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Description

01/2021 edit: I've been doing some thinking about the whole internet trend of "fixing" character designs, and while I must admit that that was basically what I was going for here, it was mainly for fun and for my personal taste since I found the character of Nadia to be vile, tropey, stereotypical, and unfair. I wanted to draw something that would give her justice according to what I think a young teenager would be more likely to wear. I do, however, still think the series was a milestone in Black folks in anime representation, but since I am not Kenyan or subsaharan African myself, I cannot speak for the folks who would or would not take offense at her design. Also omg i clearly did not know how to draw Black characters cause i gave her skin highlights but you can barely see them and that's not what actual people look like omgggg.

Also I realize now that her ridiculous proportions (those feet. omg. so long) were a stylistic choice and not a failure on the designers' part to know how young teenagers are proportions. My drawing is clearly stylized as well since that is also not what a young teenager looks like.

Original description:

[she’s flippin off the creators for not knowing how to write girl characters]
I learned there was a Nadia movie and so I watched it, then remembered how much I hate the series so I’ve been thinking to myself how I would have written it differently. I mean I love the soundtrack and I love the worldbuilding (until it got into that weird creationism stuff) and I’m liking Evangelion so far, it’s just... NSBW is so... just terrible? I thought it was going to be Laputa: the series. Instead I got the most sexist anime I’ve ever encountered.
First of all, I redesigned Nadia to actually make her look more sub-saharan African with actual... real features? instead of just some blue-eyed anime girl whose skin has been darkened. I also gave her more practical clothes. I’m disgusted by this “sexy exotic brown girl” shit. Especially for a little girl who’s fourteen! That’s fucked up.
I’d also change a lot about Nadia’s personality. Take out the “obnoxious angry black girl” stereotype, and actually give her skills instead of “ohhh no I’ve lived by myself all my life but all of a sudden a boy shows up and ??? i’m so?? dependent on him??? why must I be so dependent on him?? It’s all my fault!!!” This Nadia retains her skills as an acrobat, and she can still talk to animals, but she’s a little sarcastic about it, like “oh don’t worry guys I’ll talk to Gargoyle. After all only I can communicate with animals.” She’s also a bit of a nerd for science. Not only is her goal to find her birthplace, but she also wants to investigate the technology of the Blue Water gem, which is why she’s protecting it. That’s also why she and Jean become friends, because she sees that he likes engineering and thinks that’s neat. Her other goal is to find her father and punch him, for selling her to the circus. Nadia is still a vegetarian due to her trauma in the circus, but she’s doesn’t try to enforce it on everyone else (WHY did they think that was a good idea??), though demanding that they respect her dietary choices in return. She has a somewhat energetic attitude but it mostly masks her deep insecurities and trauma that is ideally handled way better than how they actually handled it in the series.
Grandis’s personality is no longer “I better find me a man,” she is a flaming lesbian and pursues a romance with Electra (who is also subsaharan African and not a fucking Aryan lady because she’s from fUCKING AFRICA FROM A PRE-COLONIAL CIVILIZATION). Her skills lie in engineering, instead of bathing. You wish I was joking.
Captain Nemo retains his assholery, and gets punched by everyone at least once
Also, I’d take out the lion. Just. Kill him. Eat him. Run him over with a truck. Whatever. I don’t care. Marie doesn’t marry Sanson, because that’s fucking pedophilia. The creationism bs isn’t in the storyline.
The Neo-Atlanteans can stay white people, that’d probably make the most sense and still fit with contemporary dialogue. I actually thought they were really good villains and they were one of the best things about the series, as colonizers who came to Africa masquerading as “the real Atlanteans.” They scared me a shitton and I absolutely loved the twist at the end when Gargoyle realized he had zero Atlantean blood, yet here he was the whole time preaching about how Atlanteans (or at least his idea of what an Atlantean was) was the master race. I mean c’mon they’re obviously the Ku Klux Klan, they got the pointy hats and the racism and shit

