is a Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

created by Takashi Nakamura and produced by

Nippon Animation is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City. Nippon Animation is known for producing numerous anime series based on works of ...

. It first aired in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

across

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

between October 4, 2004 and March 28, 2005, totaling 26 episodes. There was an extended ending special released only on DVD. The series was later translated and dubbed by

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

for broadcast across its English-language networks in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

. It is licensed in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

Bandai Entertainment was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and f ...

, who also produced a separate English dub for release in the region.

Plot

The series opens with the introduction of a group of white-haired children, known as the "Befort Children", named after "Befort", a fictional village in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

where their existence was first recorded in 1489. This group of enigmatic children has been spotted at different times and places in Europe for over 500 years. Always with the appearance of 11-year-olds, they behave far more mature than they should be, never grow old, and seem to have supernatural power. Then the story starts to unfold in 2012 by introducing Helga, an introverted 11-year-old orphan who drew pictures of a land with a crescent moon that she believed was her home. Her playmate and only friend in the orphanage, Chitto, wants to help Helga find it. So together they escape from the orphanage and set out on a journey in which they meet Tohma, an energetic boy in his home, Papin Island. There Tohma tries to befriend them but misunderstands Helga and becomes hostile to her. Later he is mesmerized by Helga's bravery in rescuing Chitto from a group of poisonous insects. Tohma, through his desire to help the two runaway orphans, ventures out on a quest that will eventually cross paths with the mission of the Befort Children, who have spent centuries wandering

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in search of a person named Tina. As they go further they come to realize a truth far more great and entwined with many other mysterious characters.

Characters

is the series

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

. He is an enthusiastic and energetic young boy who lives with his parents on the shores of Papin Island. is a quiet and

introvert The traits of extraversion (also spelled extroversion Retrieved 2018-02-21.) and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. The terms ''introversion'' and ''extraversion'' were introduced into psychology by Carl J ...

ed young girl, whom Tohma helps save from an oppressive orphanage. She is in search of a place which is the source of her paintings. is a good-hearted young boy, who is an earnest and steadfast friend to Helga, and her best friend at the orphanage. The is led by Gherta Hawksbee. Gherta uses Conrad Röntgen's findings to reconstruct the Autozone, a machine which brings people back from the Zone, the land of the dead, using Orsel, the life force in all living things. Because of the high levels of Orsel required to bring someone back, however, a person can become very unstable and the Orsel can turn into a sort of weapon. Later, the GED is manipulated by Dumas so that he can send Tina's spirit back to her old body, though this plan does not work.

Production

Staff

* Executive producer: Kōichi Motohashi * Original creator, character designs and director: Takashi Nakamura * Planning: Takuo Minegeshi, Michio Katō * Planning coordination: Shin Unozawa, Kenichi Iyadomi, Shirō Sasaki * Production manager: Shigeo Endō * Script:

Hideki Mitsui is a Japanese screenwriter. He has composed the script and series composition for numerous anime series. Works Anime television series *1987: '' Tsuide ni Tonchinkan'' (script); debut series *1989: '' Mado King Granzort'' (script) *1989: ''Gaki D ...

, Takashi Nakamura * Art director: Nizo Yamamoto * Art assistance: Osamu Masuyama, Akemi Imano * Chief animation director: Miyuki Nakamura * Storyboards: Katsumi Terahigashi,

Hiroshi Fukutomi is an anime director born July 25, 1950, in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. After leaving Tokyo Designer Gakuin in the middle of his studies, he joined A Production (then known as Shin'ei Dōga). In 1982, with some of the staff producing ''Kaibuts ...

, Masaki Sugiyama * Episode directors: Hiroshi Kaburagi, Kenichi Nishida, Kenichi Shimizu, Yoshimi Tsuda * Animation directors: Kōichi Maruyama, Tetsurō Aoki, Hitoshi Haga, Yasuko Sakuma, Norihiro Naganuma * Director of photography: Seiichi Morishita * Color designs: Mayumi Satō * Color designations: Yumi Asano, Makiko Nishidate * Music: Kōji Ueno * Sound director: Hiroyuki Hayase * Music producer: Yūko Sakurai (

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ente ...

) * Music coordination: TV Tokyo Music * Producer: Kenichi Satō * Production:

Hakuhodo DY Media Partners is a Japanese advertising and public relations company. It is headquartered at Akasaka Biz Tower in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. History Hakuhodo is one of the oldest advertising agencies in Japan and was founded by Hironao Seki at Nihonbashi-H ...

, FC Project

Soundtrack

The series' soundtrack was composed by Kōji Ueno. A CD containing a total of 27 tracks was released on March 14, 2006, under the title ''Fantastic Children: A Gift from Greecia''. It included both the opening theme of the show, "Voyage" (performed by Inori, lyrics by

Mikio Sakai is a Japanese singer-songwriter. His real name is . He made his debut with the single . He has composed, written and performed numerous songs for several anime, including ''Fantastic Children'', ''Tsubasa Chronicle'', the Gorō Taniguchi-directe ...

, composition by Mayumi Yamazaki, arrangement by Takanori Eguchi), and the ending theme, (performed by Origa, lyrics by Rie Hamada, composition and arrangement by Kunihiko Ryo).

Adaptations

Manga

, illustrated by Masakazu Miyano, was serialized in the monthly ''

Comic Flapper is a monthly Japanese seinen manga magazine, published on the 5th each month by Media Factory since November 5, 1999 as a successor to ''Comic Alpha''. The magazine celebrated its 100th issue on February 5, 2008 (March issue 2008). On July 13, ...

''. It was collected in two

volumes Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The defi ...

. # #

Video game

The ''Fantastic Children''

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

was released for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

on May 19, 2005 by

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine ...

. Developed by

Inti Creates is a Japanese video game development company. Formed by ex-Capcom staff in May 1996, they are best known for developing games in the ''Mega Man'' series, namely the ''Mega Man Zero'' and '' Mega Man ZX'' series, and their flagship ''Azure Strike ...

, the game follows Tohma through his adventures from Papen Island with Helga, Chitto and the Befort Children.

References

External links

''Fantastic Children''
Official Japanese site
''Fantastic Children''
Official game site * * {{Nippon Animation 2004 anime television series debuts Adventure anime and manga Anime with original screenplays Bandai Entertainment anime titles Nippon Animation Romance anime and manga Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Odex