The Orbital Children

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Orbital Children
Chikyūgai Shōnen Shōjo concept art.jpg
Promotional art for the anime
Japanese地球外少年少女
HepburnChikyūgai Shōnen Shōjo
LiterallyExtraterrestrial Boys and Girls
Directed byMitsuo Iso
Written byMitsuo Iso
StarringNatsumi Fujiwara
Azumi Waki
Kensho Ono
Chinatsu Akasaki
Yumiko Kobayashi
Mariya Ise
Music byRei Ishizuka
Production
company
Production +h
Distributed by
Release dates
  • January 28, 2022 (2022-01-28) (Part 1)
  • February 11, 2022 (2022-02-11) (Part 2)
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

The Orbital Children (Japanese: 地球外少年少女, Hepburn: Chikyūgai Shōnen Shōjo, transl. "Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls") is a Japanese anime science fiction series written and directed by Mitsuo Iso.

Kenichi Yoshida provided the character designs for the anime, while Toshiyuki Inoue is the main animator.[1] The film's soundtrack was produced by Rei Ishizuka. The theme song, "Oarana," was written and composed by Vincent Diamante and performed by virtual rap singer Harusaruhi (春猿火).

The Orbital Children was released in Japan as two films, with Part 1 premiering on January 28, 2022, and Part 2 on February 11.[1] Netflix announced in November 2021 that it had acquired the global distribution rights. On Netflix, The Orbital Children was released as a six-episode miniseries on January 28, 2022, to coincide with the Japanese debut of Part 1.

Plot[]

In 2045, a unknown asteroid strikes a newly opened Japanese commercial space station in geocentric orbit. When that happens, three gifted children are on a sponsored visit to the station as a promotional event. The station also houses the last two children born in a later destroyed colony on the Moon. The pair, adapted to low gravity, are undergoing physical therapy with the aim of emigrating to Earth.

Isolated from most of the station’s adult staff, the children navigate the early stages of the disaster using local narrowband connections, restricted-intelligence AGI and drones controlled by dermal devices equivalent to smartphones.[2][3][4] Their Internet connection is severed, the oxygen supply has been cut off, and they soon discover that the station has been damaged by an impact and is leaking air. Sometimes at odds with each other, they confront difficulties such as decompression, EVA with inadequate plastic suits, and runaway micromachines[5] supposedly designed to retrieve water from comets. Looming over these immediate difficulties is the larger threat of a technological singularity believed to have been narrowly averted in the previous decade.

Characters[]

