Once Upon a Times in Japan

Note: This is a page for the 2004 anime series, for the 1994 film, see Once Upon a Time in Japan.

Once Upon a Times in Japan (Japanese: グレイソン：シリーズ, Hepburn: Gureison: Shirīzu, lit. "Grayson: The Series") is a Japanese slice of life anime based on the 1994 film Once Upon a Time in Japan. Like the original source material, it follows an American teenager named Grayson Hale who moves to Japan following the death of his parents, and the show chronicles various events in his life as well as some of the other characters present. The series follows the original film's premise fairly closely, though it does also deviate from the source material, with some different events happening and the setting being updated to the 2000s. It was directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori, written by Mamiko Ikeda and produced by Studio Pierrot, who had also produced the film prior.

The series aired in Japan on TBS from March 3, 2004 to August 25, 2004. Once Upon a Times in Japan is licensed for distribution in English-speaking territories by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution.

Premise
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Japanese cast

 * Kappei Yamaguchi as Grayson Hale
 * Mahito Ōba as Russell Castro
 * Mamiko Noto as Hitomi Ikeda

English cast

 * Darrel Guilbeau as Grayson Hale
 * Kirk Thornton as Russell Castro
 * Kari Wahlgren as Hitomi Ikeda
 * Tony Oliver as Katsuro Nishihara
 * Dave Wittenberg as Isamu Fujino
 * Richard Epcar as Jurou Kubo
 * Patricia Ja Lee as Tomoko Miyoshi
 * Julie Maddalena as Kimi Okamura
 * Christopher Corey Smith as Shou Takeshita
 * Simon Prescott as Seiichi Koyanagi
 * Dorothy Elias-Fahn as Gina Fujimori
 * Derek Stephen Prince as Arata Tamura
 * Crispin Freeman as Masa Kono
 * William Frederick Knight as Izanagi Kiyabu
 * Lara Cody as Shinju Kuwahara
 * Julie Ann Taylor as Rika Ikeda
 * Steve Blum as Daisuke Ikeda
 * Michael Forest as Eiji Ikeda
 * Crispin Freeman as Hideo Sonoda
 * Steve Staley as Masaki Enomoto
 * Wendee Lee as Grayson's Mother
 * Skip Stellrecht as Grayson's Father

Production
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Anime
See also: List of Once Upon a Times in Japan episodes

Once Upon a Times in Japan premiered in Japan on March 3, 2004, on TBS, with a new episode airing weekly until the final episode aired on August 25, 2004. The series is directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori and features character designs by Kazunori Iwakura. The series simultaneously aired on Animax, Sony's Japanese anime satellite channel, with its networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia also later airing the series.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who had previously distributed the film, licensed the anime series for distribution outside of Japan. The English dub of the show was produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment and featured several voice actors from the film reprising their roles, though many of the other actors were recast. The series aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's Toonami block from May 15, 2005 to November 12, 2005, being jointly distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution and Sony Pictures Television. Some of the show's content was subjected to editing on Toonami in order to make it more suitable to Cartoon Network's audience. The uncut English dub would later air in reruns on The CW from 2012 to 2017.

MGM and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD on March 7, 2006. This three-disc DVD set contains both the original Japanese audio track as well as the uncut English dub. The series is also available for streaming on Tubi TV.

Soundtracks
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Manga
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Reception
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