Nanatsu no Umi no Tico

Aired: 1994

An installment of Fuji TV's World Masterpiece Theater produced by Nippon Animation as a maritime adventure, marking a franchise milestone and the first fully original (non-adapted) entry in the series. Nanami, a Japanese-American girl, travels the seas aboard the research vessel Peperoncino with her marine biologist father Scott, an orca named Tico, and the runaway heiress Cheryl, in search of the legendary Glowing Whale. The show broke new ground with its contemporary setting, Japanese locations, and science fiction elements not seen in earlier entries.