Wayback Series - Mojacko!

Because no one is safe for this cute orange-furred alien.

I just remembered my fondest memory during my grade school years as I saw this anime. And now my friends in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the airing of the first episode last October 3rd (since I am busy covering day one of Cosplay Mania), I'm talking about Mojacko.

It might be one of the greatest works by Fujiko F. Fujio, it was a comedic/sci-fi + fantasy anime that is popularized by many of us in the late '90s, it was first serialized in Bokurano Weekly by Kodansha in 1969 to 1970. Years later, the manga revived twice and thus published by CoroCoro Comic by Shogakukan from September 1995 to April 1996, with a total of seven volumes and from June 1996 to April 1997, Ladybug Comics published ten volumes. The manga then turned into a 74-episode anime series directed by Tetsuya Endo (who is known as the assistant director of the film My Neighbor Totoro), and it aired on October 3rd, 1995 until March 31st, 1997. The anime was produced by Oriental Light and Magic (OLM). When I was in grade school years, I often watch this in the afternoon (or in the morning despite the timeslot) on GMA-7.

We get to know this ordinary school boy named Sorao Amano, who had to live the life of a ordinary kid. One day, he accidentally makes friends with two aliens that are both stranded on Earth. Sorao's life later change forever as he decides to help them find their way back to their homeworld called the Moja Planet. Later on as the stroy progresses in the anime wherein they do must reach the aliens' homeworld, Sorao, along with his childhood friend Miki, later discover a feud between two different tribes, With the help of an uncovered clue, and thus things get really awry and nasty as the representatives of the two tribes have try to outdo one another in search of the missing treasure of the past.

Ai Orikasa (Kanade Minamino/Cure Rhythm in Suite PreCure and Sealand in Axis Powers Hetalia) voiced the boy named Sorao Amano. Sorao lived with his parents and lived a normal but ordinary life, and he was a typical student, but not less strong and smart, but unmissable in many trials. In school, Sorao is the president of the SF (Science Fiction) Club.

Mayumi Tanaka (Krillin in the Dragon Ball franchise and Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece) plays Mojacko. He might be furry, but he is an alien from the Moja Planet. He is ablue to inflate himself by inhaling too much air which he used to life himself up, or as a mode for transportation, and he had lots of tools in his mouth (talk about hammerspace). Also, he can stretch out his tongue for many miles. Be warned though, the orange-furried alien likes girls and thus sometimes flirt with them. Know his full name? He is introduced himself as Duke Mojara Hanamogera Sanadabintonikusu Furansasukatchi Ritorufuddo Bikunin Arekisandorobonikku Konikkutaranberi- Kuchukuchu Suppabibbi- Poppo-, and that name is causing everyone to sleep.

Daiki Nakamura (Gray Wolf in Monster Rancher and Seiji Date in Ronin Warriors) voices the robot Donmo. He is Mojara's accompanied robot, who helped to solve both Sorao and Mojacko's problems. But be warned though (again!), he becomes drunk in the same way that we human become drunk and wasted when consuming too much alcohol. In Donmo's case, he ate too much sweets, resulting it in his drunken state.

Junko Iwao (Tomoyo Daidouji in Cardcaptor Sakura and Kazuko Saotome in Puella Magi Madoka Magica) voices Sorao's classmate, childhood friend and love interest named Miki. She might be the vice president of the SF Club, but she is bold and very reliable like the club's president.

Wataru Takagi (Genta Kojima in Detective Conan and Hammerhead in One-Punch Man) voices the school bully Pitekan (or we call him Wootan). Pitekan is Sorao's rival when it comes to clubs and of course Miki. Although he believes that he can do psychokinesis, in which his friends find him confusing with the exception of his two lackeys, he is the leader of the ESP Club. It was only mentioned in the anime that Pitekan's real name is Kanta Sakamoto.

Megumi Hayashibara (Lina Inverse in The Slayers and Rei Ayanami in Neon Genesis Evangelion) voices Mojaru. Despite being a baby and he is Mojari's little brother, he is quite talented and good on tech stuff including creating weird gadgets or fixing some stuff. He always saying 'moja' all the time, despite that he usually cannot speak. Mojaru then also showed a lot of tendencies being a crybaby, in which when he cried, he created a powerful sonic wave that can decimate everything in its path, including destroying a whole planet. Oh my god. Both him and his sister are only appeared in the anime.

Sanae Miyuki (Kotetsu in Oedo wa Nemurenai! and Botan (Charlene) in Yu Yu Hakusho) voices Mojaru's big sister Mojari. Sporting twin ponytails, she can be stern and of course serious to her older brother Mojacko, sometimes scolding him on just being stupid or what his brother had done wrong. And yet, she can display some motherly instincts on taking care of her young baby brother. Both her and her brother are only appeared in the anime.

Urara Takano (Maria Tachibana in Sakura Wars and Sasorina in HeartCatch PreCure!) voiced Momonja. This dark blue-furried character is the prince of the Momonja Tribe, and he has stealth and the skills of a ninja, and thus he is obsessed on the thing that is called 'The Greatest Treasure in the Universe'. Aas a running gag for this character, Momonja literally turned into stone, why? Because he had strong feeling for Mojari whenever he sees or comes into contact with her.

Other voice actors were starred in the show were Hideyuki Umezu, Kenichi Ogata, Mahito Tsujimura, Masako Nozawa, Naoki Tatsuta, Yasunori Matsumoto and many more.

It's time to relive the comedy with Mojacko!