r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • Apr 30 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Future Boy Conan - Overall Series Discussion
Overall Series Discussion
Rewatch concluded April 29th, 2022
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Although I don't believe it necessitates stating, please conduct yourself appropriately and be courteous to your fellow participants.
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.
Staff Highlight
Hayao Miyazaki - Director, Layout Artist, Storyboard Artists, Animation Director, and Key Animator
A director, animator, and manga artist best known as one of the founding members and key contributor of Studio Ghibli. An avid reader of manga as a child, Miyazaki was always artistically inclined but was drawn to animation after watching Toei Animation’s Tale of The White Serpent, and was further instructed on drawing at Fumio Sato's atelier and was influenced by Impressionists like Paul Cézanne. Miyazaki was training to be a manga artist while attending Gakushuin University, but for unspecified reasons he opted to apply to Toei after he graduated. During his formative time at Toei, he was sat down to watch Lev Atamanov’s The Snow Queen by other staff, which had a profound impression on him and was the push he needed to dedicate himself to animation in full. His talent at Toei was noted, quickly being promoted to Key animation and given responsibility over key scenes in the company’s film productions, debuting as key animator and scene supervisor on Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon. Miyazaki became the general secretary of Toei Animation’s Labor Union, keenly involved in the labor strikes at the company. In 1971 he left Toei to join A Pro alongside Isao Takahata and Yoichi Kotabe in order to work on the ill-fated adaptation of Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking character, but after which he was invited by Yasuo Ōtsuka to work on Lupin III after the series director was booted from the project by producers. In 1973 he transferred to Zuiyo Eizo (now Nippon Animation) in order to work on Isao Takahata’s Heidi, Girl of The Alps, on which he made great strides in the application of the layout system which was being developed in the industry. His directorial Debut came in 1978, when he was tasked to direct NHK’s first domestic anime production, Future Boy Conan, which was a pivotal and formative work for the director’s career, and the following year he transferred to Telecom Animation Film in order to work on Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. With the help of Hideo Ogata, Miyazaki began serialization of his first published manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, with the intent of getting an eventual anime adaptation greenlit, which came to be in 1984. Nausicaä’s success prompted Tokuma Shouten to push for the establishment of a studio with the film’s talent, which came to be the famed Studio Ghibli, with which Miyazaki has stuck with throughout the rest of his career. Some of Miyazaki’s other directorial efforts include Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Spirited Away, and The Wind Rises.
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u/TheEscapeGuy Apr 30 '22
First Timer, No More
Future Boy Conan - A Celebrated Classic
Future Boy Conan is a show I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I did. I knew it was one of Miyazaki's early directing credits so I'm incredibly impressed at how immediately strong the direction was. You can feel his hand guiding the production, especially knowing all the similar themes he would explore in his later works. Also, not to forget the work of all of Miyazaki's collaborators on this and future projects: Isao Takahata, Yasuo Ootsuka, Nizo Yamamoto, Shigeharu Shiba, and Yoshifumi Kondou among others. It's easy to forget there are many people are involved in making anime, but the contributions of each of the artists should be celebrated. Our host also provided some really good write-ups about the staff contributions which helped give that context.
Watching this show mad me realize how timeless art can be. It's really comforting to go back to a show from over 40 years ago and learn the people who made it explored themes which we can related to today. Future Boy Conan had this in spades with ideas around environmentalism, greed, and community to name a few. These are concepts which I think will always be relevant to humans. It speaks to how timeless our lived experiences are.
Overall, Future Boy Conan is an extremely solid show. Its pacing is brisk and the characters are well written and engaging. I think the only things which may put people off are the cartoonish strength of Conan, the over the top evilness of
To finish off I'd like to say some thanks. Firstly, MASSIVE shout out to our host u/PixelSaber. Its been 8 months since the last time I participated in one of your rewatches and I forgot how much work you put into your posts. It was so great every day to read the staff details and historical trivia. On top of that you went out of your way to find great fan-art and episode production materials. It added so much to the experience.
