It was basically the Cartoon Network of the Middle East. Nobody identified as an “anime fan” because literally everyone watched anime at some point in their lives.Īt the time, the reigning king of children’s entertainment was a channel named SpaceToon. Nobody wondered what “anime” was, we knew what exactly what it was. By the 80’s, most middle eastern kids were either watching anime, Looney Toons, or Tom & Jerry.īecause anime was so common in the Middle East, it was never seen as something alien or weird. With little competition, anime quickly took over children’s entertainment.
The Middle East had few local animation studios and their output was distinctly inferior. In America, anime had to compete for recognition with the likes of Disney and local animated series such as Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Dragon ball z song in arabic license#
It was relatively easy to acquire the license and dub it in Arabic, serving as cheap, high-quality children’s entertainment. Japanese animation tended to be animated well and was successful. The show is rather iconic its not uncommon to see bumper stickers of one of the characters on cars. It’s called “Adnan wa Leena” in the Middle East and is still airing today. In fact, my parents both grew up watching Grendizer, Treasure Island, Arabian Nights: Sinbad’s Adventures, Hello! Sandy Bell, and the incredibly popular Future Boy Conan.Ĭoincendentally, Future Boy Conan was directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Ever since the late 70’s at least, kids in the Middle East grew up watching anime. Unlike in the West, anime has always been mainstream in the Middle East. So before I start, let me give you a quick primer on anime in the Middle East. I don’t want to wallow in my own nostalgia (though I am definitely doing that right now), I just want to shout at the internet that they are missing out on some quality anime openings. They’re so good, that I felt compelled to write this post.
That, in turn, led me down a rabbit hole of listening to all the arabic anime openings I used to watch as a child.Īnd let me tell you. The moment I saw the lyrics, the song immediately came to mind. Its a silly meme but it immediately brought back so many memories all at once.
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