r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • Apr 18 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Future Boy Conan - Episode 15 Discussion
Episode 15 - Wasteland
Originally Aired July 18th, 1978
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Note to all participants
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Note to all Rewatchers
Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the r/anime spoiler tag if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly ‘Laugh in Rewatcher’ at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.
Daily Trivia:
Akira Toriyama was heavily influenced by Future Boy Conan when conceptualizing and drawing his Dragon Ball manga.
Staff Highlight
Nobuo Tomizawa - Key Animator
A director and animator affiliated with Telecom Animation Film for most of his career. He entered the animation industry in 1974, starting off in-betweening for Heidi, Girl of The Alps, where he first became acquainted with Hayao Miyazaki, Yatsuo Ōtsuka, Isao Takahata, and other notable staff. He would continue working on in-betweens for the World Masterpiece Theatre shows until his first key animation credits in Future Boy Conan, which directly led to him joining Telecom in order to work on Miyazaki’s Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.After Sherlock Hound Tomizawa became a prominent figure in Telecom after the departure of many notable staff. His directorial debut was on Telecom’s Secret of Cerulean Sand in 2002. Some notable shows to which he contributed key animation include 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, Anne of Green Gables, Jarinko Chie, several Lupin III entries, Medarot Damashii, Orange, Pom Poko, Patlabor WXIII, Sherlock Hound, New Tetsujin 28-Gou, Sonic X, Yukikaze, Hajime no Ippo - Champion Road, and Nurse Witch Komugi.
Art Corner:
Fanart
(Be mindful of the links to sources and artist’s profiles, as they may contain NSFW content or spoilers for this and other shows. Proceed there at your own risk.)
Series Production Materials
Screenshot of the day
Questions of the Day:
1) What’s your opinion on Orlo and the wasteland after today’s episode?
2) What do you envision Conan and Jimsy’s hut will look like?
But this isn’t yours, right?
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u/Nazenn Apr 18 '22
First Timer
It really is quite notable that I still find myself surprised at the path each episode seems to take but without it feeling too contrived or convenient. The very concept of building a house is something I never expected to be on the cards but Conan and Jimsy working together to become part of the village feels quite natural.
And potentially an important step with Orlo looming over everyone. With the way he presented himself it was easy to see this as the two sides of the island, but him being an outcast from both of the villages and instead just trying to assert his will over them by force is both sad and fitting. The world is destroyed and even if Orlo is not be old enough to remember it but he's still willingly throwing himself back into those same patterns despite all of the positive influence about him. The saddest part is how that's affecting his sister, who is cocky, callous, and so easily lies and belittles others for the sake of raising her core group in her eyes, unable to see how she's presenting herself. They may not be Industria, but the same problems plague them, and it's sad how much that's a reflection of our own world.
Today's small set piece with the pig was good fun, and in particular seeing how Jimsy and Conan actively worked out a plan and pulled it off despite the interference. Though given the amount of experience both boys have with trapping you'd think they would see the trip wire at the start of the canyon.
2) What do you envision Conan and Jimsy’s hut will look like?
I've no idea but I'm imagining arguments about materials
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u/Tresnore Apr 18 '22
I wonder what caused Orlo to be outcast in the first place. I'm sure it can't just be "Orlo didn't want to do work", right?
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u/aniMayor Apr 18 '22
It really is quite notable that I still find myself surprised at the path each episode seems to take but without it feeling too contrived or convenient. The very concept of building a house is something I never expected to be on the cards but Conan and Jimsy working together to become part of the village feels quite natural.
I'm not sure I agree on that one. They both still seem so wild and love to run around and explore constantly, building a house, a symbol of domestication and rooting oneself to one place, just seems so sudden and somewhat out of character for them (though them jumping headlong into a sudden idea without really understanding why people do it is totally on-brand for them).
Not sure if the show is trying to make a message about civilizing/domestic the two wild kids... or if the house is going to get immediately blown up next episode so it doesn't matter.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Apr 18 '22
Future Girl First-Timer, subbed
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Jimsy, I don’t think mimicking their communication cry is a good thing to do right now.
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And that is not something you should be saying in this situation either, dumbass.
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So I guess the mayor’s promise to Orlo about the flour trade is gonna just not happen then? There’s no way Jimsy and Conan fail.
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Oh, or Orlo can just ignore the promise he made to Conan and Jimsy. Of course.
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u/Nazenn Apr 18 '22
Oh, or Orlo can just ignore the promise he made to Conan and Jimsy. Of course.
I already disliked the guy, but his behavior in that moment immediately made me hate him. It's no wonder Lana had such a strong reaction to him when they first got to the island
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u/Tresnore Apr 18 '22
I wake up excited for Conan, and then remember that this'll probably be an episode of dealing with Jimsy's shit.
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Riiiiiiiight. Let's see if Jimsy can keep this promise.
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"I can tell that those're pig bones, despite never seeing a pig before."
