Robby the Rascal

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Cybot Robotchi, known in the United States as Robby the Rascal, is a 39-episode anime television series created by Ken Ishikawa and produced by Go Nagai's Dynamic Productions and the Knack animation studio. The series aired on TV Tokyo in Japan from October 1982 to June 1983. A feature-length English-dubbed version comprising several episodes edited together into a movie, titled Robby the Rascal, was produced by Jim Terry's (Force Five) Kidpix Productions and released on home video in the United States in 1985. The TV series also aired in its entirety in Italy under the title Robottino.

Apparently inspired largely by Akira Toriyama's popular Dr. Slump, Robby the Rascal is the story of Robby (Robotchi), a fun-loving, mischevious robot with a TV set in his stomach. Robby lives in a peaceful village with various other robots, all created by the eccentric and somewhat lecherous Dr. Art Deco. Although he is an android, Robby has a warm, kind heart and is always willing to help out a friend in need. With his human girlfriend Tiffany (Kurumi), he gets into a variety of wacky adventures.

However, a rich, spoiled inventor named Horace will stop at nothing to get Robby for his own. Much of the plot of the English feature-length dub of the anime involves Horace's attempts to threaten the peace in Robby's village, with the help of his female assistants, Tracy and Yvette. For example, in one story arc, Horace uses an illusion-causing ray gun to spoil Robby and Tiffany's spring picnic and then manages to capture the little robot and force him to compete in a high-stakes game of tennis. In another, he follows Robby, Dr. Deco and their friends to Europe, where he and Robby square off in a medieval-style joust. And in the final story arc, Horace and his minions compete against Robby and Tiffany in a global race in which the first prize is $10 million, which Dr. Deco hopes to use to start an amusement park.

[edit] Production Notes

Production of Cybot Robotchi/Robby the Rascal involved some future legendary names in the anime industry, including Tetsuro Amino as a storyboard artist and Masayuki Kojima as an episode director. Series director Kazuyuki Okaseko was also a director on Toei Animation's Golion, better known in America as Lion Force Voltron.

The Japanese opening and ending themes to the Cybot Robotchi TV series were performed by Yukari Sato. The Italian dubbed version of the TV series kept all of the original music by Masayuki Aihara, including the Japanese theme songs, and also retained most of the original character names (except for Robotchi who became "Robottino"). However, for the English version, the original music was replaced by a new soundtrack by Bullets, including several original songs.

[edit] Staff

Japanese Version (Source: Anime News Network)

Created by: Ken Ishikawa, Toyohiro Ando
Series Director: Tatsuya Kasahara, Kazuyuki Okaseko
Script: Ayuko Anzai, Hideki Sonoda, Susumu Yoshida, Toyohiro Ando, Yoshiyuki Suga
Storyboards: Hiroshi Yoshida, Hiroyuki Kamii, Miyuki Goto, Shigeru Omachi, Tetsuro Amino, Yasuo Ishikawa, Yoshio Okamoto, Yuki Kinoshita
Episode Directors: Hiroshi Yoshida, Isao Harada, Kazuhiko Komatsu, Kazuyuki Okaseko, Masayuki Kojima
Animation Directors: Hiromi Nakamura, Noboru Akiyama, Takao Suzuki
Voice Cast: Natsumi Sakuma (Robotchi), Hiroshi Masuoka (Dr. Deko), Aya Mizoguchi (Sylvie), Yoko Kawanami (Kurumi), Masako Miura (Uzura), Nobuo Tomita (Bob)
Music: Masayuki Aihara
Theme Songs: OP- Cybot Robotchi, ED- Wai! Wai! Wai!, music and arrangement by Jun Irie and Tetsuro Oda, lyrics by Yukari Sato
Theme Song Performance: Yukari Sato
Production: Knack Co., Ltd. / TV Tokyo

English Version

Executive Producer: Joseph Adelman
Original Music: Bullets
Writer/Editor: Collins Walker
Producer/Director: Jim Terry
Assistant Editor: James Terry Jr.
Production Assistant: John Terry
Voice Cast: Ed Victor, Sandra Allyson, Reed Harmon, Tae McMullen, Scott Schwimer, Brenda Colbreth