どろろと百鬼丸
Lord Kagemitsu Daigo strikes a pact with 48 demons, trading away his newborn son's body parts for the power to conquer the land, and has the deformed infant set adrift on a river. That child grows into Hyakkimaru, a wandering swordsman fitted with prosthetics who hunts down each of the 48 demons to reclaim what was taken from him. This 1969 series, based on Osamu Tezuka's manga, follows his journey alongside a scrappy young thief named Dororo, who latches onto Hyakkimaru for protection.
ルパン三世 パイロットフィルム
Two years after Monkey Punch's manga debuted, director Masaaki Osumi built a 12-minute proof-of-concept to test whether Lupin III could work as a TV series, opening with Lupin taunting Inspector Zenigata over a public payphone. Backers balked at the adult tone and the film never reached theaters, but its cast of Jigen, Fujiko, and Goemon carried over once the concept was reworked into the 1971 television pilot that became Lupin III: Part I.
あしたのジョー パイロットフィルム
Two eleven-minute pilot shorts made in 1969 condense the opening of Ashita no Joe: delinquent boxer Joe Yabuki meets trainer Danpei Tange and squares off against the skilled Toru Rikiishi. Made to sell Fuji TV on a series before Tomorrow's Joe existed as a show, the two segments dramatize Joe's first bouts and the rivalry that follows him into the ring. Later released as DVD bonus material, they are a compact preview rather than a continuing story.
