Fantastic Children

First watched shortly after its airing in 2004 - 2005, and loved it for its atmosphere and how it respected the audience to see the foreshadowing and storylines come together. I remembered it for great storytelling.

Fast forward 20 years to 2025. On this second watch, almost a fresh experience, the storytelling strengths remain true. Aside from a mid-way recap episode, from start to finish, Fantastic Children unfolds a well-paced, engaging story. Along the way, it introduces many characters you want to know more about or want to root for, like the headstrong Tohma and all of the so-called Befort children. When one of their members ... leave, it takes only a few scenes to relay the feelings of pain, resignation, yearning, and resolution the rest feel, even if it takes quite a bit more time to fully understand why, and this is done with barely any dialogue. There are few wasted scenes. When conflicts arise, they hurt because by then, the characters matter. Throughout, the mysteries are intriguing and this story doesn't sell those out early. The multiple character narratives come together in a tense climax and fairly satisfying ending.

What is distracting and less appealing on this second watch is the characterization of one protagonist (let's say Person A). Almost bereft of personality and agency, Person A seems to exist only to reflect what others want, and is hard to develop empathy for. Ironic that Person A is the foci for almost all the action in the story, the lodestar driving all the major characters (and then some). There are disturbing monologues where more than one character tells Person A that everything they've done is for them and insist that Person A must therefore be or do as they wish. This doesn't particularly reflect well on these other characters, and complicates a viewer's connection with them. This may be intended, since after all, people are gray and messy, but this behavior is directed at a bafflingly unengaging character.

Overall, Fantastic Children is a worthwhile watch for a science fiction anime with a largely well-constructed story. Takashi Nakamura, with an impressive animator's pedigree, wrote and directed this original story. The art style, while dated, is still lovely. The orchestral soundtrack doesn't draw attention to itself but complements the story and action. The beautiful ending song is sung by the stunning vocalist, Origa.

When I say that Fantastic Children is a slow burn, I really mean it. You take that into account right now if you're thinking about sitting down to give this anime a watch. It's not even as much of a slow burn as it is a downright smolder. So, let's start there, with the story- this anime's strongest and weakest aspect. I consider myself a pretty patient person. I'm willing to give an anime quite a bit of time to do what it needs to do, because sometimes it just needs to cook for a while to stick the landing, and all the waiting can ... be worth it if executed well. However, Fantastic Children takes a whopping 13 episodes to really get going- that's half the show! over 5 hours of buildup until things really start getting interesting, and even that's a generous estimation. An argument could be made that episode 14, 15, or even 16 is when things actually start to come together for the show. In any case, it's one hell of a trek to get to the meat of this show. Still, that'd be forgivable if it managed to wow me, but despite its themes and complexity, it still didn't quite feel like it was really worth the wait in the end. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad show, and the second half really is pretty great, but it's not amazing in the kind of way that would make such a huge lead-up worth it. It almost feels as though they were handed a 26-episode run and had to inflate their story and pad for time to fit what they were given. Some of this falls at the feet of one of the protagonists, Thoma, who feels like he should somehow be important, but doesn't really feel that way until the very end, and even that feels contrived. Him and his whole storyline almost feel like filler, like his positioning as a major protagonist from the very beginning is some kind of misdirection. This is all still the case even as they throw you right into the middle of the action from episode 1, which is still not enough to mitigate its rather ponderous plot progression. Anyway, getting right to the thematic substance of the show, it does have a conceptually interesting, multifaceted mystery that it explores, even if it does so perhaps a little too slowly. It touches on wild, wide-ranging themes from life, death, and extraterrestrials, to familial trauma, reincarnation, and the place of science in civilization, and it is satisfying to see these themes really dwelt on and considered by the characters. Then, when it does hit its crescendo, where all of these things come together, the result is a real spectacle, a reckoning that is swift and grand and touches on all the disparate threads that had been slowly unraveling to that exact moment.

As for the art, it is an interesting, somewhat simple style that feels like an oddly fitting choice. While at first glance it might seem more suited to a children's show or SoL, it quickly reveals itself more than capable of handling uncertainty, rage, and terror. The strongest aspect of the art is the way it handles color, being so restrained and measured in its application, until it comes time to put the full spectrum on display for some fiery moment, or beautiful panning shot.

The sound is pretty good, with voice work that is emotional and compelling, though many of the children don't really sound like children per-se. The soundtrack is also solid, with a good mix of strings and piano for a contemplative, emotional soundscape, though it doesn't have much variety.

The characters are very strong, with each individual in this rather sizable cast feeling propelled by their own goals and motivations, their lives and journeys intersecting almost by happenstance. It's hard to choose, but of them my favorites are Helga and Detective Cooks. Helga starts out a quiet and mysterious girl, who for the longest time has only a tenuous connection to the story at large, but rapidly becomes more important, and without getting into spoilers, it is the way in which she handles this sudden importance that makes her so interesting, as it feels mature, thoughtful, and a good reflection on the kind of morals the story is trying to convey about accepting change and developing with it over time. Meanwhile, Detective Cooks starts out very important, but rapidly becomes less so as he figures out more aspects of the mystery and finds himself totally swept up in it. I feel like his strength comes from his questions being many of the same questions the viewer has, and also for his genuinely human buddy cop kind of situation with the woman Alice who was sent to monitor his work and ends up coming along for the ride. Overall, Fantastic Children is a show with a complex, genuinely fascinating story that explores a ton of interesting concepts, but falls just short of doing those concepts justice. It's still a good time in the second half, but one can't help but feel like the price to get there is still just a little too high for what it ends up being.

The anime is as horrible as its animation. It looks like the producers watched some better anime, then took what they found good as ingredients for this one. They chose to make a “centuries-long mystery” as a mystery apparently means the viewer doesn’t need to know much details. Also limit the dialogue and add repetition to the recipe to cut the costs even more, and you get their business plan to get wealthy with minimal effort.
This is probably the reason that fear emotions have to be shown on every face of every character and in sequence because a total group reaction would make the ... episode shorter. In the beginning it does make you wonder what terrible event is happening, but it gets boring quick.
And as the anime continues you find out that there is actually no reason for fear or it gives even more questions. Repetitions of fearful events is the strategy, and it is stalling the viewer with as little information as possible.
Also the characters are on the move a lot, again slowing down the flow of the story. Especially if you see another long chase ending by someone teleporting away, why didn’t that happen immediately… Ah yes it is as logical as having soldiers fight with swords, while having also laser weapons, some ingredients don’t mix well.
There are so many repetitive events, combined with characters that are totally not necessary to the story (like the detective and the woman that is following him). A waste of time that could have been used better to give details for certain decisions. No wonder the story is full of plot holes.
The only way they make the story flow is to have someone appear at the right spot or at the right time listening in when someone else is telling some secret or information. It gives you a world with so much unused space and open doors everywhere as people need to be able to hide in it.

All the characters are so very very empty, they just do something because the plot demands it. You could be positive and say that the story is about love that survives through space and time. But in the anime this apparently applies only for the 2 main characters, others experiencing similar events abandon their loved ones quite easily.
But even those 2 main characters offer nothing else. Being their friend doesn’t keep them from flying away, leaving you heavily wounded behind. All that while knowing those wounds came from trying to save them. It all just happens to get some form of a story, but with scripted characters.
The only fun I had was jokingly predict the worst choice that the royal mother could make, and then seeing it actually happen.
Conclusion: It is not worth watching.