Spring 1981 Anime

Nobi Nobita is a 4th-grade boy in Tokyo. One day, a round, blue cat-style robot (minus ears) pops up in his desk drawer. Nobita's great-great-grandson (or something) lives in the 22nd Century, but thanks to Nobita's mistakes, the entire family is living in poverty. To rectify this, Nobita's descendant sends Doraemon back to the past, to help prevent Nobita from making mistakes. Of course this is a difficult task since Nobita is the weakest and least intelligent child in his class. Doraemon does, however, have a 4-dimensional pocket on his front, which contains cool gadgets from the future. With these toys, Doraemon will try to help Nobita. Unfortunately, Nobita also has the bad habit of misusing Doraemon's gadgets and landing himself in yet more trouble!

[Source: AnimeNfo]

The year is Universal Century 0079. For nine months, war has been raging between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. On the space colony Green Noah at Side 7, the cluster of colonies farthest from the moon, the Federation has completed its new prototype mobile suits. However, the Zeon launch a surprise attack. In the midst of battle, fifteen-year-old Amuro Ray activates one of the Federation mobile suits, and from then on he defends his friends and the new assault carrier White Base from countless Zeon attacks as the war rages on around them.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Yabuki Joe is left downhearted and hopeless after a certain tragic event. In attempt to put the past behind him, Joe leaves the gym behind and begins wandering. On his travels he comes across the likes of Wolf Kanagushi and Goromaki Gondo, men who unintentionally fan the dying embers inside him, leading him to putting his wanderings to an end. His return home puts Joe back on the path to boxing, but unknown to himself and his trainer, he now suffers deep-set issues holding him back from fighting. In attempt to quell those issues, Carlos Rivera, a world renowned boxer is invited from Venezuela to help Joe recover.

Dr. Slump creates a little android girl, Arale, who is very stong, happy, and totally common senseless. They live in Penguin Village where the strangest things happen (e.g., the dawn is announced by a little pig wearing a basquee).

[Source: Anime News Network]

Creating a robotic boy in the image of his recently deceased son Tobio, Professor Tenma thought nothing could go wrong now that his beloved child had been "reborn"... that is, until he comes to realize that this invention could never replace his son. Before long, however, the robot is kidnapped and spirited away to a robot circus in America, where he is soon rescued by Dr. Ochanomizu, and taken into his care. Tobio is given the new name Tetsuwan Atom, and transforms into Japan's crime-fighting hero, although his anti-violent pacifist views and overall childlike naivety tend to clash with his battles often.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Nobita has been having a weird dream about a boy named Roppel and his strange companion Chami traveling in space. By a twist of fate, he met them in person where it turns out that they are real and that they were being pursued in space, causing their space vehicle to malfunction, connecting the space vehicle itself with Nobita's room. They journeyed to Roppel's planet and amidst their enjoyment, Nobita and Doraemon pledged to help Roppel's planet free from their oppressors.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Second season to the original Tiger Mask, with a different cast of characters.

Golion, a powerful sentient robot, abuses his great powers by attacking and killing creatures known as Deathblack Beastmen, boasting that no one could defeat him. A divine space being punishes Golion for his arrogance and abuse by seperating him into 5 different lion robots. In the year 1999, a group of 5 young men return to Earth after a space voyage, only to find it ravaged by nuclear war. After encountering the alien race known as the Galra, the 5 youths end up on the planet Altea, and learn that the 5 lion robots that Golion was split into are in hibernation in various parts of Altea. Somehow, they must reunite the lions and form Golion, the only hope for the human race.

[Source: Anime News Network]

10-year-old Flone is a very active, tomboyish sort of a girl. One day, her father receives a letter from his English friend who is now in Australia. In the letter, the friend asks her father to come down to Australia because of a serious shortage of doctors. The family decides to leave their old house in Bern. Now their drifting voyage has begun!

Flone's fantastic adventures will teach children about the importance of family and the joys of living amidst nature's beauty.