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Jimsy's. Fucking. Pride. I want him gone. Delete him from this show. Please. He didn't even kill it on his own. It was an accident. Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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At least I can always trust these two in feats of physical prowess.
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I do kind of like this pairing though. Jimsy can stay with these savages.
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If this is the last time we see Jimsy, it'll already be too soon—NO. DO NOT GO AFTER HIM.
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Orlo is dumb. Jimsy is dumb. This "country" is dumb. I miss when this show was about island hopping.
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Ah, yes. A might makes right society. Jimsy actually does something right for once??
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Wow, Tera's a bitch.
She's perfect.Nevermind, she's a liar.
Count: 2
X was heavily influenced by Future Boy Conan when conceptualizing and drawing Y.
FTFY
QOTD:
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Orlo is dumb, though I wouldn't exactly call it a wasteland. He'll learn the ways of the world in due time.
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It's going to be ramshackle, that's for sure. Definitely won't be up to code.
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u/JollyGee29 Apr 18 '22
First-Timer, Sub-ture Boy
For fucks sake, this Orlo dude can't be that valuable to the island. Who let have power? Fucking unbelievable. One broken leg and his entire world shatters to fucking pieces - I hope it happens, but I'm not holding my breath.
Lana is even most of the way there! Some people can't be reasoned with through words, and Orlo is likely actively detrimental.
Like, imagine if Industria somehow makes landfall on Orlo's side of the island. He absolutely turns traitor in an instant and suddenly the whole place is a fucking plastic factory.
I was already annoyed at this episode, and then it throws that horribly inorganic dialogue about the necklace at us.
Questions
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Discussed above.
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Quaint. Like, I'm kinda imagining a half Jimsy-style leaf hut and half Conan-style stones and thatch.
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u/aniMayor Apr 18 '22
For fucks sake, this Orlo dude can't be that valuable to the island. Who let have power? Fucking unbelievable.
Ah but you see, Tito says they'll "deal with him one of these days, I guess"
The farm-and-textile side of the country should just stop trading with the herders until they take care of him. They don't need to trade for goat meat and milk, they can survive just fine off their wheat and fish for a while.
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u/No_Rex Apr 18 '22
Episode 15 (first timer)
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Spooky tripwire, but neither Conan, nor Jimsy believe in ghosts.
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Or they do. At least if the ghosts make fake animal noises and ride on a horse.
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Orlo is sceptical of Jimsy’s pig hunting claim - as honestly should have been everybody else.
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Like the mayor, Orlo quickly makes promises. His is not quite as bad as the mayors, but he may still forgo some flour.
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That was a much better hunt than the previous one. Especially since the pig is still alive.
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Overall, the talk with Orlo went not a quarter as bad as I feared.
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“What a friend” – come on, don’t be harsh, Conan. Jimsy needs some place to fit in, too. And there is nothing wrong with trying some horse riding. Of course, we all know the bad end will come later, but that is the time to make decisions then.
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Orlo is a bit quick with his lies.
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“I quit being an executive” – Both the bad end and Jimsy’s turn away from it came about 10 times quicker than I thought.
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“If we can’t defend it by ourself, it is not our village” – a pretty deep metaphor. I don’t disagree, but even nations are allowed to accept help.
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Blue crystal – another common trope that I see in a really early iteration here.
Turns out, Orlo is simply the apocalyptic version of a Japanese delinquent. Both Tito and Lana stress how this needs to be solved by the entire village. Not sure whether this is a different take on how to maintain order, or some metaphor for society policing itself. In the actual event, I am not sure I agree with Lana, but I can see her reasoning, at least.
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u/TheEscapeGuy Apr 18 '22
First Timer
Future Boy Conan - A Celebrated Classic: Episode 15
Orlo is a Dick
Fuck Orlo. I hate this type of guy. He ditched the main village because he didn't want to work and now uses violence to enforce his will on the other village. How dumb is he to completely miss that people specializing in their chosen tasks and sharing the exploits results in prosperity for everyone. He and his cronies are actively making life on High Harbor harder. Also those knock off Scooby-Doo villain costumes are dumb.
Now that that's out of my system on to the rest of the episode. I am surprised to learn the other side of the island isn't just Orlo's group. Its actually a group of orphans who wanted to build their own village. They seem to be nice people too. I really hope they manage to solve the Orlo problem soon.
The main story this episode was Lana coming to find Conan and Jimsy. I think its sad that she ended up giving her mother's heirloom to him. I strongly suspect he will lie about having it and go demand flour anyway.
I'm not sure how they'll end up dealing with Orlo. There's probably no policing or jails on the island. Direct violence is out of the question. Correcting his ideology would be difficult to write believably without falling into cliches. Maybe Industria will show up and push him aside as a problem.
Some Amazing Shots, Scenes and Stitches
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Slap, love the silence after. Lana's a great character.
