show's infamous Island Arc. Oh, how wrong I was.

This movie begins with a half hour of recap, has the most unimpressive animation ever, and follows the most generic and surface-level plotline possible. Practically everything about it fails to capture the viewer's interest. It's a sheer disappointment; even the fantastic voice actors from the original series sound bored, Grandis's performance being the only one to stand out. Even if you were going in expecting something bad, this movie isn't even awful enough to be funny. It's completely soulless. Do not watch it.

If you enjoyed the show, then the best part of the movie is the half an hour recap the movie pulls off... almost entirely skipping the Island Arc, but also a good portion of important events to the ending. It also doesn't explain that it takes place after the shows end, but before the time skip the show ends on.

For me, the lack of Marie instantly loses the movie three stars. She was the heart of the show in my opinion. Three of our main crew that do come back seem to have completely forgotten the lessons they learned on their journey. The new characters are either completely forgettable, or will remind you of the carbon copies that they are based on from other, better, works.

I cannot agree that it is entirely skippable, only due to the fact that is the LAST chance you'll ever get to spend with Jean and Nadia ever again. It's been 30 years since the time of this posting, if you want more, this is all there is.

Is it lackluster, yes.

Would I take it over nothing at all, no.

After watching the entirety of the show, I thought to myself, "This is it. The last thing to ever come out of these characters. I just want it to be decent." That's what I got... for half of the movie.

The first half of the film is a glorified clip show of events taking place in the show. It's unbearable how lazy it comes off. It's inexcusable.

The second half, however, feels like another episode of the show with a worse villain and worse animation. At least they kept the voice actors and tone of the show.

Overall, this film was just unnecessary. It was nice seeing the characters again, (even is some are missing for some reason) but it ultimately leaves you with more questions than answers.

4/10