Fantastic Children

Publisher
Beez Entertainment
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes aprox. 25 minutes each
Year
2004

Fantastic Children - Volume 4

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
13th Jun 07

The long awaited meeting between the “Children of Befort” and Helga, Thoma and Chitto at the end of volume three could easily have meant turning the outstanding Fantastic Children mediocre. Thankfully volume four continues to tell a strong story with both an emotional and visual beauty.

The episodes of this volume are mainly flashbacks…the first episode on this disc titled “Recollections” begins showing various parts of Professor Gherta of the Ged Group’s childhood and how she joined the Ged Group. We then return to Helga and the others as she begins to recollect her two previous incarnations as Serafine and Christina (Christina’s story actually begins in the second episode on this disc). Both the stories surrounding Christina and Serafine although short are extremely emotional more so than you might expect from small side-plots and this shows just how much thought seems to have been put into this series. In episode two, and for the remaining episodes of this disc, after Christina’s short and tragic tale leads into the life of Princess Tina.

The Tina story begins with the young princess on planet Greece lost as a child in the mist, separated from her childhood friend Seth, she is helped back to civilization by a young boy whose body is half made from steel. Several years later and Tina meets the metal boy, Soran again but he is now a palace guard, and the best friend of Seth. We’re re-introduced to the “Children of Befort”, although be it as seven young adult scientists rather than freaky children, who are taping into Orsel energy by experimenting with the Zone of Death, meanwhile in the background the King’s brother is trying to take the throne by any means. Tina is caught up in a terrorist attack by her uncle and a distraught and nearly insane King begs the scientists to help Tina…and things get worse from there on in.

By going into the past of Princess Tina this opens up new elements of the story, we’re introduced to new characters, new sub-plots but more importantly a new setting. Some anime series get stuck in a rut after their mid-point, the story is often padded out or uses filler episodes where the cast visit a beach or hot spring (or a beach-side hot spring) for a change of scenery. Although we know that the story of Tina and Soran is going to end in tragedy (as Tina’s spirit ends up on Earth) the show makes you care enough to see how this comes about. The scenes involving the “Children of Befort” as scientists with the best of intentions just pull on the heart strings, especially those between Palza and Mel. At times it feels like you’re watching a completely different show, with stunning sci-fi/fantasy landscapes and technology getting destroyed by Tina’s accidental use of Orsel energy.

The flashback of Tina’s life doesn’t concluded in this volume, continuing into the next, but will likely end soon as there are still a lot of issues left for out characters to resolve on Earth before perhaps resolving the problems of Greece. As amazing and enjoyable as these episodes are, the series doesn’t really seem to be moving forward that much and thus concerns about where the series will go from here still remain, as essentially we still appear to be in the same place we were at the end of volume three.

Still there are a few minor grumbles, like the English dub not being very good, and the strange reason for knocking off the opening credits when viewing the episodes in bulk. Fantastic Children volume four still manages to keep telling a great story with good pacing, beautiful visuals and a musical score that is just simply amazing.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English/French/Japanese Audio, English/French Subtitles, Clean opening and closing animations, Trailers.

Release information: Publisher: Beez Running Time - 100 mins Classification: PG Released - 19 Mar 2007

Notes: Sadly Fantastic Children dosen't offer much in the way of extras..but when the series itself is so good it is forgivable.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 13th Jun 07

Fantastic Children Images