Robotan

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 a boy and lives with the family as a domestic servant and friend to the children. His good intentions don't always work out, and there are comical 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.

Robotan
ロボタン
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Kenji Morita
Manga
Written by	Kenji Morita
Published by	Shōnen Gahōsha
Magazine	Shōnen 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
Original network	Fuji TV
Original run	October 1st, 1966 – September 27th, 1968
Episodes	104
Anime television series
Directed by	Masaharu Okuwaki
Music by	Reijiro Koroku
Studio	Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Original network	NNS (YTV)
Original run	January 6th, 1986 – September 20th, 1986
Episodes	33[1]

Plot

Robotan is a robot built by a school boy named Kan-chan. He has special abilities like "Robotan Copter", "Robotan Punch" etc. His rival is Botchi, a small kid who dislikes Robotan and tries to destroy him or make him a slave, but Robotan foils all his plans. Robotan has a crush on his teacher, Umi. He is very fond of bananas which gives him power. His male mentor Uminoyamais is also in love with Umi, which causes jealousy for Robotan.

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.^[2]

Anime

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. 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.

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.^[2]

1986 anime

The 1986 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.^[1][2]

Characters

• Robotan voiced by Hyosuke Kanbe (1966), Hiroko Maruyama (1986)
• Kan-chan voiced by Yoko Matsui (1966), Eiko Yamada (1986)
• Bocchi voiced by Hiromi Onoe (1966), Chika Sakamoto (1986)
• Kiiko voiced by Takako Nakamori (1966), Mayumi Tanaka (1986)

Opening themes

1966 series:

• Robotan no Uta (ロボタンの歌)

1986 series:

• I'm Robotan (ボクはロボタン)