Obake no Q-Tarō and Shin Obake no Q-Tarō (partially found TMS anime adaptations based on Fujiko Fujio gag manga; 1965-1972)

Q-Taro

Status: Partially Found (1965 series and Shin Q-Taro) / Partially Lost (1985 series)

Work in progress

Obake no Q-Taro is a manga series created by manga duo Fujiko Fujio, best known for their work on Doraemon. It is about the titular mischief-making ghost named Q-Taro who has the ability to fly and turn invisible and loves scaring people, but cannot transform and is also Cynophobic, meaning he is afraid of dogs. Initially written by both authors between 1964 to 1966, Fujio F started handling the series without Fujio A's involvement from 1971 to 1974.

Anime adaptations

There were three anime adaptations made for it between the 60's and 80's. The first of which, produced by Tokyo Movie (Now TMS Entertainment) is simply titled Obake no Q-Taro, and aired between 1965 and 1967, lasting 96 episodes on TBS. This adaptation became popular at the time of its airing, and spawned various merchandise, which ranged from toys to clothes. As a result, this was both Fujiko Fujio and Tokyo Movie's first hit, as well as the earliest known Comedy anime in Japan. the 1965 series was the only adaptation to air in Black and White, as color television is almost nonexistent in Japan at the time.

Following the success of the first anime, another one, also made by Tokyo Movie, was produced between 1971 and 1972, which aired on Nippon TV as Shin Obake no Q-Taro. Having aired 70 episodes, this anime was the shortest-lived out of all three adaptations of the manga. This anime also received an English dub under the name Q the Spook", but it is completely lost and no footage or audio from it survives.

20 years after the first anime, while Doraemon 1979 was still airing, a third and final anime, this time produced by Shin-Ei Animation, aired between 1985 and 1987 on TV Asahi with 510 episodes, was the longest of all adaptations of the series, though each episode only lasts for 10 minutes. This anime is known simply as Obake no Q-Taro.

Availability

The rights to the original manga are in limbo as both Fujio F and Fujio A owned both rights to it, and remained that way even after they both split up in 1987. This is muddied even further when they both died in 1996 and 2022 respectively. As a result, none of its various anime adaptations were given a DVD release or are available in any streaming service, and with its popularity usurped by Doraemon, Q-Taro as a whole fell into obscurity.

Both the 1965 series and Shin Q-Taro are difficult to find, with only the opening and ending animations for both, as well as various clips being available online. While a single full episode from the former series exists on Youtube, no episodes of Shin Q-Taro have been known to exist in full. The 1985 series, on the other hand, is the easiest to find, as episodes 28 to 442 are available in torrents, and a number of them were also released on home media, as well as having reruns air on occasion on Tele-Asa channel 1. However, episodes 1 to 27 and 443 to 510 of this series currently remain lost.