Fred Ladd’s Works and Legacy
Fred Ladd was the trailblazing visionary who introduced anime (Japanese animation) to the Americas, revolutionizing the entertainment industry in North and South America. As the pioneer in the field, he brought the captivating world of anime to areas where it was previously completely unknown, including the US, Canada, and Latin America— forever changing the landscape of animation and storytelling.
This website is dedicated to honoring his groundbreaking work and providing fans with information about his creations. Explore his legacy and gain insight into the remarkable journey that transformed the cultural and artistic landscape across the English speaking world. Join us in celebrating Fred Ladd’s works, which built the bridge between Japan and America through the world of Animation.
Fred Ladd: Kimba Producer on The Lion King Controversy
Kimba - I mean Simba (The Simpsons)
Gigantor TV Series
The Original Gigantor
The original Gigantor was "born" in New York City during the summer of 1963. That is when Fred Ladd first saw an artwork of a giant, needle-nosed robot remotely controlled by a young boy. The artwork had been created in Japan some seven years earlier by Tokyo-based artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama; the adventures of the robot (in Japanese, "Tetsujin 28," translated as "IronMan 28") had appeared in a boys' magazine (Shonen) and were successful enough to generate a black-and-white animated TV Series called Tetsujin 28-Go.
Ladd, then working simultaneously on an animated feature called Pinocchio In Outer Space, on the animated TV series The Big World of Little Adam, and on the Japanese animated TV series AstroBoy, was immediately intrigued by the notion of an empowered youngster controlling an enormous robot. With his late partner Al Singer, Ladd formed a corporation called Delphi Associates, Inc., specifically to acquire and produce, in English, 52 episodes, each approximately thirty minutes in length, which would be called Gigantor.
Ladd renamed the robot Gigantor, the 12-year old boy who controlled the robot became Jimmy Sparks, the latter’s guardian and mentor, Dr. Shikishima, emerged as Doctor Bob Brilliant, and the robot's mission became a crusade against crime. In this pursuit, Jimmy worked hand in hand with oft-inept detective chief inspector Otsuka, known in English as Inspector Ignatz J. Blooper.
A theme song, Gigantor! was composed for the 52 episodes, and Gigantor, the series, became a reality in 1964, appearing throughout the late 1960s on television stations in the US and abroad.
The New Gigantor
In 1993, Ladd and Tokyo-based TMS animation studio joined forces to convert TMS' 51-episode color series of Shin Tetsujin 28 to The New Adventures of Gigantor. Character designs are based upon the same drawings seen earlier in the black-and-white series, but are sleeker, more modern.
