Nadia ~The Secret Of Blue Water~ Original Soundtrack Twin Best Vol. 2

True to its title, this second entry in the Eternal Nadia series contains the remainder of the score music from Nadia - The Secret Of Blue Water. As with the previous edition, this album strives to include just about every single piece of music Shiro Sagisu wrote for the show, including outtakes and alternate (i.e. slow or fast or less orchestrated) versions.

The music is of the same quality as in its predecessor, but this edition contains some of the better tracks to be found on the show. The "Neo-Atlantis" music, in particular, is very impressive and menacing. There are a number of tracks that are outstanding, such as the dark "Tragedy", the haunting "Lost Kingdom of Tartessos", and the showclosing "To Our Birthplace". There are more dark songs on this album. "Attendence At A Burial" is a creepy organ tocatta that sends chills up one's spine, and "Sea Battle", although initially a bland battle song, strikes the right frightening chords to heighten the tension. The real gems can be found on the second disc. "Almighty Battleship New Nautilus", an epic, exciting battle track, is a perfect blend of orchestral and electrical instruments with a groovy electric guitar solo. And the theme for the shadowy Emperor Neo is powerful and emotionally charged; it's used for only one scene, but it is all the more magnificent for it.

The remaining tracks range from passable to mediocre, but the same "blandness" that was found on the first Nadia album somehow doesn't reoccur here. Even the more lighthearted tracks, such as "Advance & Mankind's Harmony" and "The Southern Paradise" are more fun that irritating. The pieces for the mediocre "Island Episodes" helped keep the show afloat when it started to sink, especially the Hawaiian-style "The First Kiss" and the pounding, percussive "Nadia In Africa". But the best part is that Sagisu doesn't go overboard with the cutesy-ness as he threatened to do in the first album.

Out of the 102 tracks on this album, only one of them is a vocal track, "My Darling Nadia". It is a funny but repetitive song. Featured in the enjoyable (if awkwardly paced) Music Video Episode, this song is, in reality, Jean's serenade to Nadia. Accompanied by a ukelele, the song starts out slowly as Jean (Noriko Hidaka) sings (offkey) about his love for Nadia, but then speeds up as he goes on to mention how her occasionally impulsive, bad-tempered behavior and stubbornness is affecting him. The song is abruptly finished by a freaked-out Nadia yanking the cord out. Again, this is not a track that will go down in history as a classic, but it serves its purpose effectively.

All in all, this CD set should please fans of the first of the Eternal Nadia CDs. It features the music from the latter half of the show, and a share of really good tracks. Still, this album is primarily for fans of the show, as newcomers will probably find this to be too long and extensive. Like the first Nadia Twin Best CD, a chart is included which explains which tracks were used for what episodes. Yes, definitely collector's material.