is an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

based on the Belgian cartoon comic strip ''

Cubitus ''Cubitus'' is a Franco-Belgian comics series, and the basis for the ''Wowser'' cartoon series appearing in the United States. ''Cubitus'' was created by the Belgian cartoonist Dupa, and features Cubitus, a large anthropomorphic dog, who lives ...

''. It is the first TV anime to be produced by anime studio

J.C. Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was '' Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Foo ...

. It consisted of 52 two-part episodes the running time of 20 minutes in total, and it originally aired from 5 April 1988 to 27 March 1989. The show aired in the USA on The Family Channel in 1989.

Plot

Belgique - Brabant wallon - Limal - Cubitus - 01

Wowser is a large white dog who has a big appetite and lives with his owner Professor Dinghy, a genius inventor. They live next door to Beatrice, an old lady with an apron; Linda Lovely and her brother Bob; and Ratso Catso, a black-and-white cat who often ruins Wowser's day or sabotages Professor Dinghy's inventions.

Characters

* Wowser is the main character. A large, white dog, he has a good-natured personality but a humongous appetite who often tries to have a good day, only to get annoyed by Ratso or Beatrice. He often tests out Dinghy's inventions. Japanese voice actor: Naoki Tatsuta. English voice actor: Jeff Winkless. * Professor Dinghy is Wowser's owner who has a big white moustache and wears a pink sweater. He is a genius inventor, although his eccentric creations usually backfire on him due to people using the wrong way or Ratso interfering with them. He mostly likes to use Wowser to check his inventions. Japanese voice actor: Kaneta Kimotsuki. English voice actor: Simon Prescott. * Ratso Catso is an annoying black-and-white neighbourhood cat who appears to be Wowser's rival or his friend for some reason, and often pretends to be nice and sabotages the Professor's inventions. Japanese voice actress:

Rika Matsumoto is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer who was born in Yokohama, Japan. Her name is also sometimes romanized as Rica Matsumoto. She was one of the founders of the anison band JAM Project. After early stage work, she began both voice ac ...

. English voice actor: Robert Axelrod. * Linda Lovely (Cherry (チェリー ''Cherī'') is a teenager who seems to take quite a fancy interest towards Wowser. Wowser and Dinghy also seem to have a crush on her. Japanese voice actress: Mīna Tominaga. English voice actress: Wendee Swan. * Bob Lovely is Linda's young little brother. Japanese voice actress: Tarako. English voice actress:

Barbara Goodson Barbara Goodson is an American voice actress who has done voice-over work in cartoons and shows. Her best-known role was providing the English dub voice of the main villain Empress Rita Repulsa in the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, starting with ' ...

. * Beatrice is a rather plump, tall, bossy, middle-aged woman who is often very rude to Wowser. She also seems to have a secret crush on Dinghy. Japanese voice actress: Kazuko Sugiyama. English voice actress: Wendee Swan. * Officer Whistle is a policeman who keeps a whistle in his mouth which is used to tell people off when there is trouble about. Japanese voice actor:

Kōichi Yamadera is a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and singer from Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University's economics school and is currently affiliated with Across Entertainment. Before that, he was affiliated with ...

. English voice actor: Mike Reynolds.

Foreign versions

The English-language version was produced by Saban Entertainment. Retitled ''Wowser'', the series aired in 1989 on The Family Channel. The English dub changed the names of the characters and replaced the original music. Some scenes were removed or edited due to their violent or sexual manner: one scene in "The Hip Hippos" was removed, where Professor Dinghy beats Wowser on the head; another in "Slap Happy Birthday" was removed, where a chicken attacks Beatrice, causing her to crash and rip and ruin her dress; in "Self-Cleaning Machine", when Dinghy's vacuum backfires, Linda's clothes fly out the window and land in parts of town. A bra lands on a male statue's chest and he covers himself - this entire scene was censored. In the United Kingdom, ''Wowser'' aired on ITV and later on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in the early and mid-1990s. Two videos of the series were released in two volumes by Stylus Video. In the USA, in 1990 and 1991, ''Wowser'' was released on video in four volumes in episodes with running times of 30 minutes and 60 minutes. In Canada, it aired on YTV between 1990 and 1993.

Songs

Japanese version

Opening song: "Fly away - Yume no Hikouki" Sung by Mitsuko Horie Lyrics by Arisu Satou Composed by Takanori Arisawa Arranged by Seichi Kyouda Ending song: "GO! GO! My Friend" Sung by Mitsuko Horie Lyrics by Arisu Satou Composed by Takanori Arisawa Arranged by Seichi Kyouda Theme Song Production by

Nippon Columbia , often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK ...

References

External links

* * {{Hiroshi Sasagawa 1988 anime television series debuts Japanese children's animated comedy television series Children's television characters Comedy anime and manga Animated television series about cats Animated television series about dogs Television series based on Belgian comics Anime based on comics ITV children's television shows TV Tokyo original programming Television series by Saban Entertainment ja:どんどんドメルとロン