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marineboyMarineboy was the son of aquatic scientist, Dr. Mariner, who dedicates himself to preserving the world for all mankind, most notably beneath the sea. Marineboy keeps the world safe as a member of the Ocean Patrol, an international defense organization headed by his father.
With shipmates Bulton, Piper and his pet dolphin Splasher, Marineboy takes to the watery depths in their P1 submarine to battle the forces of evil.
Marineboy could swim as fast as the marine life by using his propeller shoes. He could breath underwater by chewing "Oxygum". His main weapon was his sonic boomerang that could be used above and below water.
Marineboy's main underwater friend was Neptina, a mermaid, who wore around her neck a huge pearl which she could use as a crystal ball. She was always topless but you never got to see anything as her hair was always in the way! Rounding out the team was Cli-Cli, a young boy who always tried to help the Ocean Patrol, but usually ended up getting into trouble.
A precursor to Speed Racer, Marineboy was the first cartoon to be produced as a joint effort between Japanese and American studios. The shows were animated in Japan, then American writers would develop a script that matched the action of the characters. The show was a huge success in Japan and the United States, setting the stage for the wave of anime that would become a mainstay of the next several decades.
Selected TV Episodes
The Terrifying Icebergs
Marineboy and the Ocean Patrol are sent to investigate reports of ships being chased by icebergs and disappearing in the North Atlantic.
The Whales of Destruction
Dr. Mariner and the Ocean Patrol have been targeted for destruction by a mysterious force. Can Marineboy stop the whales of destruction before it's too late ?
The Power of Power
While work progresses on a new undersea power plant, mysterious acts of sabotage begin occurring. Can Marineboy discover who is behind this and why ?
5 Billion in Diamonds
Cli-Cli, while out exploring, finds a key to a case with billions of dollars in diamonds in it. The thieves that stole the case are now after Cli-Cli. Can Marineboy save Cli-Cli and recover the diamonds ?
Mission at Corkscrew Strait
The Ocean Patrol are called upon to guide a fleet of ships carrying an important cargo through the dangerous Corkscrew Strait.
Details
Rumors have suggested that AD VISION may have the publishing rights, but, it remains to be seen if the rumors have any basis in reality.
Inspired in part by the novel Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke, the Toei Studio made three pilot episodes of Dolphin Prince, the tale of an undersea boy with a pet dolphin, who swam in a wetsuit with a built-in jetpack and stunned his enemies with an aqua boomerang. An experiment in color amine that predated Kimba the White Lion (the first broadcast color anime), Suguru Sugiyama's Dolphin Prince was shelved but then remade the following year as Marineboy... Though originally intended for broadcast on Fuji TV and subsequent sales overseas, the production was dogged by difficulties, and taken off the air after just 13 episodes.
The series returned with the same crew in 1969, retitled Undersea Boy Alarm (Kaitei Shonen Marin), for further adventures about Marineboy, now equipped with an underwater boomerang, a hydrojet, and a mermaid girlfriend. It lasted for a total of 78 episodes, including some recycled from the previous series.
During all this confusion, the series was already doing well in the U.S., where it premiered in 1966. With three episodes dropped for violence, Marineboy still incurred the wrath of the National Association for Better Broadcasting, which claimed it was "one of the very worst animated shows. Child characters in extreme peril. Expresses a relish for torture and destruction of evil characters." Strangely, no mention was made of Neptina's strategically placed hair, which obscured the fact that she spent the entire series topless, or that the three "violent" episodes were considered harmless enough to be screened when the series was rerun during the 1970s.
Though obscure today, Marineboy was a popular anime in its time, outperformed in the 1960s only by Speed Racer in the U.S.
Anime Encyclopedia by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy (page 243). ISBN# 1-880656-64-7
Commentary
Early in 2004, there were vicious rumors that AD Vision (ADV Films) had acquired distribution rights to Marineboy. Four years later, there's still no word on an official release.
A note about the cover art: Since there's no official release, obviously, there's no official cover art. I took a few of the better quality images that I could find on the net and after a few hours of work, I managed to come up with a fairly nice fake cover. There was no good source for the Ocean Patrol logo. So, I had to draw it based on an image of the logo that appears on a model kit of the P1.
I used to have one volume of the English dubbed version (bootleg) of the series. There used to be a source here in Philadelphia, that could get additional volumes, but, that source has since ceased operations. There are some online sources for Marineboy, but, I for one don't want to invest very much in bootleg sources, when a U.S. licensor may be on verge of releasing a legitimate version. So, for now, at least, continuing my Marineboy collection is on hold and will remain so, until I hear something more definite one way or the other.