Ask John: How Much of Akitaro Daichi’s Anime is Available in America?

Question:
Akitarou Daichi has been known for such great anime as Jubei-chan, Animation Runner Kuromi, Fruits Basket, Kodocha, and Nurse Angel Lillica SOS. Is there anything of Daichi’s that hasn’t been shown here in America?

Answer:
I’ve compiled what I think may be a complete list of Akitaro Daichi’s works as an anime director. This list was gathered from multiple sources including the profile from Daichi’s personal homepage. As far as I’ve been able to determine, Akitaro Daichi’s works as an anime director are:

1994 Ooyodo River Critical Moment
1994 Miyagase Dam Man
1995 Nurse Angel Ririka SOS
1995 Elf Princess Rane
1996 Kodomo no Omocha TV series
1996 Hanako-san of the Toilet
1996 Magic School Lunar: Secret of the Blue Dragon
1998 Sexy Commando Gaiden Sugiyo!! Masaru-san
1998 Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku (Super Radical Gag Family)
1998 Ojarumaru first series
1998 Seikimatsu Leader Gaiden Takeshi!
1999 Ojarumaru second series
1999 Jubei-chan: Secret of Lovely Eyepatch
1999 Now and Then, Here and There
2000 Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran
2000 Ojarumaru third series
2001 Animation Runner Kuromi-chan
2001 Ojarumaru fourth series
2001 Fruits Basket
2001 Gag Manga Biyori
2002 Ojarumaru fifth series
2002 My Family (Atashi’n chi)
2003 Ojarumaru sixth series
2004 Animation Runner Kuromi-chan 2
2004 Grrl Power (Makasete Iruka!)
2004 Jubei-chan 2: Counterattack of the Siberia Yagyu
2004 Ojarumaru seventh series
2004 Legendz: Tale of the Dragon Kings
2005 Masuda Kousuke Theater: Gag Manga Biyori
2005 Ojarumaru eighth series
2006 Bokura ga Ita

Many of these series have been released in America, but some of them remain relatively unknown.

The short “Ooyodo River Critical Moment” and “Miyagase Dam Man” anime are educational films seemingly distributed on video to schools.

The Nurse Angel Ririka SOS television series is one of the better known magical girl anime that has yet to be released in America. Considering the show’s age and the relative popularity of magical girl anime in America, I don’t expect to ever see this show formally released here, but it has been somewhat popular in America’s fan community for many years.

Hanako-san of the Toilet was a 30 minute long children’s horror anime feature film. The traditional “Toilet Hanako” school ghost may be more familiar to American viewers from Haunted Junction, a show that Daichi worked on as a storyboard artist.

The ten minute long Magic School Lunar motion picture opened in Japanese theaters on March 15, 1997 as a bonus short with the Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth features. The short comedy tied in to the Magic School Lunar RPG released for the Sega Saturn game console.

The bizarre “Sugiyo!! Masaru-san” television series has been a bit of an underground American fan favorite for many years. Fans have desperately requested an official American release of this odd school life comedy, but the show seems to remain relatively obscure, despite having been being fully fan translated.

Similar to Masaru-san, Super Radical Gag Family is another comedy series consisting of 12 minute episodes. Unlike Masaru-san, Super Radical Gag Family placed less emphasis on bizarre, off-kilter gags and more emphasis on disgusting toilet humor and comical violence.

The popular children and family oriented Ojarumaru fantasy comedy series has had 8 distinct series so far and hundreds of ten minute long episodes. But like many children’s anime such as Chibi Maruko-chan and Anpanman, Ojarumaru remains relatively unknown in America.

Seikimatsu Leader Gaiden Takeshi! was a 30 minute long theatrical adaptation of Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro’s odd comedy manga. Otherwise, I really don’t know much about this rather obscure movie.

Akitaro Daichi’s specialty seems to lie in strange, unpredictable comedy, and that description certainly describes the Gag Manga Biyori series.

The odd and simplistic looking Atashi’n chi may seem rather uninteresting to American viewers, but in Japan it turned into a very popular slice of life domestic comedy in the vein of Sazae-san and My Neighbor the Yamadas (and its TV series spin-off Nono-chan), lasting for over a hundred episodes.

Legendz never became very well known or popular among English speaking fans, possibly because it’s a monster collecting show in the vein of Digimon and Pocket Monster. But Legendz has the distinctive Akitaro Daichi flourishes of unusual character design and odd humor. American fans unfamiliar with Legendz should think of it as a cross between Digimon and “Grrl Power.”

Although American fans have begged for a sequel to Fruits Basket for years with no satisfaction, they may find a substitute in Bokura ga Ita, the sweet school romance that Daichi is currently directing.