Superbook Classic

* Masakazu Higuchi, Keiji Kubota, Haruya Yamazaki, Takao Koyama, Ryoko Takagi (Season 2)

### Composer

Masahito Maruyama (Season 1)
Masayuki Chiyo (Season 2)

### Producer

Kenji Yoshida, Akira Inoue (Season 1 only), Hyota Ezu (Season 1 only)

### Language

Japanese

**Superbook**, originally translated in Japan as **Anime Oyako Gekijō** (アニメ 親子劇場, *Animated Parent and Child Theater*) is the 1st instalment of the **Tatsunoko Bible Trilogy** sponsored by Word of Life Press Ministries.

It was produced at Tatsunoko Productions in Japan in conjunction with the Christian Broadcasting Network in the United States and more recently solely produced by CBN for global distribution and broadcast.

The series originally aired in TV Tokyo in Japan for 26 episodes to air from April 4 to September 26, 1983. For the Superbook dub with included Computer Travel Detectives as its second season, the season was retitled as **Superbook II: In Search for Ruffles and Return to the 20th Century** (パソコントラベル探偵団, **Pasokon Toraberu Tanteidan**, Personal Computer Travel Detective Team).

The series chronicled the events of the Bible's Old and New Testaments in its 52-episode run.

## Synopsis

### Season 1

Christopher "Chris" Peeper discovers a magical sentient Bible named Superbook which sends him, his friend Joy, and his clockwork toy figure namely Gizmo the Crusading Robot back in time during the events of the Old and New Testaments.

### Season 2

Taking place two years after the first series, where Superbook falls onto a computer, giving anybody the ability to see into the past from Christopher's home via the monitor. Ruffles, his pet Yorkshire terrier, has managed to get lost in time, prompting Gizmo and Christopher's little brother (rewritten as his cousin in the English dub), Uriah "Uri" Peeper, to search for Ruffles. While Chris and Joy keep watch and control of the computer from the present, Gizmo and Uri experience the stories from the Old Testament solely.

## Cast

### Japanese

* Sho Asuka (Chris): Masako Sugaya (first series), Asami Mukaidono (second series)
* Azusa Yamato (Joy)/Mrs. Asuka (Mrs. Peepers): Katsue Miwa (first series), Takako \*Tsutsui (voice actress for Azusa in second series)
* Zenmaijikake (Gizmo): Hiroshi Masuoka
* Yuu (Uriah) (2nd series): Runa Akiyama
* Prof. Asuka (Prof. Peepers): Fumio Matsuoka
* Voice of God: Eiji Maruyama

### English

* Billie Lou Watt (Christopher Peeper, Eve, Gizmo in Season 2)
* Hal Studer (Adam, Satan, additional voices)
* Helena Van Koert (Gizmo in season 1, Uri in season 2, additional voices)
* Peter Fernandez (additional voices)
* Ray Owens (Superbook, Narrator, God, Professor Fred Peeper, The Serpent, Joseph)
* Sonia Owens (Joy, Mrs. Peeper, Mary)

## Production

In 1981, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), in partnership with Tatsunoko Productions, created a children's animated Bible series as part of an outreach to Japan. The series was known as *Animated Parent and Child Theater* (*Anime Oyako Gekijo*), produced by Tatsunoko Productions in Japan in conjunction with CBN in the United States. The English name for this series was *Superbook*.

Research performed during and after the outreach showed that this series was an unprecedented success. Over 8 million people watched *Superbook* on Japanese primetime television.

In 1989, *Superbook* broadcasted in the Soviet Union with high ratings. When Superbook aired during primetime on the Soviet National Channel, CBN received over 6 million fan letters from children.

More than 500 million people watched the series. The series was translated into 43 languages and broadcast in 106 countries. The series aired for 2 seasons with 26 episodes each, with a total of 52 episodes.

In 2007, a reboot of the series was announced. The CGI animated series was eventually released in 2011.

## Trivia

* The series was criticized by American religious conservatives for abridging stories from the Bible, the then-rare anime style, and the usage of time travel, which may confuse children from reality.
* There existed a Ukrainian live-action children's series called *Superbook Club*, which featured a full-bodied costume of Gizmo.
* The American opening sequence ("Oh, Superbook") is different from the Japanese version ("Taimbukku no uta)," because the former uses it as the ending theme ("Sup, Sup, Super.")
	+ The Spanish and Portuguese dubs use the American opening sequence, but a different song is played instead.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKXSrjnGhCo

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