Mighty Space Miners
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Masao Mochizuki
| Mighty Space Miners | |
 Japanese Blu-Ray cover (2023). | |
| おいら宇宙の探鉱夫 (Oira Uchū no Tankōfu) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Created by | Forsman Ranchfield |
| Original video animation | |
| Directed by | Umanosuke Iida |
| Produced by | Katsumi Yamaguchi Masao Mochizuki |
| Written by | Ritsuko Hayasaka Tsutomu Iida |
| Music by | Kenji Kawai |
| Studio | Triangle Staff |
| Licensed by | ADV Films (expired) Discotek Media (out of print)[1] |
| Released | November 11, 1994 – January 27, 1995 |
| Runtime | approx. 30 minutes per episode |
| Episodes | 2 |
Mighty Space Miners (Japanese: おいら宇宙の探鉱夫, Oira Uchū no Tankōfu; lit. I am a space miner) is a Japanese original video animation (OVA) released between 1994 and 1995. Directed by Umanosuke Iida, with scripts credited to Ritsuko Hayasaka and Tsutomu Iida, and produced by Triangle Staff and KSS, the series was conceived as a hard science fiction survival drama set in a near-future asteroid mining colony.
Set in the 2060s, the story takes place on a mining colony carved into the captured asteroid 4179 Toutatis, positioned near Earth as a space habitat and a base for asteroid miners. The narrative follows 12-year-old Nanbu Ushiwaka (voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi in Japanese and Amanda Winn-Lee in English), the oldest child born in space, as he attempts to pass a practical piloting examination. During an operation to capture Halley's Comet, a derelict military satellite malfunctions and launches a nuclear missile. The resulting explosion triggers failures throughout the habitat, leaving the survivors struggling to cope as authorities delay the rescue attempt.[2][3]
Episodes
- Episode 1: 「118,000ミリセコンドの悪夢」 (118,000 Milliseconds of Nightmare) – Released 11 November 1994.[4][better source needed]
- Episode 2: 「デストロイ＆エクソダス」 (Destroy & Exodus) – Released 27 January 1995.[4]
- Episode 3: 「大気圏突入」 (Atmospheric Entry) – Unproduced.[4]
- Episode 4: 「ファシズム」 (Fascism) – Unproduced.[4]
- Episode 5: 「凶星ハレー」 (Halley, the Star of Bad Fate) – Unproduced.[4]
- Episode 6: 「トータチス1B9-6」 (Toutatis 1B9-6) – Unproduced.[4]
Production
Mighty Space Miners was directed by Umanosuke Iida, with scripts written by Ritsuko Hayasaka and Tsutomu Iida. Character design and animation direction were handled by Toshihiro Kawamoto, while mechanical designs were created by Isamu Imakake. Music was composed by Kenji Kawai.[3][better source needed]
Although credited to a foreign-sounding original author フォースマン・ランチフィールド (rendered in English-language sources as "Forsman Ranchfield"[2] or "Horceman Lunchfield"[5][6]), the name is a pseudonym of Umanosuke Iida, and the OVA is not an adaptation of any prior work.[2][7]
The OVA was planned as a six-episode series but was cancelled after the release of its first two episodes.[2][7]