Anyone of my generation (old, I know) will remember the delightful Dogtanian and the Three Muskahounds - certainly my other half Bryony does, as it was her favourite cartoon show as a child. Looking around for a suitable birthday present, I happened upon a company called Fariboles Productions, who have produced a charming resin statue of the titular wannabe Muskahound himself, Dogtanian.
The cast of lovable characters included Musketeers Porthos, Athos and Aramis, Dogtanian's beloved Juliette and the treacherous Milady, carrying out secret missions for her master, Cardinal Richelieu. The charming animation did much to sell the show to children, who could easily connect with the young canines desire to succeed in France and save the day.
What many fans of the show may not know is that, despite being created in 1981 by Spaniard Claudio Biern Boyd, founder of B.R.B Internacional, they collaborated with Japanese Studio Nippon Animation on the show, giving it something of a Japanese heritage much like Ulysses 31 and The Mysterious Cities of Gold.
There's a rich pedigree to the show - Shuichi Seki, the artist who created the character designs for Tom Sawyer, Vicky the Viking and Belle and Sebastian was on duty for the show, and Shichiro Kobayashi was onboard as artistic director (he was the animation director of the classic Lupin III adventure The Castle of Cagliostro and would later go on to produce the Berserk TV series).
The show was called Wan Wan Sanjushi in Japan, literally translating as the "Woof Woof Musketeers". The studios later collaborated on another successful project, Around the World with Willy Fog.
The statue is a lovingly accurate representation of Dogtanian in resin, though sadly this copy was damaged in transit (the feather broke away from the hat) but happily it could be glued back in place with no noticeable damage - phew! Standing at 6 inches tall with his trusty sword by his side, it's a gorgeous little piece of animated history, and is limited to 500 pieces. Fariboles has also produced statues for series such as Asterix, The Smurfs, Hellboy and others, and you can see an amazing gallery of these figures on their official website.
Although this was a present for Bryony, I was thrilled to find out that a childhood favourite we shared had Japanese origins, like many of the cartoons that captured our hearts way back when. A lovely surprise in a small package!
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