LOST PLANET ANIME
June 25, 2013 posted by

“Jungle Kurobe” (1973)

JungleKurobe550

Move over, Paula Deen! In the early part of the 20th century, blackface was a staple of stage and screen comedy. It was prominent in American cartoons and comic books. Almost every American animator of note from the “Golden Age” used racial stereotypes commonplace in the era: George Pal’s Jasper, Walter Lantz’ L’il Eightball, Chuck Jones’ Inki, Harman-Ising’s Bosko, to name but a few. Sometimes blackface was limited to one-scene gags – like when a dynamite explodes on a character’s face, covering it with black soot. Other times, entire cartoons were built around it, most (in)famously the entire Censored 11 lineup including Bob Clampett’s Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943).

Blackface wasn’t limited to America, however. Japanese cartoons did this as well, although not to the extent that American animators did. That said, there was one show that starred a blackface character, and the studio that made it has done everything possible to bury it. It had one of the big names in anime involved: Hayao Miyazaki.

jungle200Back in the 1970s, while working at Tokyo Movie (TMS), Hayao Miyazaki thought up of a little Pygmy character who can do magic. TMS liked the character, but decided that the setting could more refining. Having animated their comics previously, TMS got Fujiko F. Fujio (Hiroshi Fujimoto) involved. He designed the main character and expanded the premise to have the Pygmy move to Japan to live with a family, a formula used in Fujiko’s other comics such as Doraemon and Q-Taro the Ghost. Ultimately, Fujiko Fujio, already a household name, was awarded the sole creator’s credit. Miyazaki was not yet famous in the early 1970s, being just another lowly staff in the TV animation business, and his involvement in the show’s creation is mostly forgotten. With the deal in place, Miyazaki’s idea was retooled and it was named Jungle Kurobe. Fujiko Fujio was to draw a comic version that are to be published simultaneously with the show’s broadcast.

Kurobe comes from an African tribe called “Pyramy” (a play on “Pygmy”) where everyone makes silly faces and worships a Pyramy god, whose representation is in a form of a tiki that is sticking its tongue out. In addition, the animals found there include the likes of Snail-Alligators (alligators with snail shells, which they can hide inside), a two-legged minature elephant, and giraffe-dachshund. The aforementioned two-legged elephant serves as Kurobe’s pet, named Pakopako. In addition, Kurobe has a younger brother named Akabe, who can’t do magic yet but idolizes his older brother. Kurobe is magical, having the ability to mind-control people by sticking his tongue out and making faces, which causes other people to do the same, and then doing whatever Kurobe tells them to do.

cel200One magic that Kurobe can’t do is flight. Back in his tribe, he sees airplanes flying past. Thinking that this is his answer to flight, he followed one of them back to the nearby airport. He stowed away in one plane heading to Japan. He fell from the plane when it started flying over the country and landed inside a birdhouse belonging to a boy named Shishio. Thinking that Kurobe is a bird, Shishio gave him some bread and blanket so he could be warm. Grateful for the gesture, Kurobe vows to be his servant whenever he needs something.

And that’s the show’s setup. Pakopako and Akabe joined the show’s cast in the second episode and moved in with Shishio and his parents, having setup a minature tribe in their backyard, complete with a magical, Pyramy tiki. Other characters follow the similar archetype that’s prominent in Fujiko Fujio’s other series, including the big bully (Tiger), his sidekick (Okara), and the main boy’s love interest (Takane). Starting with episode 20, another character named Gakku was added to the cast. Gakku is Kurobe’s rival from the Pyramy tribe, and unlike the main character he can speak Japanese well (Kurobe speaks in broken Japanese, an equivalent of George of the Jungle’s broken English). Gakku, however, is a brat who loves to play mean pranks on Kurobe and his friends.

jungle2-200As expected with TMS from the era, the animation is very energetic. It’s even more evident here due to Osamu Dezaki (1943-2011), one of the most distinctive director in TV anime, directing the show. Dezaki was very hands-on with all the cartoons he directed, doing most of the storyboards himself, and his fast-paced directing style was put into good use with the show’s slapstick humor and rapid-fire gags.

31 half-hour episodes of Jungle Kurobe, each split into two 10-minute segments, were made. It was broadcast on Mainichi Broadcast Systems (MBS) from March 2 to September 28, 1973, airing on Fridays at 7 pm. The manga version began at the same time and managed to last until the following December. The show was being rerun into the late 1980s. Unfortunately it ran into trouble, as Kurobe was deemed a racist stereotype by civil rights groups in Japan, enticing controversy. Books collecting the comics were withdrawn from distribution and the anime was promptly pulled from rerun circuit.

