Robotan

Robotan
ロボタン
Manga
Written by Kenji Morita
Magazine Shonen Gaho
Original run 1966 – 1968
Volumes 2
Anime television series
Directed by Hiroshi Ono
Produced by Tsuyoshi Hata (early episodes)
Isamu Hagi (later episodes)
Written by Tsuyoshi Danjo
Takashi Taka
Yu Aku
Music by Yasushi Kokura
Studio Puppe Production
A Production
Sun Production
Nakamura Production
Network Fuji Television
Original run October 1, 1966 – September 27, 1968
Episodes 104
Anime television series
Directed by Kenji Kodama
Hiro Takeuchi
Shunji Oga
Makoto Morikawa
Wataru Mukaishima
Kazuhiko Kobayashi
Yukio Suzuki
Tetsuo Yasumi
Produced by Toshio Matsui (Daiko)
Shunzo Kato (Toyko Movie Shinsha)
Shunzo Kato
(Tokyo Movie Shinsha)
Motoyoshi Tokunaga (Tokyo Movie Shinsha)
Michihiko Suwa (Yomiuri Television)
Written by Noboru Shiroyama
Narumitsu Taguchi
Masaaki Sakurai
Yoshio Urasawa
Studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Network Yomiuri Television
Original run January 6, 1986 – September 20, 1986
Episodes 33

Robotan (ロボタン) is a Japanese anime and manga series created by Kenji Morita. The series revolves around household robot Robotan, who is created By Kan-chan and lives with an everyday Japanese family as a domestic servant and friend to the children. Like Doraemon, his good intentions don't always work out, with comic consequences. The original series was produced by Daiko Advertising. Production moved to Tokyo Movie Shinsha for the 20th-anniversary color remake New Robotan (1986) under director Masaharu Okuwaki.

Plot

Robotan is a robot made by a school boy named Kan-chan, a nerd. He has special abilities like "Robotan Copter", "Robotan Punch" etc. His arch Rival is Botchi, a small kid who dislikes Robotan and makes several plans to destroy him or make him a slave, but Robotan destroys all his plans. He has also a little crush on his teacher, Umi. He is very fond of bananas which gives him power. His male mentor Uminoyamais also in love with Umi, at which Robotan is angered.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Kenji Morita, the manga began serialization in the Shonen Gaho magazine in 1966. The manga was published simultaneously with the 1966 anime version after Morita was hired by Daiko Advertising to create a series similar to Obake no Q-Taro.[1]

1966 anime

The 1966 anime version of Robotan was produced by Daiko Advertising and the animation was outsourced to four studios, all located in Osaka (which was very uncommon for studios in Tokyo to do at the time). The studios providing the animation were Puppe Production, A Production, Sun Production, and Nakamura Production, all of which would take turns producing the episodes. All the stories were handled at Daiko Advertising, which would then be sent the four studios. The film would then be sent back to Daiko for editing and dubbing work.[2]

The series was aired on Fuji Television from October 4, 1966 to September 27, 1968 for 104 episodes. To this day, it's unknown how many episodes still survive. The films were thrown out by Daiko several years ago and ended up as collectors items which were sold under $100. In 2010, two 35mm black and white negatives with no soundtrack were sold on Yahoo Japan's auction service.[3]

1988 anime

The 1988 anime color remake was produced by Daiko who contracted Tokyo Movie Shinsha to handle the production of it. It aired on Yomiuri Television from January 6 to September 22, 1986 for 33 episodes.[4]

Characters

Opening themes

Voiceovers

References

  1. ↑ Charles Brubaker (August 20, 2014). "Robotan (1966)". Cartoon Research. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  2. ↑ Charles Brubaker (August 20, 2014). "Robotan (1966)". Cartoon Research. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  3. ↑ Charles Brubaker (August 20, 2014). "Robotan (1966)". Cartoon Research. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  4. ↑ Charles Brubaker (August 20, 2014). "Robotan (1966)". Cartoon Research. Retrieved September 13, 2014.

External links