Hacker Cinema
Future Boy Conan
未来少年コナン
1978 · TV series · 29 min episodes · 1 season
AnimationActionAdventureScience FictionFantasyFamily
After the great disaster of 2008, a war that destroyed the planet, the world is now largely ocean with the continents having sunk. Conan lives on a remote island with his grandpa and nature, never having seen another human being. But one day a mysterious girl, Lana, washes up on his beach. The two become quick friends, but she’s soon kidnapped and taken to Industria, a technological remainder from the world before. Conan leaves his island in pursuit, braving new lands and many hardships with new friends and enemies just beyond the horizon.
7 positive1 neutralfrom 8 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
9 comments on Hacker News
Probably can't call it underrated, but some of Hayao Miyazaki's lesser known work is also some of my favorite.
One example is the On Your Mark [1] music video, which is possibly the only time he went into cyberpunk, and despite being a few minutes long and having no dialog it has amazing world-building and storytelling.
Future Boy Conan (Mirai Shōnen Konan) [2] is a great TV series by him that doesn't get mentioned enough IMO.
1: https://vimeo.com/394801904
2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Boy_Conan
Future boy Conan is one of my absolute favourite tv shows and it feels so pertinent to our current time. I recommend it to others often, but no one takes a chance on it :(
Aside from the feature films, also don’t forget:
• his one major manga/graphic novel, Nausicaä
• Future Boy Conan (TV series)
• Panda Kopanda (aka Panda! Go, Panda!) (two short films)
• the five episodes of Sherlock Hound he directed
• On Your Mark (music video)
(of course, there’s more)
For a great, under appreciated (in the west) Miyazaki series pre-Ghibli, check out “Future Boy Conan”[0]. It’s my personal favourite, and all 3 of my boys (and my wife) have watched it multiple times. It’s the source of a lot of Ghibli tropes, and I think they were expertly executed.
Of course it’s nice that it’s a TV series, so you get to spend that much longer in the world with the characters.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Boy_Conan
There's a reason that Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, the anime about making anime that made a New York Times "Best TV Shows of 2020" list[0], references Future Boy Conan as the original inspiration of one of the main character[1][2].
Also, Future Boy Conan apparently just got a new 4K release[3]
[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/arts/television/best-tv-shows.html
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwGakTUnxK8
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PddceZ_V124
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7_p48w45l8
> Future Boy Conan
Mirai Shōnen Konan ... I watched this with my kid when he was 7-ish ... man was that series great, my kid was addicted ... and yeah, it lasts for ever even though each episode is short.
The Castle Of Cagliostro is a fantastic movie. Inspired by a recent Miyazaki thread, I recently watched two TV series directed by him:
- Future Boy Conan
- Lupin III (partly Miyizaki, partly Takahata, partly other directors)
Lupin III was ok, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it (the TV series, as mentioned the film is excellent). But I would wholeheartedly recommend Future Boy Conan (also known as "Conan, The Boy in Future"). I thought this was every bit as good as his movies, with the bonus that it's almost 13 hours long in total.
I very heartily recommend the first Lupin the 3rd TV series [1]. The Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata episodes are of course excellent, but what surprised me when I watched the series (almost 20 years ago by now) were the first 6-7 episodes, directed by Masaaki Osumi, they had a (slight) bleakness to them that was really special.
Also, Future Boy Conan is really excellent, too. Its ending/credits song is one of the best ever when it comes to anime.
[1] https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=886
[2] https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=10588
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEq7m_6odoc
Possibly of interest to fans of Miyazaki Hayao's work is the series he did for Nippon Animation in '78: Future boy Conan[1]. Despite the cheesy name, in my opinion it is his greatest work. I have watched the complete 26 episodes of this series multiple times with my kids, and they've watched it on their own many times. Anyone I turn onto this series is absolutely slackjawed with how good it is. Most of the character archetypes, themes and famous sequences from his subsequent movies are to be found in this series.
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Boy_Conan