The fact it was missing didn't worry me at first. I simply thought that it was old, it was VHS, and it would look nicer on DVD. But... This was a rare anime. I spent many hours with Google looking for a trace of its existence. My results... Scattered mentionings of vague memories of an anime remembered by few from their childhood. (One result was the sole english comment on an entirely russian website.) Eventually, I managed to scrape together enough data only to confuse me more.
Apparently, it was produced by the same animation studio that worked on Code Geass. It was produced as part of a series of anime based off works of litterature, and its Japanese title was 'Totoi', which to my memory was the name of the main character.
The story, as I remember it, was about a young boy named Antonio living in a polluted city in Germany. It opens with the funeral of his mother, and his father's decision to move the family to the island of Sardinia where the environment is cleaner. After their arrival, they meet with relatives and begin making repairs on an old house belonging to their family. Antonio meets his cousin Billia (who gives Antonio the nickname Totoi) and his friends Pedro and Catalina, and eventually discovers possibly the last remaining specimines of a supposedly extinct species of seal: a mother and her cub. With help from an old man named Noni Sponu, he befriends the seals, naming the cub Zabione. That's barely the beginning of the adventure.
The english dub was memorable. It had many of the flaws of early dubbing, two of which I recall were an instance where a character's mouth moved to the lines of a different character, and an instance where the audio was completely absent as a possibly important line was spoken. In my eyes however, that only added to the charm of this early memory
The company releasing it is an issue of debate. I only remember it as '100% Just for Kids', which I am quite certain is of no relation to 4Kids entertainment. In fact, i believe they might have gone under before the age of DVDs. This prospect saddens me, as it means there would be no DVD release.
Could it be possible, however unlikely, that someone else may remember this rare gem from the past? If that isn't the case, it would still be wonderful to hear of your memories of any anime that you've come across that has yet to resurface.
who knows? We may be able to help eachother reunite with a small piece of our pasts.
Please enjoy this thread!