Touya Sagami (相模 登矢, Sagami Tōya)
Voiced by: Natsumi Fujiwara (Japanese); Griffin Burns[6] (English)
Main character and a 14-year-old “edgelord” hacker. One of the first and last human children born on the Moon, the most famous of these “moonchildren”, Touya despises Earthlings and is in turn disgusted by their unwarranted prejudices. He flouts UN restrictions, especially in regard to his personal drone, which he has named Darkness Killer or Dakky (ダッキー, Dakkī) for short.
Konoha Б Nanase (七瀬・Б・心葉, Nanase Bē Konoha)
Voiced by: Azumi Waki (Japanese); Cassandra Lee Morris[7] (English)
14-year-old girl who is Touya's childhood friend. She is even weaker than Touya and accompanied by a medical drone called Medi, which measures her heart rate and breathing. Konoha sometimes feels the image of someone speaking to her, and has a vague nostalgia for it.
Taiyo Tsukuba (筑波 大洋, Tsukuba Taiyō)
Voiced by: Kensho Ono (Japanese); Adam McArthur[8] (English)
14-year-old boy who is a junior UN2.1 official, a white-hat hacker patrolling for illegal activities with a personal drone named Bright. He treats everyone politely with a soft demeanor, but his sense of justice is so strong that he sometimes takes a fierce attitude. He came to Anshin through Deegle's underage space experience campaign.
Mina Misasa (美笹 美衣奈, Misasa Mīna)
Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Japanese); Tara Sands[9] (English)
14-year-old influencer who calls herself a Space Tuber (宇宙（スペース）チューバー) and aims to have 100 million followers on SNS. She constantly talks to her followers in an idol-like manner, but once the Internet goes down, she panics. She dislikes space, but sees it as an opportunity to gain followers, so she visits the space station Anshin in Deegle's underage space experience campaign. Mina has a pink heart-shaped drone called Selfie, specialized for live streaming video.
Hiroshi Tanegashima (種子島 博士, Tanegashima Hiroshi)
Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (Japanese); Colleen O'Shaughnessey[10] (English)
12-year-old boy who is the younger brother of Mina, though their family names are different due to their parents' divorce. He is on his way to Anshin with his sister, and unlike her, he loves space. He is a big fan of the space-born Touya in particular, and is well versed in various conspiracy theories.
Nasa Houston (那沙・ヒューストン, Nasa Hūsuton)
Voiced by: Mariya Ise (Japanese); Abby Trott[11] (English)
A 21-year-old staffer on the space station Anshin. Houston, who dislikes children, is a reluctant nurse and caregiver to Touya and Konoha, attending to the children invited by Deegle’s campaign and later found to be in the John Doe group. Houston’s hobby is to read the Seven Poem for clues about the future.
Mayor Sagami (相模 市長, Sagami Shichō)
Mayor of Anshin City and Touya's uncle who took in him after his parents died. He has Touya undergo physical therapy to help him withstand gravity in hope to get him to Earth.
Isako Darmstadt Nobeyama (野辺山・ダルムシュタット・伊佐子, Nobeyama Darumushutatto Isako)
She is an operator on Anshin and a good friend of Nasa.
Kennedy Uchinoura Johnson (ジョンソン・内之浦・ケネディ, Jonson Uchinoura Kenedī)
He is an operator on Anshin. He is a Harvard graduate, but is rather a musclebrain.
Anshinkun (あんしんくん, Anshin-kun, lit.Mr. Anshin)
A mascot character of Anshin, created and played by Kokubunji, the original chief designer of Anshin before Deegle took over the project. Kokubunji now struggles with old age and dementia.
Twelve
An Advanced general-purpose quantum AI installed on Anshin as its host AI. Its intelligence is limited by the lessons learned from the Lunatic Seven incident but it follows the same ordinal nomenclature.

Setting[]

The Orbital Children takes place in an original setting where commercial development on Mars began in the 2010s. In 2045, the United States and China are aiming for the Moon and Jupiter, while Japan is conducting its development at a relatively safe distance in low Earth orbit.

Anshin (あんしん, Anshin, lit.relief, safety)
The fourth commercial space station in the world, in geocentric orbit at 350 km from the ground. Designed as a space hotel, Anshin is the first station in history to allow minors to live temporarily in space. It was built by Japan, but due to difficulties in design and funding, it is privately operated by Deegle. There are automated shops, restaurants and Internet access like on Earth. As its name suggests, Anshin is marketed with safety as a major selling point.
Deegle
An American technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products. It is also ambitious in space development. Its branding resembles that of Google.
John Doe
A mysterious international hacker group that exists on the Internet.
Seven
A decommissioned AI that is said to have reached the highest level of intelligence in history, which happened in the 2030s. It made numerous inventions in Seven Technologies but was destroyed when it fell into an uncontrollable state.
Lunatic Seven incident
The last phase of Seven’s existence, when it went out of human control. The details have not been revealed. Products developed by Seven in its uncontrolled state caused accidents. The UN considered this to be a critical situation and euthanized it.
The Seven Poem
A mass of data produced by Seven in its Lunatic state. Though it is not literally a poem, its format is cryptic. A semi-religious fringe, including Nasa Houston, interpret the data as prophetic. The majority sees it as occult nonsense.
Intelligence limiter
A means of limiting AI functionality, itself designed by AI and widely deployed under the laws of UN2.1, these limiters range from A-Z. It is against the law for an unauthorized person to remove a limiter, as this would risk a repetition of the Lunatic Seven incident.
UN2.1
The United Nations (UN), upgraded for the AI age. The UN believes that the rise in intelligence of AI should be controlled by humans.
Moonchild
The term for the 15 children born on the moon. Of the 15, only Touya and Konoha have survived, because of implants designed by Seven. Moonchild implants counteracted conditions unexpectedly adverse to infants. Most of the 15 never got the implants, while those who did instead died in puberty when the implants partially dissolved and became toxic and a medical liability in their own right.
Oniqlo
A manufacturer of commercial space-survival pressure suits, which are not EVA rated. The name and logo are very similar to the Japanese Uniqlo clothing company.
PeerCom
A fictional technology based on Peer-to-peer networking that allows communication devices nearby to connect directly to each other without going through the Internet. It has become widespread in this world. It is similar to Bluetooth in some aspects.
Smart
Next-generation wearable device to replace smartphones. The screen and computer is worn on the palm and back of the hand, making it look as if the hand has become a smartphone.
Telada
Solid-state battery systems, able to recharge electronics and run emergency systems. Design and logo is similar to Tesla, specifically like that of the Tesla Powerwall.

