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The story
Paul’s Miracle Operation, which Tatsunoko Pro began airing in October 1976, finally received its first-ever Blu-ray release on August 28, 2026, marking the 50th anniversary of its premiere. The fairy-tale-flavored adventure anime follows Paul and friends as they journey through a mysterious world to rescue Nina, who has been kidnapped by the demon king Belt Satan; all 50 episodes originally aired. On the 5channel Geinou/Sports News+ board, the thread filled up with people humming the theme song, memories that “the story never seemed to move forward,” and comments that Belt Satan’s design is still scary today — reactions split sharply between the generation that watched it back then and those who’ve never heard of it at all.
2026.08.30
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Paul’s Miracle Operation’s broadcast premiere, the series’ first-ever Blu-ray release hit shelves on Friday, August 28, 2026.
Paul’s Miracle Operation is a TV anime produced by Tatsunoko Pro that aired a full 50 episodes starting in October 1976. Paul and Nina meet a stuffed toy that can travel back and forth to a mysterious world — but Nina ends up captured by the demon king Belt Satan. It’s a fairy-tale-style adventure fantasy anime made for kids with big imaginations.
Source: animageplus.jp / Original article here
What people said
Back in the day, elementary schoolers absolutely loved shouting the title out loud.
After an endlessly long stretch of stalling, I forgot how it even ended.
exactly the kind of thing that'd get you reported straight to Lord Belt Satan.
Polymar is set in "Washinkyo City, nation of Amehon" (a thin stand-in for Washington, USA)
An anime made with export in mind
Re: #46
A show where only the toys actually sold
Re: #81
Gowapper's the only obscure one
🎵 Here we go! Gonna fight it out with Notch—
🎵 The two of us, getting along, until the day we go home—
Every single episode ending in a cliffhanger without ever resolving anything made little-kid me so sad lol
Loved it too, but Belt Satan showed up in my dreams with his eyes rolled back white and I wet the bed.
It's streaming in full on U-NEXT, so I watched episode 6, the one with Chieko Honda as a guest.
Honestly the early episodes of Teyandee are kind of boring since the characters and running gags haven't settled in yet — even with a rerun, it'd probably get cancelled before it hits its stride.
Belt Satan was every bit as scary as Noroi.
And Kinoppy was pitiful too.
Couldn't agree more.
This isn't even from the early period, though.
It's from the mid-period when they were starting to branch out into all sorts of things.
https://content.bookoff.co.jp/goodsimages/LL/001609/0016096581LL.jpg
You called?
Looks like the Avengers.
Wait, the Capcom-side character art isn't by Akiman?
This must be from after he'd gone freelance and left —
are they using an SNK artist instead?
I don't get who the one in the middle is…
That's Denkou Sekka Volter, an original hero created just for this game — they even made proper opening and ending theme songs and animation for him, included right in the game.
The one in the middle is original to this game, so it's no wonder you don't recognize him.
Pakkun's terrifying, right?
Yeah, and the eyes go *sparkle* just like it too.
Background and Talking Points on This Topic
Paul’s Miracle Operation is a TV anime produced by Tatsunoko Pro that aired starting in October 1976. Unlike the studio’s contemporaneous hero shows like Gatchaman, Casshern, and Polymar, it leaned heavily into fantasy aimed at young children. In the thread, reactions split sharply even among people of the same generation depending on whether they’d actually watched it — some vividly remember the theme song and Belt Satan’s design, while plenty of others said “I have zero memory of this” or “never heard of it.” Tatsunoko’s works were often made with overseas export in mind, and commenters noted that giving settings Western-sounding names is a trait shared with several of the studio’s other titles. It’s worth noting this Blu-ray release is a standalone move for this one title — it’s easy to misread it as a promise of reruns or releases for other old Tatsunoko shows, but that’s not guaranteed.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Tatsunoko Pro’s ‘Paul’s Miracle Operation’ Gets Its First-Ever Blu-ray Release to Mark 50th Anniversary.”
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