Sandybell is a playful girl from Scotland. She is happy even if her mum died when she was little. Past secrets begin to reveal after Sandybell gets a white lily from a rich lady. After a tragic act Sandybell moves to London where she is trying to find clues to her past.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Marion is a young schoolboy who prides himself on his adherence to a philosophy he calls "rationalism". Because of his disdain for emotional display, he ignores anything remotely akin to affection. But when he's entangled in a romantic affair with an older courtesan, his rationalism is revealed to be little more than a cover for his own emotional immaturity. Learning to love, Marion blossoms under his older lover's care but unfortunately, Marion has yet to learn the true price of the affair.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Mihira Sanpei talks with a Tohou accent and is a down-to-earth boy with a cheerful and optimistic personality. However, when it comes to fishing, he becomes very serious and is a youth who enjoys fishing more than anything else. The village where he lives in is a natural environment which provides different kinds of fishing challenges. Despite his lack of experience, Sanpei has a first-rate sense with regards to fishing and decides to maxmise his potential by entering into different fishing contests. As he faces various challenges, he learns to solve difficult problems and learn from his mistakes to the extent that he is able to fish anything out of the waters. Along the way, he encounters all kinds of rivals and companions who increase his experience points and help him in his growth.

[Source: Anime News Network]

The year is 1999. Amamori Hajime is just a normal, everyday elementary school student, trying to study and hanging out with his crazy pals. But then one day as his father is testing a piece of equipment he has been working on, something causes it to blow up, taking the house with it! Now orphaned, Hajime is taken in by his uncle, who is an astronomer. There at his uncle's observatory, he meets a girl he's seen before and developed somewhat of a crush on. He finds out her name is Yukino Yayoi, and her parents run a ramen shop in town. But even better than that, she's his uncle's assistant! What luck!

But Yayoi isn't exactly what she seems. There is a reason she helps out Amamori-san at the observatory. She is the Millennial Queen (Sen-Nen Joou), specially chosen by her home planet, LaMetal, to go to Earth and help prepare for the possible annihilation of the planet. What will cause this disaster? LaMetal has an extremely elliptical orbit, which sends it very, very near Earth every 1000 years. When it gets close enough, the earth reacts, causing all sorts of natural disasters. Although she was chosen with the idea of protecting LaMetal in mind, her personal plan is to evacuate as many humans as she can to LaMetal, so if their planet is destroyed, they will survive.

However, there is one person who strives to stop her plan, the head of the Millennial Theives. Why does he want to stop Yayoi? And how does he know about the Millennial Queen, anyway?

[Source: AniDB]

After befriending a white Pyrenees dog he names Belle, Sebastian sets out on a journey to find the mother he knows is still alive.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Unico the Unicorn has the amazing power to make anyone he meets happy. Whether it's because of his personality or the powers of his horn, no one knows. However, the gods become jealous of Unico, thinking that only gods should be able to decide or let people be happy or not. Unico is banished to the Hill of Oblivion, and the West Wind is ordered to take him there. She can't stand giving this fate to an innocent like Unico, so Unico's adventures begin, as the West Wind takes him from one place and time to the next, in a neverending journey to escape the wrath of the gods. In this adventure, Unico meets Beezel a devil child and then Katy (Chao), a cat who wants to be a witch! Can he become friends with them?

[Source: AniDB]

Throughout history, the quest for power infected mankind. In the future..nothing much changes. The setting for this exciting, funny and intriguing series is the Kingdom of Fir antic, where two royal houses are locked in combat to determine who will become the future ruler of the Kingdom. To secure the throne, one of two must travel through the aeons of time to find the Firebird. Whoever brings it back to Fir antic will rule from the throne of this mysterious country. The story starts in the present.... Here, in the desolate office of the Ace Detective Agency, Detectives Paul Tuck and Tracy Headly are whiling away the time reading magazines, for want of something better to do. Suddenly, a girl appears before them. From her strange dress the pair can just deduce that the girl couldn't possibly be from their time. She begins to speak..."You are quite right. I am from another era. In time, you two will be married, and I will be born from your bloodline many generations hence". The girl's name is Princess Sara of the Kingdom of Fir antic. Paul and Tracy are amazed by the girl's telepathic powers, and even more amazed to be told that they are to be married. But there is more to come. Princess Sara is looking for the Firebird with the use of a Time Tunnel. Paul and Tracy decide that it is their duty to protect their descendent's future. They offer to help Sara on her quest for the Firebird, but Sara has no idea where it is to be found. The only clue she has is that Princess Miranda and her party have come to this time as well. Sara telepathically discovers the whereabouts of their time machine, and our heroes chase after Miranda, who possesses any and all information concerning the Firebird....

[Source: AniDB]

Jarinko Chie is a movie directed by Takahata in 1981. Based on the very popular manga by Etsumi HARUKI, it is about ten year old Chie, "the most unfortunate girl in Japan", who manages her family diner while her unemployed yakuza father and her mother are separated. This sounds really depressing, but it's actually a very funny comedy.