Production[]

The film's production was announced on May 20, 2018, followed by the announcement on October 27, 2020, that production started on a full-scale and that the film would be released in early 2022, with investment from Avex Pictures, Asmik Ace and others.[12][13] Signal.MD was originally attached to animate the project, but it was later changed to Production +h, a new studio founded by Fuminori Honda, ex-Production I.G and ex-Signal-MD producer.[14][15] It was later revealed that the film is split into two parts, with the first part premiering on January 28, 2022, and the second part premiering on February 11, 2022.[16]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Takafumi Sakai (October 27, 2021). "「電脳コイル」磯監督作「地球外少年少女」、'22年1月から前後編上". AV Watch (in Japanese). Impress Corporation. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  2. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (May 20, 2018). "Dennō Coil's Mitsuo Iso Directs Original 'Chikyūgai Shōnen Shōjo' Anime". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  3. ^ "「電脳コイル」の磯光雄、11年ぶり新作アニメで宇宙に取り残され���少年少女描く". Natalie (in Japanese). May 21, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  4. ^ "磯光雄監督（「電脳コイル」）11年ぶりとなる最新作発表! オリジナルアニメ「地球外少年少���」 キャラクターデザインに吉田健一が決定!" (in Japanese). Avex Pictures. May 21, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  5. ^ "前編ストーリー" (in Japanese). The Orbital Children official website. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  6. ^ @TheGriffinBurns (January 28, 2022). "New show announcement! I voice Touya Sagami in Netflix's The Orbital Children out today!!! #TheOrbitalChildren" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "The Orbital Children - Characters". Anime Planet. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  8. ^ @NinjaMac (January 28, 2022). "Today's the day! You can hear me as Taiyo Tsukuba in the @NetflixAnime The Orbital Children! I loved this project. It's BEAUTIFUL and the voice cast is incredible! Created by the amazing @IsoMitsuo. Go watch!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ @TaraSandsLA (January 28, 2022). "I loved playing Mina on this new @netflix show out today! Amazing cast and voice director (Suzy Goldish)! #theorbitalchildren" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ @VOColleen (January 25, 2022). "I'm totally in this! I'm the kid in the middle with the glasses" (Tweet). Retrieved January 28, 2022 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ @AbbyTrott (January 28, 2022). "Sup space cadets? #theorbitalchildren is out today on #netflix and you can hear me as "Nasa Houston!" Thrilled to be part of this inter-stellar cast!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ "「電脳コイル」の磯光雄、11年ぶり新作アニメで宇宙に取り残された少年少女描く". Natalie (in Japanese). May 21, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  13. ^ "『電脳コイル』の磯光雄氏による新作オリジナルアニメ『地球外少年少女』2022年初春公開決定。吉田健一氏がキャラクターデザインを担当". ファミ通.com (in Japanese). KADOKAWA. October 27, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  14. ^ "磯光雄「地球外少年少女」が2022年初春公開予定 新設スタジオProduction ＋h.制作". アニメーションビジネス・ジャーナル (in Japanese). October 27, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  15. ^ Loo, Egan (October 26, 2020). "Dennō Coil's Mitsuo Iso Reveals Extra-Terrestrial Boys & Girls Anime's New Studio, Early 2022 Debut, Visual". Anime News Network. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  16. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (October 27, 2021). "Extra-Terrestrial Boys & Girls Anime's Video Reveals 2-Part Theatrical Format With January 28 Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved October 27, 2021.

External links[]

Stub icon

This anime-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Retrieved from ""