Anime of the Year 1975 - Shounen Tokugawa Ieyasu

Sadly, no masterpieces for me this year. But Shounen Tokugawa Ieyasu might be one if it was translated.

1. Flanders no Inu A Dog of Flanders フランダースの犬 [1975-I] Nippon Animation (Dropped 3/52) Tags: Historical, Pets, Visual Arts Drama, Slice of Life Nello Tarth is a poor but happy orphan who lives with his grandfather Jehan in a little village nearby Antwerp. Nello has a talent for drawing pictures and has been fascinated by it since he saw one of Rubens (a famous artist) pictures as a little boy. Helping Jehan with the daily milk delivery to Antwerp, Nello one day discovers Patrash, a working dog who has been mistreated and abandoned by his former owner. He treats the exhausted animal and after a little while a close and dependable friendship develops. Alois Cojez, the daughter of the richest and hence most influential man in Blacken Village, is Nellos best friend. When Nello decides to become an artist he has to experience firsthand the ignorance and cruelty of the villagers. Especially Alois father thinks of him as a slacker who cannot earn his living by drawing pictures. Nontheless Nello perseveres and never gives up to achieve his dream and to win their appreciation and respect while strenuously struggling with his poverty. Peaceful rural life and adventures of a boy and a girl... a shameless imitation of Alps no Shoujo Heidi. But protagonist is now boy and both kids are couple years older, plus there's a bigger emphasis on the dog companion. With older age, less situational humor and more plain drawing the charm is gone though, and it becomes an aimless rural slice-of-life without a spark.   Overall Rating: 5/10

2. Manga Nippon Mukashibanashi まんが日本昔ばなし  [1975-I] Group TAC (Dropped 3/12) Tags: Historical This series is an anthology of old Japanese tales. I'd actually rate it as anime for kids as Japanese tales are show in super simple drawing and in humorous and simple way. Definitely can't enjoy it as an adult.    Overall Rating: 4/10

3. Andersen Douwa: Ningyohime Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid アンデルセン童話 にんぎょ姫 [1975-I] Toei Animation (Finished 1/1) Tags: Shoujo Fantasy, Romance Marina, the most beautiful mermaid in the royal Merman family, is curious about the human world. One day, she sees a handsome prince on a boat. Suddenly, a storm comes up, throwing him into the sea. Marina saves her handsome prince and guides him to the shore. Marina falls deeply in love and desperately wants to become a human. Despite the hazards, she is willing to risk it all for love. Traditional retelling of a classic fairy-tale. Nothing to talk about.   Overall Rating: 4/10

4. Getter Robo G ゲッターロボG [1975-II] Toei Animation (Dropped 3/39) Tags: Shounen Mecha Action, Sci-Fi Takes place after the final defeat of the Dinosaur Empire and the death of Musashi Tomoe in the original Getter Robo series. Dr. Saotome, creator of Getter Robo, fears that the peace the Getter Robo team has won will be short lived and that an even greater enemies would appear. Dr. Saotome's fears are justified when the militaristic Hyakki (or "Hundred demons") Empire appears, but Dr. Saotome is prepared with the creation of an even more powerful Getter Robo, Getter Robo G and a new Getter Robo base. Also with Musashi Tomoe dead, Dr. Saotome needs a third pilot which he finds in baseball player Benkei Kuruma. First episode is more or less outstanding, following ones are the usual robo action with a bit more humor.   Overall Rating: 3/10

5. Yuusha Raideen 勇者ライディーン [1975-II] Sunrise (Dropped 3/40) Tags: Shounen Mecha Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi After a slumber of 12 millennia, the Demon Empire returns to seize control of the Earth. Reideen, the giant robot-like protector of the lost continent of Mu, senses the evil presence and awakens within its golden pyramid, revealing to young Japanese boy Akira Hibiki that he is the one descendant of the ancient Mu people who must help Reideen save Earth. He was assisted by his friends, token girl Mari Sakurano (daughter of a scientist fighting the Demon Empire) and several members of his high school soccer team. Does not Yuusha mean fantasy setting? Of course not, get your usual mecha. The soccer team as companions and rather nice humor helps to an extent, but the concept itself is flawed from the start.  Overall Rating: 5/10

6. La Seine no Hoshi Star of the Seine ラ・セーヌの星 [1975-II] Sunrise (Dropped 3/39) Tags: Shoujo Historical Adventure, Drama The story is set in Paris, on the night before the France Revolution. The civilians have been suffering under the tyrannical rule of Louis, the sixteenth. In order to release the people from their suffering, Simone, a young girl whose parents were killed by the aristocrats, decides to challenge the corrupted aristocrats. Covering her face with a red mask and leaving a red carnation as a mark of her presence, Simone is La Seine no Hoshi. It's basically retelling of Zorro, just in France and with female protagonist as masked hero Black Tulip once helps Simone. Nothing special.   Overall Rating: 5/10

7. Shounen Tokugawa Ieyasu 少年徳川家康 [1975-II] Toei Animation (Dropped 3/20) Tags: Shounen Historical Drama A historical tale of the early life of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who would eventually become shogun and establish the Edo Period in Japan. It imitates Japanese taiga historical tv series, just with a child protagonist to gain enough empathy with children who are considered to be main anime audience. I love taiga and I'd even rate it as masterpiece if there was a proper translation as it has more than enough complex ties.     Overall Rating: 6/10

