Little Wansa

Little Wansa (ワンサくん) is a mascot for Sanwa Bank designed by Osamu Tezuka. It was later turned into a manga series by Tezuka and an anime series from 1973.

The hero of Wansa-kun was Wansa, a puppy who is sold for a pittance, then escapes, and spends much of the rest of the series looking for his mother. Tezuka never completed the manga version of the series.

In 1973 an animated series based on the manga was made, produced by Yoshinobu Nishizaki and broadcast by Kansai Telecasting Corporation. As with the earlier Triton of the Sea, Tezuka had little-to-no involvement in this series and Wansa-kun ultimately ended up being the last series produced by the original Mushi Production before its bankruptcy. The manga and the series was inspired by Walt Disney's film Lady and the Tramp in America.

The anime series lasted 26 episodes. The first 21 episodes were comedic in nature, but the final five episodes took a more dramatic turn, when Wansa began his search for his mother. Unlike the manga version, which was never completed, he succeeded in the final episode of the anime series.

After the series finished production, Nishizaki and many of his production team on this series went to work on Space Battleship Yamato.

In 2016 between 18th till 28 August Osamu Tezuka's "Little Wansa" stage play adaptation was announced.

Cast

 * Noriko Ohara as Wansa
 * Ichirô Nagai as Megane
 * Jouji Yanami as Lupin
 * Kaneta Kimotsuki as Gamble
 * Kei Tomiyama as Kuma
 * Masako Nozawa as Kouta