, known in the United States as ''Robby the Rascal'', is a 39-episode

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series created by

Ken Ishikawa was a Japanese manga artist. He is renowned as the co-creator (with Go Nagai) of the ''Getter Robo'' anime series, as well as four of their subsequent manga continuations. According to Nagai, he considered Ishikawa his greatest friend and all ...

and produced by Knack animation studio. The series aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certif ...

in Japan from October 1982 to June 1983. The series featured contributions from Tetsuro Amino as a storyboard artist and Masayuki Kojima as an episode director. A feature-length English-dubbed version comprising several episodes edited together into a movie, titled ''Robby the Rascal'', was produced by Jim Terry's (''

Force Five ''Force Five'' is an American adaptation of five different anime television series. In the United States, this series was primarily shown only in New England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, though it did make brief appearances in other markets, s ...

'') Kidpix Productions and released on home video in the United States in 1985. (The same American distributors had previously adapted the same animation studio's 1979–1980 TV series '' Manga Sarutobi Sasuke'', which used much of the same production team, into a similar feature-length work titled ''Ninja the Wonder Boy''.) However, the English version deleted much of the risque humor that, while not uncommon in children's animation in Japan, would be considered unacceptable by American standards, with the policewoman Sachiko (Sgt. Sally) being the usual target of the fan service-oriented humor. The TV series also aired in its entirety in Italy under the title ''Robottino'' ("''Little robot''"), and some episodes are also available in Spanish as ''Robotete'' or ''Robotín''.

Story

Apparently inspired largely by

Akira Toriyama is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for his highly successful manga series '' Dr. Slump'', before going on to create '' Dragon Ball'' (his best-known work) and acting as a character des ...

's popular '' Dr. Slump'', ''Robby the Rascal'' is the story of Robby (Robotchi), a fun-loving, mischievous robot with a TV set in his stomach. Robby lives in a peaceful village with various other robots, all created by the eccentric and lecherous Dr. Art Deco, who has a major crush on local policewoman Sgt. Sally (Sachiko). Although he is an android and (usually inadvertently) causes much mischief, Robby has a warm, kind heart and is always willing to help out a friend in need. With his human girlfriend Tiffany (Kurumi Yukino), he gets into a variety of wacky adventures. However, a rich, spoiled inventor named Horace (Highbrow) will stop at nothing to get Robby for his own. Much of the plot of the English feature-length dub of the anime involves Horace's attempts to threaten the peace in Robby's village, with the help of his female assistants, Tracy and Yvette. For example, in one story arc, Horace uses an illusion-causing ray gun to spoil Robby and Tiffany's spring picnic and then manages to capture the little robot and force him to compete in a high-stakes game of

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

. In another, he follows Robby, Dr. Deco and their friends to Europe, where he and Robby square off in a medieval-style joust. And in the final story arc, Horace and his minions compete against Robby and Tiffany in a global race in which the first prize is $10 million, which Dr. Deco hopes to use to start an amusement park.

Music

The Japanese opening and ending themes to the ''Cybot Robotchi'' TV series were performed by

Yukari Sato is a Japanese economist and politician of the Liberal Democratic Party. Early life and education A native of Setagaya, Tokyo, Satō received a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Columbia University, a master's degree in internationa ...

. The Italian dubbed version of the TV series kept all of the original music, including the Japanese theme songs, and also retained most of the original character names (except for Robotchi who became "Robottino"). However, for the English version, the original music was replaced by a new soundtrack by

Bullets A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and ...

, including several original songs.

Staff

Japanese Version Source(s) * Created by: Ken Ishikawa, Toyohiro Ando * Chief director: Kazuyuki Okasako * Assistant director: Hiroyuki Kamii (eps. 1-21) * Storyboard/Episode directors: Kazuyuki Okasako, Hiroyuki Kamii,

Hiroshi Yoshida was a 20th-century Japanese painter and woodblock printmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the shin-hanga style, and is noted especially for his excellent landscape prints. Yoshida travelled widely, and was particularly known ...

Osamu Inoe is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Osamu can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *治 "reign" *修 "discipline" *理 "logic" *収 "obtain" *紀 "chronicle" *統 "rule" The name can also be written in ...

, Tetsuro Amino, Masayuki Kojima * Script: Ayuko Anzai,

Hideki Sonoda is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Hideki can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *秀樹, "excellence", "timber trees" *英樹, "superior", "timber trees" *英機, "superior", "chance" *秀喜, "ex ...

, Susumu Yoshida, Toyohiro Ando, Yoshiyuki Suga * Character design:

Dynamic Planning is a licensing company owned by manga artist Go Nagai. It was established in 1974 as a sister company of Dynamic Productions. Dynamic Planning is credited in all of Go Nagai's animated works since 1974 as the "planner" and/or "producer". ...

* Animation directors: Hiromi Nakamura,

Noboru Akiyama was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher, originally from Okayama, Okayama. He played with the Taiyo Whales. He is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame The is a museum which includes a library, reference rooms and . It f ...

, Takao Suzuki, Kinuko Izumi * Art director: Masayoshi Banno * Director of photography: Yosuke Moriguchi * Music: Jun Irie * Producers: Hyota Ezu (TV Tokyo), Hiroshi Toida * Theme Songs: OP- ''Cybot Robotchi'' (lyrics by Yukari Sato, composition by Tetsuro Oda, arrangement by Jun Irie), ED- ''Wai! Wai! Wai!'' (lyrics by Yukari Sato, composition and arrangement by Jun Irie) * Theme song performance:

* Voice Cast: Natsumi Sakuma (Robotchi), Hiroshi Masuoka (Dr. Deko), Aya Mizoguchi (Sylvie), Yoko Kawanami (Kurumi),

Masako Miura is a Japanese voice actress employed by the talent management firm Arts Vision. Anime TV *'' Pāman'' (1983) (Michiko Sawada, Girl) Unknown date *''Aishite Knight'' (Kaoru) *''Chibi Maruko-chan'' (Yumiko, Kazuko Sasayama, Toshiko Tsuchihashi ...

(Uzura), Nobuo Tomita (Bob),

Eiko Yamada is a Japanese actress and voice actress from Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Hisamura worked under her maiden name before her marriage and for a long time afterward, so that name is still often used, even among fans. She is currently affi ...

(Sachiko) * Production: Knack Co., Ltd. / TV Tokyo English Version ; Opening credits * Executive Producer: Joseph Adelman * Original Music by

* Written by Collins Walker * Produced and Directed by Jim Terry ; Closing credits * The End/A Jim Terry Production * Edited by Collins Walker * Assistant Editor: James Terry Jr. * Production Assistant: John Terry * Cast of Characters: Ed Victor, Sandra Allyson, Reed Harmon, Tae McMullen, Scott Schwimer, Brenda Colbreth * ©MCMLXXXV Kidpix – Knack Kikaku, Inc.

References

External links

*
''Cybot Robotchi''
at allcinema
''Robby the Rascal'' at the Internet Movie Database

{{in lang, it at CartoniOnline
Information and scans
of Japanese ''Cybot Robotchi'' toys 1982 anime television series debuts Comedy anime and manga Knack Productions TV Tokyo original programming