An Examination of Newly Discovered 16mm Film - Little Lulu and Her Little Friends
Nippon Animation’s Little Lulu anime series did not go too well in Japan. Once all 26 episodes were broadcasted in 1976-77, the show never got any home video releases or reruns on television. ZIV International, the company behind obtaining the rights to the anime, brought Little Lulu to several different countries throughout the late 70’s and early 80’s. Most foreign dubs have also become quite obscure, but none of them are in such a situation as the original Japanese version is in.
For years, the Japanese opening and closing songs have been readily available through compilation CD albums (with some vinyl records releases). The opening was most recently included in Mitsuko Horie’s 50th anniversary CD, “One Girl Best.” However, the Japanese dub has never seen any photos or videos online before...until recently.
On August 17, 2020, Yahoo! Japan Auction user ‘kata0205kata’ brought out a rare 16mm film reel of ‘Little Lulu and Her Little Friends’ for sale. Two film rolls were included in the offer, containing episode 6 and the original Japanese opening/closing.
The film reel was up for auction until August 25, 2020. While the bid started at 2,000 yen ($19.58), the price skyrocketed to a total of 81,500 yen ($794.63).
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| Buyee - Yahoo! Japan Auction |
While the future is unclear for this particular film reel, the seller provided a number of photos. I managed to save everything that was included. The seller even included a short 21-sec video sample, which I placed in the video as well. Once auctions end, they’re gone for good.
Since we now know that 16mm film exists for the Little Lulu anime, I decided to see if there were any more photos/video that has appeared on the internet. The answer was yes.
On July 1, 2020, Japanese Twitter user Dough(どーなつ) posted a couple of low-quality photos of the Japanese OP from a 2016 auction. The photos that they saved were also from 16mm film. While the first two pictures (on the top) both have a higher quality version from the August 2020 auction, the remaining 4 photos are brand new.
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| The collage from the original post - stretched images |
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| Matching text to Japanese OP lyrics |
This is the only frame of animation that I couldn't identify with alongside the ZIV International dub. Perhaps this bit was edited out?
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| This scene is from the end of this episode |
I’d never thought we would ever get to see any footage from this extremely rare Japanese dub. These 16mm film reels may be practically the only way to see it nowadays and it’s quite a real shame. While other Nippon Animation titles have been preserved and remembered by many people, ‘Little Lulu and Her Little Friends’ was taken into a corner of a random storage room, left in the dust.
While the anime is not the greatest of all time, it certainly is charming and wholesome to watch. The small world of Little Lulu brings in stories of childhood wonder and mischief. Lulu always finds a way to work around a situation, especially within the ongoing rivalry between boys and girls. The show was able to crank in longer stories than in any other animated Lulu series and did so in a fine manner.
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| Pictures from the rare ZIV International Eng. dub (Ep. 6) |
This specific episode has to be the best one of the first six in the series. Lulu and the others are walking along until they stop near a fire station. Tubby remarks that perhaps boys could get a ride on the firetruck, but not girls. He calls out how ‘females can’t be firemen,’ which Iggy agrees with him. This sparks Lulu a clear goal throughout the entire episode, to be a fireman herself.
The tribulations that she goes through and the mischief that happens is quite delightful to see. No matter what obstacles you may face, you must have the courage to try. If you haven’t seen this episode or anything from the series yet, I’d highly recommend giving it a watch.
Thank for your effort 👌👍
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