Future Boy Conan

[Brian]

Future Boy Conan

   Future Boy Conan is an animated series created in 1978 -- that makes this anime a year older than me myself.  Also, it goes by many names, so is sometimes called Future Boy Conan, sometimes called Conan: Boy from the Future, and I think someone else translated it as Conan: The Boy of Tomorrow.  The story itself is based off of the book "The Incredible Tide" by Alexander Key.  I haven't read this book (yet) myself, but when I do, I'll note how accurately the series captured the book.

   Think about that for a moment, just to make sure you've got your mind-set in the quality that was available in that era.  This series is exceedingly well animated for its time, but not really that awe-inspiring by current standards.  Unless you're a Miyazaki fan, in which case you're going to love it anyway.

   Miyazaki!  The same man who brought us ... well, practically everything at nausicaa.net.  I mentioned that if you've liked Miyazaki's previous works, you'd like this, too.  And there's a reason for that. Miyazaki isn't what I'd call cliche, but that's because I'm hugely biased in his favor.

   That being said, this film features your favorite Miyazaki characters, which is to say, the good guys have boundless determination, and when it comes down to it, have what it takes to get things done.  The bad guys tend to be either complete, complex, redeemable characters, or mindless thugs who only appear for a scene or two.

   Now, the story itself is set in the future, in a world after the apocalypse.  Of course, this was made in 1979.  And you know, last century, it was popular to have the world end in about ... 20-30 years.  Now that it's getting close to thirty years later, we seem to have missed a few apocalypses ... apocalypsies?  Apocylpsii?  Destruction.  The important thing is we're short on destruction.  So, July 3, 2008, we all go to war, so keep that in mind if you're planning any picnics or weddings.

   In the aftermath of this destruction, continents were sunk.  This leads the series to the second title I've attributed to it:  Conan: Boy from the Ocean.  Because I've seen the future, people, and it's wet.  Bring towels.  Not every scene involves swimming, but there tends to be a lot of it.  Anyhow, I'm getting ahead of myself.  So in an attempt to escape the war, a band of scientists grabbed a rocket, and tried to flee the planet, seeking a friendlier planet to inhabit.

   Unfortunately for them, magnetic weaponry from the war brings them down to a desolate, tiny island.  They survive, ultimately, and among their entire group, have a single child.  This child -- this boy -- is named Conan.  All of his caretakers are gone, except for his elderly grandfather, by the beginning of the series, and his grandfather wonders if other people are still alive on Earth....

   And of course they are.  That's what the anime is about.  And it's classic Miyazaki, of course, which means one of the omnipresent themes is the environment and nature.  Conan appears to always be very closely tied to nature, perhaps to explain away his inhuman prowess.  Another theme is that man tends not to realize the full impact of his actions, and regularly acts without considering.

   Realistically, the entire thing plays out like a 26 episode cross between Nausicaa and Castle in the Sky.  Conan could be Pazu, for his climbing ability.  Lana could be Sheeta for her compassion.  And their character models aren't that different, either.  Monsley happens to look like a certain princess from Nausicaa (actually, she looks like a fusion of two of them ... both of the redheads).  The old men tend to resemble other Miyazaki-drawn old men, and the villagers could have stepped right out of Slug Valley in some instances (or the Valley of the Winds in many others).  Stock footage seems to be used relatively sparingly, though there's a generous rehash buffer for "what happened last time" at the beginning of each episode.

   While they don't recycle scenes, they do end up using the same events a lot.  While I'm not exactly complaining about it, I will point out that roughly one sixth of Conan's time seems to be spent imprisoned.  Another sixth is spent either leaping or falling fantastic distances.  Despite the fact that much of this anime appears to revolve around falling, leaping, spending time in prison, swimming, and little else, it's surprisingly enjoyable, if without major surprises.

   The story revolves around Conan, but really, he's tangential to what's going on, and as a character, Conan is ... well ... simple would be an understatement.  Along with what I had mentioned earlier in this review, Conan is closely tied with nature.  Enough so that I think he may actually be more of a force of nature than a normal person ... and this seems to hold true throughout the series.  It's not that he has no character, or he's under-developed.  He's just very simple.  And has the power to back it up.

   I've honestly (outside of Lupin) never seen a Miyazaki work that wasn't a movie, and it was awesome to see his storytelling spread out across 26 episodes -- for once, it was Miyazaki that didn't feel at least slightly rushed.  The eyecatches aren't all unique, but they've put a decent amount of effort into them, and they're amusing.  The intro and ending songs are folksy, not the J-pop many are used to, and music throughout the entire series is used rather sparingly, but to good effect (though, this is true of pretty much all Miyazaki works).  Nothing in the music stands out as particularly awe-inspiring, but nothing is really insipidly bland, or offensive.

   Generally speaking, as the story unfolds, and the plot progresses, you begin to realize that the main characters are essentially static -- they don't really grow or change.  Rather ... they change the people around them.  So you have to enjoy heroes that are (if not quite perfect), heroes to enjoy this series.

   Now, if you're not a Miyazaki fan, this series may hold appeal to you, but only if you can deal with 27-year-old animation.  The story is relatively straightforward, and the main characters don't grow much.  You'd just be watching it to see how different archetypes of character behave in a post apocalyptic environment when given the choice to either repeat their ancient failure, or to finally work on surviving with the environment.

   Ultimately, again, I loved it.  But I'll admit my biases, so take this review with a grain of salt.

[Dracos]

Neat stuff.

Dracos