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It's Kamikazetime for Sandokan! Review #13
2 weeks ago
General
I'm not sure how obscure or not the cartoon of today is! So...do you guys know Sandokan?
I think this is one of those characters where it depends on which country you live in to determine if there's even a chance for you to have heard of him or any of his books, films, or cartoons. In case you never did, the basic information about him from wiki: "Sandokan is a fictional late 19th-century pirate created by Italian author Emilio Salgari. His adventures first appeared in publication in 1883. Sandokan is the hero of 11 adventure novels. Within the series, Sandokan is known throughout the South China Sea as the "Tiger of Malaya".
It seems that his books and other stuff made him quite popular in Italy, parts of Europe, and Southeast Asia. He's one of those characters who has a lot of stuff made based on his books. Heck, there's even some recent stuff, as a new series began filming in 2024 or was going to. Seems they had some delays, and production started in 2025, but maybe they will release it by the time this review is out. I didn't look into it, but if you're a fan of Sandokan stuff, you might want to check it out~
There are two cartoons based on Sandokan, and one of those is the subject of today's review for reasons that will be clear soon. We're talking about the Sandokan that was made by BRB Internacional!
From wiki: "BRB Internacional S.A.U. was a Spanish licensing and production company of animated television series such as Around the World with Willy Fog, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, and The World of David the Gnome. At the end of January 2018, WildBrain, a leading digital kids' network and studio, was appointed as the exclusive global manager of BRB Internacional's extensive catalogue of kids' content on YouTube. In 2022, the company closed after filing for bankruptcy. DeAPlaneta acquired the company's library in January 2023."
Shame that the company closed down, as they made a lot of cartoons, though I think the most famous of those is probably The World of David the Gnome. But they made a lot of others, and there are a few of those that are "furry" cartoons, or cartoons that only have furry characters in them. And yes, that's exactly the case with their version of Sandokan!
As someone who isn't familiar with anything from Sandokan, like the books or his other stuff, I will review only the cartoon on its own, so keep that in mind.
In this cartoon, we have Sandokan as the main character. He is an usurped prince who travels the seas as a pirate seeking to reclaim his rightful throne from the Rajah of Sarawak. The Rajah, James Brooke, was Sandokan's father, the former commandant, but he had orchestrated a coup d'État and managed to take over as the Rajah. He had imprisoned Sandokan's parents, who died in prison, but Sandokan escaped thanks to one guard who was loyal to his father, though he never saw that guard again.
So, he had become a pirate to get his own army and...apparently just bided his time to find a way to take over his place on the throne. I will talk more about this later, but before we do, and also talk about the cartoon in general, let's check on the main cast:
- Sandokan: The “Tiger of Malaya”! As the MC, of course, he's brave, smart, and all that. A nice, fair tiger guy and beloved by his men, he's all about fighting the Rajah of Sarawak, but we don't know this Sandokan for much longer. As soon as he met Mariana at the beginning of the cartoon, she was in his mind 24 hours a day. Now, when he opens his mouth, chances are he will say something about Mariana or act on her behalf.
That makes him boring compared to most of the cast, especially the villains, but not like he's that bad a character. Shame since there's lots of potential with him, but look, for example, at his hypnosis trick. He uses it twice to save someone and claims to have learned doing it in the jungles of Sumatra, and...that's it. Why doesn't he use such a thing more, like, say, against a guard or something? Does it only work on animals? It is wasted as it is. And the same could be said about Sandokan himself. As it is, it feels we have the Sandokan before and after he met Mariana...but more on this later.
- Yanez: Sandokan's right-hand man, and based on his flashback where he talks about his past to Mariana, he was the first one to be recruited by Sandokan. No wonder this fox (or coyote? think it's a fox...) became his best friend!
Yanez is quite laidback and always has a smile on his face, plus he's a master of disguises. And his disguises alternate between literally having a moustache on his face, and that's enough to complete clothes and mask with skin and all that allow him to completely impersonate someone like Baron William!
That's quite crazy since no way such disguises would exist at the time Sandokan lived. And it's even more weird as the only time Yanez uses those perfect disguises is just to trick or tease his friends. Maybe this is a reference to Transfer from Around the World with Willy Fog and his ridiculous, perfect disguises?
