Our journey into the memory of the legendary 80's cartoons continues. After retracing the stories of characters such as Holly and Benji, Mila and Shiro, the Tiger Man, The Great Mazinger, Ninja Turtles to the rescue, Gigi La Trottola, Hello Spank !, The Unbeatable Daitarn 3, Pollon and Lady Oscar, this once we dive into the world of the mythical Sampei, the great fisherman who crosses Japan in search of new challenges. The anime of Sampei is taken from a manga of 65 tankōbon made by Takao Yaguchi starting from 1973. Let's find out something more about its plot, the episodes, the purposes, the theme song and other curiosities about the famous cartoon.
- Sampei: the plot
- The real purpose of Sampei
- Sampei: the episodes and the final failure
- The second series: Sampei, fisher boy
- Sanpei and destiny in the name
- The debut of the Japanese cartoon in Italy
- Sampei: Italian theme song and voice actors
- Curiosities about Sampei
- The other 80s cartoons
Sampei: the plot
Sampei (o Sanpei) Mihira he is about thirteen when he begins his career. The young boy immediately shows his boundless passion for fishing. Moved by this love, the boy begins to travel frequently to Japan in search of new adventures and challenges. In each episode he tries above all to broaden his wealth of knowledge, making his own the greatest number of techniques and secrets to become a flawless fisherman.
In this adventure, however, he is not alone: he is with the help of his paternal grandfather Ippei Mihira, with whom he lives, and his mystery-rich teacher Gyoshin Ayukawa, whom the young man learns and improves day by day.
Fishing in Sampei is therefore a fundamental element behind the development of the anime's plot.
The real purpose of Sampei
If everything comes from the passion for fishing, it is also true that Sampei has a very specific goal: acquire inner discipline to be able to improve as a person. Episode after episode the protagonist teaches that winning is not always the best thing, in fact we must learn to know how to lose and admit the superiority of the opponents when necessary.
The series, in addition to telling the adventures of our young protagonist, therefore aims at remember some very important values. Including the respect for the environment and its defense from the savage destruction of industrialists and builders. First of all there are always thelove for nature and the possibility of redemption for those who made a mistakeIt also aims to remember how social or family origin can negatively influence people. We are therefore talking about an anime, as often happens, which manifests noble purposes.
Sampei: the episodes and the final failure
The Sampei cartoon consists of 109 episodes. Episode after episode, we therefore witness Sampei's journey through various fishing scenarios and new techniques to be learned, as well as meeting some gifted characters who often put the protagonist in difficulty.
However, the peculiarity of this anime is the lack of a real ending, or at least the latest installment of the series is not. We could consider episode 74 in which Grandfather Ippei is about to die. The man is taken to the hospital and it is here that he tells his nephew Sampei some "memories" related to father of the boy. The man in question is also a great fisherman but, precisely because of his passion, he does not have a fixed abode and indeed wanders around the world, making it almost impossible to trace him.
Sampei then sets off in search of his father and the episode ends with some images related to fishing, which could symbolize a happy ending for the boy and his father. In subsequent episodes, however, there is no mention of the issue.
The second series: Sampei, fisher boy
A second series entitled Sampei fisher boy, again by Takao Yaguchi, it was serialized from 2002 to 2010 in June magazine. In this new adventure, the new stories set in the 2000s are told, with the choice, however, of keeping the protagonists young. In Italy, the series was published by Edizioni Star Comics from June 22 to September 16, 2004, but undergoing the stop at the fourth volume of the heisei version.
Sanpei and destiny in the name
Actually the exact name of the protagonist would be Sanpei, with the N, and not Sampei. This is because in Japanese the M as an isolated sound does not exist, the only one to have this characteristic is instead the N. The name is therefore written with the kanji of the number three 三, read "SAN", and 平, read "HEI" ( which for phonetic reasons is converted into "PEI"). The name could therefore mean that the boy is the third of a generation of fishermen, a thesis supported by the fact that in Japanese his grandfather's name contains the number 1, first (The name is written 一 平 三 平, where the kanji 一 means " number one, first "). Ippei would therefore be the first of a generation of fishermen, the father of Sampei the second and Sampei himself the third. A destiny, in short, already written in the name.
