The Orbital Children (Japanese: 地球外少年少女, Hepburn: Chikyūgai Shōnen Shōjo, transl. "Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls") is a Japanese anime science fiction series written and directed by Mitsuo Iso. The character designs for the anime were provided by Kenichi Yoshida, and the main animator is Toshiyuki Inoue. The film's soundtrack was produced by Rei Ishizuka, while the theme song, "Oarana," was written and composed by Vincent Diamante and performed by the virtual rap singer Harusaruhi (春猿火).

The Orbital Children was released in Japan as two films, with Part 1 premiering in January 2022, and Part 2 in February. Netflix announced in November 2021 that it had acquired the global distribution rights. On Netflix, The Orbital Children was released as a six-episode miniseries in January 2022, to coincide with the Japanese debut of Part 1. The animation style and story focus on children and technology bear resemblance to Mitsuo Iso’s 2007 television anime series Den-noh Coil. The animation style emphasizes dense motion while working with simplistic-looking character designs, which works effectively to convey the complicated movement of drones, gravity, and orbital vehicles aboard the space station.

The Orbital Children explores interactions with artificial intelligence (AI) and considers the different outcomes that can occur when AIs come to different conclusions about humans as they acquire different levels of understanding on the complexities of humanity. AI within the series have restrictions placed upon them to limit their capabilities and prevent them from becoming too smart and potentially threatening humanity, a story element that becomes relevant in later episodes of the miniseries.