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''Super Book,'' or ''Anime Oyako Gekijō'' ("Animated Parent and Child Theater") in the original Japanese, was a Japanese-American animated ReligiousEdutainment series aiming to present stories and accompanying {{Aesop}}s from the Old and New Testament of Literature/TheBible to Japanese children. Its original run lasted from 1981 to 1983, and was commissioned by Pat Robertson and his [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Christian Broadcasting Network]], and produced by Creator/TatsunokoProduction (although much of the actual animation production was farmed out to other studios, including Creator/StudioShaft) for Creator/TVTokyo, although it was aired on affiliates of all of Japan's major television networks except Creator/{{NHK}}.[[note]]In 1981, the TX (TV Tokyo) network didn't yet exist, and even today has only a handful of affiliates, so the series was usually shown outside Tokyo on affiliates of other networks or on independent stations, in some cases on a delayed basis.[[/note]]

to:

''Super Book,'' or ''Anime Oyako Gekijō'' ("Animated Parent and Child Theater") in the original Japanese, was a Japanese-American animated ReligiousEdutainment series aiming to present stories and accompanying {{Aesop}}s from the Old and New Testament of Literature/TheBible to Japanese children. Its original run lasted from 1981 to 1983, and was commissioned by Pat Robertson and his [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Christian Broadcasting Network]], and produced co-produced by Creator/TatsunokoProduction (although much of the actual animation production was farmed out to other studios, including Creator/StudioShaft) for Creator/TVTokyo, although it was aired on affiliates of all of Japan's major television networks except Creator/{{NHK}}.[[note]]In 1981, the TX (TV Tokyo) network didn't yet exist, and even today has only a handful of affiliates, so the series was usually shown outside Tokyo on affiliates of other networks or on independent stations, in some cases on a delayed basis.[[/note]]
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* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the Western dubs only. Series 1 ends with Chris's mother announcing she is pregnant. However, there's no mention of Chris having a baby brother in Series 2, and a viewer might assume she lost the baby. In the original Japanese, Uri, rewritten in English as Chris's cousin, is Sho's younger brother Yuu.

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* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the Western dubs only. Series 1 ends with Chris's mother announcing she is pregnant. However, there's no mention of Chris having a baby brother in Series 2, and a viewer might assume she lost the baby.miscarried. In the original Japanese, Uri, rewritten in English as Chris's cousin, is Sho's younger brother Yuu.
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Removing ROCEJ sinkhole.


* ChristianFiction: Whether the Bible stories themselves are fiction is [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement far beyond the scope of this wiki]], but the stories in the "modern" world at the beginning and end of each episode definitely count.

to:

* ChristianFiction: Whether the Bible stories themselves are fiction is [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement far beyond the scope of this wiki]], wiki, but the stories in the "modern" world at the beginning and end of each episode definitely count.

Added: 243

Changed: 4344

Removed: 2004

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''Super Book,'' or ''Anime Oyako Gekijō'' ("Animated Parent and Child Theater") in the original Japanese, was a Japanese-American tag-team effort to try to show stories from the Old and New Testament of Literature/TheBible to Japanese children. Released from 1981 to 1983, commissioned by Pat Robertson's [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Christian Broadcasting Network]], and produced by Creator/TatsunokoProduction (although the actual animation production was farmed out to other studios, including Creator/StudioShaft) for Creator/TVTokyo, although it was aired on affiliates of all of Japan's major television networks except Creator/{{NHK}}.[[note]]In 1981, the TX (TV Tokyo) network didn't yet exist, and even today has only a handful of affiliates, so the series was usually shown outside Tokyo on affiliates of other networks or on independent stations, in some cases on a delayed basis.[[/note]] Originally, it was intended solely as an evangelistic tool to introduce Japanese viewers to Christianity, but a positive response at a French convention led to an English dub in the United States of America and dubs in many other languages, becoming perhaps one of the most widely distributed Japanese animated series ever, even if it isn't often thought of as "anime" despite its origins. Although it was syndicated in the U.S., most American viewers probably saw it on CBN Cable, where it ran alongside other anime series such as ''[[Manga/HoneyHoneyNoSutekiNaBouken Honey Honey]]'' and the original English dub of ''Anime/MazingerZ''.