- Patan and Sambiligone: those two tigers are good friends and always ready to fight for Sandokan. While both are strong and loyal, Sambiblione seems to have quite the immature side to him, as he likes to pull pranks on Patan.
- Giro-Batol: When Yanez isn't doing the job of being the captain of the ship, that's up to this otter. And he's also the cook, though Crackers likes to tease him about it, as his cooking is the only thing he won't try to take responsibility for. Usually, he's with Crackers, so they're probably best friends.
- Crackers: This parrot is technically the mascot of the cartoon, and it's so weird because, despite being clearly a feral parrot, he acts and talks just like any other character. But he is supposed to be a feral parrot since he even communicates with some of them to help Sandokan in an episode! And they treat him as one of their own, not like a pet.
Despite being arrogant and loving to try to claim credit for stuff, he is brave and will help the crew if they need it. Not only does he fight right by their side during confrontations, but he has also saved everyone more than once just for being small and able to fly!
- Malco: Sandokan himself refers to this tiger as the "boldest warrior in the seven seas," so he's probably the crew's strongest fighter. Not that we ever see him doing something to earn that nickname, but he is quite the chill guy and loves to sleep. Even during times of imminent danger!
- Mariana: The "Pearl of Labuan" falls in love with Sandokan after their fated meeting. A pretty deer, she's the niece of "Lord" James, the governor of Labuan. The series tries to make her seem more than just a pretty face, and while she is brave, it's hard to take her seriously when she is so easily captured twice in the show, lol. And she's very good at shooting things with a rifle, even better than Sandokan's men, which is not only ridiculous but never matters, as she never shoots anyone in the cartoon. And who the heck taught her? Certainly wasn't her uncle! And speaking of him...
- James Guillonk (governor): A British lord who's also the governor of Labuan. Since she's the only family James has, she has lived a sheltered life after moving to Labuan, and it's also because of this that James hates Sandokan. To him, he's fooling Mariana as he's nothing more than an evil pirate who wants to use her for whatever. So, at first glance, he seemed like a decent guy who just wanted to protect his beloved niece, but what he does later in the series...kinda contradicts that? Will tell more about that in the spoiler section.
- Baron William Rosenthal: This deer is technically Sandokan's rival in the cartoon, at least for the love of Mariana. He's a decent fighter, plus is a high-ranking baron. And he's the second in command of James Guillonk's forces and loves her, but the cartoon really goes out of its way to make him seem incompetent and even evil just to make Sandokan look better as a hero. Which is ironic since even with that, you can still see he does care for her, especially when he shouldn't be listening to her requests, but he does, and they all screw him later. You might even feel bad for him later in the cartoon because of that, especially with the humiliation in the ending, and I will talk more about that in the spoilers.
- James Brook, Rajah of Sarawak: This cat is as evil as the villains can get for this cartoon. Lazy, arrogant, gluttonous, petty, cowardly, scumbag, and prefers to let his own men die rather than admit that he is wrong, as we see in a scene. Plus, he's so incompetent on his own that you gotta wonder how in the heck this guy was even able to get all those men to join him in his coup to dethrone Sandokan's Father. The only way this makes sense with this character being the way he is, would be if we assume Sandokan's Father was a terrible, TERRIBLE king xD.
James is, for the most part, quite the cartoonish evil villain. So much so that it really will depend on your taste if this is a good or bad thing. We're speaking of "like to make his own man fight and kill each other" and "feed anyone for any reason to his sharks because yes, he has sharks" levels of cartoonish evil. The cartoon really goes out of its way to make you dislike him.
While the Rajah is the main villain, James and William also act as villains in the cartoon (though more like an antagonist in the case of James). However, Sandokan's main antagonist is certainly the rajah. What Sandokan wants is to dethrone him and take his place as the rajah, as the rightful heir to the throne. And the way he does that is...to become the leader of a bunch of pirates and attack any ship he knows belongs to the rajah?...what?
This is probably the biggest issue of the cartoon, plot-wise. It seems that Sandokan is just kinda winging it, without a specific plan in mind. And also seems he has been pirating for years. From what we see, it seems that all of his men are guys from islands or villages that were fucked by Rajah in some way, like how he makes his men invade some villages to steal their crops, so they all joined Sandokan to...get their revenge on the Rajah somehow? So, since they all want a piece of that furry cat ass, you would think they would be acting with a specific goal in mind.
