SuperBook (1981–1983) User Reviews

Underrated Cartoon

[JerRocksday · 7/10 · 5 July 2010]

This was one of my cartoons that I've grown up with in my childhood. Being that it's anime, I believe it deserves more attention because it kinda paved the way for future anime titles. I'm not saying it's the first anime ever, but it's certainly had an influence on future anime titles such as people like Osamu Sekita, who'd later go on to work on Mobile Suit Gundam and Beyblade.

Season 1 starts out with Chris and Joy cleaning out the Professor's attic and discover Superbook. They take it to Chris' room to open it and then it comes to life and takes them on their first adventure, accompanied by their robot Gizmo.

My favorite episode of them all is the Apostle Paul, and a couple Jesus episodes.

Season 2 shows an older version of Chris and Joy, accompanied by Uriah (Chris' cousin). In the beginning of the season, Chris' Uncle leaves the gang with a life-size version of Gizmo. After he leaves, Chris + Joy and everyone were having lots of fun (I just quoted the lyrics to the theme song), until Joy accidentally bumps into Chris and Uri, causing Superbook to fall off the shelf and onto the computer, causing it to become Computerized. In the process, Chris' dog Ruffles is sucked into the computer, and it's up to the kids and Gizmo to find Ruffles. So Uri and Gizmo go after her, while Chris and Joy stay behind for a huge majority of the season, monitoring them. (I say majority because in episode 25 and 26, they're shown with Uri and Gizmo in the computerized Superbook.)

Overall, I've enjoyed the series and have had fond memories of the cartoon and have continued to watch it to this day. While the dubs were on and off(good or bad), it's what made the series enjoyable.

Now here's my complaint on the new CGI Superbook that's being developed.

After seeing the first episode, here's my personal list of problems: -In the original Superbook, Chris' dad (Fred) is a Professor of Archaelogoy. But in the new one, he's shown to be an tech. inventor and scientists. And the original Professor has said he'd rather be computer ignorant, 'than a slave to a machine.' -The names: Christopher's last name in the original is 'Peeper.' But in the new CGI Superbook, his last name is 'Quantim.' They even had the balls to change Joy's last name, and the Professor's name as a whole. -The Character designs: While I thought the drawings weren't too bad(because I've heard the character designer of TT/The Batman is the designer), I think they made sure they look nothing like the original characters. For instance, in the original Superbook, Joy's blonde. But in the new one, this 'Joy' is brown-haired. It's like they're trying to sabotage the art that Superbook was based on. -In the new CGI Superbook, when David is anointed with oil, light is shown emitting from all over his body, which we don't see in the Bible, nor in the original Superbook. And later we see 'Chris Quantim' emitting light. It's like they're trying to teach kids 'believe in God and you'll emit light.' :-/

This is just a few. So far, this CGI series isn't off to a good start. Which is the direct reason why I started creating my own series called, Trouble Shooters. That's a crossover spin off between Superbook and Flying, featuring the original Christopher Peeper, Joy, Gizmo, etc. I can't give away any plot details, nor put too much focus on that, because of this review. If you want to learn more about that, please email me.

Overall 7/10 Memorable, enjoyable and delightful series.

Fond memories

[chrbubb · 20 May 2004]

This was the show that started me on the road to becoming the otaku I am today. The Japanese anime artwork style of "Superbook" and its companion series, "The Flying House," immediately grabbed me because it was so different from the American animation I was used to watching. I wasn't aware until years after I first watched it that the show was Japanese in origin, or that it was created by one of Japan's most famous animation studios: Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd., also known for "Speed Racer," "Samurai Pizza Cats" and "The Littl' Bits," among others.

