Review of "Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls": A coming-of-age story from another world

Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls - Chikyuugaishonenshojo -

■ Public Media

WEB

■ Original Media

Anime Original

■ First appearance date

January 28, 2022 - February 11, 2022
^{*Episodes 1-3 will be screened in theaters on January 28, 2022 as the "first part." Episodes 4-6 will be screened in theaters on February 11, 2022 as the "second part."}
■ Online distribution
Netflix January 28, 2022 ~ (Episodes 1-6) Friday Distribution #1 / Messenger from Outside Earth (38 minutes)
・#2/Fog and Darkness (30 minutes)
・#3/Lunatic Seven (30 min)
・#4/Sevens Pattern (30 minutes)
・#5/The End Story (30 minutes)
・#6/The Beginning Story (30 minutes)

■Theatrical distribution companies: Asmik Ace, avex pictures
Friday, January 28, 2022 (1st to 3rd screenings) First part
Friday, February 11, 2022 (4th to 6th) Part 2 screening

■ How it first appeared

・Streaming/Netflix

■Frequencies

38 min

■ Number of Episodes

Episode 6

■Original Story

Original author: Mitsuo Iso

■ Director

・Director: Mitsuo Iso

■ Production

・Production: Production +h.
・Production: Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls Production Committee

■Works

©MITSUO ISO/avex pictures/Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls Production Committee

■ Story

●First part story: The Japanese-made space station "Anshin."
Toya, a boy born on the moon, and his childhood friend Kokoro, who were undergoing rehabilitation at the station in preparation for migrating to Earth, get caught up in a collision between the station and a comet along with Taiyo, Miina, and the professor, two children from Earth who are on their first space trip.
Separated from adults and cut off from the internet, the children find themselves in a closed space, sometimes fighting against each other and sometimes helping each other as they face a variety of challenges including decompression, EVA (space walks), and runaway micromachines.

●Second Story The children finally try to reunite with the adults. However, they are stunned when they learn the full story of the accident. The commercial comet was scattering debris as it was about to collide with the Earth and "Anshin". It was all part of a plan by the AI ​​"Seven" who was supposed to have been killed...! The children, who are also targeted by UN2.1, who fear Seven's revival, work with Ducky and Bright to try to connect with the comet, but in the middle of this, the life of Kokoro's implant is approaching...! Will Toya be able to stop the comet from falling and save Kokoro? What will become of the children's "future"?

■Explanation

15 years since "Dennou Coil."
Director Iso Mitsuo predicted "life with AR," something that no one could have imagined at the time.
His next vision was "life in space with AI."

The story takes place in the universe of 2045, a time when there is both the internet and convenience stores.
At the Japanese commercial station "Anshin," a group of boys and girls are hit by a major disaster.

Children are separated from adults and attempt to escape on their own from "Anshin," where internet and oxygen supplies have been cut off.
Sometimes with the help of their allies, and sometimes with the help of AI, they take action to survive and eventually discover the true meaning of the terrifying prophecy made by the most intelligent AI in history.
In this desperate situation, what will the children come into contact with, what will they worry about, and what will they choose?

The original anime "Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls" is brought to you by the best animators, including character designer Yoshida Kenichi and main animator Inoue Toshiyuki.
The six-episode series will be released in theaters in two parts, three episodes each.

This is a "future prediction" from Iso Mitsuo to you.

You can't escape the future.

■Cast

・Toya Sagami/Natsumi Fujiwara/Nanase/B/Kokoro/Azumi Waki/Taiyo Tsukuba/Kensho Ono/Miina Misasa/Chinatsu Akasaki/Dr. Tanegashima/Yumiko Kobayashi/Nasa Houston/Mariya Ise

■ Main staff

・Original story, director, scriptwriter: Mitsuo Iso ・Character design, chief animation director: Kenichi Yoshida ・Main animator: Toshiyuki Inoue ・Art director: Yusuke Ikeda ・Color design: Miho Tanaka ・Music: Rei Ishizuka ・Sound director: Hiroshi Shimizu ・Production: Production +h.
Distribution: Asmik Ace, Avex Pictures Production: Earth Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls Production Committee Planning: Katsumata Hideo, Sano Masayuki Producers: Oyama Ryo, Yusa Kazuhiko, Kobayashi Yasushi, Nanba Hideyuki