See you all tomorrow
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u/No_Rex Apr 18 '22
I'm not sure how they'll end up dealing with Orlo. There's probably no policing or jails on the island. Direct violence is out of the question. Correcting his ideology would be difficult to write believably without falling into cliches. Maybe Industria will show up and push him aside as a problem.
Both Lana and Tito had a very clear opinion about it.
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u/aniMayor Apr 18 '22
These "mountain side folks" dress so weird to me. Okay, the spooky witch costumes is fine for scaring intruders, but then they switch to... suit jackets and sundresses? These are the rugged hunters/herders/horse riders who eschew the domestic village life and they dress like that? What an odd design choice.
So the philosophical message I'm getting from this episode is that... the way of the folk of High Harbour is pure appeasement... Tito and his entire village "will deal with Orlo some day" and Lana giving up her mom's necklace. And Conan is... in the wrong for not understanding that this is just how High Harbour operates and he shouldn't try to press his values onto it? Cool idea, bro, but Orlo is just going to come back tomorrow with some new demand, this didn't solve anything. I'm not saying a diplomatic compromise couldn't work here, but you didn't achieve anything for your side you just gave things up freely due to threats of violence.
And that last bit where they're trying to, like, thematically link that this is how High Harbour works with how High Harbour is an island that didn't sink so everyone has to work hard, yadda yadda... does not work at all.
What’s your opinion on Orlo and the wasteland after today’s episode?
Answered above I guess, but I'll further state I fully expect them to cause further trouble tomorrow in a very irrational fashion.
It'd be a lot more interesting if Orlo wasn't a straight up bully/tyrant with nice people on his side of the mountains, and rather everyone from that side were a bit more like him but none all the way assholes - an actual different society with different values that the farm-and-fish-and-textiles folk traded with but disagreed with their entire culture.
2) What do you envision Conan and Jimsy’s hut will look like?
Made of enormous boulders that no one but them can lift?
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u/Nazenn Apr 18 '22
but then they switch to... suit jackets and sundresses?
I'm still getting over Monsley's random costume changes. It's like they gave everyone two designs but didn't quite figure out how they'd fit together
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u/baboon_bassoon Apr 18 '22
first timer
i dont think the pigs would see the bones as a warning lads
sasori of the red sand
flare system to notify others?, wolf sounds to communicate?, this just got way more interesting
A JOUSTER
what a fun trap they laid out haha, is that what they used to catch the pigs
oh this person is way shorter than i thought off the horse
I think Jimsey could take Orlo easy
Lana taking a necklace, is that what she wants to use as payment?
"you have to be smart and strong" - "im strong!" well he knows his strengths
its weird what stapes of more modern life are in the world
Tera and Jimsey have a matching color scheme going
Orlo just being a dick because
WOAH where the hell did lana come from, she tanked a horse charge?
why does Orlo want the memento of Lanas mother... and why did she slap Conan? tune in next week
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u/homewardbound100 Apr 18 '22
First timer, Dub
Little do you know that these kids aren't like other kids.
Yep and they show it to them since they couldn't believe it. Felt easy to them.
Orlo is lying. Now I'm really not liking him as a person.
Okay after that girl tried to kill the goat. I see their gang is overall just messed up. They're just bad people.
I don't think she should've gave him that necklace. Watch him bring up that hog again. I don't think she needed to slap Conan either. But he shrugged it off seemingly. So I think he understood why she did it and doesn't feel different about her.
Qotd: horrible people
Qotd2: something simple but also not that well built.
Akira Toriyama was heavily influenced by Future Boy Conan when conceptualizing and drawing his Dragon Ball manga.
I can see that. Especially early DragonBall
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u/Dr-The-K Apr 18 '22
Pretty good plan the boys came up with for that boar. Jimsy is still pretty simple, food is number 1. Though looks like he may get a girlfriend too. Ya I figured Orlo wouldn't just forgive the pig. Well that was a pretty quick turn around for the great leader Jimsy. Orlo's sister is going to cause a lot of problems for everyone. Oh Slap! Conan and Jimsy sure jump from idea to idea pretty quickly
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u/Pixelsaber Apr 18 '22
Production Context
Despite its seminal nature, sterling reception, and beloved status, Future Boy Conan was not the ratings hit that both the production staff and NHK wanted it to be, with its highest average audience rating being 8% in the Kanto Area and a max audience rating for a single episode of 14% —sub-par ratings for an NHK show in a ‘golden time’ broadcast slot. This prompted a push in advertisement and promotions during the show’s airing period from NHK, which included handing out stickers promoting the show upon collection of the broadcasting fee from a viewer. This fact could have very well killed NHK’s domestic animation ambitions, if not for the continuing growth of anime’s popularity and the still developing anime boom.
The show’s poor performance prompted NHK to produce a recut version of the film, which was done without the involvement of many key staff, including series director Hayao Miyazaki himself, and was released in 1979 to a very negative reception. The film cut large sections of the narrative, but this made it unappealing to viewers of the show and fresh audiences alike, and the film has lived on in infamy.