Little Lulu and Her Little Friends (partially found episodes of anime series; 1976)

Promotional art from the anime.

Status: Partially Found

Little Lulu and Her Little Friends (リトル・ルルとちっちゃい仲間 Ritoru Ruru to Chitchai Nakama) is a 26-episode anime series, produced by Nippon Animation, that ran from October 3rd, 1976, to April 3rd, 1977. While the character of Little Lulu was originally created by Marjorie Henderson Buell, the anime was based on the comics by John Stanley. This anime is extremely rare and has been out of print for a long time.

An English dub was produced by ZIV International in 1978. It was also dubbed in Spanish, German, Italian (twice, first in 1981, then in 1995, plus a compilation film released in 1981, named "Le incredibili avventure della Piccola Lulú", translated as "The Incredible Adventures of Little Lulu"), Arabic, Hebrew, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Availability

The Japanese dub is completely lost, with the absence of any home video releases. Despite this, bits of material have surfaced online. On July 1, 2020, Twitter User @doughnut_f posted a couple of images from the original Japanese opening, which came from a 2016 Japanese auction. An August 2020 Japanese auction also emerged, containing a 16mm film reel of episode 6 from the original Japanese dub. Images from this film reel and a short 20-sec clip were saved by YouTuber ChozinFellers.

Currently, the whole series is available in Spanish (courtesy of YouTuber NesGamer90), Arabic (courtesy of YouTuber Ayam Zaman لولو الصغيرة), and Italian. The Swedish dub of Episode 6 was uploaded on December 16, 2014 (courtesy of YouTuber Muppet). Regarding Italy, the 1st dub (1981) is currently lost while the 2nd dub (1995) is available online, produced by SD Cinematografica. The compilation film released was uploaded onto YouTube on May 15, 2020, courtesy of FilmIsNow. YouTuber Emozioni Ritrovate had the 1995 Italian dub for sale since March 1, 2020.

On July 20th, 2019, ChozinFellers uploaded six full episodes of the ZIV International English dub of Little Lulu, which was originally uploaded by now-deleted YouTube channel Fogelogel. ChozinFellers is awaiting for possible translators for the rest of the remaining episodes through "Project Lulu," and has a fansite dedicated to the anime, called "Fellers' Frontier."

Soundtrack Laboratory Co., Ltd complied the original Japanese soundtracks for Little Lulu and Her Little Friends and Attack on Tomorrow into a CD album, which was released on August 25, 2021. This CD marks the first time in which these soundtracks have been released commercially.

Gallery

1980 LP record album (Front)
1980 LP record album (Back)
1980 US VHS release by Media Home Entertainment
1st volume US VHS release by Family Home Entertainment
2nd volume US VHS release by Family Home Entertainment
The 1982 Family Home Entertainment poster featuring the VHS release of Little Lulu
Japanese Title Card
Japanese Title Card for Ep. 6
Japanese Ending Credits