Wow, this was quite a ride. 26 amazing episodes and damn were they good.
A story that's not just complex, but if talked about in the slightest of ways, could be considered a spoiler, it's incredible. From 26 episodes, only one was a filler or rather, retelling of the events thus far, every other single episode had fantastic direction and purpose. We follow Thoma, Chitto and Helga for a large portion of the story. With the three kids, we also have a pack of children looking for someone very important; white haired, blue eyed kids. The story revolves around these two groups of people and the way the story opens up; it's always done deliberately. The lore behind what's going on is just as interesting as everything else about Fantastic Children; it's weird, it's very sci-fi and odds are, you won't really know what's going on until halfway through the show where things really pick up pace, though believe me, the show starts off quite quickly and almost never slows down.
The animation and artstyle used in Fantastic Children, almost reminds me of Akira Toriyama's art style. The faces and especially the eyes of most children and cast, shouted Akira Toriyama inspired to me; not that anything is wrong with that either, since it works pretty well in Fantastic Children. The colors used too, are pretty diluted and muddy, compared to what I've been watching lately. Animation though, is pretty good, most things come off as fluid and smooth with enough detail where it needs to be, so nice job. The way it's all drawn though, is what makes Fantastic Children look so..well... fantastic! I never thought it was boring or dull at all.
The only problem I had was, Fantastic Children loved to have the eyes shake or rather vibrate at intense speeds.... A lot of shock and awe happens in the show, so every time someone is shocked, their eyes start shaking, honestly, after seeing it happen 5+ times, I was a little annoyed of the effect and it almost made me mad.
One of the best things about Fantastic Children however, is the use of music. My goodness, I don't believe there was a single episode that didn't use an arrangement of music at all. The orchestrated sounds that came into effect when a story element was being exposed was flawless. The piano arrangements were superb and a delight to listen to as well. In-fact, all the music that I heard whilst watching Fantastic Children was remarkable, well timed and just perfect for the emotions and feelings they (creators and what-not) tried to get across. Absolutely adore the music used.
The cast of characters and the seiyu that went along with them was pretty good too. I didn't really like Chitto much and I hated having to listen to all the short "ah's" and "oh's" and breaths. There would be like 5 minute long expositions for story elements where characters would watch in terror at what was happening "ah'ing" and taking breaths in fear. Honestly was a little annoying. The worst thing about it all though, was having to listen to Thoma scream. I absolutely hated that; even if it didn't happen often or much at all, the screams he did was just so... obnoxious almost. Aside from those few things, everyone did a great job and just listening to the cast/seiyu was really nice.
I think one of the absolute best things about Fantastic Children is that it takes itself very seriously. It's a serious story about serious interactions that take place on a series of islands. In-fact, the combination of how the story is presented and the way the music is played during episodes, I swear I must have had goosebumps on me for atleast 18 of the episodes; not because they're scary, but because the overall effect given was enough to give me the heebie-jeebies!
If you're looking for something different, with a nice sci-fi element to the show, with a story that is very wild, take a look at Fantastic Children. Try and watch an episode or two, I feel like most would get sucked in for sure.