I think in part that's because it feels like we're watching like season three or four of the cartoon, since we already have the entire crew there fighting against Rajah for years. We barely see any backstory for them except only Sandokan's and a bit of Yanez, and that's it, which doesn't help with that feeling, so we don't know how they all met, if they're all on the same page about the Rajah, what their plans are for the future, etc. Besides, in the first episodes, Sandokan meets Mariana, and the cartoon ended up being mostly about her.
That would maybe be better if this weren't the first and only season of the show. So just as we are getting used to the cartoon, the pirates and what they do and how they do their thing, Sandokan meets his love interest, and it's all about her now. Without giving spoilers here, it's quite crazy how we spend so many episodes dealing with the kidnapping of Mariana by Sandokan TWICE (which, of course, they treat as a rescue) so they can stay together and marry. You really gotta wonder what he would do if Mariana didn't fall in love with him, but with William.
It's funny since even the cartoon had to pretend that their captain suddenly was asking his men to risk their lives and more than once to "save" this random chick just because he wanted to bang her, and after a few words, they were fine with that idea. Stuff like this is hard to buy when we don't know all the characters well, besides the little we see of them contradicts stuff like this. In one episode, they board one merchant vessel, and at least Giro-Batol and Sambiglione were ready to pillage it for its money and products, but Sandokan told them nope, can't do it since it's not a Rajah ship, even telling them to put everything back. But...why did we see this? If they were pirates for years, then certainly those guys would know the stuff Sandokan was ok with taking and from whom and all that. And would such pirates be that happy to risk their lives for a random girl just because Sandokan says so? It's true that technically it's Rajah who is spreading the word around the seas that Sandokan is just a pirate, but Sandokan seemed to be acting the part, or at least his men believe they are pirates. And pirates wouldn't be ok with the Mariana nonsense.
So, don't expect much in terms of a plot here. The little that we got is either basic or a bit nonsensical, which wasn't that uncommon for the time for a cartoon focused more on the "action". Yet, Sandokan is one of those cartoons that is more about the action and adventure than anything else. There's no time to rest, no time to know our characters better aside from their brief interactions with each other or with the plot of the episode, and there's no filler to show such things either. One episode will always lead directly into the plot of the next episode, with lots of action in each one. Most of the time, it's always about rescuing someone, be it Sandokan himself or Mariana.
Not that you should expect it to be a masterpiece in that sense either. This is a cartoon from 1992 made by BRB Internacional, and...from what I see, it had a budget for sure. You will see the typical "animation mistakes" of the time, like mistakes in the color of characters' bodies or clothing, dead eyes while speaking, and so on. But for a cartoon of the time that wasn't made by a powerhouse like Disney, there is quite a share of action, and the animation is at least ok for the most part. Just...don't expect anything of the same quality as, # The Animated Series xP!
Speaking more of action, Sandokan was probably in a weird spot, as there is a lot of stuff that I'm sure was even more fucked up in the books. A lot more than what we see in the cartoon. We do see some stuff that you would never see in a Disney cartoon back then! Like a poor kid being kidnapped, traumatized, and about to be sacrificed for a god. Rajah eating a fish (normal, not anthro) ALIVE. Some bodies here and there, Sandokan himself kills at least around ten guys during the cartoon. And yet, you can tell they held back as much as they could! You will never see blood or gore. So, when a character that is one of the good guys dies later by being shot, you won't even notice he wasn't just going to sleep or something if it wasn't the dialogue letting you know he was shot and was dying.
Of course, it's the Rajah who’s responsible for most of that fucked up stuff. While you never see the "result," you do see that sometimes he fed people to his shark, with one time he let one guy hang with sharks under him in the water, and you see him cutting the rope, so while the cartoon never shows you what happens, you know what happened to that character. What shocked me the most about those times was Rajah eating the fish alive, though I didn't see that coming at all! So, if you're someone a bit sensitive to such stuff but think you can watch old cartoons like this without being triggered by anything, watch out for that!
Another thing to keep in mind if you decide to check this cartoon is that, unfortunately, the ending is open. I will talk about this in more detail in the spoiler section, but, yeah...I dunno if they were planning on doing more sequels later or whatever, but the cartoon kinda just ends without solving the main plot, which is defeating the Rajah. That sucks, but it is what it is.
