Spoiler-free reviewWhen it comes to animes that appear to have fallen off the radar of a large number of anime fans, I’ve always thought there to be a sort of “golden-age” when it comes to these sort of shows. Around the 90’s to mid-2000’s, there are a plethora of interesting and unique animes that, while maybe receiving a decent or even great amount of attention at the time, are now largely forgotten about or just not talked about in conversation compared to the latest modern animes everyone would prefer to talk about. Not that that’s a bad thing of course. Shows being swept under the rug are expected to occur considering how humongous the library of this medium truly is.
But there’s always something great about searching through that library of old & new, acclaimed or reviled, and stumbling upon something that’s so deep inside and hidden within the massive pile of anime, yet shines brighter than you could possibly imagine. Fantastic Children is one of those animes. It’s a show that I think firmly deserves the term “Hidden-Gem” when describing it.
Wow I’ve never even heard of this show? Who even made it?
The Show’s original creator, director and character designer are all of the same person. Takashi Nakamura; known at the time for producing feature films such as Catnapped! The Movie and A Tree of Palme, as well as being the director of the Robot Carnival short Chicken Man & Red. The studio behind the team was Nippon Animation, well-known for producing many of the World Masterpiece Theatre Series’ that ran predominantly in the 70’s. This is the first anime I've watched from them but I look forward to exploring more of their catalogue.
In terms of Nakamura's works, I had only watched A Tree of Palme before starting Fantastic Children, and sadly I wasn’t a fan of it. Despite the art style being incredibly charming and appealing, the story had a number of shortcomings that made the movie fall flat for me. But even so, I was interested in the storyline of Fantastic Children and looking forward to seeing if there would be a step-up in quality from Tree of Palme.
And yeah. There definitely was in my opinion.
Alright, so what’s the show about?
So, BASICALLY…
The story of this show centres around a group of enigmatic, white-haired children known as the Children of Beaufort, who travel around the world searching for this unknown girl. These children have become a strange mystery in the timeline of the series, as they have appeared in several points in time while seemingly never aging, as if they’re immortal. They also possess intelligence quite advanced for their age, and their mission to find this girl is one that spans hundreds of years and several different places across the world. It’s a mission that eventually reaches the year of 2012, which is when the main story takes place.
Around the same time...
A boy named Thoma lives on an island where he one day meets Helga, a quiet and weak-willed girl who lives at a terrible orphanage while also drawing pictures of a place she sees in her dreams. With the help of another boy named Chitto, Thoma helps Helga escape from the orphanage, and the 3 set off on an adventure towards the place Helga dreams of. It’s an adventure that’ll eventually cross paths with the Children of Beaufort and tie into the mystery behind the children, where they came from, as well as the several other mysteries that the show presents.
Yep there's a lot going on here. The story is quite complex, with several different parties at play across many different locations (and time periods). Personally I am a massive sucker for these type of stories, where different plotlines intertwine with each other. That’s why I’m such a big fan of animes like Baccano! & Durarara!!, so something like this fits into my wheelhouse perfectly
Ok sounds good so far. What are the characters like then?
The cast of characters for Fantastic Children is quite diverse & vast. There’s many different people at play and the show does a great job at not only making them all interesting, but giving them important roles in the story that don’t feel wasted or forgotten. The Children of Beaufort are arguable the most interesting characters for me, being this wise and intelligent group of children with distinct personalities from the serious leader Agi to the weak-hearted Hasmodai. Their story is engaging and well-developed over the course of the series.
With Thoma, Helga & Chitto, I admit that this group in particular took some time to grow on me. Thoma in particular being a fairly obnoxious kid who has his moments of being an asshole around the beginning of the show, and Helga not having much going on at the start with how she barely speaks, and Chitto being just alright but probably the least developed character overall. These are some of the few flaws I have with the show overall, but thankfully any worries about the 3 are quenched as the story develops and their bond strengthens and their secrets are revealed. There’s some really sweet moments between them throughout the show which makes you grow to like them overtime.
There are other side characters at play such as Detective Cooks, who essentially serves as a vehicle to reveal more bits of information about the mystery, as well as Mel & Palza, two other white-haired children who appear at the very beginning of the show. Trust me when I say that these two are not forgotten after their initial introductions. There’s also Duma, another white-haired child who has goals of his own To say more about him would reveal too much but I’ll say that he does a fin job at expressing a sense of power and ambiguity whenever he appears.
There are even more characters to note, but to say more about them would be diving into spoiler territory, so I’ll hold off for now. There is maybe one character who’s motivation for why he does something later into the story is a bit meh to me, but it’s able to even out later into the plot, so I can mostly look past it.
Well that’s great and all, but why does the animation look so damn old?
