[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Future Boy Conan episode 2: Conan starts his journey
After Lana is captured by the shady characters in the plane, Conan seflessly and quite literally throws himself into rescuing her (below). Despite his heroic efforts, the kidnappers succeed in getting away so Conan returns to his home of Remnant Island to think over what to do next.
Upon his return he is greeted with a sorry sight: his grandfather, who had suffered injuries in the previous episode at the hands of Lana’s kidnappers, is now dying. On his deathbed he recounts the story behind not only Conan’s birth on the island but the circumstances surrounding their arrival and how they came to make Remnant Island their home.
Granfather’s dying wish is that Conan leaves Remnant Island behind and that he should seek out the distant human settlements. In a heart-tugging scene Conan leaves the only home he knows to embark on his big journey and rescue Lana.
One thing that strikes me is that, even at this early stage, there are so many Miyazaki-esque features that will give fans a real sense of familiarity; if the character designs aren’t reconisable (which they are), the flying machines and ecological/social commentary aspects certainly will be. As you might expect, the eco side of things is definitely in evidence but is not overplayed.
In addition there are some new villains here, such as Captain Dyce (below): the typical arrogant, bumbling buffoon who will do or say anything to please his superiors if there’s some sort of benefit to him. He’s a pretty one-dimensional character but if Miyazaki’s other work is anything to go by one character who appears to be a bad-guy initially (Monsley is her name IIRC) will probably prove to be deeper and more interesting later on. Like Dola, Kushana and Lady Eboshi who went after her in his later features, she is more intelligent and calulating than the rather dim male subordinates who surround her. We also learn that Lana has some interesting abilities and connections that go a long way to explaining why so many people are anxious to kidnap her.
The second ep of Future Boy Conan demonstrates why Miyazaki is one of my favourite directors: the characters are by and large fascinating, the story is strong and well handled and the animation quality is superb for its age (it’s actually older than the original Macross series!). Even though its underlying themes are very serious it is still really fun to watch - I can’t wait to see how he uses the longer, episodic structure instead of a two hour feature-length runtime to tell the story.
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