The Rarity of ZIV's Record Albums - Featuring Little Lulu & Others

Before ZIV International was sold off to Lormiar in 1982, the company decided to release 6 record albums based off the 1970’s anime series they had licensed. All of their titles were released in 1980, and have never been reprinted ever since. For this reason, these records have become hard to find and are typically expensive online.

ZIV anime that received the “original soundtrack album” treatment include: Angel, Candy Candy, Captain Future, Captain Harlock, Little Lulu, and Fables of the Green Forest. All of them include 2 audio episodes (except the last one, which was a compilation movie of Fables of the Green Forest, called “Peter Cottontail’s Adventures”). Each record also has the theme song of their respective series. 

While Mark Mercury’s in-house band “Bullets” has released the themes of Captain Future and Harlock on their own album in 2009, the other themes have not been rereleased since then. The rarity of the ZIV records is only heightened by the fact that they are the only way of getting high quality versions for the English theme songs of Angel, Candy Candy, Little Lulu, and Peter Cottontail’s Adventures. (As for the Fables of the Green Forest theme song, it can only be found on VHS/Betamax.) 

Alongside that, the ZIV records are also the only means to listen to these old English dubs in high quality stereo sound, which includes Mark Mercury’s soundtrack and the voices of the characters from each show. The audio quality of the records beats out what VHS offers.

When I first became interested in these ZIV records, the only full album that was available on YouTube was the one for Captain Future. A few other videos were amateur recordings, containing the first few minutes of other ZIV albums.

The album that I was interested in the most was the one for Little Lulu, which I eventually got. I’m happy that I have been able to save this record because of its contents and the theme song itself. While people may prefer the song from the Paramount Shorts, there is a certain mood and style to ZIV’s Little Lulu theme that uniquely sets it apart. 

The two episodes that were chosen for this album are “The Endurance Test” and “Save the Prisoners.” While the back of the album sets Episode 4 on the top and Episode 5 on the bottom, the episode order was flipped for some strange reason. One detail to note on the cover is the artwork of Lulu, which uses a picture from one of the post John Stanley comics books, not from her anime design. A missed opportunity here. 

Left: Little Lulu #248, Right: 1980 Record

Nevertheless, the overall condition of the album is great, including the record itself and the cover. Considering its age, the sound is quite impressive.

Overall, I believe it is important to preserve these vintage records. The title I’d personally like to hear the most is Angel. Hopefully, the rest of the ZIV titles will see the light of day in the future. I’ll continue to keep an eye on them.