Marine Boy

Marine Boy, known in Japan as Kaitei Shonen Marine (Undersea Boy Marine), is a 78-episode stealth anime series created by Taku Sugiyama and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino. The lead character, a human boy named Marine, protects the seas from villains, moving about underwater by way of a Hydrojet which emits jets from his feet. He also chews an oxygen-producing gum which enables him to stay underwater for long periods of time and uses a boomerang as a weapon. Aiding him in his adventures are his mermaid girlfriend Neptina and a white dolphin named Clicli (Whitey in Japanese).

The series' behind-the-scenes story is complicated. It began as Dolphin Prince, a three-episode trial run in 1965 that became was Japan's first half-hour color TV anime (beating Kimba the White Lion to the air by six months). In 1966, it was expanded into a second anime TV series called Ganbare! Marine Kid, but it was unsuccessful in the ratings and ended at 13 episodes (allegedly 13 additional episodes were made but unaired). However, U.S. distributors saw potential in Marine Kid and had 62 additional episodes made (in addition to the three Dolphin Prince and 13 Marine Kid episodes), with the intention of selling the series to the U.S. and other countries. Part of the deal was that the show couldn't air in Japan until it had aired in the West first; thus, although the new 78-episode Marine Boy premiered in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries in 1967, it didn't start airing in Japan until 1969. In addition, sources are inconsistent as to how many of the 78 episodes even aired in Japan (The Other Wiki says Fuji TV aired only 36 episodes, but its Japanese counterpart claims they aired the entire series).

A DVD box set was released in Japan in 2005 and in the U.S. in 2013.

Marine Boy shows examples of:

• Dub Name Change - The dolphin Clicli is called Whitey in the Japanese version (in Dolphin Prince, his name was Shiro, which means "white" in Japanese). It's likely the name change was made because of the racial connotations of the word "whitey" in American culture.
  • Neptina was originally called Neptuna in Dolphin Prince, though it was the Japanese producers who changed her name for Marine Kid.
• Names to Know in Anime - It was directed by the guy who would go on to make Mobile Suit Gundam, and created by the future director of the Alice in Wonderland anime and The Noozles.
• Scenery Censor - Mermaid Neptina wears nothing; her breasts are concealed by her long hair, a technique also used in the Toei Animation version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills - Professor Fumble's inventions: "oxy-gum" which Marine Boy can chew and receive hours of oxygenation.
• Unscaled Merfolk - Neptina is half-dolphin instead of half-fish.