Italian Disco Anime: When Robots Danced to the 4/4 Beat

The early Italian localizations of anime themes were all about disco and cosmic sounds.

In February 1978, a secluded cabin in the Alps became the ultimate aspiration for Italians with a TV set. Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki’s Heidi was debuting on national TV, and it also stood out for its opening theme. Unlike the Japanese original, which bears a striking similarity to Snow White’s “Whistle While You Work,” the Italian one, penned by Franco Migliacci (who also gave us “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu” by Domenico Modugno) and performed by Elisabetta Viviani, is an Alpine Italo-Schlager daydream that immediately skyrocketed in the commercial release charts, selling more than 1 million copies. 

Heidi marks the first phase of Italian anime localizations in the late 1970s and ’80s. They were characterized by accessible experimentalism and a lack of childishness, which would define the bulk of the late 1980s and 1990s productions, creating Disney-lite themes–until the chav and Eurodance productions of Giorgio Vanni and Max Longhi took over.

As to why they were localized, the reason lies in the fact that the Japanese originals were deemed too far from the tastes of the Italian public. This was two decades before Italian anime and manga lovers would start gathering in forums, chat lines, and other spaces where they could enjoy the original, unadulterated source material.

This first phase is of interest to Italian Disco Stories and its audience because composers and performers contracted to localize anime opening themes dabbled in disco music and strongly favored synths.

Mecha-themed anime (known as “Robottoni” in Italian) proved to be fertile ground for this type of music. “Consider that, by the mid-1970s, robots were a common occurrence: Star Trek coexisted with krautrock and its cosmic-flavored synths,” writes music writer and author Demented Burrocacao in his book Si Trasforma in un Razzo Missile, which is all about early Italian localizations of anime theme songs.

The best known series in this genre is Goldrake, which started airing in Italy in April 1978. “Ufo Robot” is Goldrake’s opening theme, but disco music fans should pay closer attention to its closing theme, “Shooting Star.” It has a four-on-the-floor beat and a synthy bassline.

It’s a disco arrangement that borders on the dark. Behind these tracks is Actarus, the band aptly named after one of the characters: its members were bass player Ares Tavolazzi, Lucio Battisti’s guitarist Massimo Luca, the drummer Ellade Bandini from the Magnetic System, and Francesco Guccini’s collaborator. Vince Tempera was the arranger; Fabio Concato sang the male vocal track, while the lead female vocals were courtesy of Paola Orlandi. Lyrics were penned by Luigi Albertelli, known for “Ricominciamo,” “Zingara,” and “Non voglio mica la luna.” Both “Ufo Robot” and “Shooting Star” yielded a full-length album: Atlas Ufo Robot, whose other tracks were merely inspired by the anime and were not actually present in their fictional universe. “Vega,” quite notably, is a disco track that is reminiscent of “Disco Inferno.” Though not disco in genre, “Venusia” included in the LP is a beautiful cosmic ballad that deserves a mention, a beautiful hybrid of cosmic and orchestral pop that conjures up a nostalgia for the future.

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Getter Robot arrived in Italy in 1980, and its second opening theme, which marks the episodes of its second season, titled “Space Robot,” is a high-energy disco-funk piece, “something like a tripping Elton John, dressed with solar-powered synths that are reminiscent of Korg Delta superimpositions on a vibrato setting,” in Demented Burrocacao’s words. As for the vocal track, it sounded like a hybrid between a children’s choir and a distorted adult voice.

In the same year, Tekkamen got its release in Italy, but it was only aired on local TV channels, so it never soared in terms of popularity (just like its original version in Japan, canceled halfway through its first season). However, its opening theme song Tekkamen, Il Cavaliere Dello Spazio co-written and arranged by Vince Tempera is a disco gem (also reminiscent of The Trammps’ Disco Inferno). 

Ufo Diapolon, which graced Italian tv screens in 1981, has a sci-fi opening theme performed by Superobots. “It’s an electro-disco track that, paradoxically, is reminiscent of Matia Bazar’s electro pivot, which would only happen three years after the release of this theme song,” writes Demented Burrocacao, who praises the theme’s harsh and melodic patterns of the synths, its reverbs, and the robotic vocal track. “The end result was wistful melancholy, far from the fanfare-like themes of Mazinger or Daltonius.”

Another disco-inflected track is the “opening theme” of the 1976 mecha Gaiking, which, due to a controversial ownership battle between its creator Go Nagai and Toei Animation studios, was localized without an actual opening track. What was used instead is hardcore space disco with female vocals, synth drums, and a male choir by the Austrian space-disco sensation Ganymed—Falco of “Rock Me Amadeus” fame was a collaborator.

On top of these disco-inflected hits, however, one cannot avoid mentioning other genres. For instance, the 1983 anime Love Me Knight, which arrived in Italy as Kiss Me Licia in 1985, revolves around BeeHive, a glam-rock band trying to make a name for itself in working-class Osaka. When Fininvest (later Mediaset) bought the rights to the series, they milked it for all its potential, enriching the source material. In the Italian adaptation, Bee Hive sang memorable tracks such as “Free Way” and “Baby,” a little glam, a little new-romantic.

Additionally, Matia Bazar founding member Piero Cassano was quite active as a theme-song composer too: he is famous for the Greek mythology adaptation of Pollon, for the theme song of Nana Supergirl, and, in the 1990s, for the fourth and fifth opening themes of Sailor Moon. If you listen closely to the Sailor Moon themes, in particular, you’ll notice that their bridges and choruses would easily fit into the Matia Bazar repertoire.

A special mention needs to be made for Detto Mariano, producer, composer and pianist who has worked with many iconic Italian artists such as Milva, Mina, Adriano Celentano, Lucio Battisti and more. In the late 70s, with the rising popularity in Italy of anime, Mariano was commissioned to write and produce several theme songs geared mainly for  young audiences (Mazinga, Temple e Tam Tam, Judo Boy, Gundam, Astroganga, Piccola Lulu, I bon bon di Lilly). One in particular, Baldios Robot, stands out for its cosmic disco sounds carrying a dark mood that echoes the plot of the series that develops around a futuristic world whose wartime pollution has forced its occupants to live underground.

As far as disco is concerned, at the end of the millennium, the Max Longhi-Giorgio Vanni duo would bring full-on Eurodance (of the “put your hands up in the air” kind) to anime opening themes, thus creating a full-circle moment with the mecha adaptations of the late 1970s.

Buy Demented Burrocacao’s book on Amazon