Wandering Sun (さすらいの太陽, Sasurai no Taiyō), also known as Nozomi in the Sun and Jane e Micci on Italy, is a Japanese manga series written by Keisuke Fujikawa and illustrated by Mayumi Suzuki. It also received an anime adaptation by Mushi Productions which ran for 26 episodes in 1971. Both Yoshiyuki Tomino and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko were involved in the production of Wandering Sun, and would later again collaborate on the ground-breaking and genre-defining series Brave Raideen and Mobile Suit Gundam. The anime toned down some of the more intense and mature elements of the manga for a prime-time TV audience.

Wandering Sun tells the story of two girls switched at birth by the nurse Michiko, out of a grudge against the parents of one of the newborns. Miki was born in the poor Mine family but is switched into the rich Kouda clan, and Nozomi the opposite. Fate cannot separate the two girls who compete to become successful singers after meeting at high school, with the girl-next-door Nozomi working hard and on her own to be the best pop singer in Japan and the rich girl Miki using her family’s status to reach the same goal.

This series was itself a ground-breaker in that it was perhaps the first anime series to depict the entertainment industry—specifically popular music, and that would popularize the future concept of Japanese Idols which would be a major plot point in many anime to come from Creamy Mami to Perfect Blue until Love Live Series. The TV series was also released in Italy under the title Jane e Micci and in France as Nathalie et ses Amis.

Cast

• Junko Fujiyama as Nozomi Mine
• Michiko Hirai as Miki Kouda
• Kōsei Tomita as Kumagoro
• Makio Inoue as Fani
• Ryōko Kinomiya as Michiko Nohara
• Tesuya Asado as Isao Egawa
• Koichi Noda as Jun Nohara
• Mitsuko Aso as Tsune
• Kinpei Azusa as Shinsuke Mine
• Miyoko Asō as Shizuko Mine
• Takako Kondo as Kazuo Mine
• Waka Tachibana as Yuki Mine
• Osamu Kobayashi as Daijiro
• Ikuo Nishikawa as Yumemaro
• Takeshi Aono as Akira Nitta

Staff

• Original Creator: Keisuke Fujikawa, Mayumi Suzuki
• Script: Keisuke Fujikawa, Shun’ichi Yukimuro
• Character Designs: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
• Storyboards: Yoshiyuki Tomino
• Music: Hideki Fuyuki
• Producer: Hiroshi Saito, Noboru Katano
• Production: Mushi Production, Fuji TV

References