The Legend of Zorro (anime series)

The Legend of Zorro (Japanese: 快傑ゾロ, Hepburn: Kaiketsu Zoro, lit. "Extraordinary Zorro") is an Italian-Japanese anime, based on the western character Zorro.

Not to be confused with Kaiketsu Zorori.

The Legend of Zorro
Promotional poster for the television series Kaiketsu Zorro
快傑ゾロ (Extraordinary Zorro)
Genre	Historical, adventure, superhero
Anime television series
Directed by	Katsumi Minoguchi
Produced by	Hiroshi Kato Masako Fukuyo Tatsuo Oba
Written by	Sukehiro Tomita
Music by	Hiromoto Tobisawa
Studio	Ashi Productions Toho Mondo TV
Original network	NHK
English network	^AU Nine Network, 9Go!
Original run	April 5, 1996 – March 28, 1997
Episodes	52

Plot

Diego Vega, the eighteen-year-old scion of a local landowner, returns from studying in Spain and discovers that his homeland has fallen under the dictatorship of Commander Raymond and Lieutenant Gabriel. Outraged by the oppression, Diego decides to fight the tyrants. Disguised as Zorro, a masked swordsman, he helps the weak, riding away on his horse, Viento.

In his day-to-day life, Diego portrays himself as a clumsy and cowardly boy who flees when faced with dangerous situations only to appear moments later as Zorro. As the local hero, he is known to punish his enemies by cutting a "Z" shaped mark into them with the tip of his blade. Diego is accompanied by Bernard, his sidekick, who wears a similar costume and has the nickname "Little Zorro."

Diego's childhood friend and sweetheart, Lolita Prideaux, believes that Spain changed him and she scolds him relentlessly for his idiotic behavior. Lolita is a sweet-tempered girl who wants to fight evil and protect the people by helping Zorro from behind the scenes. She later develops feelings for Zorro, though she is unaware of his true identity.[1][2]

Characters

Don Diego Vega/Zorro

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese)

The main protagonist of the series. As Diego, he pretends to be lazy and clumsy, playing the role of a cowardly fool to hide his secret identity. As Zorro, he is the most noble-minded swordsman in the world. Diego is a rival of Captain Raymond but feels a deep affection for the other man. Diego is calm and reasonable, contrasting with his hot-headed and stubborn companions.

Lolita Prideaux

Voiced by: Maria Kawamura (Japanese)

The female protagonist of the series. Diego's spunky blond childhood friend and love interest. She is a laid-back and average girl. She acts bossy towards Diego, but she has romantic feelings for Zorro.

Bernard/Little Zorro

Voiced by: Rica Matsumoto (Japanese)

Diego/Zorro's sidekick, an abandoned orphan found by Diego when he was still a baby. Diego adopted and took care of him as if he was his younger brother. He helps Zorro by eavesdropping and gathering information, and later develops his own alter ego, "Little Zorro."

Commander Raymond

Voiced by: Jūrōta Kosugi (Japanese)

The main villain of the series, commander of the Spanish Army in California who plots to assassinate the governor general.

Lieutenant Gabriel

Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi (Japanese)

A young Spanish officer who serves as Captain Raymond's right hand man in California. Lt. Gabriel has feelings for Lolita.

Don Alejandro Vega

Voiced by: Ikuya Sawaki (Japanese)

Diego's father.

Sergeant Pedro Gonzales

Voiced by: Kōzō Shioya (Japanese)

A stout sergeant who often serves as comic relief. Comparable to Johnston McCulley's character from 1920's The Mark of Zorro.

Don Carlos Prideaux

Lolita's father.

Catarina Prideaux

Lolita's mother.

Maria

Viento

Zorro's horse.

Tackle

Figaro

Nikita

Bernard's love interest.

Manuel

One of Bernard's best friends.

Sergio

One of Bernard's best friends.

Leona

One of Bernard's best friends, a girl who looks like a boy.

