Element Hunters: Unmissable action and story

Element Hunters: The adventures of children entrusted with the future

Overview

"Element Hunters" is an anime series that aired on NHK Educational TV from July 4, 2009 to March 27, 2010. The 39-episode series follows the exploits of the "Element Hunters," a group formed to recover elements that suddenly disappear from the Earth. The original story was written by Kazunori Ito, the directors were Yoshiaki Okumura and Hong Hong-pyo, and the animation was produced by NHK Enterprises and HEWON ENTERTAINMENT.

■ Story

In 2029, a huge land subsidence occurred on the Mediterranean coast, and oxygen suddenly disappeared from the earth's crust over an area of ​​3 kilometers in diameter. Since then, various elements have disappeared from the earth, wiping out forests, fields, buildings, ancient ruins, and even life. Humanity has come to a painful realization. "Everything is made of elements." 60 years have passed since that day, and the population has fallen to one-tenth of its peak. As a result of research, the whereabouts of the missing elements were discovered. The elements were flowing into another Earth, "Nega Earth," beyond the dimensional wall. With the survival of the Earth at stake, the "Element Hunters" were organized. All members were children under the age of 13. Only children, whose brain tissue is more flexible than adults, could access Nega Earth.

■Explanation

"Element Hunters" depicts the adventures of children who have been entrusted with the future, set against the grand theme of the disappearance of elements. The story begins with a large-scale land subsidence on the Mediterranean coast in 2029, and depicts how elements are disappearing one after another from the Earth, and how humanity must confront this crisis. The cause of the disappearance of elements is a "Nega Earth," and only children have access to it, making this a story that praises the flexible thinking and courage of children. Broadcast on NHK Educational TV, this work gave viewers inspiration and hope by depicting the growth and friendship of children while also incorporating scientific knowledge.

■Cast

The main cast of this film is as follows:

• Ren/Yutaro Honjo
• Chiara/Atsuko Enomoto
• Homi/Hoko Kuwashima
• Ally/Sanae Kobayashi
• Yunho/Sara Nakayama
• Dr. Carr/Ako Mayama
• Car (Girls' Generation)/Erika
• Amy/Erika
• Hannah/Rie Yamaguchi
• Rodney/Nozomu Sasaki
• Tom/Akio Suyama
• Commander Kofu/Takaya Kuroda
• Vincent/Hidenari Ugaki
• Announcer/Yuki Matsuda
• Dan/Rikiya Koyama
• Ann/Akiko Hiramatsu
• Roberto/Hiroaki Hirata
• Naomi/Yoko Kawanami
• Natasha/Maria Yamamoto
• Allie's Mother/Satsuki Yukino
• Kim/Runa Otani
• Lisa/Tomoko Ishimura
• Vice President Zero/Kunihiko Yasui
• Doctor/Kentaro Yamazaki
• Announcer/Shogo Matsui
• Kazunori Kawashima/Ryusuke Obayashi
• Seriously/Kouichi Sakaguchi
• Chain Dinny/Shibahara Chako
• Nandi/Daisaku Shinohara
• Lakshmi/Toshiko Maeda
• Lai Lai / Tomoe Keiko
• Lee Eun-hee/Takeishi Ayumi

■ Main staff

Many staff members were involved in the production of this work. Below is a list of the main staff members.

