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Serendipity the Pink Dragon was a 1983 anime (original title Serendipity Monogatari Pure to no Nakamatachi - Serendipity Stories: Friends on Pure Island) that aired for 26 episodes on NTV, and was later adapted into a movie for U.S. distribution in 1989. The series was produced by Zuiyo Enterprises with animation by Studio Shaft. The story follows Bobby (or Kona in Japanese), a young boy who is shipwrecked in the Antarctic. He finds a pink egg and floats on it out to a magical island (called Paradise Island in the English dub), where the pink pleisiosaur Serendipity hatches. The island where she lives is endangered by the threat of humans coming when Captain Smudge realizes there is gold on the island.
Only the compilation film has been released in the U.S., but that has nevertheless made it perhaps better known in America than in Japan, where the show was never released on home video and is considered an obscurity. The entire series also aired in several other territories, including Canada (in French).
The original anime, and the movie made from it, was based on a series of children's books by Stephen Cosgrove called, oddly enough, Serendipity Books. Each book was designed to deliver An Aesop, such as "Enjoy being you," "Treat others the way you want to be treated," and "Not everyone enjoys the same things."
Tropes used by Serendipity the Pink Dragon:
- Ambiguous Gender: A baffling example in the English dub, Peela-Peela is referred to as a female in the first half of the movie and a male in the second half. For what it's worth, his Japanese voice actor (Yuji Mitsuya) was a man.
- Angst? What Angst?: Bobby seems to completely forget that he'll probably never see his parents again once Serendipity hatches.
- Bishie Sparkle: Often with Princess Laura
- Carnivore Confusion: Bobby eats a coconut, but they talk and have feelings...
- Cute Shotaro Boy: Bobby
- Dinosaurs Are Dragons: The title calls Serendipity a dragon, but the theme song says she's a dinosaur.
- Dub Name Change: Bobby's name is Kona in the Japanese version, but the other characters' names were unchanged or at most Anglicized (i.e. Roura to Laura) in the English version. Serendipity was renamed Biniky (meaning "pinky") in the original French dub, and later renamed Dinosabella when the series (edited into 5 feature-length films) was rerun on Canada's Radio-Québec. She's also called Rosaura in the Italian version.
- Ear Worm: Holy shit.
- Egg MacGuffin
- Everything Talks: Rocks talk, the fruits on the trees talk, etc.
- For the Evulz: Captain Smudge- "What's that bird doin'? Well, it's a shame I'm in such a foul mood-" *cocks gun to shoot Peela-Peela*
- Humans Are Bastards: Humans are the main threat to the island. For this reason, it takes a while for Bobby to convince Princess Laura to let him stay.
- Names to Know in Anime: Yoichi Kotabe, the character designer, is probably the biggest, having worked with Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Heidi, Girl of the Alps, among others. He's become better known in the West for his design work on the Super Mario Bros. and Pokemon franchises.
- Seadog Beard: Captain Smudge has one
- Talk Like a Pirate: Captain Smudge
- Tastes Like Diabetes
- Sugar Bowl
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The mermaid princess Laura has purple hair.