Dokachin Complete Series Blu-ray - Anime Memories Library Vol.145

Dokachin Complete Series Blu-ray brings Tatsunoko's unruly prehistoric family into the modern world in a restored edition of the studio's 1960s comedy. A time-warp experiment ends in an enormous explosion, depositing the family in a society whose everyday sights and sounds are entirely unfamiliar. The powerful, fleet-footed Dokachin responds to this strange new environment with curiosity, chaos and his stone axe, leaving modern people struggling to keep up.

Meiko Nakamura gives the title character his distinctive voice and sings the opening Dokachin Dance and closing Omocchoroi Dokachin. Based on Tatsuo Yoshida's creation and led by chief director Hiroshi Sasakawa, the series combines energetic slapstick with the collision between prehistoric habits and modern conventions. Its opening and ending sequences also make unusual use of live-action imagery alongside animation.

This Anime Memories Library release collects all 26 broadcasts, each containing two stories, for the complete 52-story series. The picture has been remastered from scans of the 35mm negatives. Although much of the programme is monochrome, nine stories were produced in colour during television's transition between the two formats. The set preserves the surviving colour material, including sequences not previously broadcast.

The two discs contain approximately 669 minutes of programme material in the original 4:3 presentation, with Japanese monaural audio and no subtitles. A Dokachin New Year's greeting and an explanatory booklet accompany the series. Surviving colour and monochrome opening and ending versions are matched to the corresponding programme material; the surviving originals do not carry staff credits in these sequences.