Superbook, an oldtime Christian anime

[Jimmothy]

I just found a Super Book VHS in are basement the other night. It is the First christmas episode. It's pretty good.

[IfIWereAnAsian]

haha, cute* I think I remember that one...

I just looked up Superbook on Google, and did find some things! (last time I tried I found practically nothing... on Altavista)

so... if you're interested: http://www.geocities.com/iwantmybook/ and
http://www.toonarific.com/s/Superbook-episodes.html
allright, well* add more if you know any~

~Annemarie <><

[RobertMuldooJP]

I remember Super Book and Flying House, used to watch them all the time when I was a kid. Interesting that you should bring that up, I recently purchased some video tapes at my Grandmothers Christian bookstore for old times sake. Try finding a Christian bookstore and ask them to order it for you. They're still available for retail

[DarkLight]

Heh heh . . . I have the entire collection of all 17 VHS of "The Flying House", dubbed in Mandarin Chinese . . . I watched it when I was like . . . 6 years old because my Mom bought the entire thing from Taiwan . . .

[uc pseudonym]

Dubbed in Mandrin Chinese... interesting. Oh, and RobertMuldooJP, I like your avatar.

[RobertMuldooJP]

Thanks

He's from Samurai Deeper Kyo, his name is Migeila (favorite thing about him is his one blue eye and one red eye)

[Aywren]

Wow... just mentioning it brings back memories! I used to watch Superbook as a kid, too! I never even considered thinking it was from Japan though. Thanks for the interesting insight!

[Bobtheduck]

"The series known as Superbook around the World are three: Anime Oyako Gekijou, Tondera House no Daibouken and PAASUKON Travel Tanteidan"

Actually, Tondera House No Daibouken is actually "The Flying House" which was of much lesser quality than the two "Suberbook" series... In my opinion... Maybe it's because the Old Testament makes for better action stories... So, for the NT stuff, they had to make up more to fill in Gaps and keep people's attention...

If anyone knows how to find raw or subtitled versions of these shows, I'd be very appreciative... I mean, It would be great to see if there were things cut out of a BIBLE anime on american TV...

[shooraijin]

According to the entry I have here in the Anime Encyclopedia (getting my $25 worth), it did undergo some amount of rewrite by the Christian Broadcasting Network for the American release. The extent and nature of the rewrite, it doesn't say, however, but it does mention "by the time the series reached video, its Japanese origins were almost completely occluded, though the voice actors in the English version included many from the cast of Speed Racer."

The review is not especially laudatory (not too surprising from a secular source), but it does note, which I think is insightful, that "this series was seemingly made to cash in on the Bible's status as a worthy international bestseller rather than through any overt religious impetus." I would assume the CBN rewrite would have tried to make the presumably unintentional (on the part of the original creators) Christian evangelistic undertones more obvious, or at least more central.

Interestingly enough, the same Japanese production company that did Robotech's component series (Macross, Southern Cross, Mospeada), did at least a portion of the animation here (Tetsunoko).

[water-bearer]

*vague memories start popping up* Ye...yes! I'm pretty sure i had at least one episode of Superbook at one point. I think it was the one about the crucifixion of Christ. Lol.. wow, I'd completely forgotten bout that hehe.. thx for the memories. ^.~

[Kokhiri Sojourn]

Man, I watched all the Superbook tapes. We had them all, and I think I liked the David and Goliath one the best, though Abraham was really great as well. Cool cool!

[Destroyer2000]

AH, I remember Superbook. It's been quite a while, but the VHS are still nearby...I know where they're at. I liked it some when I was little, but I wouldn't exactly call it Anime...Anime isn't every show that comes along.

[Bobtheduck]

I saw superbook, the superbook spinoff (flying house) and the superbook sequal (the computer one) They were done by Tatsunoko, of Speed Racer fame I think. Unlike superbook and flying house, the computer one (called superbook 2 in the US) had a connecting plot. That is to say, there is a goal they were trying to accomplish the whole time, and it wasn't quite as episodic as superbook and flying house were... Of course, CBN (Pat Robertson and crew) thoroughly de-nihonjinized them all, but you can still tell by watching (not to mention the fact that Tatsunoko shows up in the Credits)

Chris, Joy, and Uriah, as well as the robot and that little dog... I remember that. The two superbooks were better than Flying house... I guess the old testement just makes for more entertaining stories (though Acts and Revelations do up the Ante in the new testemant)

Superbook and Flying house (but not superbook II) still play on TBN (you know, Jan Crouch of giant pink hair infamy) at like 3:30 and 4 am on saturday mornings.

I said something about another anime made by Osamu Tezuka. It plays on the Catholic channel once a week, I just don't remember when or what it's called.