Governor general

Captain Jekyll

Brown

Kapital

Episode list

The Legend of Zorro (1996)

No.	Official English title
1	"Return of the Hero"
In 1800, California is under The Spanish Empire. Diego is on a ship to go back to his home country, California, because his father asks for his return. Lolita is helping Cekita and his wife and baby to run away from California, because Cekita was teaching freedom to the people. Lolita meets Diego at the ship and he helps her to hide them but failed. The army finds them, arrests them, but leave the baby. Diego and Lolita attend Diego's welcome back party. Soldiers come and report that Cekita is to be executed. Everyone at the party is insistent on going to watch the execution. Zorro (Diego) arrives to stop the execution and helps Cekita and his wife to run away. The following dawn soldiers search inside the ship, but nothing is found. Lieutenant Gabriel sees a small boat and realises that Cekita may be on other shore preparing to meet it. Gabriel finds Cekita and his wife and stops them. Zorro arrives and defeats Gabriel. Cekita and his wife are able to escape..
2	"The Barrels of Wine"
One night, two carts full of the farmer Vega's wine are being moved from a farm to the warehouse. The carts pass through a mountain pass. A group of bandits ambush the cart and steal the wine. These bandits are being paid by a liquor seller, Brown. Soldiers go to Vega family to collect taxes, but the Vega’s can’t pay since they don’t any money from selling the wine. The army takes their wheat instead. Diego plans to trap the bandits. He, Lolita and Bernard with the help of Sergeant Pedro with two police officers discover the warehouse where the stolen wine is stored. Some bandits scare the police away by telling them that other bandits are coming to steal the wine. Diego pretends to be scared and also runs away. Lolita tries to rush through the bandits but fails. Zorro arrives and stops the bandits. One of bandits takes away a cart of wine. Zorro whispers to Bernard that he has already marked all the barrels with a “Z” sign. Bernard with his friends examine all of the barrels around the city. They find the barrels with the “Z” sign in Brown's yard. Brown tries to bribe the army Commander, Luis, with the wine. Zorro arrives to interrupt them. He fights with the bandits and wins. He takes the money which Brown acquired by selling Vega’s wine and return it to Vega.
3	"Proposal of Marriage"
It is morning, Diego is sleeping under the sun, while his father, Don Vega is working in the fields and sweating heavily. The villagers assume that he is a lazy guy. Don Carlos, Lolita’s father, sees him and has doubts about allowing him to marry his daughter. But Katherina, Lolita’s mother, sees that if Lolita marries Diego, they can get the share of Don Vega's land. But Lolita considers that Diego has become a lazy, boring, coward and a good for nothing man. Lieutenant Gabriel with his company come to Don Carlos' house. He delivers a marriage proposal to Lolita, but Lolita doesn’t want to see him. Don Carlos says Diego is her fiancé. Gabriel visits Diego and asks him for a duel. Diego refuses and all the villagers laugh at him. Gabriel puts Diego in jail for no reason, and then hires an arsonist to burn down Don Carlos’s warehouse. Gabriel plans to help catch the arsonist to impress Don Carlos and Lolita. Lolita runs away and Gabriel kidnaps her. Bernard and his dog help Diego to escape from jail. Zorro (Diego) catches the arsonist as he is about to burn another warehouse and forces him to confess where Lolita is being kept. Zorro arrives, fights the guards, and rescues Lolita. Gabriel attempts to stop him but fails. Commander Raymond arrives with the captured arsonist and lectures all of his men that bad behaviour is forbidden. Lolita safely arrives home.
4	"Wake Up My Friend!"
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5	"The Ties of Blood"
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6	"The Red Jewel"
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7	"Too Many Borros"
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8	"Killer Guitar"
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9	"The Treasure of Dreams"
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10	"Untrue Feelings"
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11	"Mystery Mountain"
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12	"Man's Best Friend"
A little pit bull is discovered by Bernard. He decides to rescue the stray dog and name him Figaro. Maria the housemaid does not like him and wants to kick him out. Figaro proves his worth as a very intelligent and clever dog able to help out little Zorro.
13	"Little Zorro at Full Blast"
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14	"The Stagecoach Is in Danger!"
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15	"Lolita's Kiss"
The governors festival is coming to town. All the local maidens will compete in a dance competition. The males will compete in a fencing tournament the two winners will kiss. Lolita's friend is sick and asks Lolita to take her place as a dancer. Lolita agrees, but she is aware that Gabriel is set to win the sword fencing competition. Bernardo begs Diego to join the competition, but Diego refuses to join even though he wants to kiss Lolita. The scorpion gang is using this chance to rob people. Zorro goes and defeats the scorpion gang and decides to go to the festival. Gabriel and Lolita win the competition and are about to kiss. Zorro then asks to fight Gabriel for the right to kiss Lolita. The Army agrees and Gabriel loses. Zorro kisses Lolita and leaves the festival.
