Secret of Cerulean Sand

Secret of the Cerulean Sand
パタパタ飛行船の冒険 (Patapata Hikōsen no Bōken)
Genre	Adventure, science fiction
Anime television series
Directed by	Yuichiro Yano
Studio	Telecom Animation Film
Original network	WOWOW
Original run	5 January 2002 – 29 June 2002
Episodes	26

Secret of Cerulean Sand (パタパタ飛行船の冒険, Patapata Hikōsen no Bōken) is a 26-episode anime television series. The main character is a 15-year-old English girl named Jane Buxton, who dreams of building a flying machine due to the influence of her brother. The series documents her journey through the Near East to find her brother, who went missing after headed to the Near East to look for a floating liquid in an expedition. It is set in the late 19th century where impossible technologies such as landships and "floating liquid" exist side by side in a steampunk world.

The series is loosely based on two works by Jules Verne—his posthumous 1919 novel The Barsac Mission, which was largely written by his son Michel Verne (L’Étonnante Aventure de la mission Barsac, published in English in two volumes—Into the Niger Bend (Book One of the Barsac Mission), and City in the Sahara (Book Two of the Barsac Mission)) as well as his 1896 novel Facing the Flag (Face au drapeau).

It was included in Jury selections in the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival for the animation division.

Characters

Jane Buxton (ジェーン・バクストン, Jane Buxton)

Voiced by: Ema Kogure

The Main protagonist of the series, Jane is the little sister of George and stepsister of William.

George Buxton (ジョージ・バクストン, George Buxton)

Voiced by: Masakazu Suzuki

The big brother of Jane and stepbrother of William.

William Buxton (ウィリアム・ファーニー・バクストン, William Buxton)

