Obake no Q-Tarō (partially lost various anime series based on Fujiko Fujio gag manga, 1965-1987)

Q-Taro

Status: Partially Found (TMS Anime) / Partially Lost (Shin-Ei Anime)

Work in progress

Obake no Q-Tarō 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. This series is notable for being Fujiko Fujio's first major hit with the success of the 1965 anime, which resulted in their later works to grow in popularity in the following years.^[1]

Anime adaptations

There were three anime adaptations made for it between the 60's and 80's, all of which share a similar premise. The first of which, produced by Tokyo Movie (Now TMS Entertainment) is simply titled Obake no Q-Tarō, and aired between 1965 and 1967, lasting 96 episodes on TBS.^[2] 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-Tarō. Having aired 70 episodes, this anime was the shortest-lived out of all three adaptations of the manga.^[3]

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 in terms of episode count, though each episode only lasts for 10 minutes. This anime is known simply as Obake no Q-Tarō.

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.^[4] 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 series fell mostly into obscurity.

Both TMS adaptations 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 1965 series, named "The Collection" can be found on Youtube, no episodes of Shin Q-Taro have been known to exist in full. The Shin-Ei adaptation, on the other hand, is the easiest to find, as a large majority of episodes are currently available on Youtube, and a number of them were also released on home media, as well as having reruns air on occasion on Tele-Asa channel 1. One YouTube channel under the name of Hapilos has uploaded most of the episodes of this anime, having last uploaded new episodes on July 1st, 2022. Out of 510 episodes, the last 24 episodes currently remain lost.