Future Boy Conan

Future Boy Conan (未来少年コナン) is an anime series, which premiered across Japan on the NHK network between April 4 and October 31, 1978 on the Tuesday 19:30-20:00 timeslot. The official English title used by Nippon Animation is Conan, The Boy in Future.

Spanning a total of 26 episodes, the series was produced by Nippon Animation and featured the likes of Hayao Miyazaki (director, character designs, storyboards), Isao Takahata (storyboards) and Yoshiyuki Tomino (storyboards). It is an adaptation of Alexander Key's novel The Incredible Tide.

A video game version of the series by Telenet Japan was released in 1992 on NEC's PC Engine console. The game was released on the Super CD-Rom format and was only available in Japan.

Story
The story begins in July 2008, during a time when mankind is faced with the threat of extinction. A devastating war fought between two major nations with ultra-magnetic weapons far greater than anything seen earlier brings about total chaos and destruction throughout the world, resulting in several earthquakes and tidal waves, the earth thrown off its axis, its crust being rocked by massive movements, and the five continents being torn completely apart and sinking deep below the sea.

An attempt by a group of people to flee to outer space failed, with their spaceships being forced back to earth and vanishing, thus shattering their hopes. But one of the spaceships narrowly escaped destruction and crash landed on a small island which had miraculously survived the devastation. The crew members of the spaceship settled there, as if they were seeds sown on the island.

Amidst these survivors, a boy named Conan is born on October 2010, bringing a new ray of hope to the earth. After several years, during which most of the other survivors had died and the only people left on the island were Conan and his grandfather, he meets a young girl named Lana, and their adventure begins.

Between the different islands left in the world: Industria, High Harbor, Rambent, and others, the group travel and conflict rises between good and evil.

Characters

 * Conan (コナン)
 * The main protagonist of the series, Conan, is an 11 year old boy who grew up on the island and was raised by his grandfather. Conan is very strong, and can even hang from a ledge using only his toes. Conan is friends with Lana.


 * Lana (ラナ)
 * Lana who is also 11, is the first non-Remnant Island inhabitant, and the first girl Conan sees. Lana is the granddaughter of Dr. Lao, and Lepka wants to use her to get Lao to tell him the secret of solar power. Lana is referred to as possessing ESP, allowing her to communicate with a tern named Tikki, as well as sense the presence of her grandpa. She comes from High Harbour.


 * Grandpa (おじい)
 * Conan's elderly grandfather, who's alive after their spaceship crashes on the remnant island in the first episode.


 * Monsley (モンスリー)
 * A young commander of Industria's armed forces, Monsley is the second non-Islander Conan sees. Piloting the flying boat Falco, she follows Lepka's orders by helping capture Lana, and eventually leading the invasion of Industria to conquer the High Habor. Ultimately after the lost battle in the High Harbor, Monsley renounces Lepka's ambitions, and joins with Conan against him.


 * Jimsy (ジムシィ)
 * A wild boy living alone on the first island Conan arrives at, Jimsy quickly becomes Conan's first 'companion', helping him rescue Lana. Jimsy is a master hunter, and motivated by his stomach.


 * Dyce (ダイス)
 * Dyce is a citizen of Industria, and the captain of the ship Barracuda. He was ordered to kidnap Lana prior to the start of series, but let her escape due to his obsession with his captive. Dyce is initially a comedic villain in the show, but eventually becomes one of Conan's allies.


 * Lepka (レプカ)
 * The head of administration of Industria, Lepka technically serves under the Industria High Council, a group of scientists. However over the course of the series he becomes the sole dictator of Industria, and the primary antagonist. Lepka desires to extract the secret of solar power from Lao to power his weapons, allowing him to rule over what remains of the world.


 * Dr. Lao (ラオ博士)
 * The grandfather of Lana, the main scientist responsible for the development of solar power for both civil and wartime usage. Originally a member of the Industrian High Council, he defected after he learned of Lepka's ambitions. He believes that the people of Industria must be taught to discard their weapons, and begin new lives. For this reason he escapes, bringing with him the secret of how to access the orbiting solar power station from pre-war times.


