Noozles

Noozles (ふしぎなコアラ ブリンキー), also known as The Wonderous Koala Blinky, is a 26-episode anime by Nippon Animation Company that was originally released in Japan in 1984, under the title Fushigi na Koara Burinkī or Brinky and Printy. It depicts the adventures of a 12-year old girl named Sandy and her koala friends, Blinky and Pinky, who are from the extra-dimensional realm of Koalawalla Land. Noozles aired in Japan on the Fuji TV network in its original run from July to December 1984, with reruns continuing until 1987; an edited, dubbed version later aired in the United States on Nickelodeon from November 1988 through April 1993. The show usually aired at 1pm on the weekdays, immediately following another koala themed cartoon, Adventures of the Little Koala. It has been reported that the series has recently begun airing once again in Japan on AT-X.

The series has also been dubbed into French (under the title Les Koalous), Korean, Spanish (under the title Sandy y sus koalas) and German.

The series features episode direction by Noboru Ishiguro, best known for his work on the sci-fi anime series Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers) and the original Macross series (which became part of Robotech in North America) and layout work by Yasuji Mori.

Plot
One day, 12-year-old Sandy Brown receives a package from her long lost grandfather containing a stuffed Koala named Blinky that was lost in a shipwreck 38 years ago. Sandy gives the koala a Noozle (another term for an Eskimo Kiss) and it revives him from "magic sleepytime". His first word is "Blinky!!" in response to Sandy thinking out loud what she should name the bear right before she awakens him. They are soon joined by Blinky's sister Pinky, who appears out of thin air soon after Blinky is awakened, and demands immediately that Blinky return with her to KoalaWalla Land. Blinky refuses however, and the trio go on to have many adventures together. Blinky is able to sustain himself while living on Earth with Sandy because of the Eucalyptus trees that Sandy's grandmother had planted 38 years ago when Sandy's grandfather, an archaeologist who had mysteriously disappeared while on an expedition to Ayers Rock, just before the ship was lost, told her that he was sending a Koala as a gift, as Sandy's grandmother had expressed that she had always wanted one as a pet.

It takes Sandy some time to determine that the "noozle" is the action that revives Blinky from magic sleepytime. She does this several times without thinking about it, and gets frustrated over the fact that Blinky falls asleep repeatedly (during which time his appearance is similar to that of an ordinary stuffed animal) and stubbornly refuses to awaken until she realizes what she must do to revive him. Early in the series, Sandy decides to introduce Blinky and Pinky to her grandmother, but decides to keep them a secret to everyone else.

About halfway through the series, Blinky and Pinky bring Sandy to their homeworld of KoalaWalla Land. KoalaWalla Land is a parallel dimension inhabited by anthropomorphic koalas, kangaroos, platypi, cassowaries, kiwi, and frill-necked lizards. It is ruled by a wise old koala known as the High Dingy Doo. Humans aren't allowed in KoalaWalla Land (and in fact a human will be arrested and jailed on sight just for being in KoalaWalla Land), so Sandy has to wear a koala mask. A portal to KoalaWalla Land can be found at Ayers Rock. Pinkie also has the ability to create instant portals to KoalaWalla Land at any point, as well as portals back and forth through time, by utilizing the red lipstick in her magic cosmetic kit to draw an interdimensional hole in the time-space continuum.

Meanwhile, Sandy's father Alex, who is also an archaeologist like his father before him, is exploring Ayers Rock and trying to solve the mystery of what happened to his father 38 years ago. While there, he discovers a cave, and on the wall of the cave is a message that his father wrote 38 years ago, saying "I must leave on a mission of great importance. The little koala will know where I'll be." Alex stumbles into the portal to KoalaWalla Land at the end of the tunnel, where he is chased by the KoalaWalla Land police. Sandy, Blinky, and Pinky travel to KoalaWalla Land to rescue him. Alex stumbles upon a crystal planetoid in KoalaWalla Land, where he sees a shadowy figure resembling his father in one of the crystals. There, the KoalaWalla Land police find him and place him under a sleeping spell, but Sandy and Blinky and Pinky arrive to rescue him. They bring him back to Ayers Rock. Alex wakes up, convinced that the entire experience was a dream.

