The first user system was installed at Nippon Animation, and more studios followed—a dozen or so in Japan alone.
The Japanese animation studio Nippon Animation adapted this tale into a feature-length TV special in 1979, directed by Hiroshi Saito.
Unlike the more cheerful lighter tones of the Disney Version and Nippon Animation's version Piccolino no Bōken, this series has a distinctly sadistic darker theme and portrays the main character, Pinocchio (Mokku), as suffering from constant physical and psychological abuse and freak accidents.
Sango-shō Densetsu: Aoi Umi no Elfie - TV special, 1986; seemingly inspired heavily by Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa
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A few years later, the two authors began creating cartoons based on their own characters, following their experiences with Nippon Animation and Film Polski.
A PlayStation 2 game based on the Nippon Animation anime was released in Japan in 2001 as part of the Anime Eikaiwa series.