TMS Entertainment, if anything, disavowed this show. Their official website lists every show they have made since the beginning…all except Jungle Kurobe. TMS is essentially pretending that the anime never existed and are doing everything possible to bury this from public, similar to how Disney is trying to bury Song of the South. However, there are bootlegs of all the episodes in circulation, thanks to somebody having the foresight to videotape the show when it was rerun in 1985, and many of the episodes were subsequently uploaded on video sites like YouTube, Nico Doga, and DailyMotion.

record

The manga was eventually re-released, as part of the massive “Complete Works of Fujiko F. Fujio” project. A book collecting the entirety of the comic’s run was released in 2010, the first time it’s been available to the public after it was pulled from circulation in 1989. So is it likely that TMS will dig the show out from their vaults and release it on DVD? Maybe, but not in the immediate future.

Too bad, because, in spite of the questionable content, it’s a pretty funny show.


Charles Brubaker’s comic book, Koko the Blue #1, is now available for purchase HERE. You can also sign up for a mailing list on the same site, so that you will be notified whenever new comics are available.

13 Comments

  • I’m surprised (but not unhappy) over how the show caused controversy in Japan, what with Africans being such a small minority. The first time I seen this character was doing the videos promoting the Complete Works of Fujiko Fujio.

    The two legged elephant creatures has appeared in other of Fujiko Fujio works, or more specifically one of the Doraemon films. I forgot which one though…

  • Speaking of the Censored 11, they’re STILL not available.

    • Ha-ha-ha-haw!

  • “TMS is essentially pretending that the anime never existed and are doing everything possible to bury this from public, similar to how Disney is trying to bury Song of the South.”

    You see how it comes full circle!

  • This was absolutely fascinating. I’m a big fan of TMS’s output & I’ve never even heard of this show likely for the very reasons you mentioned. Jungle Kurobe’s fate reminds me a lot of the Jungle Emperor Leo (Kimba the White Lion) manga. Despite being one of Tezuka’s most popular works, the manga has never received an English release as it featured several non pc depictions of Africans.

    It’s also interesting how Kurobe looks far more like Fujio’s creations than one of Miyazaki’s. If my knowledge is correct the first project Miyazaki (alongside Isao Takahada) worked on was the ‘Green Jacket’ Lupin III series, which ran for 26 episodes from 1971-1972.

  • “Jungle Kroube” wasn’t the only “blackface” thing TMS did. This is close:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6-bmhoulCM

  • I’m also surprised there was much controversy with this in Japan. Usually stereotypical depictions of African natives of ambiguous tribal origin tend to draw less heat and are somewhat less controversial as opposed to similar depictions of naturalized non-African citizens of African descent. Like WB’s Inki cartoons vs “All This and Rabbit Stew. Or Tarzan natives vs Lincoln Perry.

    The stereotypical Sambo-ish, blatantly blackface design is really the only thing that kills it in a PC sense. Unless there’s some racist dialog thrown in there, the content is standard “jungle man in modern society” fish-out-of-water material and clearly the friend of the main Japanese character and central strong, adventure-going cast member.

  • That’s not me favourable the site that you are obtaining your facts, nonetheless wonderful subject matter. I can shell out a bit discovering a great deal more or maybe finding out additional. We appreciate this magnificent info – I used to be in search of these details for my mission.

  • This was the only anime that was banned, blacklisted and banished from international broadcast because of its contents.

  • TMS has finally taken the series out from the vaults, along with the very rare anime series “Umeboshi Denka”! Toei Video will be releasing all of Kurobe on DVD in Japan on December 9, while Denka will be released on January 6, 2016. Check it out: http://www.toei-video.co.jp/DVD/kuroume.html

  • I found Episodes on dailymotion

  • Miyazaki’s original character designs can be seen on Mandarake’s auction site:
    https://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/auction/item/itemInfoJa.html?index=383596

  • I know that it is racist due to blackfaced and there’s no other of looking at it, but once watch it and forget, ignore, or get over the racist stuff, it’s actually pretty good (as long you get over the racist stuff), and while there is racial stuff here and there, the rest of the show not that bad.

Leave a Reply to Chris Sobieniak Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *