How I ended up buying this is a long and twisted story, but let me just skip to the meat. Someone I met in Japan blogged about a veteran seiyuu, Tanonaka Isamu, passing away,. I knew nothing about him, so googled his name and ended up with this series. That was on 2010-01-16. And it turned out, this old anime was scheduled to be released on DVD soon, and since I am partial to Panda (another long story), I decided to go for it.
First, the sound is aweful! It's not that they've messed around with it (I don't think they did). I believe it's bad because the equipments of the time were not very good. This is 1973 vintage we're talking about here. That's before I was born! It's also possible the master wasn't properly stored, but the video is fine (other than some adjustment problems), so I don't think it's the storage problem.
Art is sharp and cute, if a bit simplistic. And the story is... outdated. I mean, it's a simplified version of Hamlet. It certainly is more original than Lion King, since this is way older than that. Other concepts like boys shouldn't cry and so forth make it obvious it's an old anime. Still, it's not a bad way to spend 53 minutes. I'm impressed with how natural the movement looks despite the relatively low frame count. Anime has changed a lot in recent years, and I think anyone serious about anime art and culture should get more exposure to really old works like this.
By the way, I debated about Lonlon vs. Ronron. Anime News Network lists the name as Ronron, but I decided to go L. Since I was going against them anyway, I also went with Phiphi instead of Fifi.
Oh, and one last thing. Aoni Production has been around for a LONG time, eh?
The only time Lonlon's father is mentioned. Apparently, he was a great king.
