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Hey all.
Now we know anime is considered "cool" among the young children of today, for whatever reason. However, most of it is evil, perverted, satanic, violent, and generally bizarre. However, there is ONE Anime that is wonderful, better than "Full Metal Alchemist", "Pokemon", "Yu-Gi-Oh", "Dragonball Z", "Super Racer", "Astro Boy", "Digimon", "Sailor Moon", "Naruto", or "Inuyasha" PUT TOGETHER (Note: I have never actually seen any of these diabolic cartoons).
Here it is, from the early '80s, the only anime ever produced with the help of the Christian Broadcasting Network, "SUPERBOOK":
Now I'm sure once your children see these clips, they'll want to watch the whole series. But there's a serious side to this too:
Now we know anime is considered "cool" among the young children of today, for whatever reason. However, most of it is evil, perverted, satanic, violent, and generally bizarre. However, there is ONE Anime that is wonderful, better than "Full Metal Alchemist", "Pokemon", "Yu-Gi-Oh", "Dragonball Z", "Super Racer", "Astro Boy", "Digimon", "Sailor Moon", "Naruto", or "Inuyasha" PUT TOGETHER (Note: I have never actually seen any of these diabolic cartoons).
Here it is, from the early '80s, the only anime ever produced with the help of the Christian Broadcasting Network, "SUPERBOOK":
Now I'm sure once your children see these clips, they'll want to watch the whole series. But there's a serious side to this too:
The significance of Superbook
According to CBN's official Superbook Website, Superbook was born of a desire by evangelist and CBN head Pat Robertson to reach Japan, where Christians constitute a minority of the population. Research conducted by CBN in Japan during the late 1970s and early 1980s indicated that children were likely to be the most receptive audience to Bible stories and that the best way to reach them was through Christian anime and manga. Thus, CBN contracted with Yomiuri Advertising (also known as "Yomiko") and Tatsunoko Production to create and market an anime series that would help drive Bible sales in the Japanese market. In this and in audience ratings, Superbook was a success, and the series was rerun frequently on local stations in Japan through the 1980s.
CBN originally did not plan to release the series outside of Japan, since Japanese animation was not considered marketable in the West at the time and since anime fandom in America was still in its infancy. Reportedly, the network was encouraged by a positive response to the series at a convention in France and went on to prepare the English-dubbed version that would be aired on U.S. television in 1982. Still, CBN, at least in the United States, did not promote the series as being Japanese in origin, and in fact removed all Japanese names from the English credits aside from a token credit for Tatsunoko for the animation production.
In the United States, Superbook was the first Christian-themed animated series to be syndicated to TV stations since Davey and Goliath in the 1960s.
To this day, the series has a loyal and devoted fan following around the world, among adults who grew up watching it as well as youngsters. In addition to the United States and Japan, the series has been aired in various other territories around Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Superbook was very popular on national television in Kenya, and also in the predominantly Muslim nation of Senegal, where it was reportedly the first Christian-themed program ever broadcast on TV. One of Superbook's greatest successes has been in the former Soviet Union. In the Ukraine, the anime inspired a live-action Barney and Friends-style children's program titled Superbook Club (with the robot Gizmo, or "Robik" in Ukrainian, as the mascot), and there are also several Superbook Club music albums aimed at children.
Superbook also provided early directorial jobs for some directors who would go on to be legendary in the Japanese animation industry, such as Kazuo Yamazaki (Urusei Yatsura, The Slayers) and Osamu Sekita (My My Mai, Beyblade, Saber Marionette J and a number of Mobile Suit Gundam TV series).
The Superbook series as a whole is ranked #2 on The Top 8 Christian Cartoon Series Listjust ahead of sister series, The Flying House, which ranked #3.
According to CBN's official Superbook Website, Superbook was born of a desire by evangelist and CBN head Pat Robertson to reach Japan, where Christians constitute a minority of the population. Research conducted by CBN in Japan during the late 1970s and early 1980s indicated that children were likely to be the most receptive audience to Bible stories and that the best way to reach them was through Christian anime and manga. Thus, CBN contracted with Yomiuri Advertising (also known as "Yomiko") and Tatsunoko Production to create and market an anime series that would help drive Bible sales in the Japanese market. In this and in audience ratings, Superbook was a success, and the series was rerun frequently on local stations in Japan through the 1980s.
CBN originally did not plan to release the series outside of Japan, since Japanese animation was not considered marketable in the West at the time and since anime fandom in America was still in its infancy. Reportedly, the network was encouraged by a positive response to the series at a convention in France and went on to prepare the English-dubbed version that would be aired on U.S. television in 1982. Still, CBN, at least in the United States, did not promote the series as being Japanese in origin, and in fact removed all Japanese names from the English credits aside from a token credit for Tatsunoko for the animation production.
In the United States, Superbook was the first Christian-themed animated series to be syndicated to TV stations since Davey and Goliath in the 1960s.
To this day, the series has a loyal and devoted fan following around the world, among adults who grew up watching it as well as youngsters. In addition to the United States and Japan, the series has been aired in various other territories around Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Superbook was very popular on national television in Kenya, and also in the predominantly Muslim nation of Senegal, where it was reportedly the first Christian-themed program ever broadcast on TV. One of Superbook's greatest successes has been in the former Soviet Union. In the Ukraine, the anime inspired a live-action Barney and Friends-style children's program titled Superbook Club (with the robot Gizmo, or "Robik" in Ukrainian, as the mascot), and there are also several Superbook Club music albums aimed at children.
Superbook also provided early directorial jobs for some directors who would go on to be legendary in the Japanese animation industry, such as Kazuo Yamazaki (Urusei Yatsura, The Slayers) and Osamu Sekita (My My Mai, Beyblade, Saber Marionette J and a number of Mobile Suit Gundam TV series).
The Superbook series as a whole is ranked #2 on The Top 8 Christian Cartoon Series Listjust ahead of sister series, The Flying House, which ranked #3.
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