So now I will talk about some spoiler stuff like the ending of the cartoon. If you want to avoid spoilers and want to see what the cartoon offers for furries, which is the main point of my review, then please scroll down to the “KEMONO SCALE JUDGEMENT” section!
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE CARTOON
- Sandokan's friendship with Tremal-Naik is the kind of thing we should know in detail, but as it is, we don't even know how they met lol. So, we have to assume he saved his life many times in the past for him to go out of his way and just "abandon" Mariana after "rescuing" her (for the first time) to save Tremal-Naik's daughter after she was kidnapped by one of Suyodhana's thugs. Given that Tremal-Naik and Kammamuri seem to be important characters in the books, and I think that's the only reason they showed up in the cartoon, it's crazy how little we know about them.
I mean, why on Earth does he have a fortress on the island of the Dayakos? And maybe it's a recent thing, It's so weird because Sandokan and his men act like they've never been there before, but if Sandokan has been Tremal-Naik's friend for years and they're so close he's willing to go out of his way to help him rescue his daughter, and yet they only went to his home/fortress once all this time? So what's going on here xD!
- Speaking about Tremal-Naik, he must be even more kind or naive than Sandokan. Suyodhana not only killed his friend, Vidar (who became the only good guy to die), but also kidnapped his daughter and was almost responsible for all of them to die in India, and yet...he just takes him to be "judged" by this "Grand Indian Council," which makes no sense. Even if this act made sense, what the heck is that council? Wasn't Abu Asam the leader of the country? And he already showed that he doesn't give a fuck about who Suyodhana is or what he did, since he needs his men to help in his rebellion, soooo what Tremal-Naik thinks is going to happen? Maybe this wouldn't be an issue if we had followed through with this plot thread, but...we never see Suyodhana again. Urgh.
- Tewilliker's journey is the most filler stuff in the entire cartoon, such a waste of time. As if we couldn't just have him send a letter to James, or only see him by the end, or something so he can tell him the information he asked for about Sandokan's lineage. Which is ironic since not only does this bit sucked for being filler as it is, but it brings two issues, and one of them is quite big.
Since James only gets this very important information by the last episode, which is already too busy dealing with the two weddings plus the Rajah stuff, there's no time for anyone to do anything about it. Which means Tewilliker's journey isn't just filler but completely useless as well in the end.
The worst part is how this makes no damn sense. Maybe the books explain this stuff better, but...soooooo, Sandokan wants to take over the throne. And there's this place called "record office" that literally can tell anyone who bothers to come here that the current Rajah is just an usurper and not the rightful heir to the throne, thanks to their registers...and Sandokan somehow never heard of such a place? What the fuck was he doing all this time then?! We aren't even sure if the information about that place is enough to prove that he is Sandokan, as the heir of the throne, but at least it's enough to prove to everyone that the current Rajah is a fake! It's crazy how all those years, and Sandokan either never heard of that place, or he chose to ignore it despite having a way to weaken Rajah's claim to the throne and strengthen his own. This makes no sense since he seems concerned with showing people that James Brooke is lying about who he is and about his claim to the throne.
- Worse than that, at least to me, is the ending...since it's not only open, but because of what happens in it. IMO, there's only one thing worse than an open ending, and it's an open ending that obviously was at least hinting or going for another season. And it's the case here. After finally getting his hands on James Brooke, the guy who killed his family and took over the throne, he just imprisons him in a random cell. Without a single guard to watch over him. And thanks to Sandokan being dumb as fuck, of course, James not only escapes but does so with Baron William! That's quite a big cliffhanger to end the cartoon with. So much so that they most likely were planning a second season or, at least, this is a case of the creators trying to get another season by ending their show with a big cliffhanger. Shame that didn't work.
- While I do like James Brooke as a villain, it will depend on your tastes since he's the typical cartoonish evil villain. They went all in with that. By comparison, I think Baron William is much more interesting and complex as a character; you can even kind of sympathize with him by the end. Imagine having your eye on that girl you want to marry for years, then out of nowhere, some random "pirate" shows up and somehow you are being FORCED by your boss to show up to their wedding...right after your own wedding to her was canceled because that same pirate kidnapped her lol.