■ Main Characters

・Toya Sagami
A 14-year-old chuunibyou hacker. He is one of the first children born on the moon, and feels disgust for the unfounded prejudice shown by Earthlings. Toya and Kokoro have implants in their heads designed by "Seven," an AI renowned for being the most intelligent in history, but in order to fix the hidden defect, he is trying to hack into them using his partner drone "Ducky," whose intelligence limiter has been removed.
・Nanase・B・Konoha
14 years old. A childhood friend of Toya, he is also one of the children born on the moon. He also has an implant in his head. His body is weaker than Toya, and he travels with a medical drone that can monitor his heart rate and breathing. He sometimes gets images of someone speaking to him, and feels a vague sense of nostalgia when he sees them.
・Tsukuba Taiyo
14 years old. A boy who came to "Anshin" through Deagle's space experience campaign for minors. He has a gentle demeanor and is polite to everyone, but his sense of justice is so strong that he can sometimes show a harsh side and lose sight of his surroundings. He is a UN2.1 certified white hat hacker and patrols for illegal activities with his partner drone "Bright".
・Miina Misasa
14 years old. She calls herself a Space Soratuber and aims to have 100 million followers on social media. Although she hates space, she thought it was an opportunity to gain followers, so she visited the space station "Anshin" as part of Deagle's space experience campaign for minors. She always talks to her listeners with idol-like behavior, but she panics when her internet connection goes out.
・Dr. Tanegashima
12 years old. His surname is different due to his parents' divorce, but he is Miina's younger brother. He is heading to "Anshin" with his sister. He is really happy to be able to go to space, which he loves, in this campaign. He is also a big fan of Toya, who was born in space, and is well-versed in the various conspiracy theories that are discussed on his secret account.
Nasa Houston
She is a nurse and caregiver at the space station "Anshin" and the doctor for Toya and Kokoro. She is often given tasks that suit her convenience, and is also forced to act as an attendant for the children invited in the Deagle Campaign, reluctantly accompanying "Anshin" as a guide. Her hobby is reading occult-like prophecies called "Seven Poems."
・Mayor of Sagami City
He is Toya's uncle and the mayor of Anshin City. He has taken in Toya after he lost his parents. He is having Toya undergo gravity rehabilitation in order to return him to Earth.
・Nobeyama・Darmstadt・Isako
She is the operator of "Anshin." She is good friends with Nasa.
Johnson Uchinoura Kennedy
He is the operator of "Anshin." Although he graduated from Harvard University, he is quite "muscle-brained."
・Anshin-kun: The mascot character for "Anshin" created by Kokubunji, the former chief designer of "Anshin".
・Ducky Toya's drone. Black sphere type. Named Darkness Killer and nicknamed Ducky. His speech function is broken and he cannot speak.
・Drone of Bright Ocean. Square and white block type. UN2.1's standard drone that can communicate.
・Medico Shinyo's drone. It constantly monitors Shinyo's heartbeat and breathing. It always seems to be attached to Shinyo and looks worried. Its tail is a stethoscope.
・Selfie Mina's drone. Heart-shaped. Specialized for selfie functions such as shooting and lighting.
An advanced general-purpose quantum AI installed as the host AI in Twelve's "Anshin." Learning from Seven's lessons, its intelligence is limited.
・An AI said to have reached the highest level of intelligence in Seven's history. He made numerous inventions and brought about technological innovations, but fell into an uncontrollable state known as Lunatic and was euthanized.

■ Main robot items

・Commercial Space Station Anshin The world's fourth commercial space station, orbiting in low orbit 350km above the ground. It is also known as the "space hotel." Built by Japan, it is the first facility in history to allow minors to stay there. By rotating the shaft, it is possible to experience various gravitational forces, including a zero-gravity area, a lunar gravity floor, a Martian gravity floor, and an Earth gravity floor. There is also a shopping mall, restaurants, and an izakaya, and crab farming is also carried out. Some areas are still under construction, but the safety design, which is said to be excessive, is a selling point. It has now been purchased by Deagle and is privately operated.
・Lunatic (Lunatic Seven Incident)
An uncontrollable state that the AI ​​"Seven" is said to have fallen into. It is said that this occurred because he had reached the highest intelligence in human history, but the details have not been revealed. At the same time as he became uncontrollable, the products that Seven developed caused numerous accidents, so UN2.1, seeing this as a danger, euthanized Seven.
・Seven Poem Seven continued to output meaningless sentences and mathematical expressions until just before he was euthanized. Some people have attempted to analyze the contents, and some groups have appeared that worship it as a revelation predicting the future of humanity, so it is often perceived as something occult.
・UN2.1
The United Nations. It is currently being updated to suit the age of AI. It believes that the rise in intelligence of AI should be restrained by humans.
・Intelligent limiter
A mechanism for limiting the intelligence of AI, as defined by UN2.1. The levels are strengthened in alphabetical order. Removing it without permission is a violation of the law.
- John Doe: A mysterious international hacker group that exists on the Internet.
Deagle is a major American IT company specializing in internet-related services and products. It is also keen to help humanity expand into space.
・Moonchild: A collective term for the 15 children born on the moon. To date, only Toya and Kokoro are still alive.
Low Earth orbit refers to the space within an altitude of 2,000 km among artificial satellites orbiting the Earth. In this era, the United States and China are aiming for the Moon and Jupiter, but the Japanese are developing space at a relatively safe distance.
PeerCom is a fictional technology that is widely used based on the technology called peer to peer. Communication devices connect directly to each other without going through the Internet, and is similar to technologies such as Bluetooth and blockchain.
・A next-generation wearable device that replaces smart smartphones. It prints screens and computers on the palm and back of your hand, making it look as if the front and back of your hand are smartphones.

