The Orbital Children

The Orbital Children (Japanese: 地球外少年少女, Chikyūgai Shōnen Shōjo, transl. "Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls") is a Japanese science fiction anime series written and directed by Mitsuo Iso. The character designs for the anime were provided by Kenichi Yoshida, and the main animator is Toshiyuki Inoue. The film's soundtrack was produced by Rei Ishizuka, while the theme song, "Oarana", was written and composed by Vincent Diamante and performed by the virtual rap singer Harusaruhi. The story is set in 2045, when a comet strikes the newly opened Japanese commercial space station, Anshin, in geocentric orbit. At the same time, a trio of Earth children are brought to the space station on a sponsored visit to meet Touya Sagami, one of the last surviving children born in space. Touya and another space-born human, Konoha, are undergoing physical therapy on the space colony to adapt their bodies to withstand Earth's gravity. The collision with the comet causes the space station's computer systems to malfunction. Isolated from most of the station's adult staff, the children navigate the disaster using local narrowband connections, restricted-intelligence AGI, and drones controlled by dermal devices equivalent to smartphones. Their internet connection is severed, the oxygen supply is cut off, and they soon discover that the station is damaged and leaking air. They face difficulties such as decompression, EVA with inadequate plastic suits, and runaway micromachines. Looming over these challenges is the larger threat of a technological singularity. The series is set in a world where commercial development on Mars began in the 2010s, and by 2045, the US and China are aiming for the Moon and Jupiter, while Japan develops in low Earth orbit. The anime was released as two films in Japan in January 2022 and on Netflix as a six-episode miniseries.