You can't really blame him for what he did by the end. It's a shame that, maybe, to not make Sandokan as villainous as he might seem about this mess, they make William and Mariana's uncle more evil if compared to Sandokan (who, really, was just lucky that Mariana happen to had fell in love with him too) with that plan of hiring those Indian thugs to kidnap Tremal-Naik's daughter, an innocent little girl who has nothing to do with their feud with Sandokan. That was a very weird bit; it's the kind of evil shit that someone like James Brook would do, not those two, but they had to make William seem like scum to make Sandokan look good, I guess. As if he needed that boost when Mariana already loves him back.
KEMONO SCALE JUDGEMENT
Now that we put that out of the way...it's KAMIKAZETIME!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdCNGX4Z_e4
It's easy to recommend Sandokan for fans of action or adventure-focused cartoons of that time, especially if you're a fan of pirate stuff...even if technically those guys aren't really pirates xD. But, yeah. If you don't mind the typical flaws that cartoons of this time had, you might enjoy it, even if just for the furryness alone.
As for the furryness itself, this cartoon really is among the best of its kind for sure. And certainly among the best made by BRB Internacional. You can see for yourself:
Baron William: https://imgbox.com/g/7iiCMqooXY
Captain Collins: https://imgbox.com/g/JPEnLgQAfA
Chief of the crocodiles: https://imgbox.com/g/ExhG05cSk2
Chief of the tribe: https://imgbox.com/g/Elw3qJkMaL
Commandant's men: https://imgbox.com/g/IHH6E2BUEZ
Chef: https://imgbox.com/g/RzWE0ib8We
Crackers: https://imgbox.com/g/XYUSqkTh4I
Crocodile pals: https://imgbox.com/g/JoLNLBjoSv
Dayakos: https://imgbox.com/g/S54sSkT8jc
Edward: https://imgbox.com/g/aNg8Md9BTe
Commandant (second lol): https://imgbox.com/g/8QG2PHjGJl
Giro-Batol: https://imgbox.com/g/QYcejtZU1E
Group: https://imgbox.com/g/8SbSeelY6O
James: https://imgbox.com/g/7XjrP1vpGc
James Brook: https://imgbox.com/g/H4Bd47jCdI
James men: https://imgbox.com/g/dlG1S2e46F
Kammamuri: https://imgbox.com/g/XmiQhdITY6
Lawrence: https://imgbox.com/g/kG8WRGVkGa
Malco: https://imgbox.com/g/ug2IB32XCA
Mariana: https://imgbox.com/g/QEK1nXKZDG
Merchant: https://imgbox.com/g/za5hYMN6ps
Monkeys: https://imgbox.com/g/dUKtdEnDLh
Nasumbata: https://imgbox.com/g/urqcIbwnWN
Patan: https://imgbox.com/g/xkdJ6DQLPc
Pirates: https://imgbox.com/g/ZRS24qAojq
Pisango: https://imgbox.com/g/uliHFlhsKN
Rajah men vs tribe: https://imgbox.com/g/CAqbpcHfmO
Rajah men: https://imgbox.com/g/wm2JqE6rUg
Red Claw: https://imgbox.com/g/fImCgwpPl9
Sambiglione: https://imgbox.com/g/5YEFjDgwRb
Sandokan: https://imgbox.com/g/PrwtcLZjx4
Sandokan and crew as tribe: https://imgbox.com/g/kGrkF0LOvD
Sandokan's past: https://imgbox.com/g/78sOQ1rmeP
Sgt. McSuane: https://imgbox.com/g/IcKyP2fvfR
Shamina: https://imgbox.com/g/UDTG9rNfdX
Surama: https://imgbox.com/g/m7sUz2p7wk
Taibon (left guy): https://imgbox.com/g/WOsdPnFTLR
Tangusa: https://imgbox.com/g/6mnDDZ7ILI
Tewilliker: https://imgbox.com/g/E99MRgb4gg
Tremal-Naik: https://imgbox.com/g/8K5pMhfESx
Tribe: https://imgbox.com/g/kngFh3Db0C
Tuscan: https://imgbox.com/g/YxWlMLgshl
Suyodhana and his thugs: https://imgbox.com/g/CREvOqUkIk
Vidar: https://imgbox.com/g/Rn5e4R65rH
Weyson: https://imgbox.com/g/byPRT9hRTE
William's Wedding furs: https://imgbox.com/g/YAPrg7anzb
Yanez: https://imgbox.com/g/7WArDy7zpK
Yash McHenrick: https://imgbox.com/g/qPQP45tyUA
That's quite a big number of furry characters for something that has only 26 episodes, especially back then! And do notice how we got no less than four tigers as part of Sandokan's main crew, counting himself, but they all look very different from each other. So, there's also some variation here, even when you see the same animal in other characters.
