The Orbital Children

In 2045, aboard a damaged space station, five kids find themselves stranded with only smartphones, social media, and some not-very-smart AI to rely on. That's the setup for The Orbital Children, a 6-episode ONA from Mitsuo Iso, the mind behind Dennou Coil. Two of the kids were actually born on the Moon, which already makes them outsiders, and the three Earth-born children visiting the station don't exactly see eye to eye with them. Then everything goes wrong, and suddenly these kids have to figure out how to survive in orbit using narrowband internet and cheap drones while the adults are out of the picture. What makes this one stick is how grounded the near-future tech feels. Iso clearly thought hard about what space tourism and everyday AI might actually look like in twenty years, and the result is less flashy sci-fi spectacle and more kids problem-solving with realistic constraints. The tension comes from resourcefulness, not superpowers. If you liked Astra Lost in Space for the whole "young crew stranded in space" premise but wanted something more technically minded, this scratches that itch. Fans of Planetes will appreciate the attention to orbital mechanics and the unglamorous side of living off-Earth. Production +h. brings a clean visual style that serves the storytelling well without overdesigning everything. At only six episodes, it's a tight watch that doesn't waste your time.