is a Japanese anime television series produced by Zuiyo Enterprise and animated by Tokyo Movie until episode 26 and by Mushi Production after episode 27. The series is loosely based on the Moomin books by the Finnish author Tove Jansson and was broadcast on Fuji Television from 1969 to 1970. A sequel series entitled Shin Muumin () was later released in 1972.
Jansson never approved of the series or its successor, due to their dramatic changes with the plots, overall atmosphere, and character personalities. Because of this, the series was never translated into any languages or released outside Japan except Taiwan and some others like United Kingdom. Also, the series has never been released in principle since 1990 including in Japan, when a new anime television series Moomin was released with the full involvement of Jansson herself.
The anime series is also the second entry in what is now known as World Masterpiece Theater (Calpis Comic Theater at the time). Zuiyo Enterprise, would split in 1975 into Nippon Animation Company, Ltd. (which employed some of the Zuiyo's production staff and continued with the World Masterpiece Theater franchise) and Zuiyo Company, Ltd.
Summary
The anime series is notably different from the later anime television series Moomin, released in the early 1990s, which was translated into many languages,released in dozens of countries, and relies more on the original Moomin books and comic strips.
While the series itself was well-liked by the Japanese public as an adventurous and comedic series for boys, it was dramatically different in areas like the adaptation and overall atmosphere. For example, Moomintroll was portrayed more as an ordinary boy; while still friendly like in the books, he is somewhat ill-tempered, occasionally fighting or behaving slyly. This, along with elements such as Snork being a driver, common use of firearms, one scene in an early episode featuring characters getting drunk together at a bar, infuriated Jansson.
After Tokyo Movie's contract was cancelled, With Mushi Production taking over, the designs were changed accordingly and the series had many more faithful episodes, which included the source's stories and points of mystery, horror, comedy and tragedy. Despite this, Jansson's consent was still not obtained and the program was ended after well over 60 episodes.
Since 1990, Moomin Characters, Ltd, which manages the Moomin copyrights, has not released this series to the public in principle.
Episode 1 of this series is featured on the Moomin Characters, Ltd, official website. But this video was displayed using a link, and the original URL is illegally uploaded to YouTube without the permission of Tokyo Movie and related parties.
Production
In the 1960s, sports dramas and slapstick comedies were the mainstream of Japanese TV animation at that time. Therefore, Calpis Co., Ltd., the sponsor of the animated program in Fuji TV, wanted to offer a family-oriented animation that was distinctly different from those fields. At that time, "Moomin," which had just been imported from abroad as children's literature, caught their attention. And so the project was launched.
A short time later, the proposal was sent to Tove Jansson. Jansson's response was positive, so Shigeto Takahashi, a producer at Zuiyo Enterprise who was in charge of the project, decided to meet directly with Jansson to proceed with negotiations. Jansson suggested the following conditions for the production of the animation.
No money, no machines, and no television.
Development and pre-production
Tokyo Movie, now TMS Entertainment, was chosen to produce the animation.
The director was chosen to be Masaaki Osumi, who has the unique background of having come from a puppet theater company. Osumi, who knows Moomin well, initially thought the content was too static to be suitable for animation, but accepted the position.
The company hired Yasuo Otsuka as the animation director. He was considered to be one of Japan's foremost animators, and he was an important mentor to Hayao Miyazaki. He thought the cuteness of movement and the roundness of his drawings as important, and never used straight lines to draw characters such as the Moomins.