Destroyer: Need we go over this again? If we're going to use Japanese definitions, anime means everything animated, regardless of where its' made, the quality, the style, or the content. My personal definition is Japanese animation, regardless of quality, style, or content. Unfortunately, people don't seem to be able to agree on a definition, and the definition to appear in a dictionary (something about "characterized by sexuality and violence") is definately not acceptable. For those that characterize it by a style, most don't realize that many they call anime still don't go by that style, and for those that go by content, that could include some non-Japanese, but since that is such a small number of people, I'd venture to say that goes beyond slang and is just incorrect use of vocabulary. If we say it's Japanese animation, despite all the stigmas that will get attached to it, then we won't have the pitfalls we will if we attribute the title to quality or to style, which are careless assignments of meaning to that word.

EDIT: I didn't realize how old this thread was. I had allready posted on here and didn't see it... oh well... Me from the past educated me today...

[Destroyer2000]

"Need we go over this again?

I've never spoken about this before. My definition of Anime is: Has a storyline, a continuing saga, drawn better than most cartoons, and not as much stupidity as in the everyday stuff you watch. Seems to me like most of the people in my school don't think of Anime as everything animated, just...well, I can tell whether it's just a run-of-the-mill cartoon or whether it's anime. I haven't seen SuperBook in about 7-8 years, and that was before I liked Anime, so I'll have to watch over it again...

Heh, I told one one person at school that I like Anime, and they responded by asking, "Who is Anna May?" Lol....l

[IfIWereAnAsian]

sure thing water-bearer~ I love stirring up nice memories~~
I think my favorite is either the Jonah one, or the Job one*
I love those voices, and just the whole atmosphere of what Job had to go through~ it made that book alive for me as a kid**
anyways * thanks

[MasterDias]

You know...
I've always wondered how much dialouge was changed and how many scenes were altered from the original Japanese version.

[Kisa]

ahhhh memories . . . ^_^

[uc pseudonym]

You know...
I've always wondered how much dialouge was changed and how many scenes were altered from the original Japanese version.

The original version had a lot of blood and got banned from several Japanese tv networks... it was really dark and creepy.

I have no idea, as should be obvious. I'd be curious as well.

[Bobtheduck]

If many old testament stories were portrayed realistically in any form, they'd garner an R rating easily, if not NC-17 (read Judges to know what I mean) Of course, since the big three biblical anime, as well as Tezuka's, are all for children, they're not going to be portrayed realistically...

[uc pseudonym]

That is very true. But they'll never actually do a completely accurate portrayal of the Old Testament... there are way too many stories like that. It is interesting, however, for people who want to ban any book with sexuality immorality...

This is an interesting idea. What if there was a series, quite dark, that actually portrayed all Bible stories? I'm not sure what I think about that.

[MasterDias]

The original version had a lot of blood and got banned from several Japanese tv networks... it was really dark and creepy.

Superbook had a lot of blood in it? Hmmmm. Interesting.

Not terribly suprising, I guess...

[water-bearer]

Superbook had a lot of blood in it? Hmmmm. Interesting.

Not terribly suprising, I guess...

I may be wrong, but I believe UC was being sarcastic. It was a children's show after all.

[Bobtheduck]

I'd be curious to see an accurate portrayal of Judges... I'd say Judges is the darkest book in the Bible. Even most portrayals of the Samson story are watered down...

[uc pseudonym]

Yes, yes, let me reiterate that I was entirely joking. I've seen part of one episode in a different language that was quite possibly Japanese and it was just as kid oriented as ours is. I don't really know, however.

I'd agree about Judges, Bobtheduck. Such as:

[spoiler=Disgusting Part] the story in which one of the judges stabs a guy in the stomach and his hand goes all the way into the guy's body (due to his fat). Yes, that's pretty dark. And Samson, for example, is hardly a Godly individual, at least as I would define Godly. Interesting that God's power could be used for selfish purposes...[/spoiler]

[MasterDias]

Or how about the one were:

[spoiler]That lady murders that general guy by hammering a tent peg through his forehead. Talk about being brutal.[/spoiler]

[Bobtheduck]

then there's (not in Judges) [spoiler=disgusting]Izevel is torn limb from limb by tying her limbs to horses and riding them in 4 separate directions... Ach'av got it easy... He died in battle.[/spoiler]

[uc pseudonym]

As much as I am... enjoying... this conversation, we're horribly off topic. If this trend were to not continue, I'd be pleased.

[Bobtheduck]

Oh... Well... Anyone know what the character's names were in Japanese? Uriah is a biblical name and Chris (Christopher) comes from Christ or Christian, Joy is pretty obvious... Is there a similar nameing convention in the Japanese?

[uc pseudonym]

Chris and Joy I got... who is Uriah again? For that matter, what's that robot's name? There's a possibility both my questions will cancel each other out.

[MasterDias]

The robot's name was Gizmo.

Uriah was, I believe, Chris's little cousin. The one who wound up traveling through biblical stories, along with Gizmo, searching for the lost dog.