Voiced by: Tooru Ookawa

The main antagonist of the series and stepbrother of Jane and George. He was eleven years old when his mother Marguerite married into the Buxton Family, but William did not like the new environment, step family and depened on his mother. After his mother died of an illness, he felt more lonely, when Jane showed him kindness and calling his mother as her own, William begins to love Jane as his own and felt no longer alone.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"The Three Siblings of the Buxton Family" Transliteration: "Bakusuton-ka no san kyōdai" (Japanese: バクストン家の三兄妹)	Unknown	Unknown	January 5, 2002 (2002-01-05)
In the late 1800s in England, the wealthy aristocrat Edward Buxton hurries home with his son George for the arrival of his second child. But his wife Anna dies after giving birth and the daughter is named Jane. Few years later Mr. Buxton marries Marguerite who has a young son named William, but William did not like his step family and depended on his mother. Many months later Marguerite is struck with illness and tells her son to be strong before passing away, days later William sees Jane go alone and follows her, Jane shows him kindness and care that causes William to love his step sister. Many years later Jane is 10 years old who tries to create a flying machine but still fails, George is studying to find a way for humanity to have a machine that flies.
2	"A Small Crack" Transliteration: "chiisana kiretsu" (Japanese: 小さな亀裂)	Unknown	Unknown	January 12, 2002 (2002-01-12)
George talks his research to the professors at the academy about the legend of The Floating Liquid; a cerulean sand that gives the ability to fly located in the East, George and Jane shares the same dream of being able to build a flying machine and soar through the sky one day, but George couldn’t convince the professors but a man named Barsac have listened to him. Mr. Buxton is trying to figure out who will be his successor and is eyeing William for his great work in the bank, but sees William talking to someone, the next day during breakfast Mr. Buxton confronts William for embezzlement the clients‘ money. St. Berain arrives with a letter to George, George has been accepted in to a exploration team to the Middle East by Barsac. William leaves the room and Jane runs after him, William is upset and talks about getting back at Mr. Buxton. The next day, George is making preparations to leave, and promise Jane that when he returns, he and Jane will be the first people to fly. Later that night, William walks into George’s room and reads his notes about the Floating Liquid, this gives William a plan.
3	"The Dark Shadow Seeps Out" Transliteration: "Nijimi dashita kuroi in" (Japanese: 滲み出した黒い陰)	Unknown	Unknown	January 26, 2002 (2002-01-26)
George is about to leave on his journey to the East, he can`t seem to find his watch. William has left on a sudden business trip and can`t be there when George leaves. Jane bids George goodbye but William is on the same ship having the Buxton watch. Meanwhile, Mr. Buxton suspect that William has run away, and finds evidence that he has and have taken the embezzlement money, Jane wonders why he has left without telling her. Few weeks later a letter arrives and it says that George has been executed because of treason. Five years later, flying object is above the Buxton Bank and masked figures rob it but a cloaked figure leaves behind a watch. Mr. Buxton is informed by the police about the robbery and they show him the Buxton watch, Mr. Buxton is suspected for theft insurance and the stress of all of it causes him to fall ill. Jane receives an unsigned letter, but the handwriting is the same as George and opens it, the letter is empty but there is a small blue stone, Jane's tear falls on it and the stone makes the water fly, the stone turns to blue sand. Jane realize it is the Floating Liquid and believes George is still alive and have found it, she sets out on a journey to the East together with St. Berain to find him.
4	"First Voyage" Transliteration: "Hajimete no kookai" (Japanese: はじめての航海)	Unknown	Unknown	February 2, 2002 (2002-02-02)
Jane is getting ready to leave for her trip to find George and she and St. Berain then leave the Manor. At the harbor to take the boat at same time Mr. Barsac is going the same way, to search for the floating liquid. Jane spots a suspicious man but she is met by a dachshund dog who is owned by a rude and overbearing woman. The boat begins to leave, Jane meets the Captain of the boat and follows after him and is then met by the young sailor Banchi, the Captain tells Jane how the boat works. The woman's dog creates a commotion and Jane grabs the dog, she meets Barsac again and spot the same suspicious man who is on the same boat who appears to be tailing Barsac. Jane is bored with her studies and wants to learn about ships, Jane asks Banchi refuses to teach her. Banchi tells Jane if she can pass a test that all sailors must pass he will tell her by getting the white flag on the top of the boat, believing that she wouldn't do it but Jane is determined and he is shocked to see her climb to get the flag. Everyone sees this and Jane reach the flag but she then lose balance and falls, Jane is saved by Banchi. The Captain yells at Banchi getting Jane into danger like that as a sailor must protect the safety of the passengers, Banchi then runs off.
5	"The Badge of a Sailor" Transliteration: "Funanori no kunshoo" (Japanese: 船乗りの勲章)	Unknown	Unknown	February 9, 2002 (2002-02-09)
