Fall 1972 Anime

Due to dangers of decreasing resources and growing pollution, the International Scientific Organization is established to improve environmental conditions throughout the world. But an international criminal group, Gallactor, tries to achieve world domination by taking control of the ISO. Gallactor was created by a mysterious being from outer space known as Generalissimo X, who gives orders through its chief commander on Earth, the masked Berg katse. To fight Gallactor and its robot monsters, the ISO's Dr. Nambu enlists five brave youths into a combat squad called Gatchaman,the Science Commandos. Special scientific powers and dramatic birdlike costumes make the Gatchaman Squad a match for Gallactor, wherever on Earth it may strike. Ken(the Eagle) is the wise leader, assisted by sometimes-foolhardy Joe(the Condor), pretty Jun(the Swan), eager little Jinpei(the Swallow), and strong Ryu(the Horned Owl). Each has individual scientific weapons, but their main power lies in their aircraft, the Phoenix, which can transform itself into a fiery arrow capable of piercing the most massive threats. GATCHAMAN is a series of dynamic action and tension as ken, Joe, Jun, Jinpei, and Ryu hold themselves in constant readiness to meet each new threat by Gallactor to conquer the world.

[Source: Official Site]

This pilot is remembered, really, for one notable reason: this is Miyazaki's first time as a solo director. He teamed up with Takahata for the later episodes of the 1971-72 Lupin III series, but Yuki's Sun marked his first time solely in the captain's seat.

Yuki's Sun was based upon a popular shoujo manga (girls' comic) by Tetsuya Chiba which was serialized in 1963. It involves a 10-year-old orphan girl who is adopted into a family. The storyline is somewhat complex, and seems to play out like grand melodrama. Chiba's stories were more sophisticated and grown-up than, say, Osamu Tezuka, who of course was the godfather of postwar Japanese manga.

[Source: TheGhibliBlog]

The main character is a mother named Sazae-san. She lives in a house with her husband, her kids and her parents. The show is the ultimate family program and tends to follow traditional themes. Think of this show as the Japanese equivalent to "The Partridge Family" and you'll get a good feel for this show's atmosphere. Don't expect to see things like violence, swearing, kung-fu action or magical girls. The plots are more like "Today, Sazae-san goes to the new mall and gets lost". Such "boring" plotlines and the simplistic art are often a turn-off to non-Japanese audiences, but most Japanese find the show incredibly good. As a result, it continues to be one of the top ratings grabbers on TV and is one of the few anime that is considered "acceptable" by adults.

[Source: AniDB]

An alien woman named Maya crash-lands on Earth. Her homeworld was destroyed by the Blasters, a cruel alien race who steals the natural resources from other planets. She falls in love with a scientist and gives birth to a human boy named Kentaro. When the Blasters invade the Earth, Kentaro must defeat them by fighting with Astroganger, a robot made from living metal.

[Source: Wikipedia]

A young swordsman finds himself involved in a plot to overthrow the shogunate.

[Source: AniDB]

When Hiroshi was fighting against his rival Gorillaimo, he stumbled over a stone and fell on to a frog. To be surprised, the frog was still alive and it named itself Pyonkichi.

[Source: MyAnimeList]

This version of Pinocchio tells a story of an extremely gullible, naive and morally confused wooden doll brought to life by a mystical blue fairy. Pinocchio (Mokku) is characterized as having many character faults which he must learn to overcome in order to be worthy of being granted humanity. Some of these character faults include selfishness, rudeness, insensitivity, indolence, obstinacy, over- trusting, self-pity, stupidity, disobedience, compulsive lying, arrogance, greed, cowardice, recklessness, cruelty, foolishness and an inability to learn from mistakes.

Throughout the entire series Pinocchio (Mokku), partly due to his own delinquency and repetitive disobedience, must undergo other costly ordeals of hardship and pain in which he is continuously tormented, persecuted, bullied, humiliated, tricked, ridiculed, ostracised, beaten, downtrodden and subjected to degrading and inhumane treatment. Its plain depiction of the austere reality of what it would be like to be literally subhuman growing up in a world of danger and hardship, makes this another good example of traditional Japanese stories, which teach moral observance through tough endurance.

[Source: Wikipedia]