Maya the Bee (みつばちマーヤの冒険 Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken, lit. The Adventures of Maya the Honey Bee) is a Japanese anime series co-produced by Nippon Animation, the German Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) and Austrian Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), based on a children's novel published in 1912 by German writer Waldemar Bonsels.
The series consists of 52 episodes, and was first broadcast in Japan from April 1, 1975 to April 20, 1976 on TV Asahi. A sequel series of 52 episodes titled The New Adventures of Maya the Honey Bee (新みつばちマーヤの冒険 Shin Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken) was broadcast from October 12, 1982 to September 27, 1983 (though it had been broadcast earlier in Germany). The music of the series was composed by the Czech Karel Svoboda.
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Dubbing History
Maya the Bee - Opening Titles
Opening to the Original Dub
Maya the Bee - Saban's U.S. intro -HD REMASTERED-
Opening to Saban's dub
The original series, The Adventures of Maya the Honey Bee, was originally dubbed in the 1980 by Sonovision for the South African Broadcasting Corporation.[1][2] This dub was more closely based on the German version, even titling the series as Maja the Bee in some prints, and features an unknown cast with upper-class English South African accents for the characters. This version of the series was also shown in Australia, and is viewable on the official Maya the Bee YouTube channel, and has been released for Digital Download.
Yet another dub was produced by Saban Entertainment with a Canadian voice cast from Montreal, and aired from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1992 on Nickelodeon in the United States, and from 1990 to 1993 on Family Channel and 1992 to 1998 on YTV in Canada. As typical for a Saban dub, a new music score and theme song for the anime was composed. 65 episodes from both the original series and the sequel series were dubbed.[3]
Cast
| Character | Seiyū | Saban Dub | Sonovision Dub | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season One | Season Two | |||
| Maya | Michiko Nomura | Runa Akiyama | Pauline Little | Linda Stewart[4] |
| Willy | Masako Nozawa | Richard Dumont | ¿? | |
| Flip | Ichirō Nagai | Ritsuo Sawa | A.J. Henderson | ¿? |
| Grimelda | Terue Nunami | Noriko Uemura | Anna MacCormack | ¿? |
| Miss Cassandra | Miyoko Asō | Reiko Yamada | Jane Woods | ¿? |
| Alexander | N/A | Keiko Toda | Arthur Holden | ¿? |
| Pete | Kōsei Tomita | Kumiko Mizukura | ¿? | ¿? |
| Kurt | Sanji Hase | Hideki Fukushi | Michael Rudder | ¿? |
| Colonel Ramrod | Jōji Yanami | Hozumi Gōda | Arthur Grosser | ¿? |
| Digger | Eken Mine | ¿? | Michael Rudder | ¿? |
| Sidney | Katsuji Mori | Kōzō Shioya | Rick Jones | ¿? |
| Madame Butterfly | ¿? | ¿? | ¿? | Carolyn Steyn[4] |
Episodic Characters
| Character | Seiyū | Dub Actor | Episode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ant Captain | Kazuya Tatekabe | ¿? | 4 |
| Spider | Keaton Yamada | ¿? | |
| Hector Hidesnuggler | Kōsei Tomita | ¿? | 8 |
| Crab Spider | Kazuya Tatekabe | ¿? | |
| Ant Soldiers | Yūji Mikimoto Shigezō Sasaoka Maki Nozawa Tako Hiromi |
¿? | |
| Pillbugs | Sachiko Chijimatsu Kazuko Sugiyama Keaton Yamada |
¿? | 22 |
| Ike Nose-Needle | Kōji Yada | Arthur Holden | 27 |
| Alf the Elf | Yoshiko Matsuo | Rob Roy | |
| Cindy | Ayumi Tokita | ¿? | |
| Tim | Eishō Itō | Bronwen Mantel | |
| Boys | Masaaki Waguri Manabu Tezuka |
Liz MacRae ¿? | |
| Uncle Stanislas | Yūji Fujishiro | ¿? | 56 |
| Mr. Waterbeetle | Toshiro Ishii | Rick Jones | |
| Mr. Ladybug | Yasushi Ōhama | ¿? | |
| Mrs. Ladybug | Seiko Nakano | ¿? |
Additional Voices
Saban Dub
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Transmission
| Date(s) | Channel | Dub | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ¿? | SABC | Sonovision | South Africa | 
|
| 1984-91 | Network 10 | Australia | 
| |
| 1983-84 | CBC | Canada | 
| |
| 1988;
1992-98 |
YTV | |||
| Saban | ||||
| 1990-93 | Family Channel | |||
| 1990-92 | Nickelodeon | United States | 
| |
Video Releases
| Distributor | Year | Format | Contents | Region | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video Treasures | 1989-1992 | 
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9 Episodes | NTSC | United States |
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| 3 Volumes | ||||||
Videos
See Also
References
- ↑ Maya the Bee South African End Credits on Retrojunk
- ↑ (November 1, 2019) E-mail with Sonovision dub translator. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
- ↑ (February 20, 1998) ABC FAMILY WORLDWIDE INC - Securities Registration Statement (S-1/A) EXHIBIT 10.19. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 (August 10, 2021) Carolyn Steyn on Twitter. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 (August 10, 2021) Carolyn Steyn on Twitter. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
External Links
- Maya the Bee at the Internet Movie Database
- Maya the Bee (anime) at the Anime News Network
