The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime television series adaptation based on four of the original early 20th century Oz books by L. Frank Baum. In Japan, the series aired on TV Tokyo from 1986 to 1987. It consists of 52 episodes, which explain other parts of the Oz stories, including the events that happened after Dorothy returned home.
The books adapted for the series include the first three novels – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), and Ozma of Oz (1907) – as well as the sixth, The Emerald City of Oz (1910).
One of the TV series' writers, Akira Miyazaki, also wrote for the 1982 anime film of the same Japanese name. The series was also the final adaption of the series before the source material entered the public domain in 1989.
Many of the series' staffers, such as director Hiroshi Saitō and character designer Shūichi Seki, also worked on Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater, so that the look and narrative style of the series feel similar to a WMT anime even though Nippon Animation itself was not involved in the production.
The show has been aired in several countries outside of Japan and has been dubbed in English, Spanish, Italian, Indonesian and many other languages.
Plot The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is split into four distinct parts, or story arcs, each loosely based on different Oz books originally written by L. Frank Baum.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (episodes 1 to 17) The first story arc is an adaptation of the first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). It follows the adventures of Dorothy, an orphan girl living out in the gray prairies of Kansas with her Aunt Em, her Uncle Henry and her dog Toto. One day, after Em and Uncle Henry leave Dorothy and Toto alone in order to travel into town, a tornado appears, uproots the farmhouse, with Dorothy and Toto inside, and transports it to the Land of Oz.
In Oz Dorothy meets the Good Witch of the North, who tells her that she just killed the Wicked Witch of the East, as her house landed directly on top of her, and by doing so she freed the Munchkins from slavery. She also tells her that the only person able to send her back home is the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy is given the Silver Shoes of the Wicked Witch of the East and sent off along the Yellow Brick Road towards the Emerald City to see the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in hope of getting back to Kansas.
On her way to the Wizard, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, made entirely of straw and lacking a brain, the Tin Woodman, made entirely from metal and lacking a heart, and the Cowardly Lion who wishes to become brave. Along their journey, the group comes to a large ditch in the road, and the Lion provides transportation by jumping across while the others sit on his back. The group then enters a dark forest and become trapped at the edge of a steep canyon, while being chased by the Kalidahs (animals with the bodies of bears and the heads of tigers). The Lion and the Scarecrow distract them as the Tin Man cuts down a tree which enables the group to cross the opening of the canyon. After escaping the Kalidahs, the Scarecrow gets caught in the middle of a river on a pole which cuts them off from the Yellow Brick Road, but luckily Mrs. Crane (an actual crane) saves him. A deadly field of poppies puts Dorothy, Toto and the Lion to sleep, but they manage to escape with the help of the Mouse Queen, and her subjects, whom the Tin Man rescued from a wildcat. They arrive at the Emerald City the next day, and thanks to the Good Witch of the North's kiss (on Dorothy's forehead) they are let in.
Once they are in the Emerald City, they request to see the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard grants an individual audience to each of them in a dark reception hall and changes his appearance with each one of them—he meets Dorothy, as a Giant Head; the Scarecrow, as a lovely angel-like lady; the Tin Man, as a terrible beast; and the Lion, as a ball of fire. He tells them that he will help them only if they kill the Wicked Witch of the West.
The friends then set off on a quest for the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch of the West is busy forcing the Winkies (her slaves) to build her a new fortress which she will use to conquer the Land of Oz. As she senses the friends coming, and confirms it by seeing them in her magic mirror, she sends out wolves, crows and an army of her Winkie Soldiers—which Dorothy and her friends easily beat. The friends meet an old Winkie, the former Mayor, who fills them in on the Wicked Witch of the West. The Witch uses her Golden Cap to command the Winged Monkeys, ordering them to bring her the Lion and kill the rest. As the group near the witch's castle, the Winged Monkeys attack who manage to destroy the Scarecrow (by emptying his body) and the Tin Man (by dropping him from a great height). They are, however, unable to harm Dorothy due to the Good Witch's kiss and are forced to take her along with the captured Lion. The Wicked Witch of the West keeps the Lion locked in a cell intending to use him to pull her carriage. She decides to spare Dorothy and keep her as her personal cook upon seeing she has the magic shoes and tries various tricks to get them off her feet, to no avail. Dorothy eventually tips a large water jar upon the Witch, and all her evil work dies with her as she melts away. The grateful Winkies then help Dorothy find her friends and restore them. Soon the friends are together again, and Dorothy discovers the Wicked Witch's Golden Cap. Her friends make her promise that she will not use the cap to summon the Winged Monkeys, as the idea terrifies them.