The set-up went something like this:

The series focuses on the adventures of Christopher (Chris) Peeper and his best friend Joy. During the first episode, Christopher's father, an eccentric college professor who seems to specialize in Biblical archaeology, tells Christopher to clean out the attic, as it has gotten severely cluttered and messy. While Chris and Joy are working on the attic, some boxes fall over, and a strange book falls out of one of them.

Taking the book to Chris's bedroom and failing to open it on their own, Christopher and Joy are startled to see a blinding light coming from it as it opens itself. Things then get even stranger; the book starts talking to them, identifying itself as the eponymous Super Book. The book explains that it contains many stories inside, and that they need only peer into it to experience them.

Thus begin Chris and Joy's adventurers. OnceAnEpisode, they travel within Super Book to experience one of the Biblical stories it contains, accompanied by Chris's toy robot Gizmo, who becomes a fully functioning robot during their adventures. Though they often interact with the Biblical characters themselves (they try to stop Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, Cain from killing Abel, etc.), they primarily observe the stories, learning from them the lessons each tale has to teach.

Surprisingly, in a nation where Christianity is a minority religion then as now, the show was popular: the two ''Superbook'' series as well as sister series ''Anime/FlyingHouse'' attracted high ratings during their original broadcast runs and were rerun on TV Tokyo continuously through 1986. CBN claims the show attracted more than eight million viewers in Japan at its peak.

The second series (''Superbook II,'' or ''Pasokon Travel Tanteidan'') took place two years after the first and had Super Book accidentally fall on a computer keyboard. This somehow transferred Super Book's powers to the computer, allowing anyone who wanted to see into the past. Unfortunately, Chris' dog Ruffles accidentally gets lost in time in the process. To find her, Chris' cousin Uriah (Uri for short; Sho's ''brother'' Yuu in Japanese) and Gizmo (now a fully functioning robot even outside Super Book, with a built-in computer for recall purposes) regularly travel back in time to find her, adding an overarching plot arc to the second series. There is, however, much less interaction between the protagonists and the Biblical figures than in the previous series; the show focuses more on [[PlotParallel Plot Parallels]], going back and forth between Uri and Gizmo's quest and the Biblical storylines with little intersection between them.

to:

''Super Book,'' or ''Anime Oyako Gekijō'' ("Animated Parent and Child Theater") in the original Japanese, was a Japanese-American tag-team effort animated ReligiousEdutainment series aiming to try to show present stories and accompanying {{Aesop}}s from the Old and New Testament of Literature/TheBible to Japanese children. Released Its original run lasted from 1981 to 1983, and was commissioned by Pat Robertson's Robertson and his [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Christian Broadcasting Network]], and produced by Creator/TatsunokoProduction (although much of the actual animation production was farmed out to other studios, including Creator/StudioShaft) for Creator/TVTokyo, although it was aired on affiliates of all of Japan's major television networks except Creator/{{NHK}}.[[note]]In 1981, the TX (TV Tokyo) network didn't yet exist, and even today has only a handful of affiliates, so the series was usually shown outside Tokyo on affiliates of other networks or on independent stations, in some cases on a delayed basis.[[/note]] Originally, it was intended solely as an evangelistic tool to introduce Japanese viewers to Christianity, but a positive response at a French convention led to an English dub in the United States of America and dubs in many other languages, becoming perhaps one of the most widely distributed Japanese animated series ever, even if it isn't often thought of as "anime" despite its origins. Although it was syndicated in the U.S., most American viewers probably saw it on CBN Cable, where it ran alongside other anime series such as ''[[Manga/HoneyHoneyNoSutekiNaBouken Honey Honey]]'' and the original English dub of ''Anime/MazingerZ''.

