Junko Hori/Modern Choki Chokies -- Obake no Q-Taro （オバケのＱ太郎）

Back in 1972, when we were spending the summer at our grandfather's farm, it wasn't just the tokusatsu shows like "Ultraman" and "Kamen Rider" that had our eyes glued to the screen, but we were also watching this anime of a cute white glob and his little brother, an even cuter pink glob, "Obake no Q-Taro".

Now, the title could be translated as "Q-Taro The Ghost", but actually an obake is more of a supernatural creature that can shapeshift. Unfortunately, for Q-Taro, he apparently lost the ability, and his little brother, O-Jiro, could only say one word, "Bakaretta!" although Q could apparently translate the real meaning behind it each time. "Obake no Q-Taro" started as a manga first drawn up by Fujiko Fujio（藤子不二雄） in 1964; Fujiko would go onto even bigger fame several years later when they started "Doraemon"（ドラえもん）, a series that still continues now on TV and on the big screen. Incidentally, Fujiko Fujio is the duo name for Fujiko F. Fujio (aka Hiroshi Fujimoto/藤本弘) and Fujiko A. Fujio (Motoo Abiko/安孫子素雄); their nom de plume even in English has the family name first. Fujiko F. Fujio（藤子・F・不二雄）passed away in September 1996 while Fujiko A. Fujio（藤子不二雄Ⓐ）left this mortal coil in April 2022.

"Obake no Q-Taro" was made into an anime in 1965 on NTV, and the show in its first incarnation lasted 3 years. However, the one that my brother and I got to know was the 2nd series that appeared from 1971-1972. And one of the other reasons that I still remember it over 40 years later is the jazzy theme song, sung by the voice behind Q himself, veteran seiyuu Junko Hori.（堀洵子） with help from The New Royal. Many years later, she also voiced Bart Simpson in the Japanese-dubbed version of "The Simpsons". The above video has the original theme song from the 1965 edition, followed by the 1971 song. The song itself was written by Tokyo Movie Kikaku-bu（東京ムービー企画部...The Tokyo Movie Planning Division) and composed by Naozumi Yamamoto（山本直純）.

The Modern Choki Chokies（モダンチョキチョキズ） was a band that seemed to take a page out of the playbook of Kome Kome Club and The Crazy Cats in terms of its many colourful band members and theatricality. I only got to know about them via commercials on which they appeared. The main vocalist was Mari Hamada（濱田マリ）, not to be confused with the rock singer（浜田麻理）whose kanji is different. Looking like a precocious elementary school student, she and the band had their time in the sun in the early 90s, and their debut single was their cover of the "Q-Taro"theme song. Hamada herself has gone on to become a character actress in a number of dramas such as last year's NHK morning serial, "Carnation", and a TV personality on variety shows.

One of my souvenirs from that first trip to Japan was a Q-Taro eraser with the fresh smell of synthetic bananas!