Description

01/2021 edit: I've been doing some thinking about the whole internet trend of "fixing" character designs, and while I must admit that that was basically what I was going for here, it was mainly for fun and for my personal taste since I found the character of Nadia to be vile, tropey, stereotypical, and unfair. I wanted to draw something that would give her justice according to what I think a young teenager would be more likely to wear. I do, however, still think the series was a milestone in Black folks in anime representation, but since I am not Kenyan or subsaharan African myself, I cannot speak for the folks who would or would not take offense at her design. Also omg i clearly did not know how to draw Black characters cause i gave her skin highlights but you can barely see them and that's not what actual people look like omgggg.

Also I realize now that her ridiculous proportions (those feet. omg. so long) were a stylistic choice and not a failure on the designers' part to know how young teenagers are proportions. My drawing is clearly stylized as well since that is also not what a young teenager looks like.

Original description:

[she’s flippin off the creators for not knowing how to write girl characters]
I learned there was a Nadia movie and so I watched it, then remembered how much I hate the series so I’ve been thinking to myself how I would have written it differently. I mean I love the soundtrack and I love the worldbuilding (until it got into that weird creationism stuff) and I’m liking Evangelion so far, it’s just... NSBW is so... just terrible? I thought it was going to be Laputa: the series. Instead I got the most sexist anime I’ve ever encountered.
First of all, I redesigned Nadia to actually make her look more sub-saharan African with actual... real features? instead of just some blue-eyed anime girl whose skin has been darkened. I also gave her more practical clothes. I’m disgusted by this “sexy exotic brown girl” shit. Especially for a little girl who’s fourteen! That’s fucked up.
I’d also change a lot about Nadia’s personality. Take out the “obnoxious angry black girl” stereotype, and actually give her skills instead of “ohhh no I’ve lived by myself all my life but all of a sudden a boy shows up and ??? i’m so?? dependent on him??? why must I be so dependent on him?? It’s all my fault!!!” This Nadia retains her skills as an acrobat, and she can still talk to animals, but she’s a little sarcastic about it, like “oh don’t worry guys I’ll talk to Gargoyle. After all only I can communicate with animals.” She’s also a bit of a nerd for science. Not only is her goal to find her birthplace, but she also wants to investigate the technology of the Blue Water gem, which is why she’s protecting it. That’s also why she and Jean become friends, because she sees that he likes engineering and thinks that’s neat. Her other goal is to find her father and punch him, for selling her to the circus. Nadia is still a vegetarian due to her trauma in the circus, but she’s doesn’t try to enforce it on everyone else (WHY did they think that was a good idea??), though demanding that they respect her dietary choices in return. She has a somewhat energetic attitude but it mostly masks her deep insecurities and trauma that is ideally handled way better than how they actually handled it in the series.
Grandis’s personality is no longer “I better find me a man,” she is a flaming lesbian and pursues a romance with Electra (who is also subsaharan African and not a fucking Aryan lady because she’s from fUCKING AFRICA FROM A PRE-COLONIAL CIVILIZATION). Her skills lie in engineering, instead of bathing. You wish I was joking.
Captain Nemo retains his assholery, and gets punched by everyone at least once
Also, I’d take out the lion. Just. Kill him. Eat him. Run him over with a truck. Whatever. I don’t care. Marie doesn’t marry Sanson, because that’s fucking pedophilia. The creationism bs isn’t in the storyline.
The Neo-Atlanteans can stay white people, that’d probably make the most sense and still fit with contemporary dialogue. I actually thought they were really good villains and they were one of the best things about the series, as colonizers who came to Africa masquerading as “the real Atlanteans.” They scared me a shitton and I absolutely loved the twist at the end when Gargoyle realized he had zero Atlantean blood, yet here he was the whole time preaching about how Atlanteans (or at least his idea of what an Atlantean was) was the master race. I mean c’mon they’re obviously the Ku Klux Klan, they got the pointy hats and the racism and shit