The show is about two young children named Christopher (a.k.a. Sho in Japanese, Luis in Spanish) and Joy (Azusa in Japanese, Anita in Spanish) who are transported back in time by a magical talking Bible (the titular "Superbook") to witness the stories of Adam and Eve, Jonah, Noah's Ark, and other Biblical legends. Accompanying them is Chris's wind-up toy robot, Gizmo (Zenmaijikake), who is brought to life by Superbook. The Bible stories featured in this series were mostly from the Old Testament; "The Flying House," another series created by Tatsunoko, dubbed by CBN and featuring different lead characters but the same premise, handled the New Testament, including the life and teachings of Jesus. The animation style is extremely primitive by today's standards (it's 20+ years old, remember), and if you hate anime it won't convert you into an otaku. Nevertheless, the show has a cuteness and charm that is impossible to deny. Christian conservatives hated the show, claiming it would confuse and disappoint children who were disappointed not to find time-traveling children in the *real* Bible, but I found it very entertaining and educational and watched it regularly. Remember that the show was made in Japan, where there are few Christians, and was intended as an adaptation of stories from the best-selling book in the history of the world, not to proselytize or preach. It would be the same if Disney were to do an adaptation of a piece of Japanese literature such as the Tale of Genji - chances are they wouldn't get everything 100% accurate, but you'd be able to get the gist of the story, and that's what "Superbook" is all about. It's also worth noting that the series has a huge following among missionaries who have used it to help introduce the Christian faith to newcomers.

In the U.S. this series was aired on CBN's cable network (which later became The Family Channel and is now ABC Family, with almost entirely sectarian programming), which is where I watched it faithfully through the '80s. Nowadays it can be seen early Saturday mornings, along with "Flying House," on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network), and episodes are also available on video.

The only Anime Video you'll find in my church library

[The_Light_Triton · 10/10 · 14 October 2005]

Anime. Such a popular form of entertainment. most of it involves young men or young women developing powers to fight evil, or maybe discovering someone who is fighting evil but needs help. or maybe it's about robots fighting each other.

Enter superbook, one of the first, and very few Christian Anime series.

Chris is a young boy with a strict father, who one day instructs him to clean out the attic after he gets home from school. His friend Joy joins him and in their work they discover a book that has been gathering dust for years. They soon discover the book can talk, and has the power to send them back to biblical times.

I had never seen many of the episodes back when I was a child but upon seeing this show again on youtube i'm on a personal quest to see every episode and possibly come back to re-review them all piece by piece.

I also mentioned in my old review how I could've imagined the story about Adam and Eve would've been made. (Turns out my suspicions about it were right, although Eve looks more like a Barbie with black hair)Regardless of the fact it shows boobs to children (yep, i said that) It's one of the best animated recreations of the Creation i've ever seen.

Bottom line, it is on DVD, and if you want to show your children a very, very good animated bible series, Get this DVD. Although watch it with them and explain everything detail for detail.

I'm surprised I didn't get nightmares watching this when I was a kid

[Angels_Review · 1/10 · 12 April 2015]

So, let me touch on a few things before you read my review. I am pagan, but I grew up Lutheran Christian, reading the bible and watching shows like this (Heck, this is one of the shows I used to watch as a child). I still live with my family that is very Christian. I believe in some things about the bible and the good message that is supposed to be in it. That said, I will not be getting to into the differences between the bible and this show. This show was made for children, and no matter what anyone says, the bible is not a child friendly book. There are a lot of racist and sexist things in the bible that are no good for children cartoons.

Now pleasantries aside and I haven't scared you off with my fair warning about what you will find in this review, I say lets get on with it. There is really not much to explain about this show, it's just not that good. The whole concept of the show from what I gathered now that I'm older is to scare children into doing everything they are told to do. The very first episode pretty much starts out with Chris not wanting to clean the attic that his father told him to and then ends after Chris saw the first story, Adam and Eve, and then he says he will to everything that his father tells him to do. The problem with this is that the way the dialog is written, its very robotic and makes the characters not have that much personality to them.

