Fantastic Children

Straight off the bat, this anime is definitely worth watching. Read the synopsis, look at the cover image, your first impression and amount of interest in both is probably pretty close to what you'll get.

But if you're uncertain onwards we go--!

I have a silly rule when it comes to finding new shows to watch. If there is at least one person passionate enough to write a glowing "10" review my likelihood to watch it is like, 50x more than it would be otherwise. That was the case for this show.

And I'm giving it a "10" myself for that reason, because I ended up passionately falling ... in love with this anime. On a technical level, it probably falls more at a 7-8-ish. Mainly because of the presentation. The character designs are great, the writing is great, and the soundtrack is great. However, it is not animated in any impressive manner, the directing is pretty basic on a technical level, I have no idea what demographic this is aimed at, and the sound effects can be lacking. Which, given this is 2004, much of that makes sense; the early 2000s were a pretty tumultuous time for anime production- still transitioning to an all-digital format, tools for working as such being pretty limited, and people working with it likely being inexperienced. I'd imagine especially so for a long-standing institution like Nippon Animation. But really, there are some ugly moments.

I said at the start that this show is the sort that you'll probably be able to gauge whether you'll enjoy from the synopsis. A mystery with a long and historical past, classic-style design choices, your mature and likely very charming (indeed so) adolescent characters, with just that hint of sci-fi. And of course, everyone will want their taste of these traits in different amounts. For me, this show perfectly balances these traits.

I'm a history nerd- the historical aspect, while not super accurate, added a wonderful air of mystery and depth to the characters' pasts. The characters were fun and had immediate chemistry, it has that wonderful episode 1 moment where you just go "damn that was a charming-ass interaction I gotta see more of that shit" and you get to see some really cute and childish interactions even from the mature characters. It's refreshing. It's absolutely lovely. But I'm also a Tezuka cocksucker so sillyXmature is my bread and butter. Adding on: I don't like sci-fi much, this keeps it simple and blends some whimsical fantasy into the mix- it was never overbearing.

And the mystery itself is so well-woven! Admittedly, I'm easy to please but there was not a single moment where I was bored or didn't desperately want to find out what was next and what was behind it all. Well paced, giving you just the right amount of info to make your own inferences and throwing you some well done misleading hints. All wrapping up in an unvindictive, and satisfying ending. I mean there are some silly things throughout; like at one point a character says their "body was made smaller and smaller" and I guess we're just gonna ignore that this fella was shrunk somehow?? But most everything else was so well done that I was just like, "Okay show, you've answered my other questions I'll give you a pass this time." And I will also admit writing-wise that there are some hokey or pretentious moments, especially early on. I remember in like episode 2 or so Aghi, one of the children, narrates this one quote and it just sounds incredibly silly at that point.

The music is also really great, perfectly fits the emotions of the characters, and adding suspense when it needed to. The sad music is not just sad, there are many feelings in it just like our real emotions. Ueno Kouji, I hope you can be satisfied in knowing that you made a truly phenomenal soundtrack. The ending is also drop-dead gorgeous, the singer's voice is beautiful and the opening- although it took a while to grow on me- became something that I looked forward to understanding more of and listening to as the story went on.

Just a fun additional thing, since this is Nippon animation I assumed it would probably be similar to their World Masterpiece Theater shows. Aimed at a family or younger audience with some intense stuff for the sensitive people but nothing too heavy. Yeah, I wouldn't say that now... If I would have watched this as a kid there are a lot of moments I am confident would have traumatized me. Just- some really unexpectedly violent imagery and very terrifying unforgettable situations for some characters. That may be one of later NA's banes, confused target demographics. I think this was probably a passion project of Nakamura Takashi more than anything, and as that I think he should be proud to call this his masterpiece.

This was my first review, it was probably a bit pretentious but I sincerely loved this anime and it has become one of my all-time favorites despite its flaws. I hope other people will watch and love this anime too. If it sounds interesting to you don't hesitate to watch it!

A surprisingly disappointing show. It is impossible to do a meaningful review of this show without spoilers, so I will keep this bare bones.