Of course, that only happens for a character. Many of the guards, grunts, or soldiers are carbon copies of each other, like the Dayakos, lol. It's very rare to see one of those "generic" guys looking different from others, but it can happen. It's funny since even when a character only shows up for like 3 minutes at most in one episode, like the chef, he is unique and has a good design! You would be excused if you saw him and thought he was part of the main cast for their design alone, because of the effort put into it. So, just don't expect to see this level of effort for the generic goons as well.
For most of the cartoon, we will see Sandokan and his crew, and all of them have quite good designs, which is great. Plus, the other characters, including the villains, also have good designs, and we see them a lot. Usually, for a cartoon like this, when they don't have human characters or barely have them, they tend to only have adventures with the main cast and maybe the "NPC" or villain of the week, but it's not the case here. You will see a lot of furry characters in all episodes, and most of them are unique, and their designs are good!
However, one of them does bring into question something which I feel kinda "breaks" the immersion this world and its lore should have...and I'm talking about Crackers. Or, to be more specific, about the feral x furry issue this cartoon has. See, the world of Sandokan doesn't make much sense furry-wise! You have anthro and feral animals of any species just living side by side. How the fuck does that work xD. Was evolution completely random in that world?
It's so weird to see stuff like Sandokan attacking a feral tiger. Or Crackers, who clearly has the intelligence of an anthro furry character like the rest of the crew, but can communicate with the other "feral" parrots, and they all look just like him, sooo is he a feral or...thinking about this stuff can make your brain cry!
Now, it's obvious that the writer or director or whoever was responsible for this decision didn't give a fuck since in the end of the day it's just a kid's cartoon. Regardless of how this just hurts the world-building or lore of their cartoon. It's because of details (well, more like lack of detail, I guess...) like this that stuff like BNA: Brand New Animal sucks so much! So, it has to be either called out or praised, depending on the case.
So, for those reasons, I believe that Sandokan deserves a...*turns around and points dramatically at the cartoon* A FOUR OUT OF FIVE OF LOF IN THE KAMIKAZE SCALE!!!
Aside from this weird issue with the animals, this is still quite a solid furry cartoon for its time, and I'm surprised I don't see it being talked about at all today, especially given how popular Sandokan seems to be in some countries. If you are a fan of the character and like furry stuff, then you will probably like this one a lot. For everyone else, try watching until Sandokan meets Mariana, then see if you're still invested enough to continue, even if just to see more of the furryness! But do keep in mind that, unfortunately, the ending is open since Sandokan never defeats James for good and regains his throne.
The best furry character this time is...oh, geez...this is a hard one! Character-wise, I think I will go with Malco. Can't go wrong with a tiger that kicks ass and can sleep through anything. But design-wise, maybe would go with Giro-Batol even if I'm not 100% sure if he's an otter or hybrid or what xP!!
The "kemono in the refrigerator" this time is...while I certainly wish we saw more of some characters, I don't think any of them deserve this infamous "award", fortunately! It doesn't feel that any of them was "kemono in the refrigerator"ed. That's ironic since James literally fed a couple of characters to his sharks, but only after they had their turn to shine and did their thing! So...yay~
Aaaand that’s it for this one! Hope you guys enjoyed reading this review. Please don't hesitate to leave your comments and opinions about it, and also about Sandokan if you happen to have watched it or maybe wanna check it out, thanks to this review xD. I want to leave those journals as a place where people can discuss the respective things being reviewed here!
I think this is one of those characters where it depends on which country you live in to determine if there's even a chance for you to have heard of him or any of his books, films, or cartoons. In case you never did, the basic information about him from wiki: "Sandokan is a fictional late 19th-century pirate created by Italian author Emilio Salgari. His adventures first appeared in publication in 1883. Sandokan is the hero of 11 adventure novels. Within the series, Sandokan is known throughout the South China Sea as the "Tiger of Malaya".
