Part III - Lana is the Waiting "Magical Girl"
Lana is a High Harbor girl. Even though she's just a kid (which I probably shouldn't say), she is in love with Conan from the time she drifts ashore on Remnant Island. From the beginning, Conan's battle is to save Lana after she is kidnapped and imprisoned in Industria. To Lana, Conan is a wonderful prince who will protect and save her. That explains how the Girls' Land is the good side.
In truth, Lana carries all of the characteristics of a Girls' Land heroine. She is an eleven-year old girl [shoujo] (child [kodomo]). She has telepathic powers and is able to communicate mentally with animals and people in remote places. It would be appropriate to call her a magical girl who doesn't transform. When she leaves her physical body to go searching for Conan on the ocean, it is very "magical girl."
However, this girl isn't playing your ordinary "waiting woman" [matsu onna] or "persevering woman" [taeru onna]. She is the granddaughter of the scientist who holds the key to solar energy. Due to that fact she is kidnapped by Industria, but to an admirable degree she takes no action on her own. Even when kidnapped and imprisoned, she just waits quietly and bears it. This girl can't even walk on her own two feet. What an extreme contrast to the wild boy Conan, who's able to get everything done with just his toes. Scenes in the series where Conan lightheartedly picks Lana up and flies, runs or swims around holding her are very, very frequent. Couldn't she even try saying something like, "I can at least raise the mast by myself"?
The time when Lana's role shines the most is the scene when Conan is about to drown on the bottom of the ocean. She brings him air and gives it to him mouth-to-mouth in order to save him. Rescue and romance... There is no scene in "Conan" that expresses the show's ideals more than this well-discussed underwater scene. Wonderfully appropriate for a magical
girl.
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