16	"The Sword from Japan"
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17	"Cornered"
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18	"The Clever Detective"
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19	"A House of Deadly Tricks"
The army contracted two brothers to make a house of deadly traps to kill Zorro. To lure Zorro they steal money from Don Carlos in a fake investing venture. Little Zorro is caught and is trapped inside the house. Zorro enters the house to rescue Little Zorro. After avoiding and surviving many traps the brothers decide to blow up the house. Zorro and Little Zorro survive the explosion by hiding in a vault and retrive all the money stolen from Don Carlos.
20	"Vengeance"
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21	"Wings of Dreams"
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22	"Gonzales the Thief"
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23	"The Bride from Spain"
A young women arrives from Spain. She is a former acquiescent of Diego and claims that Diego offered his hand in marriage. Diego claims that he never made any promise. While everyone is baffled from this a gang of thieves start to steal from people. After investigative work it is found out that the marriage was a ploy to extort money from the Vega family. Zorro apprehends the thieves and reveals that to the young woman that her friends used her. She leaves back for Spain, but not before making Lolita jealous for one last time.
24	"The Peoples Enemy"
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25	"Tears of Clown"
The circus is in town. Little does Diego know that the army has contracted an assassin within the circus armed with a magical amulet to kill him. Diego, Bernard and Lolita befriend a circus boy and his father a circus clown. The circus clown carries a shame from his past. Gabriel gives tickets to Lolita to lure her in a trap. In this battle Zorro gets hurt and almost loses, until the clown he befriended saves him. Zorro rescues Lolita and the circus clown gets his resolution.
26	"Pepita"
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27	"Lady Barbara"
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28	"The Haunted Ruins"
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29	"The Great Art Swindle"
Diego and Lolita visit an art exhibit where many famous paintings are open for sale to the public. Diego suspects that something is afoul with the paintings. Bernard finds a mysterious man running away. The man is named Rodrigo and was forced to paint fakes for the art exhibit. Zorro helps him escape to Spain and exposes the art exhibit.
30	"Gonzales in Love"
While on his day off, Gonzales finds and rescues a young women being attacked by debt collectors. He befriends her and falls in love with her. The debt collector lures in victims with a low interest rate only to replace their contract with one several times higher. The debt collector captures Sal and reveals that she is the granddaughter of a duke in England. Gonzales rescues her and has her return to England.
31	"Fire in the Sky"
A lot of wheat fields and wheat storage houses are being burned by a supposed social reform group. With the shortage of wheat the South Indian Trade Company has increased the prices of grain leaving many hungry. Diego's dad Don Vega responds to the crisis by offering his own wheat as bread to the poor. He pays a boy to go and spread the word. The boy's father is a drunk who causes shame for the boy. His father then gets a job offer to stand near Don Vegas storage. He is blamed for the arson attaks and chased by the army. Eventually he finds the real people responsible for the arson attacks. Zorro defeats the arsonists and clears the name of the boy's father and resolves the wheat shortage
32	"A Doctors Dylemma"
The South India Trading Company has open a hospital with new doctors. The people however prefer the local doctor who has always treated them. The trading company tries to get the doctor to join but he refuses to work with them. They then discredit him by causing him to sleep during an operation. With the local doctor discredited the only medical place is the Trading Companies. They charge exuberant prices and one of their doctors decides to expose them as corrupt. It isn't until the son of the president of the hospital gets injured that they decide to confess to their crimes and restore the credibility of the local doctor.
33	"Lolita in Love"
Lolita and Diego are out shopping in town. A gang of thugs harass Lolita and Diego pretends to be weak and useless to keep his identity a secret. A handsome man on a white horse defends Lolita and copies the Zorro Z slash. Lolita believes that the man is Zorro and becomes infatuated with him. Rumors spread that he is Zorro and the army goes to capture him. He claims to be the son of the Duke of Spain and his fame spreads even more. Diego warns Lolita that the man is not what he seems but she refuses to listen. Lolita is kidnapped and an expensive ransom of 500 gold coins is demanded. The man promises that he will pay the ransom but claims that he has no money at hand. Carlos and Don Vega collect the ransom money and they give it to the man. Zorro follows after him. The army comes and warns Carlos that they found out the Duke has no adult son. That man wanted who only wanted to kidnap Lolita. After exposing them and defeating them Zorro tells Lolita that the man that truly cares for her is coming. Zorro leaves and returns as Diego offering to return her home.
34	"The Order to Kill Zorro"