8. Uchuu no Kishi Tekkaman Space Knight Tekkaman 宇宙の騎士テッカマン [1975-III] Tatsunoko Production (Dropped 3/26) Tags: Shounen Mecha, Space Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi Tekkaman is just an average bright boy in his everyday life. However, modern science can turn him into a mighty space warrior. This becomes a reality when aggressive aliens come from space to invade our planet. Armed with a space lance, Tekkaman gallantly goes into action against the grotesque space creatures. During his battles he encounters a mysterious young man from another planet who helps him out whenever he is in danger. This anime is so morally old as if just from the 1960s. One straightforward protagonist, zero humor, some female sidekick and this alien helper guy. This alien helper guy with afro is here not just to help fight, but to loose tension, but without real humor his role is not beneficial. Thus the trash rating.  Overall Rating: 2/10

9. UFO Robo Grendizer UFOロボ グレンダイザー [1975-IV] Toei Animation (Dropped 3/74) Tags: Shounen Mecha Sci-Fi Duke Fleed is a survivor of the Fleed Planet who is escaped to the Earth, onboard a mysterious "spaceship", where is raised by Dr. Umon as his adoptive son, and known as Daisuke Umon. Years after his arrival, he's faced with the threat of King Vega and his army, who want to conquer the Earth. With his friends Koji and Hikaru (and later his younger sister Maria Grace), Duke decides to fight back using his best weapon - the almighty Grendizer. The main attraction point of the anime is that protagonist is a bitter cool adult who already lost to the invading enemy once. And it's funny to see the usual bashful youth hero as a loser here. There are also many funny side-characters to add humor. To get a 6 the series must rise a faint desire to watch it to the end, but no such thing happened for me.  Overall Rating: 5/10

10. Arabian Nights: Sindbad no Bouken (TV) アラビアンナイト シンドバットの冒険 [1975-IV] Nippon Animation (Dropped 3/52) Tags: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance Based on the famous tale from The Thousand and One Arabian Nights, this story takes place more than 1200 years ago. The story's hero is the impish Sindbad, a mischievous boy full of curiosity, who one night sneaks into the royal palace to watch the acrobatic performances and learns that a wide world awaits beyond Baghdad. Hearing of the travels of his uncle Captain Ali, Sindbad decides to become a sailor and travel around the world. Leaving behind a note to his father, young Sindbad boards Captain Ali`s ship and-accompanied by a myna called Sheila-sets out for the greatest adventure of his life. The motto is I want to see the wide world, and it's basically it, travelling and getting into adventures, nothing really special.   Overall Rating: 5/10

11. Koutetsu Jeeg 鋼鉄ジーグ  [1975-IV] Toei Animation (Dropped 3/46) Tags: Shounen Mecha, Mythology Action, Sci-Fi Hiroshi Shiba is an outstanding car racer whose father is assassinated upon the discovery of the Bronze Bell from an ancient civilization. This Bronze Bell is coveted by Queen Himika who comes from that ancient era; the Yamatai Kingdom, and whose ambitions are to seize the Bell and dominate earth. Hiroshi is left with a few items from his father which would enable him to morph into a full sized mecha warrior, the Steel Jeeg. With these abilities and the help of his father's brain implanted in a computer and his assistance Miwa "Micchi" Uzuki, they set out to neutralize Himika's plans of world dominion. Boring hero and sidekicks, no humor. In my rating concept it's a slightly better than trash.   Overall Rating: 2/10

12. Time Bokan Time Fighters タイムボカン [1975-IV] Tatsunoko Production (Dropped 3/61) Tags: Mecha Adventure, Comedy Dr. Kieta, the inventor of a time-travel machine, is lost on a test run of his machine to the prehistoric past. When the time-space craft returns to the present, his young assistants are surprised to find only a parrot in the cockpit. In their hurry to find the missing scientist before it is too late, the youngsters set out on a time-space hunt without any clear destination. Professor went to future alone and instead of him talking parrot with a diamond returned. Now assistants go to past in search for professor and greedy assistant together with villains follow them to learn from the parrot where diamond came from. It's a fun comedy with the only weak points being simplicity and episodical nature. So the question comes down to whether I got a faint incentive to watch the full series, and actually, no, so it' a 5.   Overall Rating: 5/10

13. Andes Shounen Pepero no Bouken Adventures of Pepero the Andes Boy アンデス少年ペペロの冒険 [1975-IV] Wako Productions (Dropped 3/26) Tags: Adventure This is the quest of Pepero and his friends in search of the Golden Condor or el Dorado. Can't help to notice that drawing , color palette and low resolution are eye-gouging. Plot-wise it's same kid adventures as we've already seen in Flanders no Inu and Arabian Nights this year , just in Central or Latin America that looks like Mexico. And compared to those two anime Andes feels weaker in all aspects. I spotted next to zero humor situations and no interesting characters.    Overall Rating: 4/10

14. Ganso Tensai Bakabon 元祖天才バカボン [1975-IV] Tokyo Movie Shinsha (Dropped 3/103) Tags: Gag Humor Comedy, Slice of Life A comedy about a former genius who has now become very eccentric and senile. His family deals with all the crazy problems he and his old friends cause around the neighborhood. It's pretty cool as gag comedy. Nice family. Random weird humor, but fun. Senile father is not much different from "strange philosophy" father, but approach is definitely much more straightforward now. I liked old one more.    Overall Rating: 5/10

15. Sougen no Shoujo Laura Laura, Girl of the Prairies 草原の少女ローラ [1975-IV] Nippon Animation (Dropped 1/26) Tags: Shoujo Adventure This anime is based on the same work as the famous American live-action TV series Little House on the Prairie. What I understood from the only found first episode is that it's again imitation of Alps no Shoujo Heidi, but with a bigger focus on horses since it's located in the Prairie. A bit worse humor, characters and drawing in comparison, so only fine if don't compare.   Overall Rating: 5/10

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