The Orbital Children (2022)
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The Orbital Children Review
The Orbital Children is a science fiction anime series directed by Mitsuo Iso. It has six episodes and they were all released on Netflix in 2022.
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“Earth is the cradle of humanity,
but one cannot live in a cradle forever“
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On a trip to space, children born on the moon and children from Earth meet at the Japanese-built Anshin space station. This is a show about the dangers of artificial intelligence and how humanity can both benefit from and be endangered by it. Though it has those interesting themes, the exploration of those themes was minimal.
My main issue with this show is its emphasis on excessive action and kiddy elements with the characters skewing awfully young. The same goes for the character designs, especially of the robots themselves. It was all too cutesy. The storyline is also difficult to buy as why would anybody put these kids on such a dangerous mission.
There is no denying that a lot of charm is to be found in the show’s colorful characters and fun humor. Their team dynamic was infectiously amusing. The problem is that individually they were all underdeveloped and rushed with only a couple getting strong arcs. Touya and Taiyo got the most development and they were interesting characters, but others weren’t as memorable.
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The Orbital Children has excellent visuals. The animation is polished and hinging on cute, but it is also very effective at bringing the technology of this world to the audience with a lot of meticulous detail and colorful backgrounds. The score, sound and editing are all strong while the dialogue can also be terrific at times. The episodes are each around half an hour in length, which is an unusual choice for an anime show, but it mostly worked in this instance.
Overall, The Orbital Children hinges too much on the cutesy factor and humor, but the animation is strong, the world building is interesting and the first half of its run is particularly engaging. The second half is much less interesting and focusing too much on action instead of the exploration of its interesting themes.
Worst Episodes: A Story Ends and A Story Begins.
Best Episodes: Extraterrestrial Emissaries and Mist and Darkness.