It seems that his books and other stuff made him quite popular in Italy, parts of Europe, and Southeast Asia. He's one of those characters who has a lot of stuff made based on his books. Heck, there's even some recent stuff, as a new series began filming in 2024 or was going to. Seems they had some delays, and production started in 2025, but maybe they will release it by the time this review is out. I didn't look into it, but if you're a fan of Sandokan stuff, you might want to check it out~
There are two cartoons based on Sandokan, and one of those is the subject of today's review for reasons that will be clear soon. We're talking about the Sandokan that was made by BRB Internacional!
From wiki: "BRB Internacional S.A.U. was a Spanish licensing and production company of animated television series such as Around the World with Willy Fog, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, and The World of David the Gnome. At the end of January 2018, WildBrain, a leading digital kids' network and studio, was appointed as the exclusive global manager of BRB Internacional's extensive catalogue of kids' content on YouTube. In 2022, the company closed after filing for bankruptcy. DeAPlaneta acquired the company's library in January 2023."
Shame that the company closed down, as they made a lot of cartoons, though I think the most famous of those is probably The World of David the Gnome. But they made a lot of others, and there are a few of those that are "furry" cartoons, or cartoons that only have furry characters in them. And yes, that's exactly the case with their version of Sandokan!
As someone who isn't familiar with anything from Sandokan, like the books or his other stuff, I will review only the cartoon on its own, so keep that in mind.
In this cartoon, we have Sandokan as the main character. He is an usurped prince who travels the seas as a pirate seeking to reclaim his rightful throne from the Rajah of Sarawak. The Rajah, James Brooke, was Sandokan's father, the former commandant, but he had orchestrated a coup d'État and managed to take over as the Rajah. He had imprisoned Sandokan's parents, who died in prison, but Sandokan escaped thanks to one guard who was loyal to his father, though he never saw that guard again.
So, he had become a pirate to get his own army and...apparently just bided his time to find a way to take over his place on the throne. I will talk more about this later, but before we do, and also talk about the cartoon in general, let's check on the main cast:
- Sandokan: The “Tiger of Malaya”! As the MC, of course, he's brave, smart, and all that. A nice, fair tiger guy and beloved by his men, he's all about fighting the Rajah of Sarawak, but we don't know this Sandokan for much longer. As soon as he met Mariana at the beginning of the cartoon, she was in his mind 24 hours a day. Now, when he opens his mouth, chances are he will say something about Mariana or act on her behalf.
That makes him boring compared to most of the cast, especially the villains, but not like he's that bad a character. Shame since there's lots of potential with him, but look, for example, at his hypnosis trick. He uses it twice to save someone and claims to have learned doing it in the jungles of Sumatra, and...that's it. Why doesn't he use such a thing more, like, say, against a guard or something? Does it only work on animals? It is wasted as it is. And the same could be said about Sandokan himself. As it is, it feels we have the Sandokan before and after he met Mariana...but more on this later.
- Yanez: Sandokan's right-hand man, and based on his flashback where he talks about his past to Mariana, he was the first one to be recruited by Sandokan. No wonder this fox (or coyote? think it's a fox...) became his best friend!
Yanez is quite laidback and always has a smile on his face, plus he's a master of disguises. And his disguises alternate between literally having a moustache on his face, and that's enough to complete clothes and mask with skin and all that allow him to completely impersonate someone like Baron William!
That's quite crazy since no way such disguises would exist at the time Sandokan lived. And it's even more weird as the only time Yanez uses those perfect disguises is just to trick or tease his friends. Maybe this is a reference to Transfer from Around the World with Willy Fog and his ridiculous, perfect disguises?
- Patan and Sambiligone: those two tigers are good friends and always ready to fight for Sandokan. While both are strong and loyal, Sambiblione seems to have quite the immature side to him, as he likes to pull pranks on Patan.
- Giro-Batol: When Yanez isn't doing the job of being the captain of the ship, that's up to this otter. And he's also the cook, though Crackers likes to tease him about it, as his cooking is the only thing he won't try to take responsibility for. Usually, he's with Crackers, so they're probably best friends.
