Harris no Kaze

The 70 episode Harris no Kaze that ran for 70 episodes from P Production was based on an 8 volume manga by Tetsuya Chiba, author od Ashita no Joe, that ran simultaneously with the anime. The Japanese dvd was released on 2004.

A troublesome school boy channels his anger into a variety of sports. And sings his own catchy theme song constantly!

While is is not a high stakes series, there is a continuous story running through the episodes which at this time is still quite novel. As Harris performs a number of sports, while he is good, he is not the prodigy child one would expect a sports anime to star, not a particularly dedicated student to his sports. He's a goof, and always filthy, but it's fun to watch a pre-sports anime sports anime.

The animation team may not be doing anything fancy, but they do seem to be trying to accurately represent at least the basics of the sports Harris participates in. Anyone with a passion for sports anime or Chiba's works should give it a chance, and everyone should at least try the theme song.

Kaizoku Ouji

The original, 31 episode Kaizoku Ouji, or, Pirate Prince, from Toei follows the classic tale of a young boy who turns out to be the son of a pirate captain in the golden age of piracy, but with talking animal friends. The black and white series saw a dvd release in Japan in 2016. 

Pirate Prince

The stylized kanji for the series are fantastic, and the opening theme is a classic of the older era. The art direction, however, may leave something to be desired, at least if one does not have an appreciation for more Hannah Barbera-esque stylized simplicity. There are some good moments of humor, such as the monkey eating one of the knock out stars circling a pirate's head, or Kid running on cannonballs.

 There is an ending song that differs from the opening, and while the visual are stills, it is still closer to modern ending themes than most of its predecessors. As with some of this era, I must warn episode 2 depicts native islanders as cannibalistic stereotypes, while the core premise is doing a mission for a king who loves popcorn. The plots are what one would expect for a kids adventure anime of the era about pirates.

 

 

Our hero is brave, our girl is cute, our animals are silly, and our old man is ignored, and our reoccurring villain is a buffoon. If you like old adventure shonen or pirates past One Piece, this may be worth seeking out for you. Or if you want to look at some nice lettering.

 

Rainbow Sentai Robin

Toei made Rainbow Sentai Robin based on a single volume of manga by Shotaro Ishinomori, the creator of Cyborg 009, and ran for 48 episodes. Hayao Miyazaki did key animation for two of those episodes, and the series saw a Japanese dvd release in 2015.

 

Rainbow Sentai Robin title card

 

Sentai, often color coded heroes fighting rubber costume monsters, is a sub section of Tokusatsu, live action films and shows like Godzilla and Ultraman. While costumed heroes pre-date Robin, the first Sentai team series didn't premier until 1975. While Robin does consist of a team with a token girl, and the color art that exists for this black and white series does color code the characters, the majority of the cast are robots of varying designs.

The half earthling, half alien Robin fights evil aliens from his father's homeworld with his father's robots; a shapeshifting gunslinger, a healing nurse who can also repair robots, a tetsujin-28 looking strong man, his transforming spaceship, a robotic cat, and the Professor. The series is happy to reuse animation, including reversing it, but there are many moments of quality action with some sets being built on a couple of layers for a more lived in scene. I particularly enjoyed this camera effect used in the background of the villain speaking to his boss which I don't believe I've seen before. This series also had an eyecatch!

Oil slick-like effect

 The series did have less than fantastic moments, like a man falling down as if he will crash while in space, and the third episode does depict native Africans (no country specified) in a very stereotypical way. Positive side- one of the villains did turn into a tree with a gun, and I enjoyed that.

Give trees guns

Sentai fans and Ishinomori fans should absolutely give this a watch, and Miyazaki fans could certainly find worse series to watch.