Strange Dawn

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: ストレンジ・ドーン

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 13

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 11, 2000 to Sep 26, 2000

Premiered: Summer 2000

Broadcast: Tuesdays at 18:30 (JST)

Producers: None found, add some

Licensors: Urban Vision

Studios: Hal Film Maker

Source: Original

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Duration: 20 min. per ep.

Rating: PG - Children

Statistics

Score: 6.54¹ (scored by 821 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score. Please note that 'Not yet aired' titles are excluded.

Ranked: #5583²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #6404

Members: 2,801

Favorites: 6

6.54

Ranked #5583Popularity #6404Members 2,801

Summer 2000TVHal Film Maker

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Episodes: /13

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Synopsis

Yuko and Eri are two normal girls who are sucked into the alternate world filled with tiny people. The people of this mysterious world sees them as their "Great Protectors" who can protect their land in a time of strife. The two girls set out on a mission with a group of warriors from the village to find out how they were brought here and how might they return home. However, there is a war brewing and these two Great Protectors are the political tool that every faction lusts for to rally the people to their side.

(Source: ANN)

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Background

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More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Miyabe, Yuko

Main

Shimizu, Kaori
Japanese

Natsuno, Eri

Main

Enomoto, Shouko
Japanese

Shall

Supporting

Itou, Kentarou
Japanese

Guji

Supporting

Aoba, Gou
Japanese

Gronar

Supporting

Levian

Supporting

Katsuki, Masako
Japanese

Shura

Supporting

Nemoto, Yasuhiko
Japanese

Sonchou

Supporting

Kimura, Masafumi
Japanese

Fusu

Supporting

Satou, Haruo
Japanese

Ortho

Supporting

More staff
Staff

Satou, Junichi

Co-Director, Sound Director, Storyboard, Original Creator

Koumoto, Shougo

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Fujimoto, Yoshitaka

Episode Director, Storyboard

Mano, Akira

Episode Director, Storyboard

Edit Opening Theme

"Sora e (空へ)" by Eri Kawai (eps 1-12)

Edit Ending Theme

#01: "Melody ni.." by Kaori Shimizu and Shouko Enomoto (eps 1-12)
#02: "Sora e (空へ)" by Eri Kawai (ep 13)

More reviewsReviews

Jul 14, 2011

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

Mimi_Taylor (All reviews)

17 people found this review helpful

If you quickly pass by Strange Dawn thinking that it’s just a happy little kid’s adventure, then I’m afraid that you’re missing out on some interesting drama and political, bloody battles that are packaged in a simple, yet very unique design. If you’ve ever seen Kaiba or Shadow Star Narutaru, you’d know not to judge an anime by its cover. Strange Dawn is one of those anime—it’s warm and childish on the outside, but thoughtful and serious on the inside.

STORY

At first glance, the story of Strange Dawn doesn’t sound very unique at all. Two high-school girls get sent to another world and are expected to read more

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Nov 29, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

ConstantReader (All reviews)

9 people found this review helpful

Very obscure anime that I saw all of one time as a kid Arabic dubbed on TV and finally found again after years of wondering if I'd imagined it. And it is beautiful. Children's rating though? That's a lie - the only reason anyone would have to believe that this is a children's anime is the fact that the characters look like little Teletubbies. But it's an anime with lots of blood and violence, themes of war, love triangles and melodrama - heck, there's even (somewhat...) an attempted rape scene! If there's one major problem it's the very abrupt ending, as if the show had been cancelled or something - but given that the beginning was just as out-of-nowhere and abrupt, it seemed kind of fitting.

The story talks about two high school girls, Natsuno Eri and Miyabe Yuko, who find themselves lost in a world inhabited by 'humans' that are barely 2 or 3 feet tall and have the body shapes of marshmallows. The anime literally just starts with them walking around in this world wondering where they are and how they got there, which I think is great; no time is wasted seeing what they were doing before they got there, or how they got there, or anything of the sort. The importance of the story happens in this fantasy world, and ends as soon as they leave.

The same could be said for the two main leads themselves actually, as while you're watching, you don't get the feeling the story is really about them either - they're just sort of there. There's nothing special about them other than the fact that they are three times the size of every other character, and the fact that their personalities are completely polar opposites. Insofar as the anime focuses on their struggles, it's mostly in the daily necessities that the fantasy world is sorely lacking in - bathrooms, sanitary napkins, a change of clothes - you know, the things that are never really addressed all that much in other anime, or any story really, that involves a character being transported to a past-times fantasy setting.

The real importance lies in the inhabitants of the fantasy world, the little people of Belzerg, who are trying to protect their village that's being caught in the middle of a war between two neighboring countries. These are the characters you'll find yourself caring about or hating, and these are the characters that go through trials and epiphanies and realizations by the end through their interactions with each other and the two main leads.

