Hoero Bun Bun (Special)

ほえろぶんぶん とくべつばんぐみ

Aired: 1980

A standalone television anime produced by Wako Production and broadcast as a one-off special on Tokyo 12 Channel (now TV Tokyo) on 2 April 1980. The strong audience response to this pilot-style special led directly to a full thirty-eight-episode weekly series that aired from October 1980 through July 1981. Based on Morimi Murano's manga 'Hoero Bobo' - retitled 'Hoero Bun Bun' for television because of broadcast-standards concerns over the original name - the special introduces the small male puppy Bun Bun, who is separated from his mother and littermates and sets out alone into the wider world. Through a gentle, road-movie-style succession of meetings with other animals and humans, the story offers a warmhearted children's adventure about courage, kindness and finding one's place.