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Title (English) Secret of the Cerulean Sands

Title (Japanese) Patapata Hikosen no Boken

Advertising
Fantasy Novel

Notes ="The Adventures of Patapata Aircraft"
December 2, 2001-
New 26-part Wowow anime series, 2001/2. This is a HDTV broadcast, 16:9 aspect ratio.
A co-production or Wowow, Koko, Sega and Zet. ( For details, see the Wowow anime web page at http://www.wowow.co.jp/drama_anime/index.html . )
Creator: Jules Verne (novels: Face Au Drapeau ("Facing the Flag") and L'etonnante Aventure De La Mission Barsac ("City in the Sahara"))

Classification -

Synopsis The story is apparently based upon two Jules Verne adventure novels and is set in the late 1800's. The story is about Jane Buxton, daughter of an aristocratic family, who likes to try to build flying machines and gets herself into trouble doing so.

Review I just finished watching the first episode of the new, high-profile 26-part Wowow anime series "Patapata Hikosen no Boken", ( aka, "Secret of the Cerulean Sands" ). This is a HDTV broadcast, 16:9 aspect ratio. ( Although the taped copy that I have can't capture the HD quality. ) It is a co-production or Wowow, Koko, Sega and Zet. ( For details, see the Wowow anime web page at http://www.wowow.co.jp/drama_anime/index.html . ) The story is apparently based upon two Jules Verne adventure novels and is set in the late 1800's. The story is about Jane Buxton, daughter of an aristocratic family, who likes to try to build flying machines and gets herself into trouble doing so.
The most striking thing about this anime is the way that it looks like a Miyazaki movie. In fact, during the advertisements leading up to the broadcast Wowow actually mentioned it being "in the spirit of" Miyazaki films. The lead character, Jane, could be a clone of any of the redhead Miyazaki heroines. But one thing this first episode didn't have was the Miyazaki "panache" and timing - instead it was almost painfully slow.
The story starts out with the head of the Buxton family, Edward Buxton, rushing home to his estate from the train station in the nearby city. ( Which gives the animators a chance to do a whole bunch of Victorian cityscapes and countrysides. ) He gets home in time to be with his wife as she gives birth to a daughter, Jane, then dies. Little Jane spends her first couple of years without a mother, then Edward remarries a widow with a twitchy, frightened son named William. Then a little while later William's mother also dies and William will open up only to little Jane. Finally, the scene shifts a number of years later when Jane is 15 and busy driving the majordomo of the household nuts as she continuously tries to build person-powered flying machines with the help of her much older brother, George.
So, other than setting up a rather traditional Victorian background, nothing much happens. Jane is portrayed as being always cheerful, almost to the point of being obnoxious. William is portrayed as a "Norman Bates Jr." and I kept on expecting him to slice up the family at any moment. From the opening animation, it appears that Jane will go off on some adventures on various baroque land ships and so on, but I have no idea how long it will be until the story really starts.
The opening and closing theme songs are both unremarkable to me, although the ending theme seemed a bit out of place with the setting of the story. The BGM seemed appropriate for the story line and time, but otherwise had no memorable tunes. The animation is also only adequate, and not at all as ambitious as in the last HDTV Wowow series, "The Soul Taker". All-in-all, this wasn't a terribly impressive opening for such a highly hyped series, but I'll stick around for a while and see if it picks up any. (Dave Baranyi)

Credits Series director: Yuichiro Yano

Episodes 26

Release

TV Showing See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here.

Date 2002-01-05 to 2002-06-29

Production

Broadcaster WOWOW

Animation

References & Help Look up the latest data on this title at:
Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or
Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) ,
or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001).
Help & further information.

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Information
Title (English)	Secret of the Cerulean Sands
Title (Japanese)	Patapata Hikosen no Boken
Advertising Fantasy Novel
Notes	="The Adventures of Patapata Aircraft" December 2, 2001- New 26-part Wowow anime series, 2001/2. This is a HDTV broadcast, 16:9 aspect ratio. A co-production or Wowow, Koko, Sega and Zet. ( For details, see the Wowow anime web page at http://www.wowow.co.jp/drama_anime/index.html . ) Creator: Jules Verne (novels: Face Au Drapeau ("Facing the Flag") and L'etonnante Aventure De La Mission Barsac ("City in the Sahara"))
Classification	-
Synopsis	The story is apparently based upon two Jules Verne adventure novels and is set in the late 1800's. The story is about Jane Buxton, daughter of an aristocratic family, who likes to try to build flying machines and gets herself into trouble doing so.
Review	I just finished watching the first episode of the new, high-profile 26-part Wowow anime series "Patapata Hikosen no Boken", ( aka, "Secret of the Cerulean Sands" ). This is a HDTV broadcast, 16:9 aspect ratio. ( Although the taped copy that I have can't capture the HD quality. ) It is a co-production or Wowow, Koko, Sega and Zet. ( For details, see the Wowow anime web page at http://www.wowow.co.jp/drama_anime/index.html . ) The story is apparently based upon two Jules Verne adventure novels and is set in the late 1800's. The story is about Jane Buxton, daughter of an aristocratic family, who likes to try to build flying machines and gets herself into trouble doing so. The most striking thing about this anime is the way that it looks like a Miyazaki movie. In fact, during the advertisements leading up to the broadcast Wowow actually mentioned it being "in the spirit of" Miyazaki films. The lead character, Jane, could be a clone of any of the redhead Miyazaki heroines. But one thing this first episode didn't have was the Miyazaki "panache" and timing - instead it was almost painfully slow. The story starts out with the head of the Buxton family, Edward Buxton, rushing home to his estate from the train station in the nearby city. ( Which gives the animators a chance to do a whole bunch of Victorian cityscapes and countrysides. ) He gets home in time to be with his wife as she gives birth to a daughter, Jane, then dies. Little Jane spends her first couple of years without a mother, then Edward remarries a widow with a twitchy, frightened son named William. Then a little while later William's mother also dies and William will open up only to little Jane. Finally, the scene shifts a number of years later when Jane is 15 and busy driving the majordomo of the household nuts as she continuously tries to build person-powered flying machines with the help of her much older brother, George. So, other than setting up a rather traditional Victorian background, nothing much happens. Jane is portrayed as being always cheerful, almost to the point of being obnoxious. William is portrayed as a "Norman Bates Jr." and I kept on expecting him to slice up the family at any moment. From the opening animation, it appears that Jane will go off on some adventures on various baroque land ships and so on, but I have no idea how long it will be until the story really starts. The opening and closing theme songs are both unremarkable to me, although the ending theme seemed a bit out of place with the setting of the story. The BGM seemed appropriate for the story line and time, but otherwise had no memorable tunes. The animation is also only adequate, and not at all as ambitious as in the last HDTV Wowow series, "The Soul Taker". All-in-all, this wasn't a terribly impressive opening for such a highly hyped series, but I'll stick around for a while and see if it picks up any. (Dave Baranyi)
Credits	Series director: Yuichiro Yano
Episodes	26
Release
TV Showing	See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here.
Date	2002-01-05 to 2002-06-29
Production
Broadcaster	WOWOW
Animation
References & Help	Look up the latest data on this title at: Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) , or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001). Help & further information.