Jim Button (partially found Rintaro anime TV series; 1974)

characters from Jim Button anime.

Status: Partially Lost/Found

Jim Button (ジムボタン) is an anime created by Rintaro that aired in 1974. It is more of an original story that doesn't resemble the original book it was adapted from. DO NOT confuse with the more faithful 1998 Western cartoon series, as some sites like myanimelist or animenewsnetwork confuse the plots of the German cartoon with this unrelated Japanese anime. Based on found information, the descriptions on those sites (and sites like it) are completely inaccurate. (although they might be edited after this article is published)

Jim holding petrified Lukas.

Synopsis

Jim Button lives alone with his seamstress mother on "Nandemo Land", and skips school to ride on the locomotive 'Emma' that Lukas created. This said train engine was created by Lukas for a specific purpose, to defeat the evil Dringer that wants to take over the world. Some pirates that work for Dringer arrive at Nandemo Land to turn everyone into stone, including Lukas and Jim's mother. The children of Nandemo Land are turned into animals, including Jim's girlfriend, Pokko. She's eventually kidnapped and forced to make magical clothes for the antagonists. Jim now has to save his family and friends by going on a journey with Emma to defeat Dringer and his army. ^[1]

Differences Between Book

As to not infodump, read the Jim Button Wikipedia article to compare the original story. This anime work makes many changes to the original and uses popular Shōnen tropes to change it into more of a boy-hero story that was popular in Japan at the time instead of an epic fairy-tale adventure. Some (confirmed)changes include:

Jim Button is no longer a black child. Instead, he is a slightly tanned boy.
They changed Jim's personality as being young and mischievous with an ego instead of a bright, wholesome teen.
Instead of not being able to read or write, Jim just hates school.
Jim is no longer an orphan(or at least it's never implied). Rather, his mom, Lukas, and the rest of the adults are turned to stone by the antagonist and he has to travel with Emma himself instead of together with Lukas. This is not something that happens in the original, as Jim's adopted parents are fine and Jim willingly leaves his home with Lukas to save a princess (princess LiSi).
Jim has some kind of power on a button that was handed down to him from generation to generation. This can be assumed to where the "Button" in his name came from, whereas in the original he is named Jim 'Button' because his mother had to sew a button on his ripped shorts.
Jim's love interest is a new character named "Pokko" who replaces Princess LiSi's role in the original. However, Jim was already in a relationship with this female. in the original,he meets LiSi later on by rescuing her. Some anime sites may have you believe Pokko is princess LiSi, but there is no evidence that LiSi is even in this anime and Pokko is most likey just filling in Jim's love interest role. These sites are probably confusing it with the western cartoon.
Emma can scream and spit fire, she appears to be more anthropomorphic than other incarnations.

As to why these changes were made, it can be speculated that it was due racism in Japan or lack of care for the original property. There is no proving or denying of this though, and we may never know. It might be similar to how American companies make huge changes to foreign properties to localize to a western audience, like the also lost Saban Moon. Michael Ende was a popular author in Japan at the time, but not this specific work of his. ^[2]

It should be noted that the book covers of the original have a blackface-like minstrel appearance for Jim, but this is most likely unintentional as people did not see it as offensive at the time. Since the original was not made in a visual medium, Jim technically does not have a character design and is mostly the fault of the illustrator. Newer adaptations such as the 1999 German cartoon and 2018 movie remove this feature and are more racially sensitive.

Production

Jim Button was produced by Eiken, Co-Produced by Mainichi Broadcasting System, and animated by TopCraft(inbetween animation). It aired on All-Nippon News Network from October 4, 1974 to March 28, 1975. There are a total of 26 episodes. Chief Director is Taro Hayashi, AKA Rintaro. He is recognized for working alongside Osamu Tezuka and his various projects.

Availability

This anime has no available episodes at all. There were no DVDs or VHS created, and has only been rebroadcasted a few times which is unusual because Japanese sources claim the viewership was good. There is only the OP, end credits, and a clip available online. It could be speculated that the production company no longer owns the rights to the Ende property, so they can't re-release onto digital media like Blu-Ray or streaming. However, the soundtrack is easily available online.