Superbook

This Book is fun!

Super Book, or Anime Oyako Gekijō ("Animated Parent and Child Theater") in the original Japanese, was a Japanese-American tag-team effort to try to show stories from the Old and New Testament of the Judeo-Christian Bible to Japanese children. Produced by Tatsunoko Production with animation subcontracted to the studio Production LOOSE (which later evolved into Lifework), the series first ran on TV Tokyo from October 1981 to March 1982 (as TV Tokyo was not yet a network at that time, it aired on other network affiliates or on independent stations in other cities). Originally, it was intended solely as an evangelistic tool for Japan, but a positive response at a French convention led to an English dub in the United States of America, which premiered in the fall of 1982. The English version aired on CBN Cable (later The Family Channel and now Freeform) until the early 1990s, and on independent religious broadcast outlets as well, with the Christmas episode also syndicated to some secular stations as a holiday special; SIN (now Univision) also aired the Spanish dub, titled Super Libro, on Sunday mornings in 1985-86.

The set-up went something like this:

Christopher (Chris) Peeper (Sho in the original Japanese) is an ordinary elementary-school kid, Book Dumb and occasionally inconsiderate and self-centered, but a good boy at heart. He lives "in the house just down the street and around the corner" with his father and his Yorkshire Terrier, Ruffles (it's stated, at least in the English dub, that his mother is away from home helping Chris's pregnant aunt). His best friend Joy (Azusa) is his diametric opposite, a good student, conscientious and polite, though sometimes temperamental. During the first episode, Christopher's father, an eccentric college professor who seems to specialize in Biblical archaeology, tells Christopher to clean out the attic, as it has gotten severely cluttered and messy. While Chris and Joy are working on the attic, some boxes fall over, and a strange book falls out of one of them.

Taking the book to Chris's bedroom and failing to open it on their own, Christopher and Joy are startled to see a blinding light coming from it as it opens itself. Things then get even stranger; the book starts talking to them, identifying itself as the eponymous Super Book (Time Book in the original). The book explains that it contains many stories inside, and that they need only peer into it to experience them.

Thus begin Chris and Joy's adventures. Once an Episode, they travel within Super Book to experience one of the Biblical stories it contains, accompanied by Chris's toy robot Gizmo (Zenmaijikake), who becomes a fully functioning robot during their adventures. Though they often interact with the Biblical characters themselves (at one point, they even try to stop Abraham from sacrificing Isaac), they primarily observe the stories, learning from them the lessons each tale has to teach.

Surprisingly, it was good. The creators did their best to keep true to the original stories as best as they could while still keeping it appropriate for kids. The Biblical characters, while often one-shots, were still given good characterization. And, importantly, the producers tried to illustrate the stories that showcased God's love and mercy, rather than focusing exclusively on the judgment and wrath part. And surprisingly, it was amazingly popular, though Japanese audiences were more likely to see it as a literary adaptation (a la the World Masterpiece Theater) than the evangelization tool as which it was designed. CBN sources claimed as many as three million viewers for the series in the Tokyo area alone and ratings well over 20% in some markets. Due to its religious themes and use as an evangelical tool, it's been shown in dozens of countries, making it one of the most widely distributed anime series ever produced, even though it tends to get overlooked as an influential anime due to (a) being a Christian series and (b) most of that global success coming before anime was "cool" in the West. (This troper readily admits that the series was responsible for jump-starting his own anime fandom.)

The second series (Superbook II, or Pasokon Travel Tanteidan) aired on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations from April to September 1983, and premiered in the U.S. the following year. The events take place two years after the first, with Chris's mother now back home full-time and Chris's uncle Ken and cousin Uriah (Uri for short, Yuu in Japanese) living with them. In episode one, Super Book accidentally fell onto the keyboard of a special computer invented by Uncle Ken. This somehow transferred Super Book's powers to the computer, allowing anyone who wanted to see into the past. Unfortunately, Ruffles accidentally gets lost in time in the process. To find her, Uri and Gizmo (the original wind-up toy now replaced by a fully functioning robot even outside Super Book, with a built-in computer for recall purposes, though he still has to be wound up like the original) regularly travel back in time to find her, adding an overarching plot arc to the second series. Unlike the original, however, the time travelers only become tangentially involved in the stories, and the two disparate halves don't gel as well as in the first series.

