title_name=Future Boy Conan
|
| |
Conan and Lana
|
| |
未来少年コナン
|
| |
Future Boy Conan
|
Animanga/Anime| Information
|
'' or '''''Conan: The Boy in Future''''' ( series by
Hayao Miyazaki first aired in April 1978.
The story is based on the novel ''
The Incredible Tide '' by
Alexander Key . The story begins in July 2008. Mankind is faced with the threat of extinction. An ultra-magnetic weapon, far more devastating than any nuclear weapon known, had destroyed half the world in a single instant. The earth's crust was rocked by massive movements, the earth was thrown off its axis, and the five continents were torn completely apart and sank deep below the sea.
The attempt by a number of people to flee to outer space failed. Their spaceships were forced back to the earth and vanished, shattering their hopes. But one of the spaceships narrowly escaped destruction and crash landed on a small island which had miraculously survived the devastation. The crew members of the spaceship settled there, as if they were seeds sown on the island.
After years, a boy named Conan was born. He was a new life in the desert, a ray of light in the darkness of the annihilated earth.
The series is about Conan's and Lana's adventure. Among the few survivors were those who started the war who continued their fighting by taking over the remains of the devastated planet. Conan and his friends fought against them in several ways including using the power of communicating with animals.
Many believe that the characters of the series were the prototype for the characters of Miyazaki's later artwork ''
Castle In The Sky '' (known as ''Laputa: The Castle in the Sky'' in Japan).
This anime is also notable for being one of the rare anime to be broadcast on Japan's state-run public broadcaster, (which was based on the same Miyazaki plot outline that became ''Castle in the Sky'', and thus could be considered a spiritual cousin of ''Conan''). Because NHK is commercial-free, Miyazaki did not need to create "eyecatches" as commercial bumpers for the series, but he did so anyway, and the result was the famous eyecatch known as the "Slot Machine."
Never released in English outside of fan-subtitled versions (despite the fact that many of Miyazaki's later works, such as ''My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke'' and ''Spirited Away'', achieved great popularity and acclaim in their English versions), the series has also been successful in Europe, including in Italy (''Conan il ragazzo del futuro''), France (''Conan le fils du futur''), and Portugal (where it was reportedly shown in the original Japanese with Portuguese subtitles). In addition, a Spanish dub of the series was shown in the U.S. and Latin America. As well, the series was aired in many Arab countries in the 1980s with much success, dubbed into Arabic (''Adnan wa Lina'' - "Adnan and Lina") with a translation done in
Kuwait . The Arabic dub was rerun in
Iraq as recently as 2003.
Despite the title of the series and the male lead's name, it has nothing whatsoever to do with
Conan The Barbarian or with
Gosho Aoyama 's manga and anime
Detective Conan ("Case Closed" in America). The names "Conan" & "Lana" (in Japanese "Konan" & "Rana") may have inspired Gosho Aoyama to call the girlfriend of his ''Detective Conan'' character similarly "Ran" (although her name in English is Rachel).
The main
Protagonist of the series, , is a 10 year old boy who grew up on Remnant Island, raised by his grandfather. Conan is very strong, and can even hang from a ledge using only his toes. He and Jimsy become good friends.
Conan is
Voiced By Ohara Noriko (Marco Guadagno in Italian, Brigitte Lecordier in French> Jassem El Nabhan in Arabic)).
is the first non-Remnant Island inhabitant, and the first girl, that Conan sees. Lana is the niece of Dr. Lao, and Lepka wants to use her to get Lao to tell him the secret of solar power.
Lana comes from High Harbour, and the first part of the series involves her and Conan trying to get there.
Lana is voiced by
Shinozawa Mieko (Monica Cadueri in Italian, Amelie Morin in French).
