Bannertail: The Story of Gray Squirrel (partially found English dub of anime series; 1979)

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Bannertail - The Story of Gray Squirrel press sheet cover.jpeg

Press sheet cover of Bannertail: The Story of Gray Squirrel.

Status: Partially Found

Bannertail: The Story of Gray Squirrel (シートン動物記 りすのバナー Shīton Dōbutsuki Risu no Banā) is a Japanese anime series based on the 1922 American children's book by Ernest Thompson Seton. The anime was produced by Nippon Animation and aired on TV Asahi from April 7, 1979, to September 29, 1979.

Plot

The plot is about a young orphaned squirrel named Banner who was raised by a kindly mother cat. When the farm is caught by fire, Banner gets separated from his adoptive mother and is forced to go to the forest where he befriends the wild squirrels and learns to survive.

Status

The anime was later dubbed and aired in several European countries, being especially popular in Germany and Spain.[1] It also aired in Arab-speaking countries.

An English dub was produced by Portland Films, a UK video distributor.[2] The title character's name was changed from "Banner" to "Bandi," played by voice actor Robert Axelrod. According to his portfolio, Banner was his first voice acting role.[3]

Availability

In the early 1980's, an English-dubbed version, titled "Bandi the Squirrel", was released on video by Portland Films. The tape compiles footage from the first two episodes, creating a single 24-minute feature. On Feb 12, 2016, Archie Pelago uploaded the full tape onto YouTube.[4]

Another UK release called, "Bandi in Love," was presented in a YouTube video uploaded by Awesome Trixie on Apr 18, 2020. On the back cover, it states that the running time is 25 minutes long, meaning that the release also contains only a single episode.[5] Unlike the first VHS, this tape has not surfaced online yet.

Full VHS Rip - "Bandi the Squirrel"

"Bandi the Squirrel" & "Bandi in Love"

It is unknown whether there are more home video releases of this English dub.

References