Arabian Nights: Sindbad no Bouken (Arabian Nights: Sinbad's Adventures) is a 1962 Toei Douga full-length cartoon. It's part of Orphan's Toei Douga project to redo many of the pre-1975 Toei cartoons, in high-definition if possible.
Sindbad no Bouken is very much in the early Toei mold: rounded character designs, animal sidekicks, occasional use of full-rate (24 fps) animation, and (too many) sappy songs. (Toei's style began to evolve in the mid 60s toward more angular, comical character designs at the anime-standard 12 fps.) The story bears no relation to any of the seven tales in the Sinbad the Sailor story cycle, itself a late addition to the Arabian Nights story collection.
In this version, Sinbad is a young man who yearns to go to sea, as does his young friend Ali. One day, an old man is washed ashore from a shipwreck.
Before dying, he tells Sinbad and Ali about a mysterious island in the southern seas, full of gemstones and wonders. Sinbad and Ali stow away (with their cat Peppi) on a trading vessel.
When they are discovered, the gruff but kindly captain lets them stay and puts them to work, under the tutelage of two comical and bumbling hands, Abdullah and Yasim.
Sinbad is a natural sailor, and Ali a hard worker, so the two fit right in.
At their port of call, the realm of a gentle king who likes to play with toys,
Abdullah sings a silly song about his guitar spouting gold and gems when played. This attracts the attention of the king's conniving vizier, Torfa, who covets both great wealth and the king's daughter, Princess Samir.
When the guitar turns out to be just an ordinary instrument, he throws Adbudllah, Yasim, and Sinbad in prison. But Ali, still at large, shows great ingenuity in finding Princess Samir - at one point, he literally pulls the turban over Torfa's eyes.
He convinces her to rescue his comrades. She'd like to get away from the vizier, so she uses her agile bird, Kuppi, to help everyone escape and goes with them on their ship.
The evil vizier has an animal sidekick of his own, the aptly named Hell Bat.
The vizier orders the bat to track the princess, and it overhears Sinbad convincing his captain to change course and seek the island of treasure.
Torfa promptly sets out on his own ship, determined to usurp both the treasure and the princess. After many adventures and vicissitudes,
the inevitable happy ending is reached for all the good guys.
The voice cast belongs to an earlier era, but there are some familiar names:
- Konshita Hideo (Sinbad) appeared in other Toei films, playing Tarou the Tiger in Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji, Cho Hokkai in Saiyuuki, and adult Rock in Wan Wan Chuushingura. The last two are Orphan releases.
- Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (Ali) is the daughter of Kuronayagi Cho. She was a pro
minent character in Chocchan Monogatari and the main character in Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window. She played Petronella van Daan in The Diary of Ann Frank and Squeeky in Jack and the Witch, both Orphan releases. - Dazau Hisao (Abdullah) has no other anime credits.
- Tsujimura Mahito (Yasim) played General Hound in Manxmouse and appeared in Kaitei 3-man Mile, Yamatarou Comes Back, Hyakumannen Chikyuu no Tabi: Bander Book, and Bremen 4, all Orphan releases.
- Tagiguchi Junpei (Captain) brought his distinctive voice to the roles of the Professor in The Green Cat, Van Helsing in Don Dracula, Dr. Yamanado in Fumoon, Scratch in Techno Police 21C, the villainous king of Kanemacchi Castle in Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, the Mouse Thief in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, the colonel in Maris the Choujo, and Dong Zhung in the first Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases. He also played the Millennium Earl in D.grayman, John Trelawney in Treasure Island, and Dr. Laughton in Metropolis.
- Nagai Ichiro (King) starred in numerous shows, playing grandfather Jigoro in Yawara!, the off-the-wall narrator in Gosenzosama Banbanzai!, Professor Hajime in Queen Millennia, and Happosai in the Ranma 1/2 franchise. He appeared in Nijuushi ni Hitomi, Ore no Sora, Nayuta, One Pound Gospel, Rain Boy, Manxmouse, Nora, Hidamari no Ki, Yuukan Club, Amon Saga, Botchan, Ipponbouchou Mantaraou, Tengai Makyou, Toraemon, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases
- Shindo Noriko (Queen) appeared in Wanpaku Ouji, Saiiyuki, and Princess Knight.
- Kawabuko Kiyoshi (Vizier Torfa) played Mouta as an old man in Rain Boy, the Horned King in Saiyuuki, Hidaka in King Fang, Wan Laiming in Tezuka Osamu Mongatari: I Am Son Gokuu, and Dr. Mead in Cosmic Fantasy, all Orphan releases.
- Satomi Kyouko (Princess Samir) played Tsutomu in Maken Liner 0011 Henshin Seyo!!, an Orphan release, and appeared in other Toei releases, including Devilman, The Flying Phantom Ship, and Kikansha Yaemon D51 no Daibouken.
- Iwao Kingshirou (old Sailor) played the Bull Demon King in Saiyuuki and Kaneto Honma in King Fang, both Orphan releases. He also appeared in Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji and Perrine Monogatari.
The film had two directors. Kuroda Yoshio helmed Gulliver no Uchuu Ryokou, Flanders no Inu (TV and movie), Peter Pan no Bouken, Tobira o Akete (an Orphan release), and numerous Hello Kitty properties. Yabushita Taiji directed Anju to Zushio-sama. The screenplay was by Tezuka Osamu, working with novelist Kita Morio. Sindbad no Bouken was one of Tezuka's last contributions at Toei Douga. He founded Mushi Productions the following year, where he did his own version of 1001 Nights.
Arabian Nights: Sindbad no Bouken has many good sequences, but it suffers from bland characterization of the leads, Sinbad and Samir. Sinbad is more a poster boy than a real sailor, and Samir is saddled with the same sort of insipid song that cursed poor Rin Rin in Saiyuuki. As a result, the comic characters, Abdullah, Yasim, and Ali, and the hissably villainous vizier, run away with the movie. There's the usual surfeit of animal sidekicks: cat, bird, and bat. The baby whale that appears several times almost became a sidekick on the ship, but the Toei execs thought that was too preposterous.
The sailor's songs are funny and appropriate, but the first of them, The Song of Heavy Cargo, plays under too much dialog to be heard clearly and has been left untranslated. If anyone can find the OST, which is on the third CD of the rare ten-disc anthology Toei Douga Chouhen Anime Ongaku Daizenshuu, we'll update the subs.
Perevodildo translated and timed. Yume translation checked. I edited and typeset (very little). Nemesis and Paul Geromini QCed. The raw is a web rip from Ioroid. Names and terms have been localized to their Western versions, so Sinbad rather than Sindbad, Vizier rather than Minister, etc.
I liked Arabian Nights: Sindbad no Bouken better than Saiyuuki, but it would take more time for Toei to find a unique style and break out of the faux-Disney mode. The movie is "all ages" with some scary sections, like Disney cartoons of the era. You can get it from the usual torrent site.