While I was watching the anime, I found myself able to enjoy it that much more after I decided to distance myself a bit from Miyabe and Natsuno and view them the way the little people did - as otherworldy beings with unimaginable powers, unable to empathize with human emotion. That way it made a bit more sense for their personalities to be so extreme, with Natsuno being quiet, uncertain, but trying to be helpful and Miyabe being loud, contrary, and completely uninterested. Even if you do try to put yourself in the girls' shoes though, when you think about it, their actions do still make sense - they don't really get full grasp of how serious these little people are taking their personal dramas and their war, and that their fights aren't just little squabbles but dangerous brawls with real weapons where people do die or get hurt, because the whole situation doesn't feel real to them, especially given the fact that, again, the little people look like baby Teletubbies.

Not to dump on the character designs though; they do look cute, and more importantly individualized, and the art and animation is actually more solid and fluid than you'd expect. I love the bright colors in the anime, and the music is simply breathtaking. The one that stands out the most would be the opening song. It was actually the opening theme I was looking for when I found this anime, as it was what I had remembered most from the Arabic dubbed version I'd seen before. It sounds just as gorgeous in its original Japanese as it did in Arabic, and I advise you to give both a listen even if you don't want to watch the rest of the anime. I actually hadn't planned to either, at the start, but after sampling the first few and continuing to end on a cliff hanger with each episode, I ended up watching the whole thing in two days (when I should have been studying for a midterm too...)

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Aug 15, 2017

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Arboria (All reviews)

4 people found this review helpful

Came across this when scouring around '00 for cute anime girls. It's actually pretty good, randomly. Doesn't look like anyone really watched it. Old-school isekai with two cute protagonists getting caught up in these little chibi people's war, and yeah it's real war they kill each other and use comfort women and such. I laughed for a minute straight when the little chibi guys made their initial appearance and just started murdering each other, but they've got a little wartime plotline with lots of interpersonal drama going on that is a little more sophisticated than you might expect.

When it comes down to it, I mainly read more

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Oct 31, 2017

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

ggultra2764 (All reviews)

2 people found this review helpful

Perceptions can be deceiving when one sees promotional artwork for Strange Dawn. What may seem like a children's anime on the surface with its tiny human characters and the two high school girls whisked away to their world actually offers a surprising maturity that you don't typically find with many titles aimed at younger viewers. Focused on high school girls Eri and Yuko being whisked away to another world and worshiped by its inhabitants as gods, the two girls find themselves at the center of a war between two kingdoms with both sides desiring to exploit the status of the girls for their personal gain.

The strongest strength that Strange Dawn has to offer up is the surprising depth it offers up with exploring its world and characters. The series believably explores the hostilities that take place between the kingdoms and isn't afraid to kill off its tiny characters with serious injuries and blood being on prominent display at a number of points in the series. A number of major characters within this world also get their focus to explore how the war's toll is affecting them with characters like Shall and Levian trying to do what they can to attempt to bring peace for their groups, while others like Dall are willing to manipulate others for their personal gain and are not afraid to sacrifice others if it ensures them power and status of some sort. There is also some subtlety that the series offers up in exploring the customs related to the tiny people in this series, a main one being the use of footwear symbolizing the closeness of relationships and social norms established within their culture.

Praises aside, Strange Dawn is not without its imperfections. The beginning and ending for the series come about rather suddenly with how Eri and Yuko wind up in the parallel world, as well as the resolution to the series that kind of feels like a deus ex machina with how things were progressing. The first half of the series can be a bit slow for some at moving things along as this is mostly used to focus on major characters and exploring the world Strange Dawn offers up.

In addition, Eri and Yuko seemed mostly worthless with their addition to the series. While Strange Dawn does believably explore the inconveniences both have from being whisked to another world such as lack of access to electronics or a toilet, they seem to mostly exist as observers of the show's events and contribute little to the series since they either largely go along with the direction of others in the case of Eri or being selfish and largely caring for their own needs as Yuko goes through.

Still in spite of its faults, Strange Dawn is still a surprisingly solid and mature children's anime that explores the hostilities of war faced among its inhabitants and the toll it can take on them. It is at least worth checking out once so you can get a feel for what the series offers up with its surprisingly mature storytelling.

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	Poll: Strange Dawn Episode 13 Discussion MaxCrazy7 - Oct 21, 2010	3 replies	by NatGa »» May 16, 2014 12:19 PM
	Anyone know how to get the rest of the series? nihon - Dec 13, 2008	6 replies	by aa-dono »» Nov 1, 2012 10:01 AM

Strange Dawn

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