• Planning: Tetsuro Kamemura (NHK Enterprises), Young-ae Kim (Heewon Entertainment), Shin Unozawa (Bandai Namco Games), Akihiro Sato (Bandai Visual), Tsunehiko Amagi (NHK)
• Original story/Kazunori Ito
• Series Composition/Toshihisa Arakawa
• Character design: Daigo Okumura
• Character design: Yoo Bong-hyun
• SF setting/Ryuichi Kaneko
• Scientific research/Masato Murakami
• Art/Bong Ha-kwon, Sakamoto Nobuto
• Director of photography: Na Se-yoon
• Edited by Takeshi Seyama
• Sound Director: Toru Nakano
• Music: Toshihiko Sahashi
• Music Production: Flying Dog, Keiichi Nozaki
• Element Design/Abuo Reino
• Offline editing: Megumi Uchida, Rie Matsubara, Keiko Kadokawa, Hiromi Sasaki
• Online editor/Hiromitsu Sega, Suya Yoon
• Recording adjustment/Naotsugu Uchida
• Recording: Nobuhito Kojima
• Song selection: Fumiko Harada
• Sound effects/Masaru Urahata
• Sound Production/Half HP Studio
• Production management: Kwon Hwa-yeon, Miyashita Yuji
• Production desk: Lee Chung-moo, Yoshida Hiroki
• Cooperative producers: Noboru Sawada, Kim Chung-mo, Noriko Urabe, Ryoji Takahashi, Kayo Fukuda, Michiyoshi Minamisawa
• Promotion: Yukio Tomita, Keisuke Furusawa, Tadaya Ishida
• Animation production: NHK Enterprises, HEEWON ENTERTAINMENT
• Executive Producer/Akemi Sugayama
• Producers: Yasuo Kageyama, Kim Seong-tae
• Animation Producer/Shin Ju-hee
• Directed by: Yoshiaki Okumura, Hong Hong-pyo
• Produced and written by: Element Hunter Production Committee

■ Main Characters

The main characters of this work are as follows:

●Earth Team

• Ren Karas A 12-year-old boy who drives the Earth team. He is very curious and when he gets interested in something, he becomes completely absorbed in it, to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep. However, he wants to avoid getting involved in things that don't interest him, and he often dumps it on others, saying, "Hmm, I'll leave that to you!" He is good at adapting to and controlling machines, but he doesn't really understand how they work. When he's in trouble, his catchphrase is the advertising copy for a drinking water, "Just smile, the future is orange!", which shows his intention to get through it with a smile.
• Chiara Follina Active, competitive, short-tempered, reckless, yet sometimes sensitive. Although she is always annoyed by the childish Len and Homi, she always tries to take the initiative in completing missions more than anyone else. Although she is often thought to be selfish, in fact she works hard behind the scenes to make others acknowledge it. Her catchphrase is "I am justice!"
• Homi Nandi is a scholarly type with a strong sense of curiosity, and tends to become so engrossed in what is in front of him that he loses sight of what is around him. He aims for logical thinking and rational behavior, but is also flexible and not bound by common sense. He has an unbalanced mix of a strangely mature side and a childish side appropriate for his age.
• Dr. Amy Carr is already dead when the story begins. She exists as a hologram, but because she is a hologram, she can only exist in places where the playback device is located, and her range of action is extremely limited. She is the calm and collected director of the Earth team.
• Yuno A female android. She was trained by Dr. Carr and is a portal operator who backs up the Earth team. She has pseudo-sensations, but they are merely pseudo. They are only programmed as reactions to the actions of others, so they are somewhat disjointed.

Colony Team

• Allie Connelly is a gorgeous and splendid girl. She's also an honor student and a nice person. However, on the other hand, she has a hard time breaking out of that "type."
• Rodney Ford: The Colony Team's task force leader, he's a very handsome guy. He has more pride than most people and tends to always run around aimlessly. His hobby is listening to classical music.
• Tom Benson: A super nerdy boy and engineer on the colony team. He's good at on-site scientific analysis and enjoys digging into everything in a maniacal way.
• Hannah Weber is a top idol on a global scale who heals people's hearts.

■Subtitle

The subtitles for each episode of this work are as follows:

