I've been an anime fan for a long time. The first shows I ever made a deliberate attempt to watch were, in order, Ranma 1/2, Oh! My Goddess, the original OAV version, and All-Purpose Catgirl Nuku-Nuku.

I was introduced to these shows, and others, by Mike, a fellow worker at the local hobby shop. He knew them all, nearly HAD them all, and wasn't afraid to tell you about them at the drop of a hat (coincidentally, just what does that mean? Is there some odd place where hat-dropping is considered a common signal?).

But even before those heady days of the early-to-mid-1990s anime scene, there was anime... and I was exposed to it quite early.

No, not Astro Boy. That would have been too easy. No, sometime around 1972 or '73, I was exposed to a show entitled PRINCE PLANET.

I honestly don't remember much about the show -- it WAS 30-some-odd-years ago, remember, and I was but a wee duckling -- but I remember "the medallion on his chest." (click that for the intro song!) I remember the color changing from black to white as his energy supply drained, I remember that it had the letter "P" on it, and I def'n'ly remember his war cry: "Peeeeeeeeeeee-KAPOW!"

But I never knew where it had come from. I didn't remember the name of the show, so I could never really look it up (or, more correctly, I didn't know that I needed to look it up). Today, however, I was googling something else at the Duck U. Bookstore, and there it was.

And, amazingly, when I loaded up the "theme song" link... I REMEMBERED THE SONG! Within a line or two, I was singing along and grinning like a goofball. 30 years or more have gone by since I last heard it, but no problem at all.

What really surprises me is that there are episodes on YouTube! I think I know what I'm doing during my lunchbreak tomorrow...

(UPDATE: Yeesh! It's a wonder I ever watched cartoons again!!!)

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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