 * Umasou (うまそう)
 * Umasou is Jimsy's piglet, "umasou" which means "Look Delicious" in Japan.


 * Orlo (オーロ)
 * The coward and the traitor of the High Harbor, he follows the Industria and has an evil plot to become a leader of High Habor then he gives a demand to everyone to give up Industria.


 * Tera (テラ)
 * Orlo's younger sister, she's injured by a rocket from Industria's soldiers and is the second leader of Orlo's men.

Anime
Future Boy Conan first aired across Japan on the NHK TV network between April 4 and October 31, 1978, during the Tuesday, 7:30pm timeslot. It has been regularly broadcast across Japan on the anime satellite television network, Animax, who have also later translated and dubbed the series into English for broadcast across its respective English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia, under the title Conan, The Boy In Future.

The series was also translated into numerous other languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin,  French, Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Basque, Portuguese, Korean, Turkish and Arabic, being broadcast across Europe, Latin America, the Arab World, and numerous other regions.

Staff

 * Original story: Alexander Key (The Incredible Tide)
 * Planning and production: Nippon Animation
 * Executive producer: Kōichi Motohashi
 * Production manager: Mitsuru Takakuwa
 * Planning: Shōji Satō (Nippon Animation)
 * Producers: Junzō Nakajima, Shigeo Endō
 * Script: Kenshō Nakano/Sōji Yoshikawa/Tetsu Kurumi
 * Music: Shin'ichirō Ikebe
 * Character designs: Hayao Miyazaki/Yasuo Ōtsuka
 * Chief animation director: Yasuo Ōtsuka
 * Art director: Nizo Yamamoto
 * Sound director: Shigeharu Shiba
 * Storyboards: Hayao Miyazaki (ep.1~4,8,12,15~19,22~26), Keiji Hayakawa (ep.3&4,8,12,15), Isao Takahata (ep.7,9&10,13,20), Seiji Okuda (ep.5&6), Yoshiyuki Tomino (ep.14,21), Noboru Ishiguro (ep.11), Takayoshi Suzuki (ep.17)
 * Animation checker: Hidemi Maeda
 * Animation Assistance: OH! Production: Johji Manabe, Kazuhide Tomonaga, Koichi Murata, Shojuro Yamauchi, Shunji Saida
 * Backgrounds: Atelier Rourke: Masamichi Takano, Taisaburō Abe, Junji Kasahara
 * Photography: Tokyo Animation Film: Hitoshi Kaneko, Masatatsu Shimizu
 * Editing: Takeshi Seyama
 * Film developers: Tōyo Genzōsho
 * Effects: Hidenori Ishida
 * Sound recording: Kunio Kuwabara
 * Sound production: Omnibus Promotion
 * Sound studio: Cinebeam
 * Sound Effects: Ishida Sound Production (now Fizz Sound Creation): Hidenori Ishida
 * Co-director: Keiji Hayakawa
 * Assistant directors: Takayoshi Suzuki, Ken'ichi Baba
 * Production assistants: Nobuaki Hosoda (ep.1~26), Kazuhiko Hoshīde, Kōji Takeuchi, Shūji Uchiyama, Yoshimasa Kanda
 * Finish checker and color design: Michiyo Yasuda
 * Episode directors: Hayao Miyazaki (ep.1~26), Isao Takahata (ep.9&10), Keiji Hayakawa (ep.11~26)
 * Director: Hayao Miyazaki
 * Production: Nippon Animation, NHK

Theme songs

 * Opening theme: Ima Chikyū ga Mezameru (今地球がめざめる) (performance: Naozumi Kamata, Yūko Yamaji)
 * Ending theme: Shiawase no Yokan (幸せの予感) (performance: Naozumi Kamata, Yūko Yamaji)
 * Italian theme: "Conan" (performance: Giorgia Lepore)

Popularity in the Arab World
The show was very popular in the Arab World and still is today. Conan's name was changed to Adnan and Lana's name was changed to Leina so that they could have names similar to Arabic names. A DVD version was released for most of the episodes with the anime dubbed into the Arabic language.