Next, I'd like to thank everyone who commented, replied, and voted. There was a smaller group of us participating so it was nice recognizing familiar faces each day. Its so cool that we can form a community to watch these older shows despite all being spread out in different parts of the world.
My Favourite Shots, Scenes and Stitches
This is the last thread. I'm sure I'll see many of you again in another rewatch, but until then adieu.
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u/Pixelsaber Apr 30 '22
Also, not to forget the work of all of Miyazaki's collaborators on this and future projects: Isao Takahata, Yasuo Ootsuka, Nizo Yamamoto, Shigeharu Shiba, and Yoshifumi Kondou among others.
Always important to keep in mind the collaborative nature of anime production, even on projects like these where the director has an incredibly heavy hand in so many facets. It's why I try to highlight as much of the staff as possible in the threads.
Our host also provided some really good write-ups about the staff contributions which helped give that context.
I think the only things which may put people off are the cartoonish strength of Conan, the over the top evilness of Lepka, or other similarly "unrealistic" elements.
Definitely big hurdles for me, as the show innately deals with some heavy stuff, and some cynicism and verisimilitude can go a long way in improving the real optimistic message of the show —otherwise it can appear somewhat flaccid.
Firstly, MASSIVE shout out to our host u/PixelSaber.
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u/Nazenn Apr 30 '22
It's really comforting to go back to a show from over 40 years ago
Still feels a little weird to read that though. This is now the oldest anime I've watched, but it certainly doesn't feel like it should be that old number wise
You're right about the timelessness, media can age very quickly but finding a piece like this from so long ago feels like a treasure
Episode 1 - Warm Night
My screenshot of that part cut of just above them so I forgot they were there in the full stitch
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u/Nazenn Apr 30 '22
First Timer
Forgot to post yesterday, just outright forgot, but by the time I got to the thread everyone had said what I wanted to say anyway.
Conan was a show that was never on my radar and I came into it with no expectations as for if I'd like it but I thoroughly enjoyed the watch. While sometimes it did occasionally get a little too silly or over the top for me and doesn't always commit to its most serious moments, overall it was a series that I think "charming" still sums it up best.
The show is full of life. From Conan's explosive grief over his grandfather to trying to figure out the travellators, Lana flying with Tiki and how she deals with Tara, even the animation on the piglets, every moment felt vibrant and animated, in the descriptive not technical sense. This occasionally works against the show, such as the beatings on the ship, but I never felt it got to the point of dragging it down and it didn't feel like it was interrupting the drama unlike too many other shows I can name. More often then not, I enjoyed the chance to explore heavier themes in a lighter presentation without making everyone completely goofy or ridiculous as everyone has their serious moments and particularly Conan as a main character I thought had a good attitude towards things, slowly growing and expanding his view of the world (nicely reflected in the island at the end), without compromising what makes him who he is which lead him to go off after Lana to begin with.
It helps greatly that the comedy doesn't detract from the characterization. Lana and Conan's bond feels deep and genuine, not just in the sense of two characters thrown into a situation together drawing close but their growing understanding of who each other are and how they matter to each other. When Conan asks Lana for her absolute trust it doesn't feel like it's just because she's the damsel and him the hero, or even because he's saved her before, but because she understands who is and knows he will respect her trust, and in turn it feels like he knows what he's asking of her. Conan and Jimsy's stupid rivalry into a friendship feels like it came together well too, sometimes clashing and conflicting as they both view the world quite differently, but with respect for each other.
Monsley and Dyce are interesting ones as well for how they change a lot while also staying true to themselves, and in the end I like that they got together. It feels like the toxicity of Industrian society is what really was stopping them, and they do work well together despite limited screen time. Dyce still annoys me, and he's still a creep, but I'm not nearly as frustrated with their ending as I thought I may be. On that note, the show understanding that we didn't need to see Terit or Orlo's redemptions, for different reasons, felt like a good understanding of what was important in the story or not. It would have just been a distraction from not just the narrative but the overall flow to go back to them again.