The debut of the Japanese cartoon in Italy
The television series was made by Nippon animation in 1980 for a total of 109 episodes. In Italy it landed for the first time in 1982 on Retequattro as well as on various local broadcasters. In the nineties it is revived by Videomusic and TMC, the latter within the Zap Zap program with a new acronym and entitled Sampei, our fisherman friend. Europa 7, from 1998 to 2005, proposes it as a flagship program. Suffice it to say that there will be frequent reruns at different times. Since 2005, however, it has practically not been broadcast by any Italian channel anymore.
Sampei: Italian theme song and voice actors
Initials Sampei
The Italian theme of the cartoon is interpreted by Rocking Horse. Below is the video of the complete 1982 theme song.
The lyrics of the song by Sampei
“Sampei, Sampei
fisherman, big protruding ears
smile of the sun Sampei "
How many of you, thinking of the famous cartoon, hear these words ringing in your head? Sampei's song is almost impossible to forget, at least for us.
If you want to brush up on your memory or discover the entire Sampei song for the first time, take a look at the dedicated page on Rockol.
Main characters and Italian voice actors
Among the best known Italian voice actors we find Massimo Lopez, Diego Michelotti, Antonella Baldini and Oreste Baldini. Here is a complete list of the characters with their voice actors:
Sanpei Sing - voiced in Italian by Oreste Baldini
Ippei Mihira - Diego Michelotti
Yuri Takayama - Antonella Baldini
Gyoshin Ayukawa - Massimo Lopez
Masaharu Kase - Rodolfo Bianchi
Captain Hakab - Lino Troisi
Joji Vittorio - Vittorio Di Prima
Mister Marvin - Gabriele Carrara
Aiko Laura – Laura Boccanera
Shinji Akaneya - Massimo Rossi
Yumi Silvia - Silvia Pepitoni
Shiro Oliviero - Oliviero Dinelli
Mokutaru - Mario Milita
Alaska Grizzly - Vittorio Di Prima
Goro - Riccardo Rossi
Keita - Massimo Rossi
Hitoshi Samejima - Marco Guadagno
Father of Goro - Mario Milita
Kujiro o Pescatore di Matsugoro - Giorgio Piazza
Sam Watson - Riccardo Rossi
Helen Watson Rihoko Yoshida - Susanna Fassetta
Sanshiro - Rodolfo Bianchi
Curiosities about Sampei
The series of Sampei its main objective is to transmit fundamental values such as respect for the environment and love for nature. We have two different versions of the Sampei manga in the home video: the first from 2000 and the second from 2014, a different edition distributed at newsstands. On March 20, 2009 it was released in Japanese cinemas the Sampei film, in version live action, under the direction of Academy Award winner Yōjirō Takita.
The creator of Sampei
Takao Yaguchi, the Japanese cartoonist who created the manga in 1973 Tsurikichi Sanpei, died on November 20, 2020, at the age of 81. The manga arrived in Italy in the eighties thanks to the anime Sampei - The fisher boy, that little boy addicted to fishing, cheerful and optimistic who immediately conquered many fans.
The death was announced on November 25 by family members who, through social media, reported that Yaguchi died of pancreatic cancer. Under some images depicting Yaguchi and a small memorial set up in his honor by the family, the heartfelt thanks of the daughter arrived. "Thanks Dad. And thanks to all of you ”.
Sampei, The Fisher Boy - Part 4 (5 DVD Box Set)
- Not available (Actor)
- Eiji Okabe (Director)
The other 80s cartoons
Are you curious to read other articles on the wonderful cartoons and anime of the eighties? Take a look at our column now!
