Tottoko Hamutaro: Anime Dechu! (found "Hamtaro" anime series; 1999)

Magazine ad for VHS of the anime

Status: Lost

Most anime fans probably know the series Hamtaro, the anime about the cute little hamster owned by a 5th-grade girl named Laura/Hiroko and who goes on adventures with his hamster friends. However, before the actual series premiered in Japan in 2000, there was a short series that was released on VHS in 1999 called Tottoko Hamutaro Anime Dechu! (とっとこ ハム太郎 ヤニメ でちゆ), (not to be confused with the 2011 Hamtaro re-airing known as Tottoko Hamutaro Dechu).

All that is known about this anime is as follows:

• It is based on the original manga by Ritsuko Kawai and has no relation to the final series (in other words, it is not considered a pilot).

• Hamtaro was voiced by Naomi Nagasawa instead of Kurumi Mamiya. He is also the only hamster to speak in the series.

• Hamtaro is owned by a girl named Natsumi and not Laura/Hiroko.

• The VHS release contains 4 episodes of the anime, and it's unknown if any others were produced or not.

• The VHS was apparently not publicly available and was only given/sold to members of the production team at Shogakukan, the company who created Hamtaro, which makes it especially rare. The original cost was apparently 1200 yen (approx. $10).

• The episodes used songs that would be used later in the final series, including “Let’s Draw Hamtaro”, “Let’s Play Again Tomorrow” and “Techitechi March” .

• The anime's existence was brought into knowledge by this Twitter post: https://twitter.com/ermame26/status/841543418195017729