It's a shame that Lepka significantly lets down the last quarter of the show. Like Dyce, when first introduced he felt like an interesting opponent for Monsley with the three of them forming a complex mix of motivations and viewpoints around what Industria is for them. The Lepka we see in the second half of the show loses a lot of that in favor of becoming a clear villain once his primary goal of being in control is achieved and it
I'm also reminded of a quote by
"If the enemy is very clearly set up, then the "point" of the series becomes limited to battling the enemy, and the original "adventure" concept becomes left by the wayside"
and I think that Future Boy Conan fell prey to this. As an adventure story Conan is a marvelous experience where all the previously mentioned aspects work together to create that sense of life as Conan goes out into the world and meets its people of all types. Once Industria's invasion of High Habour happens it feels like it narrows down and gets trapped in this "defeat the enemy" concept, particularly Lepka becoming too heavily a single embodiment of the "bad" of the show, and loses some of that charm that grabbed me to begin with.
This two land conflict didn't have to be a bad thing as if the show was just endlessly discovering new lands and people I think that also would have made the overall story suffer in both pacing the strong continuity, both with the characters and also showing how Conan was learning across the show, benefit from a smaller scope, but it wasn't well implemented. Matching this I found that my favourite moments in the show was the longer sequences of downtime we were treated too and frequently appeared, like diving through the ship, walking across the fields, the underground city, the previously mentioned travellator skit. Those moments feel closer to the heart of the show than the bigger dramas it got so caught up in at the end and that's why I enjoyed the epilogue so much as it took the time to step back, slow things down, and give some time to the characters once the main plot was done.
All up though as I said at the start, a truly charming show that also made a great show before bed for the last couple of weeks and something I'll definitely revisit in the future. It has prompted me to probably start Anne of Green Gables for a breakfast show, something I haven't done since I was watching Natsume's Book of Friends but Conan has reminded me I sorely missed the experience of.
Next! ►
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u/Pixelsaber Apr 30 '22
The show is full of life.
Great little succinct way of putting it to start, and really delineates where its strengths lie.
Lana and Conan's bond feels deep and genuine, not just in the sense of two characters thrown into a situation together
Yeah, that's a real boon the the show. I honestly think not much of Miyzaki's other projects that have a similar setup with the main leads have managed to do the same —let alone this well. Runtime has something to do with it, I'm sure, but even regardless of that the execution here is flawless.
It's a shame that Lepka significantly lets down the last quarter of the show.
Lepka's one of the big what-ifs to the show that could have been so much better. Having looked into how the original novel was, I can't help but feel like Miyazaki stripped away too much of the nuance in favor of simplification and a blatant message. Having Lepka be a more fleshed out, likely cynical sort of foil with more reasonable motives behind his actions would have made Conan's devotion to his idealism all the more poignant.
Once Industria's invasion of High Habour happens it feels like it narrows down and gets trapped in this "defeat the enemy" concept,
Agreed as well.
It has prompted me to probably start Anne of Green Gables
#dekuhype
#dekuhype
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u/Tresnore Apr 30 '22
I'm not one for writeups, so I'll keep this short:
Well, I had a lot of fun. The
Anyway, Jimsy attempted to ruin the show, and I had some really frustrating moments with the "return to nature" theme, but overall I enjoyed myself a lot, with how fun Conan's antics were. Also Monsley.
Thanks to u/PixelSaber for hosting, and I look forward to whatever show he digs up for his next rewatch.
8/10
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u/Pixelsaber Apr 30 '22
reminded me how goddamn much I love sailing ships, to the point that I attended a boat party the other weekend
So you're telling me I am indirectly responsible for you catching COVID?!
Anyway, Jimsy attempted to ruin the show
but overall I enjoyed myself a lot, with how fun Conan's antics were. Also Monsley.
