This 1978 TV series represents Japan's animation titan Hayao Miyazaki's debut. If you're unfamiliar with the name (why are you reading this?) he's a founder of Studio Ghibli, one of Japan's most successful animation movie studios, who directed a bunch of highly regarded, influential movies that are a genre of their own. Future Boy Conan is as influential as any of them, and it's fantastic to finally see a Blu-ray release of this series, one that showcases nearly all of Miyazaki's hallmarks.

The intro to Future Boy Conan details an apocalyptic scenario in which the Earth has been knocked off its axis by a war using mega-magnetic weaponry. Earthquakes and tidal waves killed off seemingly all the world's population, with a few survivors launching rockets to escape to the stars, which unfortunately didn't work. One of the rockets, pulled back to earth, crashed on a remote island; Conan (voiced by Sabrina Pitre) was born, and ultimately only he and his grandfather survived, to lead an idyllic but lonely existence. When a young girl, Lana (voiced by Lili Beadoin) washes ashore, it opens up the possibility of other survivors, and maybe even the reemergence of the human race.

Conan soon discovers two pivotal things: Lana is pursued by other survivors, militaristic adults from the city of Industria, which is on a different land mass, and also that there is another boy on the island, Jimsy, (voiced by Erin Matthews) a wild lad who eventually becomes Conan's friend and aide in Conan's attempts to rescue Lana from the clutches of her Industrian captors.

What follows are 26 episodes (about a half-hour each) with Conan, Jimsy, and Lana trying to foil the Industrians' attempts to steal the secrets of Solar Power, which will help them continue to enslave other humans and live like evil fat-cats off the backs of other peoples' labor. To wit, it's perfect late-'70s Japanese sci-fi fantasy, with themes of ecological peril, humanism, and more, with heaping doses of action and humor. The villains are goofy and broad, the set-pieces fantastic, and the story flows smoothly from one episode to the next in a grand story arc not seen much in serialized television animation from the time.

Miyazaki's anime style is already in full effect, with sharp, concise visual story-telling, men who have huge jaws and gigantic, expressive mouths, and women who tend to look more realistic than their male counterparts. As an authored work, there is much directed at kids, and a youthful demeanor in Future Boy Conan (despite the dramatic themes) that will seem odd to those familiar with the hyphenate's more mature cinematic efforts. Though movies like Ponyo and My Neighbor Totoro are very much kids' stories, even they take a more sophisticated journey than many parts of Conan, replete with goofy 10-year-old boy humor, very much in evidence as Conan and Jimsy interact. Though Conan grows and matures throughout the series, such aspects, and the relative simplicity of the animation compared to later Ghibli films, are the only things that betray the nascent nature of Future Boy Conan, which is by all other metrics groundbreaking animated entertainment, and something serious Miyazaki fans have been clamoring for for ages.

Future Boy Conan blends science-fiction themes with adolescent goofiness and Miyazaki's trademark style in this 26 episode series (almost 13 hours of material spread across four discs) from 1978. Young, strangely powerful Conan has survived global catastrophe, only to find that he and his friends Lana and Jimsy must fight the evil, authoritarian powers of Industria in a post apocalyptic world. For anime and Miyazaki super-fans, this Blu-ray presentation is a godsend, and Highly Recommended. (Those with more of a passing interest should certainly rent it to see if it would be a nice addition to their collections.)

The DVD

Video:
This 1080p presentation of Future Boy Conan was remastered in 4k and is delivered to you in its original 1.33:1 television image ratio. It has been cleaned up nicely and shows little wear and tear, while film grain has been preserved for a ‘realistic for the times' image. Colors are rich, skin tones varied, and blacks relatively deep. Though I've never seen earlier Japanese DVD editions, other opinions indicate that this is clearly the best the series has looked, and likely, owing to its low-budget origins, it won't ever look better and true to form than this.

Sound:
Presented are two DTS-HD 2.0 Audio Tracks, one in English, and one in the original Japanese. Both sound fine, with the English dubbing fitting the mood well. High end can get a little harsh at times, but overall the mix is solid, and stereo separation creates a decent amount of dynamic fun.

Extras:
A 16-Page Booklet of concept art is included, as are English and English SDH subtitles, but those things, and a 4k Restoration Featurette are the extent of the extras on hand.

Final Thoughts:
Future Boy Conan blends science-fiction themes with adolescent goofiness and Miyazaki's trademark style in this 26 episode series (almost 13 hours of material spread across four discs) from 1978. Young, strangely powerful Conan has survived global catastrophe, only to find that he and his friends Lana and Jimsy must fight the evil, authoritarian powers of Industria in a post apocalyptic world. For anime and Miyazaki super-fans, this Blu-ray presentation is a godsend, and Highly Recommended. (Those with more of a passing interest should certainly rent it to see if it would be a nice addition to their collections.)

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