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The film was produced in 1981 and it was the first animated feature in which Toho participated in the production. It is notable for its Western character design, unusual in anime. In fact Topcraft used to work for American animation studio Rankin/Bass at the time. Dorothy's design is therefore derived from That Girl in Wonderland episode of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, also animated by Topcraft, in which in a sequence Ann Marie imagines herself as Dorothy. Voice actress Mari Okamoto had already voiced Dorothy in the 1974 TBS dub of the 1939 The Wizard of Oz. This film's writer, Akira Miyazaki, also wrote for the 1986 anime television series of the same name.

Relation to the novel

The film is known for staying particularly close to the novel, its primary elimination being the journey to Glinda, which is only now slightly less of a deus ex machina than in the MGM version. Also borrowed from that version are the red "magic shoes" rather than the silver shoes of Baum's text. Some familiarity with the later books is clear, as the houses are the same two-chimneyed domes found in the artwork of John R. Neill, who never illustrated the first Oz book. Glinda's appearance is also borrowed from Neill's illustrations of Princess Ozma. It is one of the rare films to depict the various forms the Wizard appears to each of the travelers, such as the Beautiful-Winged Lady (shown to be a puppet rather than the Wizard in a costume, as in the book), the Terrible Beast (looking like an ordinary rhinoceros) and the Ball of Fire.

Music

The music was written by future Studio Ghibli's composer Jō Hisaishi along with Yuichiro Oda and performed by Columbia Orchestra. The Lyrics were written by Keisuke Yamakawa. The single containing the songs was released in April 1981 (Catalog# CK-584).

1. "Someone is waiting for me" (だれか私を待っている, Dare ka watashi wo matte iru) (Main theme) (Singer: Mitsuko Horie)
2. "What is 1+1?" (1＋1は何？, Ichi tasu ichi wa nani) (Insert song) (Singers: Mitsuko Horie and Koorogi '73)

A third song also sung by Horie can be heard in the middle of the film, but it remained untilted never having been released on record.

The English dubbed version featured new different lyrics by Sammy Cahn and Allen Byrns, all sung by Aileen Quinn.

1. "It's Strictly Up to You" (Main theme)
2. "I Dream of Home"
3. "A Wizard of a Day"

Release and home media

Although it was produced for a theatrical release scheduled in 1982, the film was eventually released in Japan straight to VHS and Betamax on December 31, 1986. It was also broadcast on AT-X as early as December 19, 2002.

The English version of the film, edited by Johann Lowenberg and produced by John Danylkiw, appeared on television in the United States on October 6, 1982. Alan L. Gleitsman was the executive producer of Alan Enterprises, which did the English dub for the North American release. New Hope Entertainment was also involved in producing the English-dubbed version. It was distributed in English-speaking countries and territories, including the United States and Canada, by Alan Enterprises. Paramount Home Video released the English dubbed version on VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, and CED on October 10, 1983. It was re-released again on VHS by Paramount in 1991.

The film was shown in cinemas in some countries in the 1980s, such as Czechoslovakia and Spain or in Latin America. It was dubbed into the Czech and Slovak language except for the songs, which were performed by Japanese singers (from the original Japanese music version). Some other foreign dubs, such as the Italian, Spanish and Greek versions, had this premise edit as well, while the French, Dutch and Hungarian dubs had their own rendition of the songs.

Except for a Polish Japanese-language DVD the movie never got an official DVD release in any other country.