Urikupen Kyūjotai (ウリクペン救助隊, Urikupen Kyūjotai; Urikupen Rescue Team) is a 1974 short anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Production and directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa. The series premiered on Fuji Television on September 30, 1974, and ended on March 29, 1975.
Much later in 1991, Saban Entertainment has licensed and adapted the anime series for a worldwide release outside of Japan under the name, Jungle Tales and has condensed the 132 5-minute (serialized) episodes into 22 half-hour episodes. The voice casting and the English language dubbing production was done in-house by CINAR Studios, Inc. in Montreal, Canada. It has been broadcast on YTV in Canada. Heavy changes were made to the adaptation dub of the series. One being such is a new music score that was all digitally composed and sampled with an E-mu Proteus 2 Orchestra synthesizer. Other changes involve different character names used and gender changes for two characters. At the end of each condensed episode, a 3-minute music video was added to summarize the episode's plot. Many foreign dubs of the anime series would be mere translations of the dub.
Contents
Plot
Set in the country of Urikupen kingdom, a rescue team consisting of animals goes onto missions to rescue forest animals in disastrous locations. A mobilization scenario is shown once a week stating "this week's Lifetime Achievement Award" which is given to the rescue workers.
Release
The series was produced by Tatsunoko Production and directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa. The anime has been licensed by Saban Entertainment in North America.
The opening theme is "Ganbare! Urikupen Kyūjotai" by Ichirou Mizuki and Columbia Yurokago Kai.