It began with Disney’s “The Lion King” which bore striking similarities to a Japanese cartoon series called “Kimba.” Now, Disney seems to be at it again. Their latest release, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, bears incredible similarities to a 1990 Japanese animated series called “Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.” Fans of Japanese Anime have been crying foul since the first Atlantis trailer debuted. Since the premiere of Disney’s latest animated feature, the fan community is in an uproar! Many say that the similarities both in characters, design and story, are just too close to be coincidence. They claim Disney completely ripped off the Japanese Anime series.
“Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water” was released in 1990 by Gainix and was a 39-episode television series. “Nadia” is the story of young Jean, a scientist who runs into a beautiful blonde mercenary. She leads him to a submarine in a search for the lost underwater city of Atlantis. The crew consists of an international group that discovers a crevice at the bottom of the ocean. After having a memorial for those who died along the way, they find a lost civilization. At the center of the city is a crystal structure that provides power to the residents of Atlantis. It is there that Jean meets Nadia, who wears a blue crystal necklace. They soon learn that the necklace is connected to the crystal power source and Nadia merges with it. The mercenaries then decide to steal this energy against the wishes of Jean. Nadia and Jean fall in love and live happily ever after. Replace “Jean” and “Nadia” with “Milo” and “Kida,” and you have the precise description of the plot for Atlantis.
But that’s not all. The visuals and graphics look the same. Sure, both owe a debt to “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” but it’s hard to argue the uncanny similarities when you look at the pictures. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so check out these photos, explore some of the anime fan sites on the net, and then judge for yourself. Scroll down to see all the pics and follow this link to see more of “ATLANTIS” EXPOSED!>>>
DISCUSS IT IN OUR HATE MAIL SECTION ^ Did the Disney animators who worked on Atlantis simply steal their ideas from “Nadia,” or is this just a strange coincidence? Do great minds think alike, resulting in similar projects, or is this a case of a crass company taking advantage of the little guy and hoping no one would notice? And how does this kind of thing even happen? (Perhaps some bold Disney animator can help us shed light on this issue?) Is Disney guilty of stealing their ideas from “Nadia” to use for Atlantis or not. And if they are innocent, how could they even prove it? After reading the story and looking at the evidence, what do you think? ^ Go to our HATE MAIL SECTION and sound off!
THERE’S EVEN MORE TO THIS STORY: FANS FIGHT BACK ^ This information was originally presented on the anime fan site in a piece by M. Hayden called Nadia VS. Atlantis. (NOTE: Much of the site is in Japanese and may be unreadable on some computers, but it is well worth seeing. Go there now! Special thanks to M. Hayden for his amazing work in compiling these amazing facts.)
There’s also another site with even more analysis worth checking out at this link: Nadia VS. Atlantis II.
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