Jane goes back to her room while St. Berain goes to eat dinner, the snobbish woman complains about the plate and the fork and the knife. Jane tells the Captain it is her fault as she insisted and Banchi tried to stop her, the Captain tells her it is Banchi himself who decide if he wants to stay a sailor or not. Jane finds Banchi who wishes to leave the ship but Jane wishes he will teach her about ships, before he leaves, which he agree to. New incident occurs as the woman's earrings has been stolen, the woman accuses Jane to have taken them as they roam around the ship late last night, and then accuse Banchi but the Captain defends him and Barsac scold the woman not to accuse someone so easily without proof. Noticing that the dog likes shiny things, Jane uses her brooch to the dog and then Jane and the others follows the dog to the storage room, the dog have collected shiny things and the woman's earrings thus the dog is behind this, the woman throws apples at her dog and is stopped. Banchi still wants to be sailor and Jane will try to create a flying machine, the ship finally arrives to the Middle East's harbour, Jane bids Barsac goodbye and to Banchi as well. The dog goes to Jane and it turns out have been abandoned by the woman, Jane decide to keep the dog and is renamed as Sky, their next one is taking the train.
6	"Mr. Barsac" Transliteration: "Baruzakku-san" (Japanese: バルザックさん)	Unknown	Unknown	February 16, 2002 (2002-02-16)
Jane and St. Berain goes to the train, the man from the boat in a disguise still tails Barsac. When Jane and St. Berain can't get train tickets, Barsac offers to help them. On the train they introduce themselves, and Jane by instinct says her last name is "Stuart" and says they are on a trip to find her elder brother who is working in a faraway city. Barsac who also sort of lies by saying his work is to discover something valuable things and bring them back to their country, as they are alone St. Berain asks her why she lied about her last name and Jane says Barsac is a good man but there is something odd about him, Barsac looks at the map where George believed about the legend and Jane tells St. Berain they have to keep George a secret, the man who follows Barsac is on the same train. A woman and her child get sick and Jane together with St. Berain and Mr Barsac searches desperately for a doctor. Sadly, they won't arrive at the next station until next morning and they are in the middle of the mountains, therefore they decides to take care of them until they arrive at the next station. Meanwhile the man sends a report to a flying machine in the sky. Barsac is reminded by the time that his wife Amanda and his daughter Karen died from sickness. The woman and girl survives and travels to a doctor the next day. While Jane and Barsac continue he talks about how he lost his wife and daughter in a influenza epidemic, because the doctor couldn't help them as the bridge was washed away, Jane realize to Barsac what he meant about having wings and can go anywhere. Once they arrive the city in the east, they say goodbye to Barsac and the man is seen talking to his mysterious boss who tells him infiltrate Barsac and his men, he then sees Jane and is surprised to see her. Meanwhile, Barsac is readying his team for the search for the floating liquid and the other mission is to subdue the mysterious band of bandits that is attacking the area, and with the captain Marcenay are going to lead the team.
7	"A New Encounter" Transliteration: "Atarashii deai" (Japanese: 新しい出会い)	Unknown	Unknown	February 23, 2002 (2002-02-23)
Jane and St. Berain explorers the eastern town, while Barsac and his team is loading the sand ships. A group of street children led by Saburi plans to take the wallet. When Jane chases Sky who ran away, St. Berain runs into Saburi who tells him about a shortcut. But Saburi and the other street children surrounds him and tries to steal his wallet. Jane stops them and St. Berain catch Saburi, Saburi tells the children to run away. Jane tells St. Berain to let him go as he is still a child and Saburi runs away. One of the other children hurts his foot as they try to run away, the other children brings him back home to the clock tower and lets Jane and St. Berain follow. In the clock tower the children tells them that Saburi wanted to help his sick friend Aiji. While they eat the food Jane brought them, she talks about flying machine. Saburi, who's been watching them, gets jealous and runs out. Later in the night, he returns and finds some food Jane left for him. The next day, Saburi is willing to help them because they helped his friends, Jane tells him they need a desert guide and get transport to travel through the desert, Jane tells him she is looking for her elder brother, Saburi agrees to be their guide and goes to find transport and a pilot for them. Barsac and his men are ready to leave in their desert ship while the man have infiltrated them. Saburi get doubts about leaving the children, when they are getting ready to leave Saburi comes and tell them that he can't leave his friends. Jane understands and thanking him for finding the transport. Suddenly the other children comes running and tell him that he can leave because they have all found jobs and they all wait for Saburi to come back. They say farewell and watches as they leave.
8	"To The Desert" Transliteration: "Sabaku e" (Japanese: 砂漠へ)	Unknown	Unknown	March 2, 2002 (2002-03-02)
