CONAN THE BOY OF THE FUTURE

Original title: Mirai shonen Konan Characters: Conan, Lana, Jimsey, Doctor Briac Rao, Captain Deis, Monsley, Lepka, Grandpa, Goros, Pasco, Gutchie Production: Nippon animation Regia:Hayao Miyazaki

Country: Japan Year: 1978 Broadcast in Italy: September 1981 Gender: Adventure, science fiction Episodes: 26 Duration: 24 minutes Recommended age: Children from 6 to 12 years old

Conan the boy of the future is a cartoon series, made since 1978 by the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and from Nippon animation (already distinguished for other animation masterpieces such as Heidi and Lupine III). Conan's cartoon was based on the novel by American writer Alexander Key, entitled "The Incredible Tide"(1970), although it has been varied in parts to better capture the attention of the young audience.

Conan, an 11 year old boy is the absolute star of this series. Despite the appearance of a slender boy, little Conan is gifted with incredible strength and is very skilled in fishing and swimming.
The story of Conan the boy of the future, begins when during the upheaval of a world war, a population decides to flee the earth aboard a spaceship to colonize a new planet. But due to the bombing, the spacecraft is hit and fails to overcome the Earth's atmosphere, so it is forced to land on a small desert island that was called Lost Island. The world is now full of islands after the catastrophic war, as violent tsunamis have submerged most of the continents. Conan and his grandfather are the last survivors of that island and they live in a hut made from the ancient spaceship. One day Conan he meets a fainted girl on the beach and his amazement is great, since apart from his grandfather, he had never seen another human being on that island. The girl is called Lana and after recovering, she says she is the niece of Dr. Rao, the only scientist on earth who knows about solar energy and has been kidnapped by the Indastrian military to force his grandfather to collaborate with them. She later managed to escape and then arrived exhausted on the Lost Isle. Lana also proves to be endowed with particular powers of telepathy, as she is able to communicate with the seagulls and with Dr. Rao, his grandfather. Indastria is the most powerful of the islands that have emerged and is administered by the diabolical Leska, whose aim is to dominate the world by using the ancient pre-war weapons still present on its territory. But to achieve its goals it needs solar energy. One day, however, on the island of Conan, the soldiers led by Monsky, a girl who acts as Leska's right hand man, arrive and manage to kidnap Lana again. The grandfather tries with all his might to prevent the kidnapping, but is wounded and dies after encouraging the young Conan to leave the island.