The set-up went something like this:

[[/note]]

The series focuses on the adventures of Christopher (Chris) Peeper and his best friend Joy. During the first episode, Christopher's father, an eccentric college professor who seems to specialize in Biblical archaeology, tells Christopher to clean out the attic, as it has gotten severely cluttered and messy. While Chris and Joy are working on the attic, some boxes fall over, and a strange book falls out of one of them.

them. Taking the book to Chris's bedroom and failing to open it on their own, Christopher and Joy are startled to see a blinding light coming from it as it opens itself. Things then get even stranger; the book starts talking to them, identifying itself as the eponymous Super Book."Superbook". The book explains that it contains many stories inside, and that they need only peer into it to experience them.

Thus begin Chris and Joy's adventurers. OnceAnEpisode, they travel within Super Book to experience one of the Biblical stories it contains, accompanied (accompanied by Chris's toy robot Gizmo, who becomes a fully functioning robot during their adventures. Though they often interact with adventures) travel within Superbook to experience one of the Biblical characters themselves (they try to stop Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, Cain from killing Abel, etc.), they primarily observe the stories, learning stories it contains and learn from them the lessons morals each tale has to teach.

Surprisingly, in a nation where
teach.

Originally, the series' scope was merely limited to its aim of introducing Japanese viewers to
Christianity is a minority religion then as now, and giving the show was popular: the two ''Superbook'' series as well as sister series ''Anime/FlyingHouse'' attracted high ratings during their then-up and coming CBN-Cable a flagship original broadcast runs and were rerun on TV Tokyo continuously through 1986. CBN animated show to fill its kids' programming slots in the US, but after apparent breakthrough success with both audiences (CBN claims the show attracted more than eight over 8 million viewers tuned in Japan at a time during its peak.

Japanese prime-time run), it was soon dubbed into a dozen more languages in the hopes of marketing the series to even more countries previously devoid of Christian childrens' content. To date, it's been localized into 43 different languages, and claims as many as 500 million total television viewers, making it one of the most widely distributed Japanese animated shows ever.

The second series (''Superbook II,'' or ''Pasokon Travel Tanteidan'') took place two years after the first and had Super Book Superbook accidentally fall on a computer keyboard. This somehow transferred Super Book's Superbook's powers to the computer, allowing anyone who wanted to see into the past. Unfortunately, Chris' dog Ruffles accidentally gets lost in time in the process. To find her, Chris' cousin Uriah (Uri for short; Sho's ''brother'' Yuu in Japanese) and Gizmo (now a fully functioning robot even outside Super Book, with a built-in computer for recall purposes) regularly travel back in time to find her, adding an overarching plot arc to the second series. There is, however, much less interaction between the protagonists and the Biblical figures than in the previous series; the show focuses more on [[PlotParallel Plot Parallels]], going back and forth between Uri and Gizmo's quest and the Biblical storylines with little intersection between them.



Most of the tropes that apply are tropes from Literature/TheBible. The ones listed here focus primarily on the original cast, the series, its premise, and any other characterization tropes not on Literature/TheBible page.



Most of the tropes that apply are tropes from Literature/TheBible. The ones listed here focus primarily on the original cast, the series, its premise, and any other characterization tropes not already accounted for on Literature/TheBible page.



** The Sodom and Gomorrah episode makes no mention of the "sexual immorality" God supposedly punishes in the story, and also eliminates Lot's idea of "offering" his virgin daughters to the hostile crowds outside his door.[[note]]Perhaps unintentionally, this puts the episode in line with some more socially liberal Biblical scholars who argue that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were greed, selfishness and inhospitality to strangers, not sexual deviancy. Still, it opens a DoubleEntendre box insofar that the English episode is called "Hot Dog" and involves a hungry Uri and Gizmo traveling to Sodom in search of wieners, which they hope to use to attract Ruffles with the promise of human food. By the time they get there, however, the city is in ruins.[[/note]]

to:

