The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1980 TV series)

is a Japanese anime television series produced by Nippon Animation and directed by Hiroshi Saito, which premiered on January 6, 1980, and ended its run on December 28 the same year. It is based on the 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (and partially on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).

The series was broadcast on the World Masterpiece Theater, an animation staple on Fuji TV, that each year showcased an animated version of a classical book or story of Western literature, and was originally titled Tom Sawyer no Bōken. It was the second installment of the series, after Rascal the Raccoon in 1977, to feature the work of an American author.

This series was dubbed into English by Saban International and broadcast on HBO in 1988 under the title The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at 7:30 am. It alternated with the later World Masterpiece Theater version of Little Women. Celebrity Home Entertainment released videos in the United States under the title All New Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It has also been dubbed in other languages, including French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, Portuguese, German, Hungarian, Dutch and Spanish. In January 2011, it was shown in the United States in the original Japanese on the NHK's cable channel TV Japan.

Plot

Tom Sawyer is a rustic, and mischievous boy who lives with his stepbrother Sid, his Aunt Polly, and her daughter, Mary. After the death of his parents, Polly raised her sister's two sons as if they were her own, with love, tenderness, and affection. Tom spends most of his time with his best friend, Huck Finn, sharing all kinds of adventures such as playing pirates on the Mississippi River or traveling in a balloon. While enjoying various adventures and fun, Tom and Huck accidentally discover hidden gold, which Injun Joe had supposedly found in the haunted house. He requires much of the heart of Rebecca Thacher, who believes she is his future wife.

Characters

Sawyers

• Tom Sawyer: Masako Nozawa in Japanese, Barbara Goodson in English dub.
• Sid Sawyer: Sumiko Shirakawa in Japanese, Brianne Siddall in English dub.
• Aunt Polly: Haru Endo in Japanese, Philece Sampler in English dub.
• Mary Sawyer: Kaoru Ozawa in Japanese, Melora Harte in English dub.

Phelpses

• Sally Phelps: Natsuko Kawaji
• Silas Phelps: Minoru Yada
• Penny Phelps: Yoshiko Matsuo
• Oscar Phelps: Kaneto Shiozawa in Japanese, Michael McConnohie in English dub.

Finns

• Huckleberry Finn: Kazuyo Aoki in Japanese, Wanda Nowicki in English dub
• Pap Finn: Toshiya Ueda

Thatchers

• Becky Thatcher: Keiko Han
• Judge Edward Thatcher: Ichiro Murakoshi
• Margaret & Jeff Thatcher: Yumi Nakatani, Cam Clarke (English; Jeff)

Others

• Jim: Ikuo Nishikawa
• Amy Lawrence: Kaoru Kurosu, Sanae Takagi
• Ben Rogers: Mie Azuma, Atsuko Mine
• Alfred Temple: Masako Sugaya
• Billy Fisher: Naoki Tatsuta, Ikuo Nishikawa
• Muff Potter: Eken Mine in Japanese, Robert V. Barron in English dub.
• Dr. Robinson: Jun Hazumi
• Injun Joe: Eiji Kanie and Kenji Utsumi (episodes 38-49) in Japanese, Tom Wyner in English dub.
• Mr. Dobbins: Ichirō Nagai
• Joe Harper: Kazuhiko Inoue
• Sheriff Collins: Taimei Suzuki
• Widow Douglas: Keiko Kuge, Barbara Goodson in English dub.
• Dr. Michael Mitchell: Tadao Futami in Japanese, Michael Forest in English dub.
• Dr. Helmen: Mike Reynolds in English dub.
• Lisette Jean
• Prosecutor: Richard Epcar in English dub.
• Peter (the cat)
• Caesar (the dog)

Episodes

English episode titles from the 1988 Saban dub are listed in parentheses.

#	Title
1	("Tom's Wild Pig Chase")
2	("The Whitewashing Party")
3	("Love at First Sight")
4	("Turning on the Charm")
5	("Tom's First Date")
6	("Home Sweet Huck")
7	("Tom Meets His Match")
8	(“The Stowaways”)
9	(“The Impossible Promise”)
10	. (“The Secret of the Buried Treasure”)
11	(“X Marks the Spot”)
12	(“Tom’s Broken Engagement”)
13	(“A Pirates Life for Tom”)
14	(“No school for Pirates”)
15	(“Tom Steals Home”)
16	(“Pirates at Their Own Funeral”)
17	("Tom's Moment of Glory")
18	(“For the Love of Becky”)
19	(“The Great Frog Leaping Contest”)
20	(“Mr. Dobbins Flips His Wig”)
21	(“No Time for Mumps”)
22	(Tom’s Bad Medicine”)
23	(“Tom and Becky’s Big Catch”)
24	(“Huck’s Un”suit”able Offer”)
25	(“All Washed Up”)
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49

International titles

• As aventuras de Tom Sawyer (Portuguese)
• De avonturen van Tom Sawyer (Dutch)
• Las Aventuras de Tom Sawyer (Spanish)
• Le avventure di Tom Sawyer (Italian)
• Les Aventures de Tom Sawyer (French)
• Przygody Tomka Sawyera (Polish)
• Tom Sawyer (Spanish)
• Tom Sawyer no Bōken (Japanese)
• Tom Sawyers Abenteuer (German)
• Tom Sawyerin ja Huckleberry Finnin seikkailut (Finnish)
• Tom Story (Italian)
• توم سوير (Arabic)
• ماجراهای تام سایر (Persian)
• トム・ソーヤーの冒険 (Japanese)
• 湯姆歷險記 (Chinese (Taiwan))
• 톰 소여의 모험 (Korean)
• Приключения Тома Сойера (Russian)

Reception

• Awarded Best Film Award for TV by the Children's Cultural Affairs Agency, Government of Japan

Further reading

• Hyoseak Choi (2017) Losing the War, Winning the Pooh: Ishii Momoko and the Construction of Contemporary Children's Literature in Postwar Japan (University of Toronto, unpublished MA thesis).

External links

• Template:Ann
• at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataTemplate:WikidataCheck
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (on Amazon Prime)