Hansel is one of the orphans living in a secluded orphanage, with his sibling Gretel, oblivious to the reality of his sister and their place in the universe. Mutsumi Tamura voices the character in the animated show, now streaming on Netflix.
Hansel lives in an orphanage with children all around the same age as him, more or less, with his red-haired sister Gretel being his closest companion. The two are inseparable and do almost everything together.
Hansel has grown incredibly tired of the monotonous routine that Mama and Papa, the dead-faced couple that runs the institution and is the children’s guardians, ensure that they abide by.
The same goes for his sister and the two kids are often causing trouble and breaking rules. As a consequence, Hansel has gone to detention for the most amount of time.
One night, Mama and Papa decide the detention is not enough for them so they send Hansel to the woods, where he must spend one whole night by himself. Deep into the woods, the siblings happen upon a cabin.
The old lady
Inside, there are many sweet confectionaries that Gretel begins hogging at once, while Hansel remains wary. An old lady appears behind them and welcomes his request to stay the night.
Later, she implores the kid to find the ends of the world, after he gets into a debate with her about the Earth being round and having no end, while the old lady professes the opposite of that fact.
The next day, Hansel goes beyond the fence, something the kids are forbidden from doing, and stumbles upon an invisible wall (a forcefield). When he later goes to the old lady in the woods, she confirms what he found was indeed the edge of the planet.
Beyond the ends of the world
She gives him a box full of colorful candies that she says will show them the way out of the end of the world. Sure enough, it does open a portal that sucks in Hansel and Gretel when they cross the fence the next night.
They’re transported to several white rooms and records of the kids who were with them and are with them.
Mama chases them and the siblings outrun her, before getting stuck between strong closing doors as she pushes Hansel away and saves him. Some of her face comes off, revealing her to be a robot.
The old lady asks if Hansel has learned anything from finding the ends of the world, going beyond it, and then seeing the stars and vast expanse of cosmos all around him. He hasn’t and ends up with more questions.
The truth
That’s when the old lady tells him the truth about his human ancestors who lived on Earth and had to ensure humanity’s survival through various strategies. One of these strategies was to leave behind their offspring.
The old lady, Mama, and Papa were created and tasked with raising children like Hansel inside these spaceships, until they’re strong enough, and capable enough of surviving on their own, which is when they’re sent off to the outside world.
Hansel has passed the test; his ordeal for the past few days was exactly that. It’s time to board a shuttle and go to the outside world, but he notices that the shuttle only has space for one passenger.
A shattering revelation
That’s when Gretel tells him she can’t leave with him. That’s because Gretel has been a figment of his imagination all this time. She is an imaginary friend he created in his mind to cope with his fears and timidness.
She became a companion who made the courageous decisions and led the duo, until recently, when Hansel started taking charge, as he became braver, wiser, and more inquisitive, thanks in large part to the old lady, Mama, and Papa’s efforts at building him up.
This revelation makes sense when one rewinds the episode and sees how the bed beside Hansel’s is always empty; how Gretel never has lunch in front of her at the lunch table; and how others never respond to her but Hansel.
Letting Gretel go
It’s time to let Gretel go, and even though he has learned that his sister is not real, Hansel is shattered nonetheless. He wishes he didn’t know of this reality.
Time passes, and he finally lands on a planet where he’s greeted by Fritz and other boys who were once with him at the school but mysteriously disappeared.
He learns they were sent off to this planet as well. Hansel was timid and disinterested all the time, so he never cared for the disappearances even if he was aware of them. His imaginary sister and the test helped him break out of his shell and become truly aware.
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