Sonnawood (1992 anime)

Sonnawood (Japanese: 魔法の森ソナウッド, Hepburn: Mahō no Mori Sonawood lit. "Magic Forest Sonawood") is a 1992 fantasy adventure anime series created by Toshihiro Chiba and produced by Studio Axel.

The series originally aired in Japan on NHK from October 3, 1992 to March 27, 1993 for an initial run of 26 episodes. Due to interest from international buyers, a second and final season consisting of 20 episodes was commissioned and broadcast later from 1993 to 1994.

An English dub produced by Kaleidoscope Entertainment Inc. and Droimétra-DMT was broadcast in US syndication starting July 1994 and on the Family Channel in Canada the following October, with the series title being changed and the character's names changed to suit the English-language market and be more alliterative with the character's animal forms.

Ever since Droimétra-DMT's acquisition by Magic World in 1998, it is currently owned by the studio.

Premise
Keith (Forrester in the English dub), a young adult whose mother had gone missing many years before, lives with his father into a home with a new step-family, particularly their younger son Oliver. Life becomes hard as both heads of the family constantly treat both boys with no respect, particularly the matriarch Hetta (Sally in the US dub). Fed up with misery in the household, Oliver finds out about Keith's book (a possession given to him by his mother before she vanished) containing a map of the hidden forest community Sonawood and convinces him to look for it, hoping to find happiness in a new life there, despite Keith's insistence that such a place doesn't exist.

The two sneak out one night to look for the forest community to discover a large stone barrier with a doorway entrance that seems to have nothing inside. Upon entering through the doorway, Keith and Oliver are transformed into an anthropomorphic fox and ocelot respectively and it turns out to be a forest occupied by other anthropomorphic animals, whose form is an extension of their personality when inside the community. Under the guidance of the wolf Ophelia (Wisteria in the Canadian dub), who turns out to be Keith's biological mother, the two join various other animal-folk in situations wherein the two learn from social conflicts.

Characters
See List of Sonnawood characters

Japanese

 * Kappei Yamaguchi as Keith/Forrester
 * Akiko Yajima as Oliver
 * Mika Doi as Ophelia/Wisteria
 * Ryūsei Nakao as Alfred/Roddy
 * Miina Tominaga as Maybelline/Vivian
 * Ai Orikasa as Kara/Olga
 * Kikuko Inoue as Silvia/Darby
 * Kazuhiko Inoue as Osmond/Waylen
 * Masami Kikuchi as Pierre/Caleb
 * Keiko Toda as Harvey/Baldwin
 * Mika Kanai as Yasmine/Lucy
 * Akira Kamiya as Jared/Julian
 * Saeko Shimazu as Hetta/Sally
 * Kenichi Ogata as Franky/Osbourne

English

 * Colin O'Meara as Forrester
 * Sonja Ball as Oliver
 * Catherine Disher as Wisteria
 * Rick Jones as Roddy
 * Tabitha St. Germain (credited as Paulina Gillis) as Vivian
 * Alyson Court as Olga
 * Pauline Little as Darby
 * Michael Rudder as Waylen
 * Thor Bishopric as Caleb
 * Susan Roman as Baldwin
 * Kathleen Fee as Bibi
 * Karen Bernstein as Lucy
 * Dan Hennessey as Julian
 * Susan Glover as Sally
 * Colin Fox as Osbourne



Production
(TBA)

International broadcast

 * Argentina - Magic Kids
 * Australia - ABC, Cartoon Network, Boomerang
 * Brazil - Globo, Nickelodeon, Cultura, HBO Family, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TV Brasil, Poly
 * Canada - Global, ASN (Nova Scotia), Access (Alberta), NTV (Newfoundland), Family, TVO (Ontario), Treehouse, Knowledge Network (British Columbia)
 * Canada (Quebec) - Le Canal Famille, Radio-Canada, Télé-Québec
 * Czech Republic - TV Nova
 * Denmark - TV2, Cartoon Network
 * El Kadsre - BTV (K-T.V.), BTV Me
 * France - France 3, Canal J
 * Finland - MTV3, Cartoon Network
 * Germany - kabel eins, KiKA
 * Helvmark - Net6
 * Hungary - Duna, RTL Klub
 * Iceland - RÚV
 * Ireland - RTÉ Network 2/N2, Pop
 * Israel - Arutz HaYeladim
 * Italy - Italia 1, Junior TV
 * Japan - NHK, Cartoon Network
 * Jetania - Nickelodeon
 * Kuboia - Nickelodeon Kuboia (later as part of Nicktoons Network)
 * Middle East - Spacetoon
 * Malaysia - Cartoon Network, Astro Ceria
 * Mexico - ZAZ, Nickelodeon, HBO Family, Canal Once, Cartoon Network, Boomerang
 * Netherlands - RTL 4, Kindernet
 * New Zealand - TV2, Cartoon Network
 * Norway - TV2, Cartoon Network
 * Peru - América Televisión
 * Philippines - ABS-CBN
 * Poland - TVP1
 * Portugal - RTP1, Canal Panda
 * Singapore - Cartoon Network, Kids Central
 * South Africa: M-Net
 * South Korea - KBS, Daekyo Children's TV, Tooniverse
 * Spain - Antena 3, Canal Panda, TVG (Galicia), TV3 (Catalonia), Canal 9 (Valencia), Telemadrid (Community of Madrid), ETB1 (Basque Country/Navarre), K3 (Catalonia)
 * Sweden - TV4
 * Turkey - TRT 1, Kanal D
 * United Kingdom - BBC, TCC, Pop
 * United States - Syndication, HBO, HBO Family, KidsClick, Tubi TV

