Posts in Fantastic Children Category
October 30, 2004
Getting back on track with Fantastic Children... Episode 3 gave some insight into one of the befooru children, Agi. He used to be called Ian, but when he was 5 he disappeared and left his sister behind. An investigator comes to talk to his mother about him... they still haven't found him, but there's an interesting picture of him... From 100 years ago?
Helga and Chit try to escape from that children's home again, but they fail once again and this time Helga gets confined.. the guy in charge has had it and rips up all of Helga's drawings and decides to send Chit to another place... As Thoma goes home some crazy guy blasts by in a speedboat, and it later causes the boat Chit's in to wreck, so Chit escapes to Thoma's boat and he takes Chit home with him. Later on, some MIB types come to Thoma's house inquiring about an escapee, that guy...
Moving on to episode 4, Thoma and Chit go off to rescue Helga while all the MIB types are there.. They manage to get her, but as they're making their way back to the boat they encounter an old woman who's in bad condition... she's Shinon and says she's 24. She really is, and has an ID card with "GED Project" written on it to prove so. The MIB find them and try to help that woman but she doesn't make it. The people from the home find them afterwards and give chase, but Thoma, Chit, and Helga manage to get away... Back at Ian's house, that crazy guy is with his little sister...
These episodes kept my attention to say the least. Plenty of mysteries to be solved here... Where is the place Helga wants to go? What's that "GED Project" that Shinon was involved in? Why did she turn old?.. so on, so on. And poor Thoma.. Helga didn't pay any attention to him whatsoever after he helped her escape. Maybe there's some kinda reason for it...
Anyways, you could say I'm impressed with how things have gone so far :) Mahou is subbing Fantastic Children and I highly recommend y'all check it out.
Opening: 「Voyage」 by Inori
Ending: 「水のまどろみ」 by ORIGA
A man rambles on while looking over some documents... something's happened.. someone's coming back.. what's their goal?... they're going to appear again..
Holland, 1853: A boy wakes up in the middle of the night and there's this ghost-like figure in his room that scares him... the next day he receives a postcard with a drawing of a ship on it. On the way back from school he runs into a group of children clad in black capes that have some business with him.. why didn't he come when they sent the postcard? He doesn't want to have any of it and wants to stay behind and when his mother comes he goes...
Sweden, 1901: That same group of children in black capes is here (48 years later?), getting some information, it seems. But someone's watching them...
Clairmont Sanatorium & Hospital, The Southeastern Islands: The children in black capes come here.. a woman there has just died. It seems like they knew her or something since they cry upon finding out. There are some paintings in the room that get their attention as well. One of the girls goes to the door and seems to lose her memory somehow.. Then suddenly, 2 men barge in along with the kid that was watching those children in Sweden. He wants their help, but they won't cooperate. He then says that they're demon.. The kids try to escape, but that girl is caught and left behind..
111 years later, The Southeastern Islands, a boy, Toma is training. When he goes to take his boat home, he notices another boat there. There's a girl laying down in the hands of a stone statue there, but she won't talk at all. So he leaves to go to his mom, who's making some money fortune-telling (surprised they'll give her money with that kinda getup). In the town, a kid that's being chased by a couple of men runs by Toma so he follows and gives the kid some help that he doesn't exactly want.. they eventually do get caught.. When Toma and his mom arrive home, Toma goes off to that island again to see is that girl is still there.. she's not. He sees her exit a house there and get on a boat. She apparently ran away from a facility and was found, so now she's being taken back..
And that's it for this time. We're just getting what looks to be a pretty epic story started. I really got the feeling of the Ghibli movies, especially Castle in the Sky, with Fantastic Children. The character design is similar, the art is similar, and the setup for the story seems similar as well. Not a surprise since the art director worked on Ghibli movies like Castle in the Sky and others... I could almost bet you that that girl has some kinda strange powers :) The ending was interesting.. it shows some paintings with ships.. then names and dates, like "Christina, 1721-1759".. what could that mean? And who the heck are those children in the black capes?
I'm interested in finding out what happens so I'll be watching again :)