Conan the boy of the future, then leaves the Lost Isle aboard a raft, but his only goal is to go and rescue Lana. He then lands on an island where he meets Jimsy, a wild boy, very similar to him in terms of skill, with whom he immediately becomes friends. The two boys clandestinely board the Barracuda, a ship that aims to transport plastic to Indastria, but are discovered and enlisted by the crew. Arriving in Indastria, Conan is recognized by Monsky and is arrested. Thanks to Jimsy's help, however, he manages to escape and climb up to the Tower of the Sun, where his friend Lana is a prisoner. He then manages to free her and the two run away, chased by the military, towards the basement where an ancient plane of the world war, called the Giant, is kept. In the end, however, they must stop their race, as they are surrounded by Leska's soldiers. Meanwhile, Captain Dice, the commander of the Barracuda, comes into conflict with Leska and rebels, so he decides to save Lana and escape with her ship. Also thanks to Jimsy, Captain Dice succeeds in his intent and escapes. However, he is chased by Leska's men. Meanwhile, Conan still manages to free himself and hide on board the Falco, another aircraft sent to intercept the Barracuda. Conan manages to throw himself into the sea and swim to the ship, Lana sees him and joins him aboard a motorboat anchored to the Barracuda, but in the meantime the Cannoniera, a powerful ship from Leska, bombs the Barracuda causing it to sink. Believed missing, Conan and Lana land on an island inhabited by the engineer Patch, a man with a tough and grumpy character. Engineer Patch is struggling with the recovery of a boat from the bottom of the sea. One day, while on the bottom of the sea wearing the diving suit he is carrying out work on the wreck, he has an accident and is forced to telepathically warn Lana, at which point the two young people understand that in reality that man is none other than the dr. Rao, Lana's grandfather.
But among the men of Dr. Rao is a traitor who tells everything to Monsky, who immediately heads to that island aboard the Falco. Conan, Lana and Dr. Rao, however, manage to escape thanks to a violent tsunami that hits the platform where they were working. Once on the island they head towards the desert in order to retrieve a flying machine to escape, Dr. Rao, however, realizes that they have to go back to Indastria, as the pieces to make that machine work are in the Tower of the Sun. In the desert they meet Captain Dice, bound and condemned by Leska to die of thirst. The group frees him and he joins them. Arriving in Indastria, Dr. Rao and his niece Lana head to the Tower of the Sun to take the pieces of the flying machine, while Conan and Dice take possession of a mechanical robot in order to distract Leska's soldiers. Despite everything Leska notices the game and manages to trap Lana and Dr. Rao in the basement of the tower. Conan suspicious of the sudden military retreat runs to catch up with Lana. Inside the dungeons they are saved by the underground inhabitants and return to the surface on the Barracuda, which survived the bombings. Dr. Rao decides to stay there to warn the population of Indastria of the serious catastrophe that is about to hit their land, in fact the island is about to sink into the abyss due to the subsidence of a fault. Conan, Lana, Captain Dice and Jimsy aboard the Barracuda head to Lana's homeland: the city of Hyarbor. The Barracuda, which has always been an enemy ship of the city of Hyarbor, was attacked by the local population and in particular by a group of fishermen including Lana's uncle, but Conan and Jimsy immediately clarify that now Captain Dice is no longer on Leska's side. therefore they are greeted with celebrations. However, the ship has suffered damage and is therefore forced to remain stranded in an inlet. In the mountains of Hyarbor Island, Conan and Jimsy meet Uro, an overbearing boy who is the leader of a gang of thugs who want to take over the island, and heated arguments arise between the boys. One day the Leska soldiers arrive on the island aboard the gunboat that sank the Barracuda. Uro then decides to organize a revolt, but is captured. His sister Tara is saved by Conan and Jimsy.

In order to be crowned head of the city of Hyarbor, Uro convinces Monsky to receive his help in capturing Lana. Uro returns to the island and instead of organizing his defense, he capitulates and manages to make Lana a prisoner who is taken to the gunboat. Lana's uncle shows Conan a bomb to be placed under the gunboat's keel. Conan agrees to carry out the risky plan but it works and the ship sinks, not before having rescued Lana. But the signs of the impending catastrophe are not long in coming and a gigantic tsunami also hits the island of Hyarbor, submerging it to a large extent. The inhabitants escape to safety on the top of a mountain, from which the Barracuda resurfaces, brought to the surface by the waves. Given the gravity of the situation, Monsky and the military join the people of Hyarbor. Here Monsky has the opportunity to rethink his tragic past. In fact, her parents died during the great war and she was saved by a ship from Indastria where she was drafted. Conan would like to join Dr. Rao, but he doesn't know how to do it since both the Barracuda and the Gunboat are out of order. But there is an old plane on the island, built by Dr. Rao, which only Monsky is able to pilot. The girl accepts and is surprised by the trust that the boy places in her, to the point that she becomes convinced of Leska's wickedness and decides to rebel. Conan, Monsky, Lana, Jimsi and Dice then return to Indastria where their aircraft is hit by Leska's troops. Dice, Lana and Jimsy, however, manage to descend near the Tower of the Sun, while Conan saves Monsky from the plane's fire. Meanwhile Leska has captured Dr. Rao and is subjecting him to torture in order to reveal the secret of solar energy. Dr. Rao, on the other hand, would like to use this energy source to save the inhabitants of Indastria from the impending catastrophe. Monsky tries to dissuade Leska from her intent, but he sentences her to death for treason. Since the underground inhabitants are friends of Conan and Lana, he threatens to flood all the tunnels with sea water in exchange for Lana. The girl hands herself over to Leska's soldiers, but the latter still decides to flood the underground tunnels. Meanwhile, Monsky, before being sentenced to death, wants to see Conan for the last time, thanks to this Monsky manages to free him and Conan escapes to reunite with Jimsy and Dice. Leska takes Lana to her grandfather and threatens her in order to coerce Dr. Rao to speak. Leska forces Lana to climb a walkway suspended in the void, with her hands tied behind her back, obviously she will not be able to resist for long in that position. He says, Conan and Jimsy manage to escape from the dungeons and escape the flood, so they head towards the Tower and there they find Monsky who miraculously escaped execution. Inside the tower they find all the control devices for the underground tunnels, therefore, they open the bulkheads and let out all the water that had flooded the underground populations, freeing them. The enraged population rebels against Leska and her guards and, climbing the tower, manages to defeat them. Leska, now on the ropes, as a last attempt takes Lana hostage and tries to climb to the roof of the Torre del Sole where the flying machine is located, now repaired with the new parts. The machine takes off, but Conan uproots a metal stake and throws it with unprecedented violence on the aircraft, damaging it and causing a fire, then throws himself at Leska and knocks him out with a fist, thus managing to free Lana.

