One of my favorite animé series of all time is Fushigi No Umi No Nadia... or, Nadia The Secret of Blue Water for the Japanese impaired. In a sense, it's a lot like Pokémon, due to the slapstick comedy {the comedy in 'Blue Water' happens to be a lot better than Pokémon, IMHO}, the "lessons" the characters learn, the people they meet, and the ages of the characters, which are for the most part in their early teens.
One of the differences between the two spotlighted shows is the amount of "seriousness" displayed. Blue Water seems to have a lot more emotional and serious plots, which made the show more... adult-like, I guess. However, it largely still gave me the impression of a children's show. Another thing is the voice-over... while pokémon's voice-acting work is not terrible (-_-) Blue Water's voice-acting is one of the best (dubbed, that is) I've ever seen, especially for a show that isn't exactly new anymore.
The biggest difference of Blue Water VS. Pokémon is the time between their creation. Fushigi no Umi no Nadia Appeared in dubbed version in the early 1990's, while Pokémon launched in America for the first time successfully in 1998-2000. And yes, it is easily distinguishable that Blue Water is a fairly old animé when you are exposed to watching it on your screen. The "quality" of the colors in Pokémon are at a largely higher rate than it. Pokémon was no doubt created later than Blue Water, but they are more than a small wise the same, in one particular way especially. Therefore, I ask-- Is this merely a huge coincidence? Or am I not the only one seeing this humungous similarity between Blue Water's "Grandis Gang" and Pokémon's "Team Rocket"? Proof that Pokémon is not the most original show of all time can be found in the following paragraphs of this page.
Team Rocket and Grandis Gang similarities
Part 1: Image is Everything
Steal a glance at the above pic. Look... familiar...? It's not Team Rocket in disguise, but rather it's the Grandis Gang. Let's pick out the characters for those who are still confused--- Redhead with lipstick in brown uniform, Jessie. Tall man with sunglasses in white uniform, James. Small chunky man in white vest, Meowth {...^^}. The female of the Grandis Gang is Grandis, followed by her 'flunkies' Sanson (the tall one) and Hanson (the smaller one). Three of them, three of Team Rocket; plus, they're also, like our own Rocketto Dan, the "slapstick" villains of the show providing the much-needed humor. Exactly portrayed as Team Rocket, "evil", yet absolutely not.
Part 2: Attitudes
Jessie, cliche as it may seem, a red-haired girl with lipstick and a short temper. Grandis is like the "boss" of the Gang, usually bossing around {and bullying} Sanson and Hanson. She used to be incredibly rich, but after her fortunes were stolen by her husband, she's turned to crime. Grandis adores amulets and jewels, particularly the reason why she follows the main characters around and becomes the "villain"--- because she's after the heroine's amulet. Both Grandis and Sanson believe they are incredibly beautiful {[Quote] Sanson and Grandis: "That's no surprise, we're so captivating." [/quote] ::Grandis and Sanson stare at eachother for saying the same thing, and begin to sparkle while Hanson sweatdrops:: ^_^;;;}
Just like Jessie and James; each of them believing they are the most lovely person on earth, while Meowth simply finds it rather embarassing (and annoying at times). Hanson (the small one, remember?) is basically the brain of the group. Nyasu also seems to be one of the smarter ones in Team Rocket. He is the person that created the Grandis Gang's mecha... Which brings me to my next piece of proof.
Part 3: Mecha and Music
The Grandis Gang's 'mecha' (short for "mechanical device" or machine) looks like a gigantic lady bug that can produce long tenticles and turns from a water craft to a tank to an air balloon. Sanson and Hanson like to call it the Grandis Tank, but Grandis isn't too happy when you don't call it Catherine.^^ Team rocket use various similar mecha throughout the Pokémon series, as well as their Meowth-air-balloon. Another thing, is their "jazzy" background music when they're plotting or talking amongst themselves. If you've ever noticed, team rocket sometimes have this kind of music in the background when they're plotting.
Here's a couple more pictures of the Grandis Gang VS. the Rocket Gang:
So now that you know all of this, you must be thinking... "So what? Most villains have mecha and a female with an attitude; and three is the most common number of a group of villains. Besides, the characters don't even look much alike. How can you be sure that Pokémon 'borrowed' ideas from Blue Water?" .....Well, of course I can't be sure. It just occurred to me that these big "coincidences" were a little too obvious to actually be original. I can't say that Fushigi No Umi No Nadia didn't borrow ideas from somewhere else, either... But neither can I say they did. ^_^;; I just felt like telling you, because if you were to ever watch The Secret of Blue Water-- which I highly recommend you do!--- you would no doubt have immediately thought of Team Rocket the minute you laid eyes on them in their Catherine and their uniforms.*
~Nadia T.R.T.H.
