Also known as Uninhabited Planet Survive, or Planet Survival, Mujin Wakusei Survive is a 52-episode anime that aired on NHK from 2003 to 2004. The story is set in a distant future, where Earth has become uninhabitable, and therefore people live in colonies on the surrounding planets.
On a school field trip, a mistake causes the protagonist, a young New Transfer Student named Luna, her pet robot, and six of her classmates to be thrown through a gravity storm and crash land on a seemingly uninhabited planet. There, with Luna as their leader, the robot cat Chako, the Troubled, but Cute lone wolf Kaoru, the spoiled rich boy Howard, the shy Meganekko Sharla, the obedient Gentle Giant Bell, the prideful musician Ojou Menori and the young boy genius Shingo must fight for their survival, meeting a little alien child nicknamed Adam along the way.
This anime series contains examples of:
- Always a Bigger Fish: When Howard, Luna and Menori are cornered by a Giant Lizard thing, an even bigger monster, now somewhat looking like an elephant and luckily for the trio NOT wanting them for lunch, come along and chases off the Giant Lizard thing.
- Coming of Age Story: The crew is composed by a group of young kids who, stuck in an island and having to rely on each other, have to grow, mature and face their traumas and demons so that they can survive, as well as ensure the survival of their friends.
- Jerkass Realization: There's a chapter where we see how Menori acts too harsh in trying to discipline Adam, then at one point, Howard decides to play a mean joke on both of them, out of revenge, because the latter was starting to get too attached to her (it seems that he wanted to play the big brother role for him and got jealous). So, he reveals Adam where Menori hides her violin. As any toddler'd do, he takes it and tries to play it, but when Menori heard the screeches, she goes with Adam and takes her violin back while yelling at Adam. But then Howard says something that accidentally unveils him as the real culprit. Then they all notice that Adam's not around. Here we see already Menori giving an Oh, Crap! face. They're all searching for him and when they finally find him, Menori herself decides to go talk to him. When she arrives, she finds him silently crying and probably a bit scared. She then has flashbacks of her father scolding her pretty hard. She then takes out a handkerchief and starts wiping Adam's tears while telling him words like "there, there, Adam, calm down. Don't cry. Howard told us everything, it's not your fault. Please, forgive me."
- Lightning Lash: Zilba's whip is electrical and she enjoys torturing people with it.
- Man-Eating Plant: Luna and Sharla run into a giant alien venus fly trap with big teeth and tentacles during their first excursion into the planet's forest.
- MegaCorp: Howard's father is the owner of the space colony the heroes live in, and own mining corporations in Pluto.
- Psychic Powers: Luna is an empath, which allows her to connect better with Adam.
- Recycled In SPACE: This is, at least until the end of the three prisoners' arc, Jules Verne 's Two Years' Vacation IN THE 22ND CENTURY... AND IN SPACE!
- Shout-Out: Howard, inspired by the winter and the food shortage, said in his sleep the phrase that's commonly mis-attributed to Marie-Antoinette: "If they have no bread, let them eat cake!
". Next night, he answered his own question: "There's no cake either!"
- Unfortunate Names: Chako considered her name bad after she asked Luna to name her. But since Luna was depressed from her mother's death at the time and almost started to cry, Chako accepted the name.
