Reviews for Fantastic Children (7.18)

[ Animation ]
First thing that came to my mind when I started watching the first episode was 'Peter Pan' (the Japanese version of it).
The faces had the same design. Heck one of the main characters (Thoma) even has a really similar look. And another one looks like he got directly kidnapped from the Peter Pan anime ;)
That makes it look old fashioned and like a show for children. Faces and clothes have simple shadings and not much details. Also the colours often lack brilliance and the pictures contrast. In some scenes the saturation reduces that much that it almost looks like black and white. But it is no bad thing that it doesn't look like a typical computer-produced mass product many animes are nowadays. Less is often better, so the watcher concentrates more on what's behind the pictures.
Of course it also has noticeable special effects and different 3d backgrounds.
Later on not only the animations but also the story style reminded me on the anime movie 'A Tree of Palme'.
Checking the staff showed that in all three animations (F. Children, Peter Pan, A Tree of Palme) Takashi Nakamura was director and partly responsible for the character design.

[ Sound ]
The opening theme is decent but nothing that caught my fancy (or how you say), unlike the ending theme. The ending tune is great, awesome… loved it from the first time. The ending animations may play a big role in that liking since the song along with the three drawings moved me greatly.
It has a light touch of Celtic style (the music). Lyric and language change in the later episodes, sound stays same. That was surprising because the language switched from Japanese to Russian.

The background music within the episodes however is mainly average till annoying. There is one exception in the later episodes, esp. the last 2 episodes, which fits very well to the emotional scenes. Not all got me on my nerves, but the ones that didn't don't belong to that kind of music I'd listen to in private either. Too boring. The annoying tracks got my attention because in some scenes I felt disturbed by something and noticed it was the music.

The only sound, beside the ending tune, that I liked was the one the robot Wanda made. May sound stupid, but every time I saw the robot I was waiting for it and not happy before it made it.

Nothing special to say about the voice actors. Well maybe that the voice of Thoma is the same as of Ritsuka from Loveless.

[ Story ]
The story is kept very interesting till the middle and stays quite interesting after that, even with some surprise.
I was a bit disappointed about some parts concerning the children's deeper background story. Can't say in detail what I mean because that would spoiler too much the first half of the anime.
I just expected it to be something different to us.
The story progress is average, the episodes mostly flew by that I thought they're quite short. Of course they've the usual length ;)
The story style is good. An episode doesn't stop as a cliffhanger but still as unfinished part that makes you want to start the next one.
Things are kept in the unknown for quite a while, which makes it easy to watch several episodes in a row, and later it won't get explained as if you're stupid. Also the story isn't that complicated and complex.
After the middle it becomes a little cheesy, emotional and forms partly into a love story. So sweet and sad. In episode 24 I even shed some tears.

[ Characters ]
There are many main characters. Thoma (the one that reminds me on Peter Pan) a very energetic young boy, Helga a young girl who always seems to be far far away in her mind, Chitto (the one who looks like kidnapped from the Peter Pan anime… one of the brothers… not John, the other one) the little child friend of Helga and the white-haired, blue-eyed mysterious children (7+1 of them, too many to introduce all).
Except for Chitto none of them appears useless or dull. Chitto actually neither, but he gets neglected later on and just sticks around the group. He is just there, nothing more. Not so important though.
Some of the characters got a good deep story with much emotional insight. So you can feel with them, suffer with them, be happy with them. You understand their pain. Think it's what I liked the most. Just like in a shoujo ;)
Thoma was the most surprising one. He has a surprising development in the last episodes. Bet everyone expected something else (well I did and I even was so sure about that).
Dumas should be mentioned aswell. He's also one of the white-haired children but he's different. He appears like the outcast since he is separated from the rest. The little brother that grew up with no love, has to learn the life in a hard way. I pitied and admired him at the same time.

[ Beginning/Ending ]
It starts interesting and can keep that pretty much till the end (with a little break during the middle). Even when I wished for some other ending it is an acceptable ending. It left me with the feeling to have watched a great show. A happy yet a sad story at the same time.

[ Summary ]
Not a masterpiece but surprisingly good. Didn't expect it from reading the quite boring description. Pity the music was so bad (or couldn't reach the level of the rest, to say it nicer), but that can be excused. The story and the characters are what this anime makes good (as it should be).
It started as shounen and ended as shoujo. Maybe not everybody's taste.
Also no previews at the end and no flashbacks at the beginning of each episode (or the fansubs I had were cut). Either way, that's what I like aswell. Previews just spoiler and flashbacks are unnecessary.
If you liked the design and mysteriousness (at least at the beginning) of that anime I recommend 'A Tree of Palme'. It's a good fantasy movie.