When Sandy hears that her father saw her grandfather, she and Blinky and Pinky decide to go back to KoalaWalla Land to look for him. They decide to look in The Crystal Place, which is connected to the crystal planetoid where Alex saw his father. The Crystal Place, which lies at the very core of KoalaWalla Land and helps hold the universe together, is a giant crystalline sphere filled with brightly colored orbs, which when touched by bare hands immediately entrap that person's essence forever with no escape. Sandy, protected by Pinky's magic bubble, enters The Crystal Place, and finds the spirit of her grandfather imprisoned in one of the orbs, trapped in a limbo-like state. He tells her to learn from the creatures of KoalaWalla Land and to understand how their community has come to survive in a world of love and companionship. Finally, he delivers the cryptic message "as the world of KoalaWalla Land goes, so goes the world of mankind." Sandy wants to know what he means, but that's all he can tell her, and he tells her that more will be revealed in due time.

Some time later, Alex is exploring Africa. He is scheduled to return home, but when he hears the story of a magic stone called the "wiseman stone", he decides to stay in Africa to search for it. Sandy and her mother are disappointed when they hear that Alex is staying in Africa, so Blinky and Pinky travel there to try to find a way to convince him to come home. They attempt to scare him back home by making ghost noises, and even create illusionary dinosaurs in an attempt to scare him away from the dig site, but nothing seems to work. Finally, Sandy's grandmother appears. She has traveled to Africa to scold her son for running off to look for the wiseman stone when his wife and daughter are waiting for him to come home. Alex decides to come back home with his mother. Shortly after arriving back home, Alex receives a phone call from his assistant Lionel, who says that his team has found what they believe to be the Wiseman Stone, but they need Alex to check if it's the real deal since he's the expert on the subject. Later, during a visit to Sandy's grandmothers house, Blinky uses his magic powers to teleport an unknowing Alex to Africa. Confused as to how he got there, Alex checks the stone and confirms that it's authentic. Alex still has the stone with him when Blinky transports him back. Alex is still confused about the whole thing. When he shows the stone to his mother, she tells him that he must've found the stone in her attic, and that it is a stone that his father had found many years ago. After Sandy and her Parents have gone home, her grandmother brings the stone up to her attic, and it is revealed that there are two wiseman stones, one that Alex found in Africa, and another that his father had found years before.

One day, during another trip to Sandy's grandmother's house, Alex finds the two Wiseman stones in her attic. Alex is confused as to why there is now a second wiseman stone. His mother tells him that his father found one, and that he put the other one there when he came back from Africa. It is then that Sandy decides to tell her parents the truth about Blinky and Pinky. Shortly afterword, they receive a surprise visit from the High Dingy Doo, who has come to ask Alex a very important favor. The High Dingy explains that KoallaWalla Land and the Earth are destined to one day separate from each other naturally. However, because of Seismic Testing in the Australian Outback, the trans-dimensional axis that binds the two worlds together has become severely shaken, speeding up the process so much that both worlds could be destroyed in the separation. The High Dingy Doo also explains that Sandy's grandfather knew that this would happen someday due to his research of ancient Australian folklore. He entered The Crystal Place and became trapped there while trying to unravel the secrets of KoalaWalla Land. The High Dingy Doo says that Sandy's grandfather likely knows how to save the worlds from destruction, but that his spirit can only communicate with someone who is related to him by blood. The High Dingy Doo asks Alex to come to The Crystal Place so he can speak to his father's Spirit. Alex, protected by a magic bubble created by the High Dingy Doo, enters The Crystal Place and tells his fathers spirit of the impeding disaster. His father tells him that the only way to restore the balance between the two worlds so they can separate safely is to give the wiseman stones to Blinky, who will know what to do from there. After returning to earth, Alex gives the wiseman stones to Blinky, who now remembers what it is that he must do. Blinky teleports himself, Pinky, Sandy, her parents, and her grandmother to Ayers Rock, where the separation has already begun. Blinky and Pinky bring the stones to the top of Ayers Rock and place them in a predisposed altar, where Blinky manipulates them in a joystick-like fashion to keep the two worlds from destroying each other. Blinky and Pinky return to KoalaWalla land in the process. Because the two worlds now exist as completely separate dimensions, Pinky's magic is no longer able to bridge the ties that formerly bound them; meaning Blinky and Pinky must now forever remain in their home, separate from Earth.

