, also known as Conan, The Boy in Future, is a Japanese post-apocalyptic science fiction anime series. It is an adaptation of American science-fiction writer Alexander Key's 1970 novel The Incredible Tide. It was broadcast for twenty-six episodes on NHK General TV between April and October 1978.
A spin-off series, aired for twenty-four episodes on TBS from October 1999 to April 2000.
Story
The story begins in July 2008, during a time when mankind is faced with the threat of extinction. A devastating war fought with ultra-magnetic weapons far greater than anything seen earlier brings about a post-apocalyptic world, resulting in several earthquakes and tsunamis. The Earth is thrown off its axis, its crust rocked by massive movements, and the continents are torn completely apart and sink deep below the sea.
An attempt by a group of people to flee to outer space failed, with their spaceships being forced back on Earth and crashing on a small desert and dry island. Although initially desperate, the survivors discover that the crash landing has opened a freshwater well, and gradually life returns to the island. The crew members of the spaceship gradually settle on what they call 'Remnant Island' and they lead a simple and happy life as an extended family. A new baby, Conan, is eventually born within the community in October 2010.
Year after year the older survivors die off in their isolation and unaware of the sort of humanity beyond the small island, until the only people left are Conan and his adoptive grandfather. One day Conan finds on the beach a young girl named Lana, the first stranger and person of his own age whom he had ever known. Lana was raised on another surviving island called High Harbor, where a simple society has re-developed in close contact with nature. She has ended up on Conan's island while trying to escape from abduction by the crew of the Barracuda, a sailing ship from the leftover of the old world, Industria. Industria is in desperate need of energy, having barely managed to continue its highly industrialized economy through careful husbandry of a backup nuclear reactor, and devolving into a caste-based dystopia. The main resource of highly concentrated orbital-based solar power has become unavailable after the disappearance of Lana's grandfather, Dr. Lao, who has gone into hiding after the war in order to avoid further military usage of his research: a power that could rebuild the world, but which was also the weapon that brought humanity to the brink of apocalypse during the last conflict.
Soon another crew from Industria manages to locate Lana. In the altercation, Conan's grandfather is killed and the boy is initially abandoned alone on the now-desert island. He decides to take his chances with the unknown ocean on a simple raft, in order to try and save his new friend Lana. In his journey he first meets another young boy, Jimsy, who grew up in semi-feral status on yet another island, where the Barracuda makes regular trips in order to acquire plastic rubbish to be converted back into oil at the Industria facilities. The rubbish is mined by the impoverished and still war-traumatized local population, in exchange for simple trinkets, alcoholic beverages and surrogate cigarettes.
Conan and Jimsy soon begin to socialize and also decide to raid the ship, respectively to save Lana and to steal its goods. The attempt fails and they are punished and forced into labor by the captain. The group is eventually brought to Industria and separated and reunited again various times, as the situation on that island further degenerates due to further natural disasters and the deteriorating social fabric, turning more and more into a dictatorship under the Director. Over the course of the story, he is the only irredeemable figure, devoid of any scruples and ever greedy for power at any cost. All the other characters, including the minor ones, develop significantly in response to events and in particular after being exposed to the selfless example of Conan. A pure love story also develops with Lana. After multiple separations and various challenges, the group eventually locates Dr. Lao, restores access to solar power just in time to salvage another ship and evacuate Industria just before another cataclysmic earthquake, and finally destroys the super-weapon which the Director was trying to deploy in order to maintain his hegemony over High Harbour and all the other remaining lands. As the last legacy of the society responsible for the apocalypse dies off, nature continues its recovery process, new families are founded, and the younger, still innocent but now more mature Lana and Conan set sail to build a new world that keeps only the positive aspects of the past.
Characters
Conan is a fearless 11-year-old boy who was born on Remnant Island and raised by all survivors of a failed escape attempt into space from the Great Disaster. Conan is very attuned to his rural, secluded lifestyle, where he has grown up mainly in the company of the oldest surviving crew member, his adoptive grandfather. Conan is inexperienced but an intelligent, strong, and exceptional athlete, underwater swimmer, and spear-fisher. Despite his lack of social exposure, he is gentle and can quickly integrate among strangers. Deciding to rescue Lana in a self-constructed sailboat after his grandfather's killing and Lana's subsequent capture, Conan meets new friends and acquaintances while becoming caught up in Lepka's plots for Industria and High Harbor.
Lana is a quiet, soft-spoken girl from High Harbor and the granddaughter of Dr. Lao, to whom she is very devoted. Lana, who is also 11 years old, is found by Conan as she washed up unconscious on the shore of Remnant Island. She is the first girl, or person altogether beside his grandfather, whom the boy has ever seen. His initial curiosity and infatuation gradually develop into deeper feelings and reciprocal desire to stay together, no matter risks and adversities. Lana appears to also have some telepathic connection with her grandfather Dr. Rao, and to some extent also with birds and in particular a tern named Tikki. As her affection for Conan grows, a similar empathic bond also begins to form with the boy.
