is an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 television series produced by Nippon Animation

Nippon Animation

is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City....

 Company in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The series consisted of 55 episodes and was originally telecast across Japan from April 1975 to April 1976 on the TV Asahi

TV Asahi

, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....

 network (formerly NET). Based on the classic children's book Maya the Bee

Maya the Bee

The Adventures of Maya the Bee is a German book, comic book series and animated television series, first written by Waldemar Bonsels and published in 1912...

 by Waldemar Bonsels

Waldemar Bonsels

Waldemar Bonsels was a German writer of children's books.Waldemar Bonsels wrote only one children's book in the strict sense, Die Biene Maja . "People in the sky" is not a proper children's book but has a much deeper mystical layer showing the unity of all creation and its relationship to God...

, the anime series has been rebroadcast numerous times in various countries and languages since its premiere.

Two English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

-dubbed versions of the series exist, a British version, using a translated version of the original theme tune, and featuring (rather upper-class) British accents for the characters; and a United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 version with an entirely new theme tune, produced by Saban Entertainment, which was broadcast from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1992 on the children's television channel Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

. Maya the Bee aired alongside other juvenile-targeted anime such as Adventures of the Little Koala

Adventures of the Little Koala

is an anime TV series produced by Tohokushinsha Film Corporation. It aired originally in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 4, 1984 through March 28, 1985, and then aired in the United States on Nickelodeon dubbed in English from 1987 to 1994...

, Noozles

Noozles

, 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...

and The Littl' Bits

The Littl' Bits

is a Japanese anime television series with 26 episodes, produced in 1980 by Tatsunoko Productions inJapan. First shown on TV Tokyo , its Saban-produced English translation was featured on the children's television station Nick Jr...

as part of Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block of programming for very young children.

A second Maya the Bee anime, 新みつばちマーヤの冒険 Shin Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken (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

TV Osaka

is a TV station affiliated with TXN in Osaka, Japan. The mascot character is "Takoru-kun" .-Offices:*The headquarters - 1-2-18, Otemae, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan...

, 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.

Music

Most famous version of the theme song for this cartoon was in 1976 composed by Karel Svoboda

Karel Svoboda

Karel Svoboda was a Czech composer of popular music. He wrote music for many TV series in the 1970s.- Works :...

, lyrics written by Florian Cusano and performed by Karel Gott

Karel Gott

Karel Gott is a Czech Schlager singer, and an amateur painter. He is considered as the most successful male singer in former Czechoslovakia and currently in the Czech Republic; he has being voted the Most Favorite Male Singer in the annual national pool Český slavík in total thirty-six times...

 in German, Czech and Slovak language. This tune was used for the cartoons in all European countries with translated lyrics as a music theme. To this day, it remains a well known song in Germany, with Gott often performing it live. The original English song used the same tune and a rough translation of the German lyrics, although broadcasts in the USA use an entirely different theme tune and title sequence.

Story

The story centres 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. In the process, she (along with the viewer) learns about the lives of many different creatures, as well as the importance of friendship, co-operation, and co-existence.

Characters

) (Japanese VA: Michiko Nomura

Michiko Nomura

is a Japanese voice actress. She is married to fellow voice actor Kenji Utsumi.-Notable voice roles:*Speed Racer : Mitchi Shimura *Sazae-san : Wakame Isono *Doraemon : Shizuka...

, English VA: Pauline Little

Pauline Little

Pauline Little is a Canadian voice actor who currently resides in Montreal Quebec.She voices Lulu's mom in The Little Lulu Show, Lotus and Jasmine the twins in The Little Flying Bears, Maya the Bee, Francine in Samurai Pizza Cats and Caillou's grandma in Caillou.She can also be seen in The Day...