There was also a third, separate series called Flying House that introduced a different set of characters and focused more on stories from the New Testament, primarily the ministry of Jesus Christ. It eclipsed the original Superbook in popularity in Japan although it's lesser known in most of the world.

Most of the tropes that apply are tropes from The Bible. The ones listed here focus primarily on the original cast, the series, its premise, and any other characterization tropes not on The Bible page.

There's a new version of this, completely American in origin, that uses CGI. And in a case of coming full circle, the new series has aired in Japan, the country where it all started.

Compare to The Kingdom Chums (also made with Japanese staff) and some of the "Imagination Station" episodes of Adventures in Odyssey, which also feature time-traveling children witnessing Biblical events. Compare also to Osamu Tezuka's In the Beginning, another Bible-based anime also shown on U.S. cable TV, and to The Many Dream Journeys of Meme (or Ordy in French), a series by Nippon Animation which also has time-traveling kids (except they meet scientists and other secular historical figures).

Tropes used in Superbook include:

• Adults Are Useless: In the case of Chris' parents. Well, his father anyway; in the first series, his mother is only useless because she's rarely around. She's shown to be more of a Reasonable Authority Figure in season two.
• Bible Times
• Chest Insignia: The letter U on Uri's shirt.
  • And in the Japanese version his name is Yuu, which is pronounced like the English letter U.
• Christmas Episode: "The First Christmas," aka "Uma goya monogatari" or "The Stable Story" in Japan, aired in Tokyo on Christmas Day 1981 (and was one of the episodes directed by Kazuo Yamazaki). In North America, in addition to airing on CBN, it was placed into broadcast syndication as "The Superbook Christmas Special" and aired on various secular TV stations in the U.S. and Canada.
• Clark Kenting: While Ruffles is missing and while Uri and Gizmo are away searching for her, Chris and Joy have to make excuses to Chris' mother before she gets worried.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Joy fancies Chris (though he seems oblivious to it) and isn't at all subtle about it, even telling him she expects him to marry her when they grow up. She also gets huffy when he shows interest in other girls or women (including Biblical figures like Eve, Rebekah, and the Queen of Sheba).
• Clockwork Creature: Gizmo is a robot version of this, as when he runs down on power he explicitly needs the key on his back wound back up for him to even move again (he can still talk just fine). Even though he's no longer a small toy in the second series, he still needs to be wound up to move.
• Deranged Animation: Occurs whenever the kids travel through time
• Dub Name Change: In the original Japanese version, Christopher is Sho, Joy is Azusa, and Gizmo is Zenmaijikake. Also, Chris's cousin Uri from the second series is Sho's brother Yuu in the original. The kids also have different names in some other Western dubs: Christian and Maria in German, Azusa/Joy is Susie in the Italian dub, and so on.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In the Joseph episode, Joy has a dream about chasing a new dress she wants but being unable to catch it. Chris's mother buys Joy a dress exactly like the one in the dream, but when Joy puts it on, it's too small for her, and Chris remarks jokingly that the meaning of Joy's dream must be that she's not supposed to have the dress because she's too fat for it. Joy is not amused and chases Chris around the house until he apologizes.
  • Joy also scolds Chris and Uri for laughing at Professor Peeper's pratfall with a dinosaur skeleton in episode 1 of the second series.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndrome: Uri talks this way, at least in the English dub - explainable due to his age. He has the same voice actor (in both English and Japanese) as Corky from Flying House, who also talks like this.
• Garden Hose Squirt Surprise: This happens to Chris in the Job episode.
• God Is Good
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Christopher Peeper was voiced by the late Billie Lou Watt - the English voice of the 1963 Astro Boy plus Kimba and '70s Jack. There's also Peter Fernandez.
  • Some viewers might have recognized Watt's voice also from Another Life, a Christian-themed soap opera produced by CBN that was also in syndication at the time (as well as airing on CBN cable).
  • In Japanese, Zenmijikake (Gizmo) has the same voice actor as the second Master Roshi, Azusa has Mokuba Kaiba's (in Season Zero) voice actress (in series one), and Eve and Rebekah share a voice actress with Sailor Pluto. Chris's mother has the voice of Grandis from Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water too. And speaking of Kimba, Yoshiko Matsuo, the original Laiya (Kitty), voiced Isaac.
• Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Despite their attempts to, something always happens that prevents the kids and Gizmo from preventing any of the bad things from happening, thereby ensuring events play out as they did.