** The Sodom and Gomorrah episode makes no mention of doesn't depict the "sexual immorality" God supposedly punishes in scene of Lot hosting the story, and also eliminates Lot's idea of angels or "offering" his virgin daughters to the hostile crowds outside his door.[[note]]Perhaps door, and thus never addresses whatever "immorality" God is said to punish in the story.[[note]]Likely unintentionally, this puts the episode in line with some more socially liberal interpretations of the Biblical scholars who argue tale that instead posit the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were as being greed, selfishness and inhospitality to strangers, and not sexual deviancy. Still, it opens a DoubleEntendre box insofar that the English episode is called "Hot Dog" and involves a hungry Uri and Gizmo traveling to Sodom in search of wieners, which they hope to use to attract Ruffles with the promise of human food. By the time they get there, however, the city is in ruins.[[/note]]



* ChristianFiction: Your mileage may vary on whether the Bible stories themselves are fiction, but the stories in the "real" (or "modern") world at the beginning and end of each episode definitely count.]

to:

* ChristianFiction: Your mileage may vary on whether Whether the Bible stories themselves are fiction, fiction is [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement far beyond the scope of this wiki]], but the stories in the "real" (or "modern") "modern" world at the beginning and end of each episode definitely count.]



* DerangedAnimation: Whenever the kids are transported through time, they hurl through a mysterious void with a heavy fisheye effect.

to:

* DerangedAnimation: Whenever the kids are transported through time, they hurl through a mysterious void with a heavy fisheye ripple effect.



* TheEighties: While the original series has a sort of timeless feel to it and could occur in any era, the second series is quite plainly a product of the 1980s, as illustrated by the era-appropriate personal computer and by the heavily synthesized instrumentation in the opening themes (both Japanese and English).



* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Joshua and the Israelites's conquest of the Promised Land, depicted in "Snakes and a Donkey" and several subsequent episodes, although the "extermination" part is [[AbridgedForChildren mostly glossed over]] save for the narration mentioning how Joshua and his men "took possession of the land that God had given to be their own" over visuals of Joshua and the Israelites storming the walls of a burning city.

to:

* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Joshua and the Israelites's conquest of the Promised Land, depicted Land is portrayed this way in "Snakes and a Donkey" and several subsequent episodes, although the "extermination" part is [[AbridgedForChildren mostly glossed over]] save for the narration mentioning how Joshua and his men "took possession of the land that God had given to be their own" over visuals of Joshua and the Israelites storming the walls of a burning city.city with [[FridgeHorror faintly audible screams in the background]].



* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: Despite their attempts to, something always happens that prevents the kids and Gizmo from preventing any of the bad things from happening, thereby ensuring events play out as they did.

to:

* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: Despite their attempts to, occasional attempts, something always happens that prevents the kids and Gizmo from preventing changing the course of any of the bad things from happening, event depicted in scripture, thereby ensuring events play out as they did.



** Christopher Peeper - "Christopher" means "bearing Christ." His last name is rooted in peeping, essentially getting a quick look at something.
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* NamesToKnowInAnime: One future "big name" showing up in the credits is episode director Kazuo Yamazaki, who would later become the series director of comedy hits like ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'', and ''Anime/TheSlayers''. Yoshiyuki Kishi, a key animator for the first series, also went on to become a character designer for some Creator/StudioPierrot Magical Girl shows.

