[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Future Boy Conan episode 7: Chase
I know it’s been a while since I last watched an episode of this but I’m back on track now. Unfortunately this wasn’t an extraordinary episode by this series’ standards: Lana’s still in captivity so Conan sets off to rescue her again. There are some interesting scenes featuring the supporting cast though.
Surprisingly I’m taking quite a liking to captain Dyce and his crew. The Barracuda itself is a really imaginatively designed and impressive piece of machinery yet it has such an idiot at the helm! I can list any numer of Dyce’s faults: he’s pompous, vain, selfish and downright dense but even he understands how evil Lepka is and goes as far as defecting from Industria to keep Lana and the possibility of solar power technology out of harm’s way. Of course, his methods (i.e. kidnapping Lana and abandoning Conan) are questionable and he is dragging his own crew into a potentially dangerous situation but you can’t help but acknowledge the fact that he does have a conscience.
When the Barracuda takes off out to sea it takes Industria’s latest consignment of plastic with it and causes all manner of problems: the energy the Industrians can extract from the plastic is needed for food, clothing and fuel. It’s also the source of energy for all modes of transport so Lepka has to do a fair amount of grovelling to get permission to use energy in persuing Dyce and his crew.
The backgrounds for Industria were quite impressive here: the control room that the Elders were using (who reminded me of the Elders in Shinji Aramaki’s Appleseed movie) had a 1950s-looking, retro-futuristic feel. Overall the animation isn’t half bad with particular attention paid to the action and the mechanical paraphernalia. I just hope that things pick up in the next episode: it ends on a nice cliffhanger and I can’t wait to see High Harbour.
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