, also known as ''Demetan the Frog'' and ''The Brave Frog'', is a 39-episode

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

series by

Tatsunoko Production and often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company. The studio's name has a double meaning in Japanese: "Tatsu's child" (Tatsu is a nickname for Tatsuo) and " sea dragon", the inspiration for its seahorse logo. Tatsunoko Production was e ...

that first aired in 1973.

Overview

The story is about Demetan (Jonathan in the English version), a poor young

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

living in Rainbow Pond with his mother and father (a toymaker), who becomes friends with a popular and sweet girl frog named Ranatan (known as Pookie and later Hilary in different English versions), despite the differences in their social standings: Ranatan is the daughter of the leader of Rainbow Pond (English name, Leopold), while Demetan and his parents are

tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not clos ...

s, which make them automatic outcasts in the community. Together, Demetan and Ranatan enjoy many adventures. Like many of Tatsunoko's series at the time (in particular its predecessor '' Kashi no Ki Mokku''), the show was often sad, tragic and even sadistic, with Demetan having to deal with natural

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s as well as the bullies who rule the

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

. The well-loved theme song sung by

Mitsuko Horie is a Japanese actress, Voice acting in Japan, voice actress and singer from Yamato, Kanagawa. She is known as the . Horie has voiced several characters throughout her career, such as Shadow Galactica#Sailor Galaxia, Sailor Galaxia in ''Sailor ...

has a melancholy sound. In addition to its original broadcast on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

in 1973, ''Kerokko Demetan'' was re-run on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Don Dracula is a manga by Osamu Tezuka that began serialization in 1979. An anime television series aired from April 5 to April 26, 1982. Plot After living in Transylvania for several years, Count Dracula has moved to Japan (the English summary on the fr ...

'', which was pulled off the air following the bankruptcy of its production company.

Dubs

The following dubs of the entire series were produced, making it popular in Latin America, Europe, and Quebec: * ''Adventures on Rainbow Pond'' (English, released in the United States in 1990 by

Harmony Gold USA Harmony Gold USA, Inc. is an American film and television production company. It was founded in 1983 by Egyptian-born Frank Agrama and is managed by his daughter, Jehan F. Agrama. In 1976, Agrama sold broadcast rights from Paramount Pictures ...

) * ' (French) * ' (Spanish) * ' (Italian) * ' (Arabic), released by Agrama Films in the 1980s

Feature-length adaptations

''Adventures on Rainbow Pond'' was not the only

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

dub of the series. In 1985, Harmony Gold also produced two

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

adaptations, edited from the TV series. The two movies, called ''The Brave Frog'' and ''The Brave Frog's Greatest Adventure'', tell the entire storyline of the series in a heavily condensed form.

Rebecca Forstadt Rebecca Forstadt is an American voice actress, best known for playing young female roles in various animated series. After studying theater at Orange Coast College, in Costa Mesa, California, Forstadt began her acting career by working at Knot ...

portrays the voice of Pookie (Ranatan) in this version. The first movie was released on videocassette in 1994 and on DVD in 1999. ''The Brave Frog'' was later dubbed to Spanish and released by East West DVD Entertainment in the United States in 2005, using the title ''La rana valiente''. This version's lines and voice actors are distinct from ''La ranita Demetan'', which suggests that these two Spanish dubs were actually produced by two different studios.

Japanese voice actors

Yuko Hisamatsu Yuko may refer to: * Yuko (judo) (''yūkō''), a score in judo competition * Yuko (Ukrainian band), a Ukrainian band * Yūko, a Japanese female given name (including a list of persons with the name) * Yuko, a Belgian band * Yuko people Yukpa i ...

as Demetan *

Mari Okamoto is a Japanese actress and voice actress. Biography Despite being born in Tokyo, Okamoto was actually raised in Hirakata, Osaka, where she also spent her elementary-school years. In 1961, she made her debut for performing arts activities in ...

as Ranatan *

Hiroshi Ohtake is a common masculine Japanese given name. It can also be transliterated as Hirosi. Written forms Hiroshi can be written using different kanji characters. Here are some examples: *浩, "wide expanse, abundance, vigorous" *弘, "vast, broad, w ...

as Ibokichi *

Kōichi Kitamura , better known by the stage name , was a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actor born in Osaka, Japan. Kitamura was employed by the talent management agency Mausu Promotion. He is known for dubbing roles played by Peter Cushing. He died on Oc ...

as Amataro * Kousei Tomita as Gyata * Miyoko Shoji as Amako *

Shun Yashiro was a Japanese actor and voice actor from Tsuyama, Okayama. At the time of his death, he was affiliated with Theater Echo. Throughout his career, Yasario was also known as , , and . Yashiro was best known for his roles in '' Inakappe Taishō'' ...

as Kyaru * Yasuo Tanaka as Zari *

Haruko Kitahama is a feminine Japanese given name. Its most common translation is "spring child" (春子, which may also be read as a Korean name Chun-ja), though other kanji provide different meanings. Notable people with the name include: * Princess Haruko (� ...

as Narrator

Extra production information

*Broadcaster: Fuji TV *Planning: Tatsuo Yoshida *Storyboard(s): Yoshiyuki Tomino *Writer(s): Jinzo Toriumi *Character Designer(s): Yoshitaka Amano, Tatsuo Yoshida, Masayuki Hayashi *Music: Nobuyoshi Koshibe

References

External links

Official anime website
of

Tatsunoko anime history/Dementan Information.
* {{Tatsunoko Production 1973 anime television series debuts Animated television series about frogs Fuji Television original programming Tatsunoko Production