The story is set in Osaka, which has a totally different culture from Tokyo. After the success of the movie, a TV series was made, and Takahata worked as the chief director.

[Source: nausicaa.net]

The main character is a mother named Sazae-san. She lives in a house with her husband, her kids and her parents. The show is the ultimate family program and tends to follow traditional themes. Think of this show as the Japanese equivalent to "The Partridge Family" and you'll get a good feel for this show's atmosphere. Don't expect to see things like violence, swearing, kung-fu action or magical girls. The plots are more like "Today, Sazae-san goes to the new mall and gets lost". Such "boring" plotlines and the simplistic art are often a turn-off to non-Japanese audiences, but most Japanese find the show incredibly good. As a result, it continues to be one of the top ratings grabbers on TV and is one of the few anime that is considered "acceptable" by adults.

[Source: AniDB]

Enrico Pocchini is a kind-hearted schoolboy with a strong sense of justice who lives in the Italian town of Torino. As a new term starts, he loses his beloved teacher, Miss Delacci, who is replaced by the stern Sr. Pelboni. Eventually, the boys in Enrico's class come to respect Sr. Pelboni, and learn about love, life and human kindness.

[Source: AniDB]

Shotaro had become an Interpol agent, working with Branch Robo, the antirobot crime unit of that organization. He still employs Tetsujin.

[Source: AniDB]

Based on Hellen Keller's (1880-1968) autobiography.

Kaibutsu-kun and his companions, Dracula, Wolfman, and Franken, travel from Kaibutsu Land to the Human Realm, where they encounter and battle several monsters, mainly assassins from the demon group Demonish.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Ikkyu is a little boy training to be a monk at Ankokuji Temple. Known for being mischievous and a bit of a troublemaker, but also extremely smart, Ikkyu constantly thinks of new ways to outwit his frustrated teachers, helping others at the same time.

TV anime adaptation of Hisaichi Ishii's comedy manga "Ojamanga Yamada-kun".

In the United States, the Civil War has just broken out and Mr March, a physician and father of four daughters, went to the front. Madam March remains alone with her four daughters: the eldest Margaret (Meg), Josephine (Jo) budding writer, a real boy failed, Elisabeth (Beth), the timid passionate piano, and the latest addition, Amy, who loves to draw. The four girls will quickly get to know their neighbor Mr. Lawrence, which they had a little scared at first, but also to his grandson Laurie who at the age of Jo. Together, they go through many hardships, more or less happy, the furies of Aunt March, jealousies, the joys and the war in fabric background, hoping that their father will come back safe and sound...

[Source: Planete Jeunesse]

When a young boy called Hiro finds what appears to be a broken lighter in an empty field, it changes his life forever. This lighter is actually the Gold Lightan, a robot that fell to Earth from the Robot Dimension. When called upon to defend the Earth from Ivalda the Great's evil robots, Gold Lightan transforms into a giant super robot, known as the Golden Warrior. Gold Lightan joins forces with Hiro's and his gang, the One Pack Rangers to protect the Earth from the evil schemes of Ivalda the Great and his armored forces.

[Source: MyAnimeList]

Ikkyuu must help the princess once again as she doesn't have any table manners. Without them she won't be able to attend the plum blossom viewing party.

TV specials of the 1980 colored Kaibutsu-kun series. The first three episodes aired after episode 25. The trio aired back to back on the same day, in honor of Taro Sagami who was the voice actor of Franken. He had passed away the day before. Shingo Kanemoto took over voicing the role after these three eps. The other three eps were all New Years specials aired after ep 57.

Each Kaibutsu-kun story is ~15 minutes long. The TV series shows 2 stories per episode to fit into a half hour time slot. These specials are all 1 story each but ep 3 and 5 use the time slot for theirs.

※ NOTE: Screened as a double feature with Doraemon: Nobita no Uchuu Kaitakushi.

Based on the shounen manga by Fujiko Fujio.

[Source: AniDB]

Morimura Aiko is a junior high school student who is short for her age. Her father went on a yacht ten years ago and his whereabouts remained in obscurity. Her mother, a designer for hats, left for Paris, leaving Aiko in the care of her uncle, Mr Fujinami. Aiko had a pet dog, Papi, but it died in a car accident. Around the same time, another dog, Spank, appears before her. Having gone through so many unfortunate events in her life, Spank's presence begins to brighten up Aiko's life and put a smile on her face.

[Source: Anime News Network]