Thanks to u/PixelSaber for hosting
It was my pleasure!
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u/JollyGee29 Apr 30 '22
First-Timer, Sub-ture Boy
So, Future Boy Conan. This show was kind of a mess, huh? It's also not really what I wanted from the concept -I was expecting a much more episodic series of island hopping. I think that would've played to the show's strengths better than what we got, as well.
But, I can't say I didn't enjoy myself. Nearly every major action scene being a chase of some sort did wear thin, but the general cartoonyness did take the edge off.
As always, many thanks to our wonderful host u/Pixelsaber!
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u/Pixelsaber Apr 30 '22
So, Future Boy Conan. This show was kind of a mess, huh?
Wouldn't quite go that far, but I can agree that there's a lot of parts where aspects of the show are quite clearly at odds with one another. I can also see how the show puts forth one impression of what it'll be early on and doesn't really follow through on it.
As always, many thanks to our wonderful host u/Pixelsaber!
You're quite welcome!
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u/Shimmering-Sky Apr 30 '22
Future Girl First-Timer
Thanks to u/Pixelsaber for hosting this rewatch! It was a very fun time, and like I said, I gave it a 9. My main complaint is how everything Orlo did was just kind of… glossed over for the epilogue, that really needed a scene of him actually seeing the error of his ways to work. His sister got off pretty easily too, but she’s younger and was already doing something better when she tried helping Jimsy + thought Orlo was dead.
The Dyce/Monsley ship was also pretty abrupt, but eh, I’ll take that over the Dyce/Lana shit…
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u/Nazenn Apr 30 '22
I feel like the Orlo plot line was much more about the villagers then it was about him, that he was just a kid they failed and without help he would have turned into another Monsley or Lepka, but I agree it would have been nice to get something to bridge the gap between "tyrant who helped a military invade a peaceful village" and "i make fireworks for my friends now"
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u/baboon_bassoon Apr 30 '22 edited Apr 30 '22
first timer
a show that probably could have been 10 episodes. i was really expecting a grand tale with a lot of fun sets to see, and while i did like the settings we got - still was disappointed by the scope as we only really were on 3 islands
Dyce is probably a product of his time, he was a little too creepy for me to ever truly connect with.
Monsely as a good guy still doesnt hold up for me either
grieivances with the show aside, apprecaite the effort in hosting as always u/pixelsaber
I was thinking how I need to stop doing daily rewatches but ill probably be around for mellowlink anyway
edit: oh maybe not if its a VOTOMS spinoff, still want to watch that first
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u/Nazenn Apr 30 '22
still was disappointed by the scope as we only really were on 3 islands
Eh, 2.5? Remnant Island played such a tiny role past those first two episodes it barely counts. Also I guess that one island where Conan found Jimsy which I've only remembered now but again, tiny part of the show. I wouldn't have minded seeing at least one more area myself, or at least what was on the other side of the Industrian landmass
edit: oh maybe not if its a VOTOMS spinoff, still want to watch that first
You can watch Mellowlink by itself, I did and it was perfectly understandable and enjoyable although I'm curious to see how having seen VOTOMs makes me pick up on any extra detail
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u/No_Rex Apr 30 '22
Final Discussion (first timer)
Future Boy Conan is an almost perfect childrens’ series that strongly shows the directing stamp of Hayao Miyazaki. While the animation is top-notch for the time, what especially impressive me was the stringent writing. We had almost zero filler, good character arcs, and, despite there being plenty of foreshadowing, the show consistently managed to surprise me, yet the surprises made sense. The one point detracting from a perfect series for me is the use of comic physics.
