Firstly, while Atlantis is different in many ways to Nadia, on a very basic level their plots are very much the same.
The cast of Atlantis are mainly original. It seems blatantly clear though that the characters of Milo and Kida are based, in terms of design, off Jean and Nadia. When you couple the striking visual similarities with the plot connections, it's hard not to think some people in the creative team of Atlantis were a little 'inspired' by the earlier work. The similarities of the story role and visual design of the blue crystals possessed by the female leads are also way too close for me to believe this is all chance.
Anyone who believes the excuse of the directors that they had never heard of Nadia is kidding themselves. Before a Disney animated film goes into production, EXTENSIVE research is carried out on the subject. Do people really believe that a team of hundreds of animation professionals didn't at all know, or didn't discover during their research, information on a previous ANIMATED adaptation of THE SAME SOURCE MATERIAL their film was based upon?
Nadia isn't just some obscure show either. It was a major production from the famous studio Gainax and Anno Hideaki, of the most respected anime directors in Japan. It was very popular and won the Animage Grand Prix, an annual award for excellence in Japanese anime production. It was also very popular in Europe, airing on television in localised versions in Italy, France, Germany Spain and elsewhere, as well as in the United Arab Emirates. The show picked up a following among devoted anime fans in the 90s in fan translated editions, and became one of the most requested titles for localization among American anime fans.
The directors of Atlantis claim to be anime fans.
It's impossible that people in the creative team behind Atlantis hadn't heard of Nadia. Not even a remote possibility that what they're saying is true.
I don't believe Atlantis to be a straight rip-off. Unlike, I think, a lot of people here, I've seen both works, and as I have said, Atlantis differs quite a bit from Nadia in significant ways. However, it seems to be the case that people involved in the production of Atlantis were aware of Anno and Gainax's take on Verne and were influenced (in at least the design of the protagonists) by it.
Also, it's amusing to see people complaining about 'anime fanboys' in the same post where they say Nadia 'sucks' or dismiss it as 'garbage'. Nadia most definitely does not 'suck'. Patches of the show are of low quality (mostly the patch when Anno Hideaki did not direct) but it also features some very gripping drama and great artistry behind it. It also has an amazing, AMAZING finale, which is one of the greatest conclusions to a series I have witnessed. It's a great piece of work, so it's annoying to see people (many of whom I doubt have even seen the show) dismissing it offhand, and being just as bad as the fanboys they bemoan.
In the end, Nadia is a lot closer to Laputa: Castle in the Sky than Atlantis is to Nadia, though there is quite a satisfying explanation for this, since both works are based upon the same story outline written by Miyazaki. It's just another example of the assistance and sharing of ideas Anno and Miyazaki, two real life friends, have given each other over the years.
reply
share