Good news here for fans of Studio Ghibli and legendary animators Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. The pair worked together on a number of projects before launching their now-iconic animation studio together and one of them - Panda Go Panda - has just received a fresh DVD release in the UK.
Cheerful Mimiko has a very strange family for a little girl - a Panda for her Papa, and his son, Panny, calls her Mom! Join this happy family and their many adventures! When Panny follows Mimiko to school, he must pretend to be a teddy bear so Mimiko won't get into trouble, but everyone wants a cute Panda! Despite his efforts to behave, Panny causes trouble in the school kitchen, and now the whole school is after Panny!Then, Panny makes a new friend, Tiny, a baby tiger who's wandered off from the circus. Getting Tiny back to his mom becomes the first adventure, but after a hard rain, the whole town is flooded and Mimiko, Papa Panda and Panny must rescue Tiny and other animals from the trapped circus train!
Conceived and written by Miyazaki with Takahata handling directorial duties, Panda Go Panda clearly didn't have the resources behind it that Studio Ghibli offerings have been blessed with but the same charm and style that makes the two men's work so distinctive today is already fully in evidence here. Check the trailer below the break for proof! Earlier English friendly DVD releases of this one have been out of print for a few years now, so here's a chance for collectors and fans to add an overlooked title to their collection!
I always miss how some companies turn titles in something completely different. "Panda, Kopanda" translates as "Panda, Baby Panda" but turns into "Panda Go Panda". Say what? It makes as much sense as another must-see pre-Ghibli by Miyazaki and Takahata, "Taiyo no Oji: Horusu no Daiboken" ("The great adventure of Hols: Prince of the Sun"), which got turned into "The Little Norse Prince". Huh?!
It is worth noting that many see “Panda, Kopanda” protagonist Mimiko as a prototype of Mei (from Miyazaki’s Tonari no Totoro), but actually both of them were based on Miyazaki’s ideas for the never realized animation “Nagakutsushita No Pippi, Sekai Ichi Tsuyoi Onna No Ko” (“Pippi Longstocking, The Strongest Girl In The World”) for which almost unseen imageboards can be found here: http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html#0405
For the purists: the Japanese re-release by Ghibli Museum Library also comes with English subtitles. It’s a tiny bit more expensive though… Get it at: http://www.yesasia.com/global/パンダコパンダ/1011005421-0-0-0-en/info.html