Anime Retellings of Japanese Folktales Legends

Post by **Daniel** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 10:04 am

Originally written by Daniel on 2016/01/03, 07:44:22 PST :

Anime Retellings of Japanese Folktales Legends :

I've been watching Manga Nippon Mukashibanashi. This series retells old folktales from Japan. I don't think it's very well known among western fans, but the show had a two decade run, starting in '75 and ending in '94.

Interesting! The only problem I have with this show is that they pack in two stories per episode, so you end up with about 10 minutes per story, and it sometimes feels rushed. Many of these can be and have been made into feature length films.

The show will likely be difficult to understand without knowing Japanese, and to my knowledge no fansubs exist. If I were a fansubber, this would be the kind of show I'd be interested in working on -- old series, out of the limelight and mostly ignored, but something personally interesting. Of course, I've no time for that.

There is however a new show, still ongoing, that seems to be a rehash of this show, and is being subtitled. The title is Furusato Saisei Nippon no Mukashibanshi. I checked out the first few episodes. Unfortunately, instead of packing in two stories per episode, they now cram in three per episode -- way too rushed! The stories themselves also are somewhat different than their counterparts in the original series how much liberty they're taking here versus how much the stories actually varied while being retold for generations throughout Japan, I can't say.

Happy holidays, old schoolers.

Originally written by AVHodgson on 2016/01/03, 09:26:27 PST :

Re: Anime Retellings of Japanese Folktales Legends :

There's a lot of series that adapt old Japanese folktales out there, but close to none have been fansubbed or ever brought overseas - mainly because Japanese folktales don't really have much of an audience among anime fans in the States, or among most people in the States, period.

Conversely, there's quite a few shows based on folktales from around the world that have been dubbed. Case in point, Dax International's Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi , which featured adaptations of folktales and classic literature, and which made it to America under a variety of names Merlin's Cave, Tales of Magic, etc. And much like Manga Nihon , each episode has a different director and a different style of animation.

On the topic of the show, however, I can recognize a couple of the stories from the pictures you posted. Momotaro, Urashima Taro, Ikkyu-san, the Grateful Crane... and I believe they did an adaptation of The Tongue-Cut Sparrow as well.

Maybe we should have a thread about anime retellings of Western folktales legends...

Originally written by llj on 2016/01/04, 07:44:56 PST :

Re: Anime Retellings of Japanese Folktales Legends :

The closest thing to this kind of anthology series to be released in the U.S. was CPM's Animated Classics of Japan, but I have to admit that that was a fairly dry show at times, with less experimentation of visual styles than I would hope for. The show you posted, Daniel, seems to be a lot more varied.

Originally written by DKop on 2016/01/10, 18:21:42 PST :

Re: Anime Retellings of Japanese Folktales Legends :

Urusei Yatsura Beautiful Dreamer is the only movie that comes to mind about the Urashima Taro story.

_D_ · Post by **_D_** » Thu Mar 17, 2016 12:04 pm

I think I have some of these tales of old Japan on some tapes from long ago. Went looking but can't locate them. Will keep them in mind but things got moved around a lot 6 months ago when my house had some renovations done. More have to be done this summer so that will necessitate moving the tapes again. I'm sure to find them then along with the tapes of Yonimo Kimyona Monogatari I have misplaced...

On a side note, I checked with the post office and sending a single tape to you now costs $12.50 CAD! Cost of fuel went down but shipping went up. Great, eh? Better be sure of what you want me to ship...

_D_ · Post by **_D_** » Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:12 pm

Finally found one of 2 old tapes containing mostly historical stories but there seems to be some folktales also. Will cap them and put them somewhere you can enjoy them. Also found two tapes of Yonimo episodes. I should do those as well.

_D_ · Post by **_D_** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:24 am

Episodes of Manga Nihon Emaki I was able to identify: (see ANN for full Jaoanese titles): 42B, 43A, 44 A+B, 45 A+B, 46 A+B. After that, the episode titles don't match anything, so I think there is another series recorded but I'll not know until I review the tape. Those episodes seem to be old Japanese folk tales mostly so it could be the earlier series Manga Nihon Banashi which had come out the year previous. Again, I'll let you know when the episodes have been transferred and converted so you can watch them...

_D_ · Post by **_D_** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:57 pm

Tape definitely has episodes of Manga Nihon Banashi as I have the sign off/on station ID on this tape. The station at the time was KHAI which switched to KIKU in 1993.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIKU