Nazca

Original Title: 時空転抄 ナスカ
Romanized: Jikuu Tenshou Nasuka
Literal: Dimension Shifting Nazca

Plot Synopsis

While watching his friend and mentor during a Kendo match, high school student Kyouji witnesses more than just a resounding victory--he sees a vision of his teacher Tate as an Inca warrior. As fate would have it, not only Tate, but Kyouji and several of his friends are all reincarnations of great Inca warriors and priests, dead since a bloody civil war engulfed their nation 500 years ago. But fate is cruel--not only were these friends on opposite sides of the war centuries ago, but Tate is now determined to resurrect Iryatesse, a powerful force that nearly destroyed the world during that war. It will be up to Kyouji, Tate's fiancee Yuka, and an unlikely band of compatriots to try and stop Tate and his rediscovered allies.

Quick Review

Rating: 2.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-12-01

Nazca is very nearly a melancholy, understated re-envisioning of a shounen action concept as a more adult character-driven drama about internal emotional struggle. Sadly, due to an apparent lack of confidence or vision in its direction, it fails to capitalize on its potential. It still manages deep, involving, and older-than-average characters, an unusually subtle emotional character, and some some very powerful dramatic scenes, but it jumps around at the beginning to get things going, then drags its feet waiting for the final episodes to roll around. It does fill space with some refined, impressively expressive character art and animation, a melancholy Andean musical score, and a rich, reserved set of performances, in particular Megumi Hayashibara's quiet, conflicted Yuka.

Those who appreciate subtle character drama or themes of reincarnation and the cruel hand of fate pitting friends against each other might well love this series. Otherwise, it's probably not worth the investment of time despite several quality chunks of drama.

US DVD Review

The DVDs are more or less standard Pioneer fare, meaning not flashy but quite solid. They feature a very nice video transfer, though interestingly the cel art is noticeably grainy; not exactly a negative, since it gives the visuals a distinctive feel, but it accentuates the difference between the cel and computer colored work. The English and Japanese stereo audio tracks are both crisp if unremarkable, and there are thorough chapter stops for each episode. The extras include a small but attractive color image gallery on the first disc, and several complete mini-manga stories on the subsequent ones. These were a surprising, rather amusing treat, a silly SD-style parody of the characters and story very roughly paralleling the actual series.

Content Guide

Some strong emotional drama and several battle sequences, but little graphic content of any sort; Pioneer rated it 13-up appropriately.

Violence: 3 - A great deal of death and destruction, but much of it is implied and there is little gore.

Nudity: 2 - A couple of short, undetailed scenes.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - A few uncomfortably romantic scenes.

Language: 2 - A small amount of profanity in the sub.

Notes and Trivia

The Nazca of the title refers to huge stylized images carved into a stretch of the Peruvian desert near the Andes by the Nazca people roughly 2000 years ago, likely as part of some sort of religious display.

Nazca is a straight-to-TV series, although a couple of comic adaptations were published after the series aired.

Availability

Available in the US from Pioneer/Geneon on 4 hybrid DVDs. Was originally available on 4 subtitled or dubbed VHS tapes, now out of print.

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