Maya the Bee (みつばちマーヤの冒険, Mitsubachi Māya no Boken^?, 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. This article is about the novel. ... Image File history File links DieBieneMajaIhreSchonstenAbenteuerBookCover. ... For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation). ... “TV” redirects here. ... “Animé” redirects here. ... Nippon Animation logo. ... TV Asahi Corporation ) (TYO: 9409 ), also known as EX and Tele-Asa ), is a television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. ... The logo of TV Tokyo. ... Television Osaka, Inc. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... “TV” redirects here. ... “Animé” redirects here. ... Nippon Animation logo. ... TV Asahi Corporation ) (TYO: 9409 ), also known as EX and Tele-Asa ), is a television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. ... The logo of TV Tokyo. ... Television Osaka, Inc. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... “Animé” redirects here. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Nippon Animation logo. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... TV Asahi Corporation ) (TYO: 9409 ), also known as EX and Tele-Asa ), is a television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. ... Waldemar Bonsels (21 February 1880 - 31 July 1952) was a German writer of childrens books. ...

An English-dubbed version of the series, produced by Saban Entertainment, was broadcast from 1990 to 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. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Saban Entertainment was an independent television production company formed in 1983 by music and television producers Haim Saban and Shuki Levy as Saban Records, a U.S. subsidiary of Saban International Paris (now SIP Animation) who provided music soundtracks to shows made by other companies (most notably DIC). ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the TV channel. ... Adventures of the Little Koala was a Korean cartoon show that aired on Nickelodeon dubbed in English from 1987 to 1993. ... Noozles ), also known as The Wonderous Koala Blinky, was a 26-episode anime that was originally released in Japan in 1984, under the title Fushigi na Koara Burinkī or Blinky and Printy. ... The children of The Littl Bits, from left to right: Willibit, Lillabit, Snagglebit, Chip, Browniebit The Littl Bits is an anime cartoon series with 26 episodes produced in 1980 by Tatsunoko Productions in Japan. ... Nick Jr. ...

A second Maya the Bee anime, 新みつばちマーヤの冒険 Shin Mitsubachi Māya no Boken (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. Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Television Osaka, Inc. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ...

Story

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^[1]

• Maya (マーヤ, Māya^?) (Japanese VA: Michiko Nomura, English VA: Pauline Little)

The main character of the story, an inquisitive, adventurous and somewhat flighty young honeybee.

• Willi (ウイリー, Uirī^?) (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.

• Flip (or Phillip) (フィリップ, Firippu^?) (Japanese VA: Ichiro Nagai, English VA: A.J. Henderson)

A wise, top-hatted grasshopper.

• Miss Cassandra (カッサンドラ先生, Kassandora-sensei^?) (Japanese VA: Miyoko Asō, English VA: Jane Woods)

Maya's teacher (mostly in the first animated series).

Nomura Michiko (野村 道子) is a seiyu who was born on March 31, 1938 in Kanagawa. ... Pauline Little is a voice actor. ... Masako Nozawa ) (October 25, 1936 - ), born in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, Japan, but raised in Numata, Gunma, is a seiyÅ« and actress affiliated with (and the chairman of) Office Nozawa. ... Ichiro Nagai (永井 一郎 Nagai Ichirō, born May 10, 1931) is a veteran seiyÅ« who was born in Osaka. ... Miyoko Asō ), born April 7, 1926, is a seiyÅ« who was born in Tokyo. ...

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 Dutch (Maja de Bij), Finnish (Maija Mehiläinen), French (Maya l'Abeille), Polish (Pszczółka Maja), Bulgarian (Пчеличката Мая), Russian (Пчела Майя) and Arabic, among other languages. Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... Arabic redirects here. ...

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.

Karel Gott singing in German (Triumph of the Golden Voice) Karel Gott (born July 14, 1939) is one of the most successful and widely-known Czech singers (crooners). ...

Staff^[1]

• Production: Zuiyo Eizo then Nippon Animation
• Series Directors: Hiroshi Saito, Mitsuo Kaminashi, Seiji Endo
• 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 Boken ("The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee")
  • ED - Oyasumi Māya ("Good Night, Maya")

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Maya the Bee (TV), by Anime News Network, retrieved June 8, 2007.