Jimsy is a semi-feral boy living alone on the first island Conan arrives at, Jimsy quickly becomes Conan's first friend, helping him rescue Lana. Jimsy is a master hunter (with a particular preference for grilled frogs and lizards), proficient in hunting with his bow and able to compete with Conan in other athletic skills almost to a draw. He has a good but rather hedonistic and wild nature, which tends to place him in troubles as he attempts to steal food, liquor and surrogate cigarettes. Jimsy ends up spending most of his time with Dyce after Conan and Lana are separated from the party. Initially, Jimsy has a negative view on women, but he gradually forms a relationship with Tera at the end of the series.
The head of administration of Industria, Lepka technically serves under the Industria High Committee, a group of benevolent but old and naive scientists. Over the course of the series he becomes increasingly tyrannical and eventually stages a coup to become the sole dictator of Industria. He is the primary antagonist, cruel even with his loyal accomplices and always greedy for power, even attempting to restore a war-time superweapon to rule over what remains of the world.
The grandfather of Lana, and the scientist responsible for the development of solar power for both civil and wartime usage. Originally a member of Industria's High Council, he defected after he learned of Lepka's power-driven ambitions, and hid under the cover identity of a hard-handed salvaging crew captain named Patch. He believes that the people of Industria must be taught to discard their weapons and begin new lives in peace. For this reason he escaped, bringing with him the secret of how to access the last orbiting solar power station from pre-war times.
The young assistant director of Industria's Administration forces. As a young girl, she was her family's only survivor when the final war broke out and the Earth was devastated; and as a result of that tragedy, she became a harsh, uncaring enforcer. She is tasked by Lepka to capture Lana, and eventually leads the invasion of Industria against High Harbor. However, as she encounters Conan, she is gradually swayed by his unwavering courage and sincerity, and eventually joins him and his friends in taking down Lepka.
Dyce is a citizen of Industria, and the captain of the plastic-salvaging ship Barracuda. He was originally ordered to track down Dr. Briac Lao, Lana's grandfather, and convey the girl to Industria, but ended up developing an affection for Lana, enabling her to escape to Remnant Island. Fed up with Lepka's cruelty towards Lana, he eventually becomes one of Conan's allies, helping to overthrow Industria's regime in their exploits. He is a comically inept character, and often makes it out alive only by pure luck in his fights with Industria's forces.
The leader of an underground cell composed of Industria's lower-class/slave citizenry. He is an old ally of Dr. Lao in the latter's attempts to improve the lives of the city's downtrodden people, and was repeatedly arrested and charged and even branded for rebellion. During one stint in prison, he and his compatriots are freed by Conan and in turn aid him and his friends in navigating the underground city beneath Industria's Triangle Tower, which is riddled with secret passages only the resistance knows about.
Orlo is the young, rebellious leader of a rogue gang based in the mountains of High Harbor, who tax whoever the gang catches crossing their territory. He originates from a village of herders on the other side of High Harbor island, but turned into a bullying outlaw after he found honest work to be unsatisfactory. He plots to become the leader of High Harbor, thus cooperates with the Industrians when they invade the island, bringing down the villager's defenses. However, when a tidal wave hits the island and the Industrians subsequently surrender, his plans are permanently dashed. In the end, he finds his place back among his fellow islanders.
Orlo's younger sister, about the same age as Conan and Jimsy, and the deputy leader of Orlo's men. She and Jimsy quickly take a liking to each other, but their radically diverging views of life prevent them from reaching a common ground at first. During the Industrian invasion of High Harbor, she is rescued by Jimsy and Conan, which breaks down the barrier between them, and they become a couple.
Conan's adoptive and elderly grandfather, who raised him on Remnant Island. Originally part of a crew of people escaping from the largely destroyed Earth, their spaceship crashed back down, miraculously landing on Remnant Island, with all the members surviving, including Conan's grandfather. With every other crew member dying soon after Conan's birth, he was left to raise Conan alone for 11 years, taking him as his adopted grandson. However, after being attacked by Industrian soldiers during Lana's abduction, he dies from his injuries. In the later course of his adventures, however, Conan encounters an Industrian low-class citizen who bears a striking resemblance to his grandfather.
Umasō is Jimsy's pet piglet which he acquired after becoming a pig herder on High Harbor Island.
Kuzo is one of Monsley's subordinates.
Production Spanning a total of 26 episodes, the series was produced by Nippon Animation and featured the solo directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki, who also contributed to character designs and storyboards. It is the only television series Miyazaki fully directed. Other future prominent anime creators like Isao Takahata (storyboards, directing) and Yoshiyuki Tomino (storyboards) also worked on the series.