Maya the Bee (anime)

Infobox animanga/Header
name = Maya the Bee


caption = "Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer" book cover.
ja_name = みつばちマーヤの冒険
ja_name_trans = Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken
genre = FantasyInfobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Hiroshi Saitō, Mitsuo Kaminashi and Seiji Endō
studio = Nippon Animation
network = TV Asahi
first = 1975
last = 1976
episodes = 55Infobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Mitsuo Kaminashi
studio = Nippon Animation
network = TV Tokyo, TV Osaka
first = 1982
last = 1983
episodes = 52

nihongo|"Maya the Bee"|みつばちマーヤの冒険|Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken|lit. "The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee" is an anime television series produced by Nippon Animation Company in Japan. The series consisted of 55 episodes and was originally telecast across Japan from April 1975 to April 1976 on the TV Asahi network (formerly NET). Based on the classic children's book by Waldemar Bonsels, the anime series has been rebroadcast numerous times in various different countries and languages since its premiere.

An English-dubbed version of the series, produced by Saban Entertainment, was broadcast from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1992 in the United States on the children's television channel Nickelodeon. "Maya the Bee" aired alongside other juvenile-targeted anime such as "Adventures of the Little Koala", "Noozles" and "The Littl' Bits" as part of Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block of programming for very young children.

A second "Maya the Bee" anime, 新みつばちマーヤの冒険 "Shin Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken" ("The New Adventures of Maya the Honeybee"), was made in 1979 by Nippon Animation with the animation studio Wako Production, using the same character designs and some of the same staff of the original series. The second series, which lasted for 52 episodes, did not premiere in Japan until October 1982, on TV Osaka, and aired through September 1983. Ten episodes from this series were added to the 55 episodes from the original for the U.S. broadcast run, bringing the total of "Maya" episodes aired on Nickelodeon in the U.S. to 65.

tory

The story centers on Maya, an inquisitive, adventurous and somewhat flighty young honeybee, and her adventures in the forest around her. Sent by the Queen Bee to gather pollen for her hive, Maya proves herself so good at it that she exhausts the entire pollen supply around the hive and is sent in search of more. Along the way, the good-natured young bee makes many new friends and has many adventures with other insects and other forest creatures.

Characters

* (Japanese VA: Michiko Nomura, English VA: Pauline Little):The main character of the story, an inquisitive, adventurous and somewhat flighty young honeybee.
* (Japanese VA: Masako Nozawa, English VA: Richard Dumont):A boy honeybee (a new character in the anime not present in the original novel), who is lazier than Maya and also something of a coward but still has a good heart.
* (Japanese VA: Ichiro Nagai, English VA: A.J. Henderson):A wise, top-hatted grasshopper.
* (Japanese VA: Miyoko Asō, English VA: Jane Woods):Maya's teacher (mostly in the first animated series).

International distribution

The series enjoyed great popularity in Spanish in Latin America as "La Abeja Maya", in Portugal, as "Abelha Maia", in Italian as "L'ape Maia" and in Czechoslovakia as "Včelka Mája" (Czech) / "Včielka Maja" (Slovak). The series has also been released in Macedonian ("Пчеличката Маја"), Dutch ("Maja de Bij"), Finnish ("Maija Mehiläinen"), French ("Maya l'Abeille"), Polish ("Pszczółka Maja"), Croatian ("Pčelica Maja"), Bulgarian ("Пчеличката Мая"), Russian ("Пчелка Майя"), Turkish ("Arı Maya"), Hebrew ("Ha-Devorah Maya"-הדבורה מאיה) and Arabic, among other languages.

Perhaps its greatest success has been in German-speaking territories; the German version, "Die Biene Maja", has been a fixture on German television since its premiere in 1976. In Germany, Maya/Maja is among the five most recognized characters by children. A comic strip based on the TV series has been produced by the German editor Bastei Verlag and translated/published in many countries worldwide. It has been drawn alternately by the Studio Ortega (Barcelona) and the Atelier Roche (Munich), which also realized from 1976 amounts of illustrations for books and diverse merchandising items.

Trivia

* The theme song is sung by Karel Gott for German, Czech and Slovak version of the cartoon.

taff

* Production: Zuiyo Eizo then Nippon Animation
* Series Directors: Hiroshi Saitō, Mitsuo Kaminashi, Seiji Endō
* Script: Hikaru Sasa, Hitoshi Kanazawa
* Screenplay: Fumi Takahashi
* Character Designs: Susumu Shiraume
* Animation Directors: Susumu Shiraume, Takao Ogawa, Hayao Nobe
* Sound: Yasuhiro Koyama
* Theme Songs (performed by Cheetah and the Honeybee Choir, words and music by Seizo Ise):
** OP - "Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken" ("The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee")
** ED - "Oyasumi Māya" ("Good Night, Maya")

References

* [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1415 Maya the Bee (TV)] , by "Anime News Network", retrieved June 8, 2007.