Films
The first theatrical movie of the series, a 45-minute featurette entitled The Flower Labyrinth, was released during an Axel Triplemation Event on December 18, 1993. The plot centers around Lucy needing to traverse the titular floral maze so she can witness the blooming of a rare tree. It was released directly to video on February 14, 1995 in North America by PolyGram Video with a teaser for the following film's localized release in the summer of that year.

The second theatrical movie, running at feature length, was titled The Castle of Night Magic and released on July 16, 1994. Unlike the previous movie, it was also released to theaters in various countries, including the US, Canada, Europe, South America and Australia during 1995 and 1996.

Merchandise
To promote the series, a wave of merchandise from various companies was released in Japan. Tomy (who was also a major partner in the series' production committee) released various toys, including character plushes, figurines and playsets, also publishing certain licensed video games. NTT also released various phone cards depicting characters or entire scenes with them.

Kodansha published various children's chapter and picture books based on the anime, many of which were officially translated into other languages with Scholastic Inc. publishing them in North America during the mid-to-late 90's.

Since Tomy had international subsidiaries, many of the numerous toys originally sold in Japan were also exported overseas (in addition to locally-designed products).

Video games
The anime also spawned video games for different systems.

Sonnawood: Keith to Oliver no Daibouken was released for the Sega Game Gear on July 23, 1993 by Sega. In this game, Forrester and Oliver are tasked with a treasure hunt, as well as finding a rare flower to help make more for Felix and Diana to produce a medicine. The game is a side-scrolling platformer allowing one to play as eiher Forrester or Oliver, each one with a unique set of abilities. The game was later released in the US as Sonnawood: Sonnawood Scavenger Hunt in autumn 1994 under Sega's "Kids Club" imprint, as well as for the Master System in Brazil in 1995 by Tec Toy.

Sonnawood: Sui Sui Dōkutsu Tanken was released for the Famicom on August 6, 1993 by Capcom. Olga teaches Oliver how to swim when the legend of a mysterious treasure prompts a search, despite Forrester's worries. The game is a platformer primarily utilizing aquatic physics with some regular levels above water-level including logical/puzzle-solving segments. The game was released by Playfair Interactive (under license from Capcom) in the US in autumn 1994 (among the final games released for the NES) as Sonnawood: Water We Looking For?.

Sonnawood: Ophelia and the Rainbow Leaf was released for the Super Famicom on October 15, 1993 by Tomy. Much like the previous game, it is a side-scrolling platformer (albeit sometimes requiring the player to check for secret areas) but in this case, Wisteria is the only playable character. The basic set-up is that she needs to find the Rainbow Leaf for a nature ceremony. The game was localized as Sonnawood: Wisteria's Quest and published by Playfair and Sony Imagesoft on November 22, 1994 in North America.

Home media
The series was released on VHS in volumes in Japan by BMG-Victor from March 1993 onward, each volume containing 2 episodes. The 13 volumes were available both for rental and purchase. The penultimate volume released in September 1993 contains a short promo for the then-not yet aired second season.

In the United States and Canada, the series was released on VHS by PolyGram Video in the winter of 1994 through spring 1996. In 1999, the video rights were transferred to WarnerVision Entertainment's KidVision sublabel (exclusively distributed by Warner Home Video), re-releasing episodes on VHS and later DVD until 2004 when the deal expired.

In the United Kingdom, episodes were released on VHS also by PolyGram Video (especially through its budget/children's labels 4Front and Channel 5) beginning in 1995, with some budget price re-releases/bumper video compilations around 1997-1999. Video rights were then transferred to its successor Universal Studios, who distributed further VHS and DVD releases throughout most of the 2000's.