As the group spends a few days relaxing in the Witch's castle with their new Winkie friends, they are visited by a boy named Tip and his guardian, Mombi. Mombi is a witch in training and upon hearing that her old friend the Wicked Witch of the West is dead, she decides to steal the Golden Cap from Dorothy. She transforms herself into a large gray cat and attempts to steal the cap while Dorothy is sleeping. Her plot is thwarted by the Cowardly Lion. Tip explains Mombi's plot and apologizes to Dorothy. Dorothy uses the Golden Cap, against her friends' wishes, to have the Winged Monkeys transport Tip and Mombi back to their distant home.
Before the group leaves Winkie-Land, the Winkies declare the Tin Man as their king. As they make their way back to the Emerald City they become lost in an enormous forest and struggle against a monstrous spider. The animals of the forest are thankful that the Lion defeated the Monster Spider and make him king to show their gratitude. Dorothy uses the Golden Cap to call the Winged Monkeys who then take her and her friends back to the Emerald City.
They return to the Emerald City to find the Wizard not only invisible but still unwilling to grant their wishes, asking them to return later. However Dorothy and her friends refuse to be turned away again and start to argue with the Wizard as Toto reveals the Wizard is actually a normal man. The Wizard reveals he is actually a traveling magician from Nebraska who was accidentally swept away to Oz in his hot air balloon, and decided to pretend to be a Wizard as it was only the fear of a powerful magician that stopped the two Wicked Witches from taking over the whole land. He soon realizes that Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion already possess what they desire and gives them items that they believe grant their wishes (Scarecrow's head is filled with sawdust and nails, Tin Man is given a wooden heart and Lion is given colored water that he is told represents courage) but cannot think of how to get Dorothy home. Scarecrow hits upon the idea to use the Wizard's hot air balloon to get Dorothy back to Kansas, and the Wizard agrees saying he will go back with her having tired of life in Oz. Before he leaves, he makes Scarecrow the King of Oz however Toto escapes from Dorothy's arms to chase a mouse and they miss the balloon's launching.
Dorothy is devastated, but remembers she has the Golden Cap and can summon the Winged Monkeys and order them to take her home. Summoning them, Dorothy is told they cannot cross the boundaries of Oz and has wasted her last wish but it is suggested she visits Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. She decides to head there straight away, and despite already having had their wishes granted and kingdoms waiting for them to rule the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion decide to travel with her still and ensure that she gets home. On their way to see Glinda they encounter a fighting tree, and a country full of miniature living people and animals made entirely of china. They are then nearly crushed by a pack of Hammer-Heads, but are rescued by a group of gnomes who help them escape through a series of caves. They, at last, reach the palace of Glinda who agrees to see them.
Glinda, who is kind and caring, listens to Dorothy's stories of her adventures and tells her that she will be able to return home. Before she does so, she requests that the Golden Cap be turned over to her. Useless to her now, Dorothy happily agrees and Glinda tells her that she intends to use it to return Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion to their respective kingdoms so they don't have to face the dangers they encountered travelling to her again. She then tells Dorothy that she has had the power to return home since her first day in Oz through the magic shoes, and by clicking the heels together three times they will do whatever she commands. Despite this new knowledge, Dorothy and her friends agree it was a good thing she didn't know as they would never have met each other. After bidding a tearful farewell to her Tin Man, Lion and Scarecrow (who tells Dorothy that he feels they will meet again), Dorothy tells the shoes to return her home and they do just that, lifting her into the sky. Landing in Kansas, she wakes up to see her farmhouse in the distance. There, she is reunited with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.
The Marvelous Land of Oz (episodes 18 to 30) The second story arc is an adaptation of the second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904). Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are nearly finished building their new farm-house (after the former one was taken away by the cyclone) when Toto and Dorothy suddenly appear. Dorothy tells them of her adventures in Oz, but even though they find it hard to believe her, they are delighted that she has returned home.
Dorothy searches for one of her magic shoes, which fell off on the journey home, but is unable to find it. Later, when the family goes shopping for supplies in town, a circus being prepared has Dorothy reunited with the Wizard of Oz. Eventually, Aunt Em finds the other shoe, and Dorothy eagerly and carelessly uses both shoes to return to Oz, leaving Toto and the shoes in Kansas, but also leaving Aunt Em and Uncle Henry believing her.
Dorothy arrives back to the Land of Oz and is reunited with Tip, who is making a pumpkin-man to scare Mombi. It works, but Mombi tries out the Come-Alive Powder, and Jack Pumpkinhead comes to life. Mombi, who mistakes Dorothy for a witch, schemes to steal her powers and turn her into stone, but the children and Jack escape, with Mombi chasing after them. Later, they come across a wooden saw horse and decide to bring it to life with the Come-Alive Powder they have stolen from Mombi. They run on ahead with Jack to Emerald City, where they are reunited with King Scarecrow of Oz.