Review of the sci-fi anime "Kids in Orbit" - a reflection on the interweaving of space, children and technology
A colorful anime about a young team forced to grow up with technology in a space disaster situation.
2045 year. Thanks to technological advances and artificial intelligence, space travel has become commonplace. At one of the stations, an accident occurs, in the epicenter of which children fall. Being without adult support, but surrounded by the Internet, smartphones and robots, they are trying to eliminate the consequences of the disaster. The team not only overcomes fears and gradually matures, but also takes responsibility for the future, including the Earth they once left.
As a distributor, Netflix Original Anime continues to bring Japanese animation to the public and support their many projects. Children in Orbit, Mitsuo Iso's six-episode project (the author's modest filmography boasts the line "Evangelion writer") develops a sci-fi perspective by predicting the lives of humans in Earth orbit. The future and confident space expansion is an obvious reason to reflect on interaction with technology and how new devices predetermine both the environment and the person himself. In this sense, "Children in Orbit" explores the familiar questions that Stanley Kubrick asked in "A Space Odyssey": artificial intelligence as an indispensable navigator and servant of humanity, but at the same time a full-fledged subject, having gained self and independence (and, it seems, not deprived of an uncontrollable will to power).
The homage of the authors to the "Space Odyssey" (from design solutions in the interiors of the station to the problems themselves) is expectedly inscribed in the structure of the mini-series. The dual nature of AI - the proud result of technological progress and at the same time its scourge - is presented in the anime with the same inquiring intonation as the behavior of Kubrick's HAL9000. The impossibility of insuring civilization from mistakes, as well as completely subordinating technology, is one of the main cases of the Iso series. The spaceship is ordered to destroy most of the population of the Earth, the function of saviors is forced to take on children - active users of gadgets and intermediaries with the world of high technologies. This is the truth not only of a science fiction series, but also without five minutes of our world: who, if not young creatures, who will certainly be swaddled along with a smartphone (if not already swaddled), is destined to comprehend the future in the conditions of a technological singularity?
However, Iso's view of the prospect of space flights is no less curious. A future where streams are streamed from a porthole, Coca-Cola banners flaunt at stations, and astronauts are dressed in UNIQLO suits, raises the question of the commercialization of space. Where two superpowers competed a century ago, today it is profitable to expand the market and increase corporate income, and people to earn personal capital by launching exciting streams and posting videos on fast-sharing networks. Space, therefore, is presented in the series as a new platform for the expansion of the consumer society. At the same time, "Children in Orbit" floats between criticism and exaltation of the possibilities of the future.
From asking a lot of questions, of course, the series begins to seem redundant. The events that take up a good half of the story overload the viewer and don’t stand on ceremony with him: the heroes either solve the problem of decompression, or think about spacewalks, but damaged spacesuits interfere with them. "Children in Orbit" consists of routine and monotonous episodes, closed in the cramped buildings of the station. But in some places the series successfully generalizes assumptions from the field of philosophical anthropology: left without parents and educators, the guys make smart technologies their new teachers.
And finally: the buildup of the series requires at least three episodes, in their form and content too mechanistic. The most dramatic situations plus the psychological characterization are in the second half of the show. The personal drama of Taiyo, one of the most interesting characters, who is forced to grow morally and reconsider his attitude to the Earth and space as a whole, also comes to a climax there. Otherwise, "Children in Orbit" is saved by thoughtful space design, quality animation, and an inventive hybrid of drawing and CGI. For anime, of course, a return to the space theme is important: some of the Japanese space operas have managed to turn into half-forgotten masterpieces (with the exception of the immortal "Cowboy Bebop"), so "Children in Orbit" economically, but still satisfy the audience's need for sci-fi anime. And let the children as the main characters of the work not deceive: at the level of asking questions and realizing the idea, the series seems quite mature - it has the ability to interact with an older audience.
This article was sponsored by Larisa Kady
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