The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | |
![]() Title card from the English-language version | |
オズの魔法使い (Oz no Mahōtsukai) | |
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Genre | Adventure Fantasy |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Masaru Tonogawachi (1-41) Hiroshi Saitō (42-52) |
Produced by | Tetsurō Kumase |
Written by | Akira Miyazaki Takafumi Nagamine Hiroshi Saitō |
Music by | K.S Yoshimura Takao Naoi |
Studio | Panmedia Cinar (English dub) |
Licensed by | Enoki Films, Discotek Media |
Original network | TV Tokyo |
English network | |
Original run | October 6, 1986 – September 28, 1987 |
Episodes | 52 |
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, known in Japan as Ozu no Mahōtsukai (オズの魔法使い), is a Japanese anime television series adaptation based on four of the original early 20th century Oz books by L. Frank Baum. In Japan, the series aired on TV Tokyo from 1986 to 1987.[1] It consists of 52 episodes, which explain other parts of the Oz stories, including the events that happened after Dorothy returned home.
The books adapted for the series include the first three novels — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), and Ozma of Oz (1907) — as well as the sixth, The Emerald City of Oz (1910).
One of the TV series' writers, Akira Miyazaki, also wrote for the 1982 anime film of the same Japanese name. The series was also the final adaption of the series before the source material entered the public domain in 1989.
Many of the series' staffers, such as director Hiroshi Saitō and character designer Shūichi Seki, also worked on Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater, so that the look and narrative style of the series feel similar to a WMT anime even though Nippon Animation itself was not involved in the production.