Fantastic Children is a story about a group of children who appear to be immortal and in search of someone who is continually reborn every hundred years. The children are called The Children of Befort though the pacing of the show is such that not a lot of exposition takes place on the first volume of five episodes, so exactly what that means was unclear to me at the time of this initial writing. Apparently, they've wandered the globe as a group, searching for this missing link to the puzzle, for longer than any of them can remember. They are all around 11 years old in the sense that their memories are lost before puberty, forcing them to restart again though they have devised a means to store their memories in crystal form so they'll have a better chance of remembering their quest.

In terms of the timeline, it jumps around a bit at first, forcing the viewer to keep a close eye on the screen at all times, with the way the material is edited providing a bit of a challenge for fans to keep up with. As the episodes progress, the jumping around in time gets better (meaning that there is less of it) and the story easier to follow but the nature of the show is such that the director is trying to keep from providing spoilers himself, lending to the pacing that is sure to draw at least some complaints from those of you who enjoy action above all else. The series is largely set in 2012, a near future where things are much like they are currently, with some minor variations. The Befort Children get a lot of the initial attention, introducing them, a lose of one of their party to the authorities, and the introduction of a similar looking young man who is clearly from the same background, though on an opposing side, who is also searching for the missing girl in the mystery. Exactly what she means to all of them and how this will interact with the rest of the world is as yet undiscussed but it is certainly made up to be considered important to the parties searching for her.

If that were all that were on the table here, this would be one short review but there was more. That's right, the girl's side of the equation. Her name this time is Helga and she is befriended by a boy named Thoma who, along with her other friend Chitto, form the basis for the majority of the series from what I'm led to believe here. The two boys manage to free her from the clutches of the authorities who have put her in a reform school of sorts, led by a manipulative and untrustworthy headmaster who seems to have something illegal going on but it isn't openly mentioned either. The main story comes down to another "hunt down the missing girl with a secret past" style series although the factions involved this time seemed a bit less sure of who they were searching for and why.

The episodes this time were 1) From the Edge of Night, 2) Wayward Feelings, 3) The Place I Want To Go, 4) Shinon, and 5) Kokkuri (although the spoken titles varied a bit from these, leading me again to think there were some differences of opinion in the translation of the show). Unlike contemporary shows like Eureka Seven, where most of the story can either be guessed at or plainly revealed by the end of the first volume, such was not the case here. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how the story fleshes out in the future. There was enough reason to believe the characters were going to find out fantastic secrets and have important destinies that were all handled exceptionally well but I've also seen numerous series where similar potential was pissed away rather quickly so I'm going to give this slightly offbeat opener a rating of Recommended with the caveat that it may be all style and no substance. Give it a look and I think you'll understand what I mean, realizing that a lot could happen in the following five volumes.

Picture: Fantastic Children 1 was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was created in by director Takashi Nakamura for release on Japanese television. The anime looked interesting as though it combined the retro look of some of the most recent shows coming out of Japan, with some of the finer detail you'll get in the bigger budget (far bigger budget at that) shows we've been giving high ratings to of late. The faces, for example, look like storyboard outlines while some of the backgrounds have most of the detail and movement. This plays tricks on the eyes as it gives the illusion of depth at the same time the characters often come across as coming off a sketch pad at the last minute. I'm not sure I like this style as much as some of you will but it was a step towards something different and I have to appreciate that some are trying to offer new experiences in their anime production.

Sound: The audio was presented with the standard choices of a 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese track or the usual English dub track. To be frank about it, I found the dub voices to be somewhat more appealing this time but that could easily be my own attempt to grasp for the familiarity of language in an anime release that provided little concrete material to latch onto. Most of the characters on the dub seemed to fit their respective roles though and a few of the original track just seemed somehow "off" a bit to me. The music and sound effects were similar in each, with a slightly louder bass track on the dub (was it my imagination?) , and a lot of really interesting music to listen too (I just wish I had an audio CD of it to see if it worked as standalone material). There wasn't much separation and the dynamic range wasn't all that special but the vocals were plainly listenable in each version with little problem (and the subtitles were reasonably close in terms of similarity to the dub).

Extras: The standard version of the DVD had a clean closing and some trailers but with 5 full episodes to enjoy, it wasn't a bad package considering how some companies put a measly trio of episodes on a disc for the same price.

Final Thoughts: Fantastic Children 1 was a mystery to me for all the secrets it had yet to reveal but also whether I'll enjoy the rest of the series. The idea of a group of ageless children searching the planet for a girl who reincarnates in perpetuity yet are burdened with a mental reset feature to prevent them from either taking over the world or otherwise wreaking havoc has a lot of potential. How that potential is lived up to will be up in the future becomes my biggest question but as a title that shows a measure of intelligence during the opening volume, Fantastic Children may well be far more than the eye candy some have already claimed it to be. Give it a look and let me know what you think of it.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.