As they travel the desert Jane is fascinated how the sand yact works, while Barsac embarks on the large sand battleship, they see something and Marcenay points for Barsac, but it is only a mirage of the battleship. Jane go passionate about piloting a sand yacht and tries to pilot one, but she loses control and the vehicle crashes at the bottom of a dune. The group therefore stops while the pilots carry out the repairs, the heat of the desert strikes St. Berain who suffers from a serious sunstroke, at night Saburi and Jane talk about St. Berain. Meanwhile, during a sandstorm a flying machine appears and inside of it are people and a giant blue stone in a tank, the ship begins to fall and they use the lamps at the tank, the ship flies low and they fly above the battleship, Barsac sees the ship and both ships barely avoid colliding, Barsac and Marecnay are unsure what they saw. In the morning Saburi get eggs from a snake, he starts frying the eggs and gives them to St. Berain, the boss scold his underling for repairing the yacht and tells him to hurry with other things. At Barsac and Marcenay they find a piece that fell from the sky and they the way object looks it belongs to a ship, Barsac is convinced more that if the Floating Liquid exists then a machine could fly, the man who infiltrated them is annoyed that Barsac begins to figure things out. Saburi finds that the repairs are not finished yet and finds all the supplies are on the other yacht, Saburi realize something is wrong here. At night Saburi goes to Jane that they have to leave right now, their guides are imposters who intends to kill them as they were after her money from the start, Saburi points out that they leave tomorrow yet the repairs on their sand yacht are still not finished because one yacht is enough for the imposters, Jane still doesn't believes this but Saburi says his hunches are always right and St. Berain tells Jane they have to flee now as he begins to recover. They go to the other sand yacht, the imposters noticed they have fled and they chase after them.
9	"The Sandstorm" Transliteration: "Sunaarashi" (Japanese: 砂嵐)	Unknown	Unknown	March 9, 2002 (2002-03-09)
Jane and the group continues to escape from the two crooks, they almost catches up to them and Saburi throws all of their provisions out of the yacht at them, the underlig being a kind man don't want to harm them so he makes the yacht throw off his boss, the crooks then leave to go home as Jane's group leaves. Marcenay informs Barsac that a sandstorm is coming, while talking about to subdue the mysterious band of bandits, Marcenay suggests to go to Tarlmel to find clues, the city is the place where George Buxton go executed and Marcenay thinks George had some links with the bandits, but Barsac says George was not that kind of person to be behind them, Barsac remembers when George talked about the Floating Liquid and that George have discovered it. Jane and the group tries to continue as the wind dies down, and they end up effectively stranded in the desert. They remain there with no food or water to survive on long enough for all of them to pass out from the heat. Only half conscious, Jane vaguely sees a flying machine fly above them, a trunk is lowered from it and lands next to them in purpose. When Saburi goes to open it, he finds a bunch of provision and including water, when the wind picks up again they resume their journey. At night St. Berain tells Saburi how Jane's mother died and remembers when Jane was little she asked her father to see her mother, her father told her that her mother are in the heaven in the sky, one day Jane climbed and got stuck up in a tree, young William climbed up to rescue Jane, Williams asks why Jane climbed the tree and Jane answers she wanted to go near the sky as her mother is there which William share the loss of his mother. The group then very quickly come face with a sandstorm, they try to escape from it and are rescued by the people from the battleship, on board they are met by the crew, Jane and Barsac are reunited once again. During dinner Barsac asks Jane about seeing her elder brother in that town and why is she travelling through the desert, Jane lies that her brother left to Tarlmel and decided to go there as well. Barsac tells the truth that they are following a mysterious band of bandits that has appeared in the East, attacking and looting villages, their goal is to find out who they are and stop them. While walking, Jane passes by the man which she gets the feeling of having met him before.
10	"The Things I Can Do" Transliteration: "Watashi ni dekiru koto" (Japanese: 私に出来ること)	Unknown	Unknown	March 16, 2002 (2002-03-16)
Jane goes to the engine room to look around, but the chief engineer tells her that this is a work place and she have to leave. Jane tells Barsac that she feels bad that they are the only ones who aren't working, but Barsac says they can't allow passengers to do a thing like that and that she don't have to worry, Jane tells St. Berain and Saburi about helping with the work and St. Berain agrees but Saburi understandably refuses. The sandship arrives at an oasis, Barsac asks the man revealed to named Morilire how much long they get past the desert, Morilire says it takes more time to reach the end. As they fill the ship with water, something is wrong with the pipes. Jane asks Saburi about she said last night and Saburi now agrees to her, Jane pesters Barsac about letting her, St. Berain and Saburi help the crew. Wanting to make Jane happy, Barsac allows them to help, assigning St. Berain and Saburi to help with the engine room and Jane to help out in the kitchens. Next day Saburi and St. Berain makes a mess with the coal, Jane doesn't know how to peel potatoes and goes to fetch the eggs, but her apron gets stuck in the refrigerator door and causes a huge mess with the food and the cooks. Jane makes breakfast for everyone, but they get to experience Jane's poor cooking skills, the chief cook and chief engineer go complain to Barsac that they make it impossible to make any work done, Barsac tells the three that they can't help out anymore. Jane being so stubborn asks Barsac to give them another chance, Jane wants to be in the engine room as she knows a lot about machinery while the others are in the kitchen. As Jane does her work, she notices something strange with the pipe, Jane astonishes everyone with her amazing engineering skills. Then alarm goes that water is leaking from the pipe, the front is being held but the back is too narrow to reach, if nothing is done the boiler is going to blow up. Jane decide to go there as she fit to reach, Jane reach the back and begins to screw it, the pipe stops leaking, the crew and the chief engineer thanks Jane and asks her to help them in the engine room again.