The South India Trade Company had contacted 3 of the best assassins from around the world to finally kill Zorro. At the same time Diego has spotted his senior classmate Emilio in town. Emilio was the one who taught Diego how to fence and is better in sword fighting than Diego. They promise to meet each other later. The Army lures Zorro to the mines where Zorro defeats them and goes on his way. Zorro is able to defeat the first assassin but then has to fight Emilio. Zorro is stunned and he gets defeated by him. Emilio recognizes Zorro and hesitates to kill him. The third assassin tries to kill Zorro and Zorro escapes. Diego gets his wounds treated and is met by Emilio. Emilio explains that after losing his Father and Mother to poverty he swore that he would become rich and powerful, but he cannot kill his friend. Emilio begs Diego to retire Zorro but Diego refuses. They decided to fight to the death at dawn. The third assassin overhears them and follows them to the designated spot. The two of them fight at dawn and Zorro loses to Emilio. Emilio cannot kill Diego and the third assassin fires poison darts. Emilio saves Diego but get hit with the lethal darts. With his final breath Emilio instructs Diego as he defeats the third assassin. Diego buries his friend and vows to fight for justice.
35	"Gonzales in Love Again"
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36	"Unmasked"
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37	"Diego Under Cover"
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38	"The Underwater Adventure"
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39	"The Battle in the Storm"
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40	"My Fair Lady Zorro"
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41	"Lolita Get Your Gun!"
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42	"Trapped by Ninja Magic"
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43	"Beauty and the Monster"
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44	"Gabriel's Rebellion"
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45	"The Legend of the Sacred Wood"
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46	"The Hipnotic Doctor"
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47	"The Kidnapping of the Governor General"
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48	"A Righteous Military Officer"
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49	"Farewell to the Army"
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50	"Blast Off the Demonic Cannon"
The south Indian trading company has gotten a massive cannon that can easily wipe out rebels. The cannon is stored on top of a mountain and heavily guarded by massive walls, numerous soldiers, guard dogs and traps. Everyone is counting on Zorro to destroy the super weapon, but Diego is uncertain he can it. Diego then eavesdrops on Lolita becoming engaged to a wealthy suitor, heartbroken he decided to go risk his life and stop the super weapon. He ties up Bernard and leaves alone. He then kisses a sleeping Lolita before his mission. Using kites and decoys he distracts the guards and goes inside. He avoids the traps and avoids the dogs. He destroys the cannon and is rescued by Bernard. Happy that he managed to do this feat he returns home. Lolita then tells Diego that she has rejected her suitor and has decided to remain single.
51	"A Prelude to the Collapse"
The south Indian trading company has had enough failures and has decided to audit the California branch. Afraid of having all their shady practices discovered the local trading company president decides to run. He has a ledger containing all of the hidden crimes he committed with the Spanish army. Zorro tries to capture the president and his ledger, but then a hired bounty hunter from the Indian trading company appears. He wants to take the president and the ledger back to Spain to the CEO to be held accountable. Zorro and the bounty hunter fight. The bounty hunter is better skilled and badly hurts Zorro. Zorro then flees but at the same time is shot by the Spanish army. Afraid little Zorro decides to get Lolita to treat Zorro's wounds and discover his real identity. Lolita removes the bullet and bandages Diego. She then volunteers to help. She dresses up as Zorro and helps save the day. The bounty hunter captures the president and the ledgers and returns to Spain. Diego vows that the day of reckoning for the army is coming.
52	"The Sword of Justice Forever"
Knowing that their time is up the army decides to stage a coup and kill the governor. Zorro and little Zorro go rescue the governor while Lolita fires a machine gun. The hide the governor and prepare for the army's upraising. Diego has a tender moment with Lolita. Diego's dad and maid interrupt to help. They reveal that they always knew and help. Diego with his friends work to defeat the army. Gonzales finally stands up to his superiors. With the army finally in order Lolita asks about Zorro. Diego says that Zorro is no longer needed, but whenever their is injustice and people in need then Zorro will appear.

Music

The series soundtrack contains two pieces of thematic music. The opening theme is titled "Zorro", and the closing theme "Chikai" (誓い; "Oath"). Both are sung by Masaaki Endoh and are used for all aired episodes.

References

1. Production Reed
2. 1996 Ashi Productions TV Series

External links

• Official anime website of Production Reed (in English)
• Official anime website of Production Reed (in Japanese)
• on MONDO TV
• The Legend of Zorro (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kaiketsu Zorro on IMDb