• Mission 1/To Another World! (2009/07/04)
• Mission 2/Unexpected Division! (2009/07/11)
• Mission 3/Our Recrystallization! (2009/07/18)
• Mission 4/Explosion of Burning Passion! (2009/07/25)
• Mission 5/Chiara is boiling! I am justice! (2009/08/01)
• Mission 6/Positive Heart Reaction (2009/08/08)
• Mission 7/Dark Matter in Memory (2009/08/22)
• Mission 8/Pride - Heat Conduction! (2009/08/29)
• Mission 9/Prepared for estrangement! Forgive me, Mom (2009/09/05)
• Mission 10/The Most Superfluid Man in the Universe! (2009/09/12)
• Mission 11/Kizuna Bonding Order! (2009/09/19)
• Mission 12/Curiosity about Collapse (2009/09/26)
• Mission 13: The Singularity that Brings Ruin (2009/10/03)
• Mission 14/Free Fall of Fate (2009/10/10)
• Mission 15 / Fire in the Heart! (2009/10/17)
• Mission 16/Birth of the Super Low Pressure Leader (2009/10/24)
• Mission 17/A glimpse of symbiosis (2009/10/31)
• Mission 18/Sunset on the Third Planet (2009/11/07)
• Mission 19/Minerals have arrived! (2009/11/14)
• Mission 20/The Mysterious Duplicate Object (2009/11/21)
• Mission 21/Unknown Threat! Metal Creatures (2009/11/28)
• Mission 22/Manipulated Atomic Bonds (2009/12/05)
• Mission 23/Titanium disappears! Don't let your dreams disappear (2009/12/12)
• Mission 24/Accelerated element loss (2009/12/19)
• Mission 25/First Contact (2009/12/26)
• Mission 26/Deep Memory Diver (2010/01/09)
• Mission 27/Gift from Outside the Membrane Universe (2010/01/16)
• Mission 28/Lava Life Shapeshifter (2010/01/23)
• Mission 29/Turning Point (2010/01/30)
• Mission 30/Little Devil Blizzard (2010/02/06)
• Mission 31/Unforgivable Experimental Results (2010/02/13)
• Mission 32/Into the Mantle! Challenge to the Underground (2010/02/20)
• Mission 33: Unable to Return, Blocked Future (2010/02/27)
• Mission 34/Carr's Decision! Coming to the Colony (2010/03/06)
• Mission 35/Android's Dream (2010/03/13)
• Mission 36/A Miracle Beyond Time and Space (2010/03/20)
• Mission 37: Tomorrow, to the 11th dimension! (2010/03/20)
• Mission 38/Destructive Information Energy (2010/03/27)
• Mission 39/Qualia to the Future (2010/03/27)

■ Theme songs and music

The theme songs and insert songs for this work are as follows.

・OP1

• First Pain
• Lyricist: Chiaki Ishikawa
• Composer: Chiaki Ishikawa
• Arrangement/Masara Nishida
• Singer: Chiaki Ishikawa

・ED1

• Suiheiriebe ~Magic Spell~
• Lyricist: Ash Potato
• Composer: Shinji Kakishima
• Arrangement/Shinji Kakishima
• Song: Kakki & Ash Potato

■ Evaluation and impressions

"Element Hunters" has been highly praised as a work that depicts the growth and friendship of children, despite being set against a scientific background. In particular, it deeply touched viewers by telling the story from the perspective of children, even while dealing with the grand theme of the disappearance of elements. In addition, the story development that makes use of the characteristics of different elements in each episode was an element that attracted viewers' interest.

The characters' personalities are also appealing, and while the Earth team members, Ren, Chiara, and Homi, all have different personalities, it is moving to see them work together to complete the mission. In particular, Ren's inquisitiveness and Chiara's competitive spirit left a strong impression on viewers. The colony team members are also unique, and the way the story develops through their interactions and conflicts is beautifully portrayed.

The music is also an important element in enhancing the appeal of this work, and the opening theme "First Pain" and the ending theme "Suihei Liebe ~Magic Spell~" have left a deep impression on viewers. In particular, the opening theme "First Pain" has been highly praised for expressing the tension and adventurous spirit of the story.

■Recommendation

"Element Hunters" is highly recommended for viewers who want a touching story about children's growth and friendship while also enjoying scientific knowledge. It is especially a must-watch for those who are interested in the grand theme of elemental disappearance and those who like children's adventure stories. It is also recommended for those who enjoy the visuals and sound of anime, as it has a particular focus on music and character design.

In addition, because this work was broadcast on NHK Educational TV, it also contains educational elements, making it a great opportunity to teach children the fun of science. Watching it with the whole family may also deepen their interest in science.

Overall, Element Hunters is a great story of science, adventure, and friendship, and is a beloved anime series for many viewers. You should definitely give it a watch and experience the charm for yourself.