11	"The Mystery of the Shipwreck and the Cerulean Sand" Transliteration: "Nanpa sen to aoi suna no nazo" (Japanese: 難破船と青い砂の謎)	Unknown	Unknown	March 23, 2002 (2002-03-23)
The wind dies down and Morilire tells Barsac it is dangerous if they keep going and enter quicksand if there is no wind, they have to stop until the wind comes. After a while the wind still have not come, the crew in meantime do repairs as soon they will enter a area of rocks and quicksand. At night, Morilire, great spy that he is, sends a message to who knows what through light signals. The following day, the wind picks up and they begin to continue, they enter the rocky area, they manage to get across the area without too much trouble and they enter the quicksand. They have to increase the speed faster so they can go across the sandslide, while fixing a gear Jane sees something as they pass across a huge rock atop. Morilire is relieved that none of the crew saw it, but Jane did. They stop there for a while, Jane begins to climb up to see it, Jane guides Barsac and a few of the crewmembers including Morilire to it, what they see is a shipwreck, everyone wonders how that ship got all the way up here and where it comes from. They see on the ship as it says "Rai-jin" and how it even functionned with no oars, sails and propeller, Jane and two others go in to investigate. Jane by herself goes to a room and finds a huge pile of cerulean sand which immediately reminds her of the one she got in the letter from George, Barsac and the others come to investigate as well and seeing the cerulean sand, the fact the ship is on a mountain means the ship flew. Barsac asks Jane if she knows something about this sand and she answers no to him, Jane wonders if George was the one who built this flying ship. They leave the ship and continues with the journey, Barsac thinks about the time he watched George spoke of the Floating Liquid, Marcenay informs him they have secured the cerulean sand they gathered, Jane looks at her cerluean sand she kept in her brooch and Jane is convinced that George is still alive.
12	"The Mechanical Bandit Band - Prologue" Transliteration: "Kikai tōzoku-dan 〜 zenpen" (Japanese: 機械盗賊団〜前編)	Unknown	Unknown	March 30, 2002 (2002-03-30)
At night, a group of people appears to a village, they are the bandits who rides in extremely fast one-man vehicles that allows them swift and unstoppable movement. The village chief Camille, leads the fight to try and stop the bandits, they fail and the bandits leave after stealing stuff, setting the village on fire, and seriously bruising Camille. The bandits benefit from technological advantage, Camille declares they won't let the bandits pillage them like this again and they'll go to the bandits to fight them instead. Jane and her group, where the crew is wrestling with a rock to get the ship unstuck from another rock, Camille and her men sees the mechanical ship and thinks they are the bandits. They see from afar a group of people riding chamels and bearing swords, and they deduce that they are under attack, Saburi recognizes from afar the warriors as part of the Hanan tribe and tells Jane that they are usually a peaceful people that never attack first, Jane feels that something is up, steals the rescue boat and stops the conflict. A discussion is open and Camille explains that she mistook them as the men from a place called Neo City, they attack the village on mechanical vehicles that moves fast and plunder everything in sight and kidnap the people. They realize they are talking about the mysterious band of bandits and asks what is Neo City, Camille says it is their city and according to rumors it lies farther east, but no one has ever been there before. Barsac asks why do they kidnap people, Camille do not know but she knows they rob people of their provisions and their families, and they kill anyone if they resist, many villages were attacked. Together with their leader, the Hanan tribe continued to fight and defend the town, but the leader who was Camille's father died in battle. Marcenay, moved by her tragic story, convinces Barsac to help the tribe, which they do. They finally manage to unstuck the ship and head for the village, Barsac asks Camille how did this village make money, she says with trade and became rich as the link between the eastern and western parts of this desert, that wealth made them a target for the bandits. Jane asks about the girl Sasha and Camille says she work for her, her parents were also taken to Neo City. They devise a plan to defend the village and how to use firearms and teach the villagers some hand to hand combat, Morilire is not happy with that. Jane bemoans how machines are used as weapons, saying machines are supposed to fulfill their dreams and happiness to everyone for everyone, and wishes George were here to tell her what to do.

External links

• Patapata Hikousen no Bouken (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia