1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic old school kiddie comedy anime, March 22, 2007
This review is from: Robby the Rascal [VHS] (VHS Tape)
In 1982, Ken Ishikawa, longtime associate and friend of Go Nagai (CUTEY HONEY, DEVILMAN, MAZINGER/TRANZOR Z) and the Japanese animation studio Knack (ADVENTURES OF THE LITTLE PRINCE, DON CHUCK MONOGATARI, ATTACKER YOU!) released a 39-episode anime TV series called CYBOT ROBOTCHI. The series was directed by Kazuyuki Okaseko (VOLTRON). A few years later, Jim Terry's (FORCE FIVE) Kidpix Productions edited a couple of episodes of the TV series together into a feature-length "movie", dubbed it into English, and released it on American VHS as ROBBY THE RASCAL. I rented it from my local video store when I was a budding anime otaku of 11 (in 1991) and then never saw it again until very recently when someone posted the entirety of the feature on YouTube! Watching it, I felt like I was a kid again.
The basic plot is this: Robby the Rascal (Cybot Robotchi in the original) is a fun-loving, mischievous little robot who lives in a peaceful village with his creator, Dr. Art Deco (groan!) and a bunch of other wacky robots. He also has a human girlfriend, a pretty young girl named Tiffany (Kurumi in the original). However, a spoiled rich inventor named Horace wants Robby the Rascal for himself and becomes determined to cause as much havoc as he can in Robby's village (and beyond!). Aided by his two lovely female cohorts, Tracy (the girl with the blue afro) and Yvette, Horace squares off against Robby numerous times - in a high-stakes game of tennis, in a medieval-style joust in Europe, and finally in a global robot race.
Watching this as an almost-27-year-old 15 years after I first saw this, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it's held up. The animation is pretty standard for the early '80s - I've seen better but I've seen much worse. And with a few exceptions (i.e. Tiffany and the policewoman Sgt. Sally), the dubbing isn't bad at all considering it was made before American studios took English dubbing of Japanese animation seriously. It's a very funny show full of laughs, and younger kids should love it. Consider yourself lucky if you can somehow track down the long-out-of-print VHS release, since I think the chances of this being released on DVD are next to nil. For now you can see it on YouTube, as someone who has a copy of the VHS was kind enough to post it in 13 parts there.
I assume that Jim Terry may have tried to use this as a pilot to sell the 39-episode TV series to the American television market, but it didn't work out, so he released the pilot to VHS so that all that work wouldn't be for naught. The fact that the opening and ending animation sequences include scenes which did not make it to the final English version seems to support this theory. It's a shame, because I think this show would've fit in great on the Nickelodeon of the late '80s alongside HEATHCLIFF, INSPECTOR GADGET and other well-loved animation comedy fare.
One other thing: for some reason many websites incorrectly list this show as being a Taiwanese product when it fact it is really Japanese. There was a Chinese dub made for Taiwan and perhaps the animation studio (Knack) outsourced some of the animation work to Taiwan as was common in the '80s, but the show was conceived and first broadcast in Japan. Also, the TV series did get aired in its entirety in Italy where it was titled ROBOTTINO. Those looking for more information on this series may want to try searching under that title.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awsome, June 18, 2003
This review is from: Robby the Rascal [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This movie is the best kids movie ever. It has anything you need in it, a robot, a professor, and an evil villian. What more could you want? It seriously has to be the best kids movie ever. I recomend it 100%.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awsome, June 18, 2003
This review is from: Robby the Rascal [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This movie may be the best kids movie ever made. It includes a robot and a professor and a evil villian. What more could you ask for? It seriously has to be the best kids movie ever.
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