  • One example was Gizmo running towards Eve to stop her from eating from the Forbidden Fruit. And he would have succeeded, if not for his gears winding down at exactly that moment, immobilizing him as the Fall from the Garden happened. Chris then tried to stop Eve - but the snake lunged at him and blocked his passage.
  • In the Christmas Episode, Gizmo managed to push two soldiers, who were looking to hunt down and kill the baby Jesus at King Herod's order (and threatened Chris when Chris tried to stop them), off a cliff. This ended up being a moot point, since Mary and Joseph were warned in a dream to go home a different way to avoid Herod's soldiers.
• I Will Find You: Uri and Gizmo's quest is to find Ruffles.
• Jesus Saves: There was a few episodes based in the New Testament. This trope is stronger in "The Flying House" series.
• Marilyn Maneuver: Joy in "Superbrain". When Ruffles runs passed her, the back of her skirt rises from Ruffles's motion briefly, but she holds the front in place.
• Meaningful Name Christopher Peeper - His last name is rooted in peeping, essentially getting a quick look at something.
  • The German Dub Name Changes reflect the series' religious themes, with Christopher/Sho known as Christian and Joy/Azusa becoming Ri (short for Maria).
• Missing Mom: Chris's, for most of the first series, though she does appear in a few episodes. It's stated that she's away looking after her sister who's having a baby. For series two, she's back home full time. (Although she isn't given a name in the English dub, her name in Japanese is Satsuki.)
• Names to Know in Anime: One episode director on the first series was Kazuo Yamazaki, who would go on to work on influential fan-favorite series such as Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, and Slayers. And the series planner for Tatsunoko, Shigeru Yanagawa, was also a prolific screenwriter, with his later credits including Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon.
• Narrator: Superbook, who knew.
• The Other Darrin: In Japan, Sho (Chris) and Azusa (Joy) both had voice actor changes (from Masako Sugaya to Asami Mukaidono, and from Katsue Miwa to Takako Tsutsui, respectively) for series two, explainable by the fact that they're several years older than in the first series.
• Our Time Travel Is Different: Both the Videocassette and Wormhole kind, depending on which direction they're headed.
• Panty Shot: Joy in "All About Dreams", when she and Chris help Prof. Quantum as they struggle to pull something out of the ground. She falls on her back and there's a frontal view of her white undies matching her jumper skirt.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Chris wears blue jeans and a blue jean jacket over a white shirt, while Joy wears a white dress over a pink shirt. The show's character designer also used this in other Tatsunoko shows she worked on, including The Littl' Bits.
• Portal Book
• Powers as Programs: In Season 2, the Super Book's information are transferred to Chris' computer.
• Relationship Voice Actor: The three series also feature Billie Lou Watt's husband Hal Studer, along with Ray and Sonia Owens. All four often appeared together in the anime they've been in, back to Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion in the '60s.
  • On the animation production side, Shigeru Yanagawa, the planning director of the series, later wed Akiko Shimomoto (aka Noa Kawai), the character designer. Both also converted to Christianity.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Goliath, in the "David and Goliath" episode, almost crossing over into Gratuitous Rap territory. "I'm big, I'm mean, I'm a mighty Philistine!"
• Robot Buddy: Gizmo, in Season 2. In Season 1 as well (but only for the duration of the kids' adventures; outside of the Superbook adventures he reverts to being a toy).
• Sibling Rivalry: Fred (Chris' father) and his younger brother Ken (Uri's father).
• Shonen Hair: Christopher
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Rebekah. The plan for Jacob to fool Isaac and get the blessing of Esau's birthright is her idea, and the kids and Gizmo can hardly believe what's happened to the sweet, gentle Rebekah they met in the previous episode.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Sort of complicated. In the series finale of season one, Chris's mother, now back home after looking after her sister who's just had a baby, announces that she herself is pregnant. In the original Japanese, Yuu (Uri) in season two is the result of that pregnancy, but in the English dub, he's rewritten as Chris's cousin (Uncle Ken's son), and no further mention is made of Chris's mother's pregnancy, so it could be assumed that she miscarried.
• X Meets Y: Time Bokan in The Old Testament
  • Which is fitting as both Superbook and Time Bokan were animated by the same company (Tatsunoko Productions).
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: The kids and Gizmo literally experience days, if not weeks as the stories play out, but once they're done they are returned to their time, with no more than a minute, possibly five tops having passed.
  • The Noah's Flood episode drops them into the story before the flood, and pulls them out after everyone emerges from the ark over a year later.