Netflix has unveiled a new trailer for the space-faring anime The Orbital Children, which shows a far-flung future where space travel is widely available, humans can live on the moon, and AI is leagues ahead of where it is now. The six-episode series comes from director Mitsuo Iso and is his first work as a director since the Dennou Coil series. The first three episodes debut exclusively on the streamer on January 28 and in theaters in Japan only on the same day.
The Orbital Children follows five children, two of whom were born on the Moon and three from Earth, who are left behind on a new Japanese space hotel following a horrific accident. The year is 2045 and technology has advanced by leaps and bounds with social networks, AI, and the internet being ever-present, leaving the kids with some tools to work with. With a narrowband, some low intelligence AI, a social network, and a drone piloted through an AR device, they work together to survive in a place quickly becoming uninhabitable for humans.
The trailer gives us a tense look at the dire situation the children are in. After a brief introduction, we see the hotel falling apart with water flooding the station and holes in the walls threatening to suck the kids out into open space. It quickly becomes apparent that there are greater forces at play here though as world officials talk of a terrorist plot, the children spot an attack ship approaching the hotel, and through the social network, they receive the ominous message that "36.79% of mankind must be eliminated." All the while, there are mentions of a mysterious Seven Poem which seems to have prophesized all of this.
Along with the trailer comes a reveal of the stacked main voice cast for the anime. The series stars Natsumi Fujiwara (GREAT PRETENDER) as Touya Sagami, Azumi Waki (Tokyo Revengers) as Konoha B Nanase, Kensho Ono (Kuroko's Basketball) as Taiyo Tsukuba, Chinatsu Akasaki (Re:ZERO) as Mina Misasa, Yumiko Kobayashi (Soul Eater) as Hiroshi Tanegashima, and Mariya Ise (Kakegurui) as Houston Nasa.
Iso is a veteran of the industry, between working as a director and animating for massive shows like Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Ghost in the Shell. He'll write and direct for The Orbital Children with Kenichi Yoshida, who is in charge of character design and Toshiyuki Inoue directing animation. Production +h is producing the series.
The Orbital Children will stream its first three episodes on Netflix and in theaters on January 28, with the last three dropping on February 11. Check out the trailer for The Orbital Children below.