Story 3/10:
The story is incredibly convoluted. I don't mean that it was hard to understand, because they did give relatively clear explanations for the events. The problem is just the sheer complexity of the plot, while managing to lack in substance. The story attempted to tell a lot, but many of the plot points were unnecessary, anti-climatic, and gimmicky.

Characters 3/10:
I had a huge complaint about multiple characters (in-fact, my biggest complaint about the show), but I cannot even brush on the reason ... why without huge spoilers.

Tone 7/10:
I did like the tone throughout much of the show. They didn't try to force comedy, romance, etc. in places that didn't call for it. They let the serious scenes be serious and the lighthearted scenes lighthearted. It wasn't fantastic, but it refrained from significant faults.

Setting:
At times I liked it, at others I didn't. That's as much as I am willing to say in fear of spoilers.

Art 6/10:
The art style itself is nothing to behold. The animation is fine but in no way superb. There are a select few scenes that stood out particularly well though. Not in the details or fantastic action scenes, but instead in capturing significant meaning in a single shot with well placed and scaled objects and 'camera' (so to speak).

Sound 6/10:
Not much to say one way or the other. Fairly repetitive soundtrack, but usually fitting. The voice acting was fine, but was hurt by annoying dialogue (specifically, the large amount of times they screamed each other's names during higher action scenes. It's nitpicky, but got to me in a couple of episodes).

Enjoyment 5/10:
As I said with the art section, there where a few particular scenes that were done wonderfully. So much so, that despite being bored for a majority of the show, I'm still glad I watched it.

Overall 5/10:
I think my reasoning is clear. There isn't a single aspect this show excels in, and it undoubtedly has it's flaws. To be entertained by this show, you need to enjoy lots of plot turns. I don't mean plot twists (where they take what you thought you knew and change it), but pure turns. The plot likes to stop at certain points, and just move on to something utterly new with no relation to previous events. These plots do not get intertwined, instead they simply get mashed together. Sometimes, they altogether annihilate the importance of previous plot-lines.

It's a pass for anyone who does not care for a fantasy/sci-fi for complexity of plot alone.

The anime is as horrible as its animation. It looks like the producers watched some better anime, then took what they found good as ingredients for this one. They chose to make a “centuries-long mystery” as a mystery apparently means the viewer doesn’t need to know much details. Also limit the dialogue and add repetition to the recipe to cut the costs even more, and you get their business plan to get wealthy with minimal effort.
This is probably the reason that fear emotions have to be shown on every face of every character and in sequence because a total group reaction would make the ... episode shorter. In the beginning it does make you wonder what terrible event is happening, but it gets boring quick.
And as the anime continues you find out that there is actually no reason for fear or it gives even more questions. Repetitions of fearful events is the strategy, and it is stalling the viewer with as little information as possible.
Also the characters are on the move a lot, again slowing down the flow of the story. Especially if you see another long chase ending by someone teleporting away, why didn’t that happen immediately… Ah yes it is as logical as having soldiers fight with swords, while having also laser weapons, some ingredients don’t mix well.
There are so many repetitive events, combined with characters that are totally not necessary to the story (like the detective and the woman that is following him). A waste of time that could have been used better to give details for certain decisions. No wonder the story is full of plot holes.
The only way they make the story flow is to have someone appear at the right spot or at the right time listening in when someone else is telling some secret or information. It gives you a world with so much unused space and open doors everywhere as people need to be able to hide in it.

All the characters are so very very empty, they just do something because the plot demands it. You could be positive and say that the story is about love that survives through space and time. But in the anime this apparently applies only for the 2 main characters, others experiencing similar events abandon their loved ones quite easily.
But even those 2 main characters offer nothing else. Being their friend doesn’t keep them from flying away, leaving you heavily wounded behind. All that while knowing those wounds came from trying to save them. It all just happens to get some form of a story, but with scripted characters.
The only fun I had was jokingly predict the worst choice that the royal mother could make, and then seeing it actually happen.
Conclusion: It is not worth watching.