■Subtitle

・#1／Messenger from Outside Earth (2022/01/28)
・#2／Fog and Darkness (2022/01/28)
・#3／Lunatic Seven(2022/01/28)
・#4/Sevens Pattern (2022/01/28)
・#5/The End Story (2022/01/28)
・#6/The Beginning Story (2022/01/28)

Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls - Review and Recommendation

"Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls" is the latest work by director Mitsuo Iso, and its unique worldview and profound theme have been a hot topic. Distributed on Netflix in 2022 and screened in theaters in two parts, this work offers viewers a new perspective by depicting future life in space and the existence of AI. Below, we will explain in detail the appeal and recommended points of this work.

Story and Themes

The story of "Boys and Girls from Earth" is set on the space station "Anshin" in the year 2045. It begins when Toya, a boy born on the moon, his childhood friend Kokoro, along with Taiyo, Miina, and the professor who have come from Earth, are caught up in a collision with a comet. In a closed space with no internet and no oxygen supply, they work together to survive and overcome the difficulties. In the second part, it is revealed that the accident is the result of a hidden plan by the AI ​​"Seven," and the children go on a journey to discover its true meaning.

The themes of this work are the relationship between AI and humans, future technology and ethics, and children's growth and choices. Just as director Iso Mitsuo depicted the future of AR in "Dennou Coil," he depicts life in space with AI in this work, presenting the possibilities and dangers of the future. In particular, the existence of the AI ​​"Seven" symbolizes the benefits and risks that technological advances bring, encouraging viewers to think deeply.

Characters and acting

Each character in this series is unique and leaves a strong impression on viewers. Toya is a chuunibyou hacker who stands up against prejudice against Earthlings, and Kokoro is kind and supports her teammates despite her physical weakness. Tsukuba Taiyo is a white hat hacker with a strong sense of justice, and Misasa Miina spares no effort to increase her social media following. Dr. Tanegashima is a boy who dreams of space, and Nasa Houston is a nurse who is interested in occult prophecies. These characters are beautifully portrayed as they grow together, sometimes working together and sometimes in conflict with each other.

The acting of the cast is also excellent, especially Fujiwara Natsumi's Toya's conflict and growth, and Waki ​​Azumi's Kokoro's kindness and strength are impressive. Ono Kensho's Tsukuba Taiyo and Akasaki Chinatsu's Misasa Miina also bring their characters to life, deeply moving the audience.

Visuals and Music

The character design is by Kenichi Yoshida and the main animator is Toshiyuki Inoue, and the beautiful visuals enhance the appeal of the work. The detailed depiction of the space station "Anshin" and the scenes in zero gravity are visually very attractive and have the power to draw the viewer in. In addition, the use of color by Miho Tanaka, the color designer, is also an important element in enhancing the atmosphere of the work.

The music was composed by Ishizuka Rei, and effectively produced scenes filled with tension and emotion. In particular, in the climax scene in the second part, the music further enhances the development of the story and stirs the emotions of the viewer.

Recommended points

"Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls" is a work that can be recommended for the following reasons.

1. **Vision of the Future**: Director Iso Mitsuo's depiction of future life in space and the existence of AI provides viewers with a new perspective and stimulates their imagination for the future.

2. **Profound themes**: Themes such as the relationship between AI and humans, technological progress and ethics, and children's growth and choices encourage viewers to think deeply.

3. **Unique characters**: It is moving to see the unique characters such as Toya, Kokoro, Taiyo, Miina, and Hakase cooperate with each other and grow.

4. **Beautiful visuals and music**: Kenichi Yoshida's character design, Toshiyuki Inoue's animation, Miho Tanaka's color design, and Rei Ishizuka's music add to the film's appeal.

5. **Suspenseful story**: The suspenseful story, which begins with a collision accident with a comet, will keep the viewer hooked until the end.

"The Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls" is a magnificent story about the possibilities and dangers of the future, and is a work that will deeply move and make viewers think. Please watch it on Netflix and enjoy both the first and second parts at the theater.