Eternal Family

 is a 1997 OVA directed by Koji Morimoto and released by Japanese animation studio, Studio 4°C. The film is about the daily life of a group of six very different strangers who, for scientific purposes, are brainwashed into believing that they are a family. The family is filmed and to recoup scientific expenses the distribution rights for the footage are sold to a television station for broadcast as a domestic soap opera called "Eternal Family". The show becomes highly popular in the outside world so when a plumbing disaster results in the family accidentally escaping, the television station and the residents of Champon City spare no expense to retrieve them.
The story was written jointly by Morimoto and Dai Sato. "Eternal Family" represents Sato's debut as an anime screenwriter, and Morimoto's first foray into the field of broadcast media. In 2004 the OVA was collected for release on one DVD.
Plot.
The storyline follows an actor named Ben and a group of six unrelated men and women who have been implanted with false memories that they are his family. They live together in a capsule with a pet dog and chicken and apart from Ben, none of them know anything about the outside world. The outside world, however, is intimately acquainted with their lives, as the artificial drama is broadcast live as a real-life soap opera in the simulated community of Champon City.
After the show has become popular, a plumbing disaster occurs that shatters the capsule and sends the family out into the real world, which they explore as the world around them searches for them in order to return them to the show. With the use of high-tech equipment and with a reward of ¥2 million for the return of each member, the family is soon rounded up and returned to a new capsule where they are again brainwashed.