Historical background
In 1984, the Tama Zoo in western Tokyo welcomed its first koala, and the government of Australia sent six koalas to Japan as a token of goodwill. As a result, according to The Anime Encyclopedia by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, Japan went into a koala frenzy and anything to do with koalas became very popular. It was during this "koala-mania" that the Noozles was made, as was another anime, コアラボーイ コッキィ(Koala Boy Kokki), which would later be broadcast alongside Noozles on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block in 1988, as Adventures of the Little Koala.

Credits

 * Production company: Nippon Animation Company Ltd.
 * Original broadcaster: Fuji TV
 * Japanese distribution: Fuji Eight Company Ltd.
 * American distribution: Saban International Services
 * Written by: Nobuyuki Isshiki & Taku Sugiyama with Akira Nakano, Keiko Mukuroji, Mitsuru Tanabe
 * Series Director: Ki-nam Nam & Taku Sugiyama
 * Episode Directors: Kenji Miyashita, Mitsuru Tanabe, Noboru Ishiguro, Taku Sugiyama
 * Character Design: Isamu Kumata
 * Storyboards: Eiji Okabe, Eimi Maeda, Fumio Kurokawa, Katsumi Endo, Kazuyoshi Katayama, Masayuki Hayashi, Noboru Ishiguro, Taku Sugiyama
 * Animation Director: Eimi Maeda, Masaki Abe, Takao Ogawa
 * Art Director: Koichi Kudo
 * Layout Supervisor: Yasuji Mori
 * Original Music: Reijiro Koroku (U.S. version: Haim Saban and Shuki Levy)

Music

 * Opening Theme: Fushigi Ufufu by Tarako
 * Ending Theme: Shabadaba Dakedo by Toshio Furukawa

Television history
🇯🇵
 * 1984-1987: Fuji TV
 * 2007-Present: AT-X

🇺🇸
 * 1988-1993: Nickelodeon
 * 1989-1999: Syndication

🇮🇱
 * 1980s, 1990s: Channel 2, Channel 6 (Kids Channel)

Episode list
(*) denotes a title translated from Japanese which is not necessarily the title of the episode given in the US


 * 1) A Friend From Down Under *
 * 2) Granny Meets Blinky And Pinky *
 * 3) Sandy's Birthday Surprise *
 * 4) She Loves Me Not
 * 5) Sandy's Three Wishes *
 * 6) Sandy's Stardom
 * 7) To Catch Smoky And Louis *
 * 8) The Art Contest *
 * 9) Like Father, Like Daughter *
 * 10) Naughty But Nice *
 * 11) That Ol' Pink Magic *
 * 12) Going Back In Time *
 * 13) Humans Not Allowed *
 * 14) The Last Caper
 * 15) Koalawalla Land *
 * 16) The Mysterious Message *
 * 17) Commander Blinky *
 * 18) Cinderella Sandy *
 * 19) Star Struck *
 * 20) The Magical Vacations *
 * 21) Sandy Runs Away From Home *
 * 22) Travelling Back In Time *
 * 23) The Magic Show *
 * 24) Play Acting *
 * 25) Ayers Rock *
 * 26) How It All Began *

Books

 * Noozles: New Friends (1993 Tor Books; L. Spencer Humphrey & Deborah Morse)

Videos
Released from 1991-1994 by Celebrity Home Entertainment
 * Adventures in Koalawalla Land (120 min.)
 * Blinky and Pinky's Excellent Adventure (95 min.)
 * A Day With Grandma (30 min.)
 * Fuzzy Was a Noozle (95 min.)
 * Koala Bear Magic (75 min.)
 * A New Friend (30 min.)
 * Nuzzling With the Noozles (110 min.)
 * Picture Perfect (30 min.)
 * Blinky's Decision / The Last Caper (50 min.)