Ok so this anime came out in late 2004, but even putting that in mind, it still looks pretty old compared to other shows that came out in the same year like Champloo and Gankutsuou. The character designs are very old-fashioned and have a retro feel that’s more akin to 80’s/90’s anime, and I can understand why it doesn’t appeal to some people. It can make the show look quite simple & childish in contrast to its complex & occasionally dark nature.
I’m personally alright with the art style. I enjoy older-looking presentation for anime and Fantastic Children uses it’s designs quite well imo. All the characters look distinct from each other in spite of the simplistic art and they all convey the necessary emotions well. I will say though that you most likely won’t be blown away by the animation as a whole. It still looks good but it’s nothing too spectacular. It’s also never gotten a full HD release to my knowledge.
I’ll use this opportunity to briefly talk about the soundtrack. The songs themselves are fantastic, perfectly capturing the mysterious and adventurous vibe of the series. It feels quite reminiscent of the 2003 FMA if I had to compare it to something else. Although if I had to complain, it's that the selection of songs feels small at times. There'll be times where one track is repeated more frequently, which can make the music feel repetitive. Not a big issue but something worth pointing out. The show also has a great opening and ending song, the ending in particular being sung by the late Origa and having both Japanese and Russian versions.
Ok sounds good then. But does it all work?
Well…… yes. It really works.
If you wanna watch the show, you’ll have to keep in mind that the first half may be slow for you. I’ve read others say that it’s quite that way and that it takes a while until the main meat of the plot really kicks into gear. Personally, I wasn’t that fussed about the slow beginning at all. In fact I barely even noticed it. I thought that the first half did a very good job at introducing elements of the plot piece by piece, and helping us get to know the many main characters before the story starts to enter it’s biggest point.
Even if it was slow, it never felt like the mystery dragged on. It was always able to keep me interested each episode. Whether it was through revealing titbits of information so that you never felt too lost, or through events that served to raise further questions and keep you invested in the story. It’s hard to explain but it’s able to strike a good balance between revealing what’s necessary while still holding back those pieces that give you the full picture without ever feeling cheap or tedious.
Once we get into the second half, that’s when everything becomes crystal clear. All the pieces fall into place as more is revealed. And it all leads into a final arc that is quite frankly fantastic.
Aight maybe that’s an exaggeration
But I mean it when I say that the second half and during its final arc is where everything really pays. It’s able to take all the pieces it laid out and connect them all together to make one coherent picture. Everything is able to come to a close perfectly, leaving no loose threads and bringing closure to every plot point introduced. It’s genuinely able to lead itself to a satisfying ending where I honestly couldn’t have asked for more, and that’s something I’ve really come to value when watching anime. I’ve sometimes mulled over anime endings in general, because despite there being a lot of great ones like Bebop, FMAB and Akudama Drive just to name a few, there’s still a plethora of wasteful, mediocre or just flat-out nothing endings for several animes out there. So I’m extremely happy to inform you that Fantastic Children belongs firmly in the former category.
(And if you’re still not convinced, there’s even a bonus epilogue that takes place after the last episode, just to give the show that extra bit of closure. And it’s also quite emotional too. Brought a few tears out of my eyes).
If I did have to complain, I guess some elements of the plot exist just to drive the story forward, such as the technology and fantasy elements, but how everything works so well together in the end, I can hardly complain.
So overall I think the show does extremely well in setting out what it needed to. Great pacing, a well-thought-out mystery, and a fulfilling storyline overall. What more could you ask for?
Ok, I think I’m convinced, so where I can watch this?
Unfortunately, the ways to watch this show are quite limited. The English dub is actually available in its entirety on the AnimeLog YouTube channel. Unfortunately, the English dub is absolutely atrocious, featuring some of the worst voice acting in any anime dub period. I’m not against dubs in the least but this is one I somewhat struggle to defend.
If you wish to watch the show in the Japanese dub, then you’ll either need to sail the seven seas or hunt down the now OOP DVD collection released by Bandai Entertainment (which might I add contains a huge spoiler right on the front cover for some reason).
Closing ThoughtsI think the reason why Fantastic Children works so well for me is how straightforward, yet complex the story is. It’s one of those animes that aims to tell an interesting story and it does it all well with few drawbacks. While I do think those few drawbacks prevent it from being perfect, I still came out of this show asking for nothing more. It’s one of those shows that manages to leave me perfectly satisfied, and reminds me of the reason why I explore these types of unknown animes; to find something that’s genuinely unique and a true diamond in the rough. I kept this review spoiler-free because I want more people to watch this series blind. And if you just saw happened to have never heard of this show until reading this review, then I highly encourage giving it a try. I promise you’ll come out of it feeling just as satisfied as I was.
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