is a 65-minute

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

first originally aired in April 1986, in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

network

Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation JOIX-DTV (channel 10), branded as , is the Kansai region flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned by the , itself a subsidiary of Yomiuri Chukyo FS Broadcasting Holdings. FYCS is partially ...

. Although credited to

Leiji Matsumoto was a Japanese manga artist, and creator of several anime and manga series. His widow Miyako Maki is also a manga artist. Matsumoto was famous for his works such as ''Space Battleship Yamato'' and ''Galaxy Express 999''. His style was chara ...

, the show was originally created to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the

Kansai Electric Power Company , also known as , is an electric utility with its operational area of Kansai region, Japan (including the Keihanshin megalopolis). The Kansai region is Japan's second-largest industrial area, and in normal times, its most nuclear-reliant. Bef ...

, who sponsored and produced the film. It was later released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

format on November 21, 1987, by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...

. The events of the story are centered on a Japanese solar power plant based in the planet Mercury called "Saint Elmo". Its name was based on the rare

scientific phenomenon A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was he ...

called St. Elmo's fire, named after Erasmus of Formiae. This phenomenon occurs in electrical weather at which high points (like masts on ships) will charge and give off a glow.

Plot

Japan builds a large space

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

called Saint Elmo in the planet Mercury. The plant supports Earth with its large

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

supply, but, when there is an abnormality at the plant, Earth has to send several technicians to fix the problem.

Staff

*Director:

Tomoharu Katsumata is a Japanese film director best known for his work on various anime works. A leading director at the Toei Animation studio during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Katsumata worked as a director on several of Toei's anime television adaptations of m ...

*Script: Hiroyasu Yamaura *Music:

Michiru Oshima Michiru (満, みちる, ミチル) is a Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, 1970s J-Pop artist *, Japanese composer *, Japanese pop singer and songwriter *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese anime scriptwriter *, Japane ...

*Animation: Yasuhiro Yamaguchi *Design: Katsumi Itahashi

Cast

Tōru Furuya is a Japanese actor and narrator. As a child, he was a member of Gekidan Himawari, a children's acting troupe. He is currently employed by the talent management firm Aoni Production, since 1982. Furuya is most known for the anime roles of Amur ...

, as *

Hideyuki Tanaka is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo who is attached to Aoni Production. He is a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. He is most known for his roles in ''One Piece'' (as Donquixote Doflamingo), '' Dokaben'' (as Tarou ...

Kei Tomiyama , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor, voice actor, and narrator born in Anshan, Manchukuo. He was affiliated with Aoni Production and Production Baobab. Tomiyama is best known for his roles in '' Tiger Mask'' (Naoto Date/Tig ...

Keiko Han is a Japanese actress and voice actress. She sang the theme songs in productions, such as '' Story of the Alps: My Annette'' and '' The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island''. She is a fortune teller of western horoscopes. She ...

Kōzō Shioya is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Kagoshima Prefecture. He is represented by Aoni Production. His younger brother Yoku Shioya is also an actor and voice actor. Biography Filmography Television animation ;1980s *''Mobile Suit ...

Masako Nozawa is a Japanese actress. Beginning work as a child actress at the age of three, by the time she became an adult, voice acting had inadvertently become her main occupation. Throughout her career, Nozawa has been affiliated with Production Baobab ...

Reiko Mutō was a Japanese actress and voice actress from Tokyo, Japan. She is best known for being the Japanese voice of Elizabeth Taylor, and playing main characters in '' Marvelous Melmo'' (as Melmo), ''Astro Boy'' as Uran (Astro Girl in the English versi ...

Theme songs

The show features two theme songs, "''Prometheus Futatabi''" and "''Tomoshibi wa Eternity''", both performed by Yūko Ishikawa. The first was composed by Akihiro Yoshimi, while the second was composed by Yūhei Hanaoka. They were both arranged by Eiji Kawamura and the lyrics were written by Kayoko Fuyumori.

References

External links

Leijiverse: Saint-Elmo Hikari no Raihôsha
* 1986 science fiction films 1986 anime films 1986 television films 1986 films Anime television films Japanese animated science fiction films Fiction set on Mercury (planet) Toei Animation films Films directed by Tomoharu Katsumata {{1980s-sf-film-stub