Now Dr. Rao is free to operate the device that will collect solar energy to save the people of Indastria. But Leska is still alive and thanks to the help of some of his accomplices, he manages to take control of the gigantic pre-war plane called the Giant, making it super powerful as it manages to channel all the solar energy prepared on it. by dr. Rao. Conan and our friends then get on board the Falco, piloted by Mosky, but the small aircraft can do nothing against the gigantic super powerful plane. Mosky, however, with a manual maneuver, manages to get on board the giant plane Conan, Jimsy and Dice, then head to the Hyarbor Tower. Entering the plane Conan and his friends destroy it from the inside, provoking the wrath of the evil Leska, who hunts him thanks to his men. Leska manages to spot Conan, Dice and Jimsy along the tail of the plane, so he drops it and crashes it into the sea with Dice and Jimsy inside. But the giant plane is nearly out of order and Leska tries to escape. Conan, however, manages to reach him and engage Leska in a final battle from which he will emerge victorious. The giant plane carrying Leska crashes into the sea, despite the attempt to Conan to save the latter. Meanwhile, Dr. Rao has managed to recover the gigantic ship from the bottom of the sea and organizes the departure of the population of Indastria from the island near the catastrophe. The ship is about to sail but Conan, Dice and Jimsy are still missing, but Lana, thanks to her telepathy, is sure they are safe.

The ship then leaves the port of Indastria just in time for the coming of the terrible earthquake that destroys the entire island causing it to sink into the abyss. During the journey that will take the inhabitants of Indastria to the island of Hyarbor, they find the wreck of the plane with Jimsy and Dice on board, exhausted, but alive. Thanks to her seagull friend Tiki, Lana manages to spot Conan as well and has him headed for the place where they are. Rejoining the group Conan is happy to hug all his friends and as they are about to arrive in Hyarbor, Dr. Rao entrusts him with Lana's protection. Once on the island, the population of Indastria integrates with that of Hyarbor. In this time, Captain Dice manages to repair the Barracuda and (listen, listen) to marry Monsky. Conan, Lana, Tara, Jimsy, Monsky and Dice then set off in the Barracuda to head to The Lost Island, in order to populate that island to keep Conan's promise to his dying grandfather. When they arrive, however, they find a welcome surprise. In fact, the geological upheaval has brought a large part of land to the surface, transforming the small islet into a large island ready to be colonized and repopulated.

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