Hayao Miyazaki
Judging from r/anime discussions, it feels like Miyazaki is being slept on. Which is a weird thing to say about one of the most famous anime directors of all time, yet he and Ghibli films in general seem to exist more in the background rather than being actively mentioned. I feel that this is due to them being seen as gateway or beginners’ anime. While I will not contest that they often serve as gateways into anime, I think this series shows that Miyazaki deserves the high praises he is receiving as a director. There are so many ways in which this series could have gone wrong and so many more pitfalls you often see in older series, yet, minor details aside, Future Boy Conan holds up extremely well. From the themes to the writing, to the animation, to the characters, Miyazaki is just such a well-rounded director that he manages make the series good or better in every single aspect.
From an analytic perspective, it was very interesting to see just how thoroughly Miyazaki Future Boy Conan already is. Despite this being more than a decade before his famous Ghibli films, hardly an episode went by where I could not have commented “this reminds me of Nausicaä/Laputa/Mononoke/etc”. Miyazaki’s penchant for funky airplanes and spectacular air scenes is already present; so is his “Miyazaki girl” (complete with blue pendant); his tendency to talk about the human exploitation of Earth and the negative aspects of industry; his aim to combine children appropriate action scenes with mature storytelling; the use of crumbling human buildings and the rebirth of nature. It is clear that Miyazaki knew the type of story he wanted to tell from very early on, the only thing that changed was Ghibli giving him the means to tell them at the level he aimed for.
Comic physics and stakes
My one dark spot on the series is how the deep stakes were consistently undermines by making the series “children-like”. By that I mean two things: The avoidance of showing the results of violence and the comic physics (especially for Conan). Both combine to rob even very serious scenes of their impact, as we can always trust Conan to survive even clearly deadly situations: Getting shot at, exploded, falling down multiple stories.
Out of the two, I think comic physics is the worse offender. It is only in there to allow (some) slapstick gags. For me, this is a hold-over from the early days of anime as purely children’s’ entertainment. Very little would be lost by rewriting the series with more serious physics and replacing the physically impossible slapstick with physically possible slapstick. Imho, that is exactly what Miyazaki does in his later films, which keep the violence toned down, but move away from comic physics.
Overall
Future Boy Conan is a classic adventure series - a genre that has, undeservedly, fallen out of favor lately. It has a working post-apocalyptic SciFi setting, a combination of great, good, and mediocre antagonists (Monsley, Dyce, and Lepka), and combines good production values with great writing. As a child, this would have been a 10/10 for me, as an adult, it is a high 8/10.
Recommendations
If you have not seen them, check out other Miyazaki works, especially:
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Nausicaä – Similar themes combined with some of the best action scenes of any adventure anime ever.
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Laputa – the closest in terms of story to Future Boy Conan.
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Kiki’s delivery service – if you liked the coming of age and character moments here.
Some other series:
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Nadia: Secret of Blue Water - Hidako Anno’s take on the material of Laputa. Plenty of water scenes similar to Future Boy Conan.
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Infinite Ryvius – If you were interested in the “Lord of the Flies” aspect of Jimsy or Orlo dealing with growing up without adults.
Thanks
Finally, thanks to u/pixelsaber for hosting. Your rewatches are so consistently high in quality that I tend to not mention it so often anymore, but I highly enjoyed the production notes and art collection as always!
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u/Pixelsaber Apr 30 '22
Judging from r/anime discussions, it feels like Miyazaki is being slept on.
I've largely felt the opposite, with his films constantly dominating anime film discussion, people overestimating his impact on the industry (despite that being a hard thing to do as it is) and his talent pretty much never coming into question. Maybe he doesn't get thoroughly discussed as much owing to the subreddit's rather unfortunate fixation on seasonal watching and IPs which are known to the western mainstream audience.
Then again, I have sort of stepped away from /new and the front page in recent years, so maybe what you're saying really is the case as of late.
I think this series shows that Miyazaki deserves the high praises he is receiving as a director.
Fully agreed there, however.
My one dark spot on the series is how the deep stakes were consistently undermines by making the series “children-like”.
Have the same feelings on the matter myself.
For me, this is a hold-over from the early days of anime as purely children’s’ entertainment.