So besides all the characters from the bible, we have Chris's Dad, who basically has the personality of an overbearing father, Chris, who basically has the personality of a fast talking little boy, and Joy, a sweet little girl who always ends up hanging around Chris. Then there is Gizmo…. Who pretty much acts like a little kid even younger then Chris or Joy. I think he is more of a annoyance then any sort of help to the children. These are pretty much everything about them. I know that the characters are supposed to have some personal growth going on but their personal growth just ends up being 'Oh, I did this in the beginning of the episode. Now I went and saw a story in the bible talking about the same thing I was annoyed about so I won't do what I did in the beginning anymore.' Rinse and repeat over the span of each episode. The personality of the bible characters are very one sided. They are either good or bad, and the conversations that they have just seem to come off like a creeper. Every time I hear them talk, the hair on the back of my neck stands on end and I get a chill down my back. How did I not get nightmares watching this? This artwork might be the reason why I am really into Japanese art now. The look is very Japanese anime from that time. The large eyes and the cute chibi style. When I was little, I had no clue that the super book was actual a Japanese anime itself, I always thought it was from America so it was surprising when I was looking up the info about it. I don't quite know if this was just from the quality of the show, or the quality of where I was watching it, but the show was very blurry. The backgrounds felt more like blobs of color and the characters seemed to meld into it making it hard to watch.

The opening song is… a product of the times I think. It has a bit of a jazzy sort of feel to it but doesn't really have anything to do with the actual show. It really dates this whole series and makes me sigh. The ending song is also very dated too. Both songs basically just try to push how 'super' this book is. This was a show I loved and now looking back at it, the voice acting and the music just feels like it was rushed or didn't have that much care put into it. The first episode, even the narrator sounds like he was rushed when you first get the introduction as to what is happening. The level of voice acting in this show is pretty on par with Speed Racer, except speed racer was enjoyable to a point. This is just sad. They do the lamest way possible to explain anything in the bible, and everything just has to be explained. I wonder again just how they caught my attention when I was young because right now, it's just boring.

This show used to be a show I watched when I was little. Now that I'm older, I can't believe I used to watch this! It has no personality and no soul to it. This has two seasons but I could barely get through the first 5 episodes. It has nothing to do with me being pagan and everything to do with how mind numbing this show is. It hurts watching it with just how little soul was in it.

useful

[Kirpianuscus · 15 July 2018]

For many young viewers, the introduction to the Bible universe. an useful and well crafted introduction in Christian tradition, surprising working and interesting manner to send the message. and that is the motif for the lovely memories and the freshness of emotions. because it represents an inspired trip across a pillar of civilization , delicate, didactic and charming. and that gives to it status of memorable and profound significant animation serie.

Awesome! Clean! ANIME!-May contain Spoilers- READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

[keyblade1000 · 30 September 2005]

I'm a big Anime fan and also a Christian so Superbook is a good one for me. I'm also a big fan of Tatsunoko Animation Studios, they did one of my absolute other favorite anime, such as Macross aka Robotech and Speed Racer. That's so cool, I liked the idea of a Christian oriented anime, it's just totally AWESOME! It has classic Japanese animation that reminds you of Speed Racer. I have only seen two episodes of this retro anime and I hope to find more of these on Video or HOPEFULLY DVD one day. If your a religious person who likes anime just like me, this one is for you! It's very hard to find a good anime that doesn't have SO much suggestive content nowadays. I just realized just a few years ago that this was an anime, I got SOOOO excited about it! I had this one VHS of Superbook for years and didn't know about it but when I first saw Superbook, it was 1993 or 1994 or something I didn't even know what anime was yet! It was Sailor Moon that introduced me to anime, which is my #1 favorite Anime of all time! I like the Japanese version the best even though there's some content in it that I don't agree with but The story and characters are just awesome. Anyway back to Superbook! This gives you an entertaining perspective of the BIBLE, an excellent tool for young children but remember a note to those very paranoid parents, please Read carefully: The series does NOT show the Bible stories with 100% Accuracy to the Real BIBLE but gives the kids the important morals of the stories and what's really important like for ex: God loves everybody, HE gave us his son Jesus so we can be with him, Christmas is about the birth of Christ, etc. I hope this was helpful to you! Like retro anime? Then check this one out please!