, Persian VA: Nikoo, Arabic VA: Zina زينة )

The main character of the story, an inquisitive, adventurous and somewhat flighty young honeybee. (Japanese VA: Masako Nozawa

Masako Nozawa

is a Japanese voice actress and actress affiliated with Office Nozawa. Her pet name is Mako. Her husband, Masa'aki Tsukada is also a voice actor....

, English VA: Richard Dumont

Richard Dumont

Richard M. Dumont is a voice actor and director who has worked in both Canada and the United States. He voices Menator, the aging leader of the Olmecs in The Mysterious Cities of Gold, Grognard in Night Hood and Scarecrow in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

, Persian VA: Nik,, Arabic VA: Nahoul نحول)

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. Prone to jealousy when Maya's attentions turn to others. Often reluctantly dragged into adventures by Maya. (Japanese VA: Ichiro Nagai

Ichiro Nagai

is a male seiyū from Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. He was formerly represented by Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society, but is now represented by Aoni Production.-Television animation:*Akuma-kun *Bikkuriman...

, English VA: A.J. Henderson

A.J. Henderson

A.J. Henderson is a Canadian voice actor, born in Montreal, Quebec.- Biography :He is very prolific, having done voices for numerous anime, cartoons, and video games...

, Persian VA: Char-dast,, Arabic VA: Farfour فرفور)

A wise, top-hatted

Top hat

A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...

 grasshopper, effectively a father-figure for Maya and Willi. (Japanese VA: Miyoko Asō

Miyoko Aso

is a Japanese voice actress. She is best known for the role of Fune Isono in the longest-running Japanese anime series Sazae-san that began in 1969 and recently celebrated its 40 year anniversary. Her recent works include Dr. Pinako Rockbell in the 2009-2010 anime series Fullmetal Alchemist:...

, English VA: Jane Woods, Arabic VA: Selma المعلمة سلمى)

Maya's teacher and chief authority figure (mostly in the first animated series).

• Alexander

Intellectual mouse, held in high esteem among the other creatures, and has a close friendship with Maya, both of which often send Willy into jealous rages.

International distribution

The series enjoyed great popularity in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

 as La Abeja Maya, in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 as Abelha Maia, in Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 as L'ape Maia and in Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 as Včelka Mája (Czech

Czech language

Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

) / Včielka Maja (Slovak

Slovak language

Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...

). The series has also been released in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 (Μάγια η Μέλισσα), Slovene (Čebelica Maja), Macedonian

Macedonian language

Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...

 (Пчеличката Маја), Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 (Maja de Bij), Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

 (Maija Mehiläinen), French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 (Maya l'Abeille), Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 (Pszczółka Maja), Croatian

Croatian language

Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...

 (Pčelica Maja), Bulgarian

Bulgarian language

Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...

 (Пчеличката Мая), Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 (Пчелка Майя), Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 (Arı Maya), Hebrew (Ha-Devorah Maya-הדבורה מאיה) and Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 as Zina- زينة), German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 (Die Biene Maja), Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 (玛亚历险记), Korean

Korean language

Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

 (마야 붕붕 or 꿀벌 마야의 모험), among other languages.

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

André Roche

André Roche, born in 1952 in France, is an artist, an illustrator and an author of comics and children's books.- Biography :André Roche received a Bachelor’s degree of Tourism, Hotel Administration and Culinary Arts from the Lycée Hôtelier Alexandre Dumas in Strasbourg...

(Munich), which also realized from 1976 amounts of illustrations for books and diverse merchandising items.

Japanese Version

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

United States Version

• Executive Producer: Haim Saban
• Supervising Producer: Winston Richard
• Writer: Tim Reid
• Voice Direction: Tim Reid, Kathleen Fee
• Associate Producer: Eric S. Rollman
• Executive in Charge of Production: Jerald E. Bergh
• Music by: Haim Saban & Shuki Levy

Spanish Version

• "La Abeja Maya" Theme songs performed by Rachelle Cano
• Platinum Selling "La Abeja Maya" Spanish Album released on CBS Records performed by Rachelle Cano