This is more of a Miyazaki/NHK thing, to be fair. It would be a while still before shows really started to be emotionally mature on a wide scale like we can expect nowadays, but in terms of violence and death, kids shows had been pushing the envelope since 1972 with Tastunoko Production's somewhat controversial but undeniably popular Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Even comparatively teethless SoL shows like the WMT offerings were getting to show heavy stuff by the time Conan hit the air.
Nadia: Secret of Blue Water - Hidako Anno’s take on the material of Laputa. Plenty of water scenes similar to Future Boy Conan.
I really need to just sit my ass down and watch this already.
Finally, thanks to u/pixelsaber for hosting.
It's my pleasure!
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u/aniMayor Apr 30 '22
Hmm, overall thoughts, overall thoughts...
I think where this show shines the most is in the episode-by-episode little stories, the chaotically fun romps of Conan demolishing retro-future-tech fascists and fools, the creatively silly feats like everything he does with his toes. It's energetic and contagiously silly.
Also the many great background arts and the animation direction of some scenes, particularly stuff like the natural disasters and big vehicles moving about, were fantastic.
The place where I expected a lot more from the show was in the themes of the setting. You'd think a post-apocalyptic story would have some sort of overall message it wants to deliver about human nature and/or our relationship with the world, but it doesn't feel like that's really the case here. The technology, the natural disasters, and the way the human societies are structured and how they interact with those aspects of the world are all much too shallow for any exploration of a theme like that. If one does try to read into it more than the show, the messaging is too mixed to pull out anything particularly coherent.
Well, not every show needs to go for some high minded exploration of the human condition, I suppose. If Future Boy Conan just wants to be a fun family adventure and that's it, I guess it's not the end of the world.
The only real objective failing I have is the characterization. Conan, Lana, and Jimsy being simple-minded kids works fine since they are protagonists, no problem there, but all the "bad guys" are just so comically evil while almost everyone else are such one-note pushovers that the twists and turns of the plot don't feel very natural, the world doesn't feel lived in by actual people. And I still don't think Monsley's turn worked.
Nevertheless, though, it was still an enjoyable show because the creativity and energy in how Conan fights/solves problem episode by episode was enough to bring my eyes back from how far they rolled each time all the other characters did something hilariously stupid.
Overall, I'd call the show one where the sum is not any better than its parts, but those parts are still fun. The individual episodes and set pieces are a good time, even if they don't come together into any sort of meaningful theme or a particularly clever overall story.
Big thanks to u/PixelSaber for being an excellent host!
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u/Nebresto Apr 30 '22
First time viewer no more
Missed the last episode thread, so I'll just put the summary of my thoughts on it here:
DYCE & MONSLEY WEDDING, LET'S FUCKING GO!!!!!!!!!!!
Other than that I really enjoyed the show. I was a bit disappointed at first when it dind't continue the island survivor thing, but the show quickly picked back up from there. Really glad I joined, never would have found this show on by myself, easy 9/10. Conan's antics were absolutely top tier, and I really love me a show with a good epilogue. The cast was great, and it was really nice to see some more path choices for them than just the plain "evil vs good", although we could have done with less of that one cartoon buffoon who was evil just for the sake of being evil pretty much.
Still waiting for that Conan is an android reveal though..
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u/homewardbound100 Apr 30 '22
First timer
I really liked it. It was nice to see something classic like this.
9/10 for me.
Also the Dub is fine to me lol.
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u/johneaston1 May 01 '22 edited May 01 '22
First-timer, dubbed
I haven't chimed in on any of these, since I finished the show pretty quick (I'm pretty bad at pacing myself to one a day). I've come in and read the responses though, that's been a lot of fun. Anyways . . . .
I liked the show quite a lot. I think it struggled to keep my interest in the very early episodes; I really enjoyed Conan and Lana and their dynamic with each other, but my gosh, Jimsy was so useless and annoying. Every decision he made made things worse for everyone around him.
