Talk:Doraemon (Missing 1973 Anime Series)/@comment-24319325-20150428144647

I'd like to add something, for any users that know Japanese or could understand.

The 1973 Doraemon article on Japanese Wikipedia goes into the production and reception of the series a lot more, and well, is more forthcoming about its fate. It's a little more complex than "all the episodes were destroyed in a fire", and it even mentions the rumors surrounding the show that a staff member that worked on the show (Masami Jun) has attempted to debunk and clarify, as the rumors in the Western-speaking side have basically eclipsed the real situation. However, a lot of the episodes are indeed considered lost in some way or another.

Someone who managed to translate the gist of the article provided the run-down of what the case is:

The 1973 series actually had great ratings, though Nippon TV Video had financial issues that were compounded by the president suddenly resigning and there being a change-over to a new president who wasn't really interested in the production of the anime. The company wound up going bankrupt and closed, and they had to sell off all the materials and any possessions to pay the debts. Some things were also thrown out in the trash or destroyed by fire, which is probably where the idea that the episodes were all burnt came from. At least 16 negatives of episodes from the second half of the series were found in 1995, but cannot be released due to copyright issues surrounding it and the defunct production company.