Additional Information about the Kyojin No Hoshi (Series)

This TV series initially ran for 182 episodes.

Based on Noboru Kawasaki and Ikki Kajiwara's 1966 manga in "Shonen Magazine."

This was the first sports anime.

Several re-edits were screened theatrically during the original TV run as part of vacation anime festivals. "Star of the Giants" (1969), the first, ran for 88 minutes. It was promoted as providing the only chance for many viewers to see the show in color, as black and white TV sets were more common then.

Other movie versions were 1970's 70-minute "Dai League Ball" ("Star of the Giants: Big League") and 61-minute "Shinjuku no Taiketsu" ("Star of the Giants: Confrontation at Shinjuku").

Hyuma Hoshi's sole English-language appearance was in the 30-minute 1969 TV special "Star of the Giants vs. the Mighty Atom" (renamed "Astro Boy vs. the Giants"). This included characters from "Astro Boy."

"New [Shin] Star of the Giants" (1977), a sequel, was set five years after the original series, but was much less successful, running for only 75 episodes. Directors for this version were Tetsuro Imazawa, Satoshi Dezaki, Minoru Okazaki and Akinori Nagaoka. Writers were Toshiaki Imaizumi, Noboru Shiroyama and Yoshihisa Araki.

The final 23 episodes were renamed "New Star of the Giants II" in 1979. New regular characters were introduced, and Hyuma's girlfriend was dropped. To the annoyance of the original creators, Hyuma's father was killed off in the final episode.

Foreign Language Title: "Tommy, La Stella Dei Giants" (Italian).

Alternate Series Titles: "巨人の星" and "Star Of The Giants."

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