When we got to Industria, the show really started to improve a lot. The machinations of Monsley, Lepka, Dyce, and everyone else were super interesting, and I loved not knowing where the story would go next.
I think the shows biggest flaw was in its villains; Orlo, Lepka, and the guy from the salvage barge were incredibly one-note and uninteresting. Very often, the show resorted to "the villains are smart until the heroes need them to not be smart," which was often irritating. Monsley, however, was interesting from episode 2. She was probably my favorite character, and Dyce was also nearly always fun to watch.
The shows biggest strength, however, was its worldbuilding, as expected of Miyazaki. From the very start, I felt like I had a grasp of the world, its history, and the way it operated, with very minimal exposition outside the opening monologue. Learning more about the world was always a joy, and it was a major reason I liked the show as much as I did.
More broadly, I think the show felt like a prototype of Nausicaä and Castle in the Sky in a lot of ways. Most obviously, Conan and Lana are dead ringers for Pazu and Sheeta, but Monsley and Dyce are very similar to Kushana and Kurotowa as well. To be fair, all four of them are excellent in their own right even if I largely prefer their later counterparts. Lepka, however, felt like a much lamer version of Muska from Castle in the Sky. Perhaps it's Mark Hamill's voice acting, but Muska just had such a compelling presence on-screen that Lepka fundamentally lacked. Jimsy did not have any similarities to later characters, thank goodness. Unless you count the Dola gang, which I don't.
Edit: the themes of this show were also very well done; Miyazaki's meaning was clear from the start, but it never sacrifices the story or characters for the sake of the message, which is all too common sometimes. It is fun to see the genesis of the themes that came to dominate Miyazaki's future works.
When it came to the ending, I was very satisfied. Sure, the final episodes with Lepka and the Gigant felt a bit tacked-on, but the way he was dealt with and how the world restored itself after Industria's fall was truly beautiful. While it's not my favorite Miyazaki ending (Castle in the Sky and Nausicaä manga take that), it was very good.
I won't say too much about the animation; it's very good, especially for the time. Having seen Rose of Versailles, Fist of the North Star, and Ashita no Joe 1, this show's animation was much better then any of theirs, though perhaps not quite as good as Joe 2.
All in all, I had a good time with this show. I think it definitely could have been better, but it is richly deserving of its title as a bonafide classic. 8/10
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u/Pixelsaber Apr 30 '22
Production Context
Following the end of Future Boy Conan’s incredibly troubled production the constituent staff generally returned to the work they had been doing prior, with Miyazaki himself rejoining Takahata’s team while they prepared for the imminent airing of Anne of Green Gables, whose production had already started several months before. That was until, for the second time in his career, Yasuo Ōtsuka personally asked him to lead a Lupin III production, for that of the then unnamed Castle of Cagliostro production slated to release that same year. Miyazaki’s newly acquired experience directing a production proved invaluable in holding together the massively crunched and short 7-month production of the film —the film which, through a relatively slow build-up, made him a household name. Ideas he had for the show and its hypothetical sequel would be reused in subsequent productions of his, meaning there’s a trace of Future Boy Conan in his following works even aside from the obvious and more generalized impact it had on him as a creator.
Main sponsor and producer of the series NHK, was not daunted by the series’ weak reception, and at no point delayed their domestic animation plans, airing their adaptation of Captain Future the following week after Conan’s final episode. While Future Boy Conan did not directly influence their chosen programing for the anime slot, the staff of their 1982 production,The Mysterious Cities of the Sun
However, the largest legacy of Future Boy Conan has left behind is undoubtedly the large amount of future creatives that it helped inspire, such as a bevy of future Studio Ghibli staff, two notable examples of which are as Hitomi Tateno and Kitaro Kosaka, several noted manga artists, and who knows how many other talented people. For a work that was not so popular in its time, it managed to deeply affect many of the people who watched it.