Removed: 227

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Definition only


* PantyShot: Joy in "All About Dreams", when she and Chris help Prof. Quantum as they struggle to pull something out of the ground. She falls on her back and there's a frontal view of her white undies matching her jumper skirt.
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''Super Book,'' or ''Anime Oyako Gekijō'' ("Animated Parent and Child Theater") in the original Japanese, was a Japanese-American tag-team effort to try to show stories from the Old and New Testament of [[Literature/TheBible the Judeo-Christian Bible]] to Japanese children. Released from 1981 to 1983, commissioned by Pat Robertson's [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Christian Broadcasting Network]], and produced by Creator/TatsunokoProduction (although the actual animation production was farmed out to other studios, including Creator/StudioShaft) for Creator/TVTokyo, although it was aired on affiliates of all of Japan's major television networks except Creator/{{NHK}}.[[note]]In 1981, the TX (TV Tokyo) network didn't yet exist, and even today has only a handful of affiliates, so the series was usually shown outside Tokyo on affiliates of other networks or on independent stations, in some cases on a delayed basis.[[/note]] Originally, it was intended solely as an evangelistic tool to introduce Japanese viewers to Christianity, but a positive response at a French convention led to an English dub in the United States of America and dubs in many other languages, becoming perhaps one of the most widely distributed Japanese animated series ever, even if it isn't often thought of as "anime" despite its origins. Although it was syndicated in the U.S., most American viewers probably saw it on CBN Cable, where it ran alongside other anime series such as ''[[Manga/HoneyHoneyNoSutekiNaBouken Honey Honey]]'' and the original English dub of ''Anime/MazingerZ''.

to:

''Super Book,'' or ''Anime Oyako Gekijō'' ("Animated Parent and Child Theater") in the original Japanese, was a Japanese-American tag-team effort to try to show stories from the Old and New Testament of [[Literature/TheBible the Judeo-Christian Bible]] Literature/TheBible to Japanese children. Released from 1981 to 1983, commissioned by Pat Robertson's [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Christian Broadcasting Network]], and produced by Creator/TatsunokoProduction (although the actual animation production was farmed out to other studios, including Creator/StudioShaft) for Creator/TVTokyo, although it was aired on affiliates of all of Japan's major television networks except Creator/{{NHK}}.[[note]]In 1981, the TX (TV Tokyo) network didn't yet exist, and even today has only a handful of affiliates, so the series was usually shown outside Tokyo on affiliates of other networks or on independent stations, in some cases on a delayed basis.[[/note]] Originally, it was intended solely as an evangelistic tool to introduce Japanese viewers to Christianity, but a positive response at a French convention led to an English dub in the United States of America and dubs in many other languages, becoming perhaps one of the most widely distributed Japanese animated series ever, even if it isn't often thought of as "anime" despite its origins. Although it was syndicated in the U.S., most American viewers probably saw it on CBN Cable, where it ran alongside other anime series such as ''[[Manga/HoneyHoneyNoSutekiNaBouken Honey Honey]]'' and the original English dub of ''Anime/MazingerZ''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** The Sodom and Gomorrah episode makes no mention of the "sexual immorality" God supposedly punishes in the story, and also eliminates Lot's idea of "offering" his virgin daughters to the hostile crowds outside his door. [[note]]Perhaps unintentionally, this puts the episode in line with some more socially liberal Biblical scholars who argue that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were greed, selfishness and inhospitality to strangers, not sexual deviancy. Still, it opens a DoubleEntendre box insofar that the English episode is called "Hot Dog" and involves a hungry Uri and Gizmo traveling to Sodom in search of wieners, which they hope to use to attract Ruffles with the promise of human food. By the time they get there, however, the city is in ruins.[[/note]]

to:

** The Sodom and Gomorrah episode makes no mention of the "sexual immorality" God supposedly punishes in the story, and also eliminates Lot's idea of "offering" his virgin daughters to the hostile crowds outside his door. [[note]]Perhaps unintentionally, this puts the episode in line with some more socially liberal Biblical scholars who argue that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were greed, selfishness and inhospitality to strangers, not sexual deviancy. Still, it opens a DoubleEntendre box insofar that the English episode is called "Hot Dog" and involves a hungry Uri and Gizmo traveling to Sodom in search of wieners, which they hope to use to attract Ruffles with the promise of human food. By the time they get there, however, the city is in ruins.[[/note]]
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* BibleTimes - Obviously, the setting for much of the show

to:

* BibleTimes - BibleTimes: Obviously, the setting for much of the show

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