- Crackers: This parrot is technically the mascot of the cartoon, and it's so weird because, despite being clearly a feral parrot, he acts and talks just like any other character. But he is supposed to be a feral parrot since he even communicates with some of them to help Sandokan in an episode! And they treat him as one of their own, not like a pet.
Despite being arrogant and loving to try to claim credit for stuff, he is brave and will help the crew if they need it. Not only does he fight right by their side during confrontations, but he has also saved everyone more than once just for being small and able to fly!
- Malco: Sandokan himself refers to this tiger as the "boldest warrior in the seven seas," so he's probably the crew's strongest fighter. Not that we ever see him doing something to earn that nickname, but he is quite the chill guy and loves to sleep. Even during times of imminent danger!
- Mariana: The "Pearl of Labuan" falls in love with Sandokan after their fated meeting. A pretty deer, she's the niece of "Lord" James, the governor of Labuan. The series tries to make her seem more than just a pretty face, and while she is brave, it's hard to take her seriously when she is so easily captured twice in the show, lol. And she's very good at shooting things with a rifle, even better than Sandokan's men, which is not only ridiculous but never matters, as she never shoots anyone in the cartoon. And who the heck taught her? Certainly wasn't her uncle! And speaking of him...
- James Guillonk (governor): A British lord who's also the governor of Labuan. Since she's the only family James has, she has lived a sheltered life after moving to Labuan, and it's also because of this that James hates Sandokan. To him, he's fooling Mariana as he's nothing more than an evil pirate who wants to use her for whatever. So, at first glance, he seemed like a decent guy who just wanted to protect his beloved niece, but what he does later in the series...kinda contradicts that? Will tell more about that in the spoiler section.
- Baron William Rosenthal: This deer is technically Sandokan's rival in the cartoon, at least for the love of Mariana. He's a decent fighter, plus is a high-ranking baron. And he's the second in command of James Guillonk's forces and loves her, but the cartoon really goes out of its way to make him seem incompetent and even evil just to make Sandokan look better as a hero. Which is ironic since even with that, you can still see he does care for her, especially when he shouldn't be listening to her requests, but he does, and they all screw him later. You might even feel bad for him later in the cartoon because of that, especially with the humiliation in the ending, and I will talk more about that in the spoilers.
- James Brook, Rajah of Sarawak: This cat is as evil as the villains can get for this cartoon. Lazy, arrogant, gluttonous, petty, cowardly, scumbag, and prefers to let his own men die rather than admit that he is wrong, as we see in a scene. Plus, he's so incompetent on his own that you gotta wonder how in the heck this guy was even able to get all those men to join him in his coup to dethrone Sandokan's Father. The only way this makes sense with this character being the way he is, would be if we assume Sandokan's Father was a terrible, TERRIBLE king xD.
James is, for the most part, quite the cartoonish evil villain. So much so that it really will depend on your taste if this is a good or bad thing. We're speaking of "like to make his own man fight and kill each other" and "feed anyone for any reason to his sharks because yes, he has sharks" levels of cartoonish evil. The cartoon really goes out of its way to make you dislike him.
While the Rajah is the main villain, James and William also act as villains in the cartoon (though more like an antagonist in the case of James). However, Sandokan's main antagonist is certainly the rajah. What Sandokan wants is to dethrone him and take his place as the rajah, as the rightful heir to the throne. And the way he does that is...to become the leader of a bunch of pirates and attack any ship he knows belongs to the rajah?...what?
This is probably the biggest issue of the cartoon, plot-wise. It seems that Sandokan is just kinda winging it, without a specific plan in mind. And also seems he has been pirating for years. From what we see, it seems that all of his men are guys from islands or villages that were fucked by Rajah in some way, like how he makes his men invade some villages to steal their crops, so they all joined Sandokan to...get their revenge on the Rajah somehow? So, since they all want a piece of that furry cat ass, you would think they would be acting with a specific goal in mind.
I think in part that's because it feels like we're watching like season three or four of the cartoon, since we already have the entire crew there fighting against Rajah for years. We barely see any backstory for them except only Sandokan's and a bit of Yanez, and that's it, which doesn't help with that feeling, so we don't know how they all met, if they're all on the same page about the Rajah, what their plans are for the future, etc. Besides, in the first episodes, Sandokan meets Mariana, and the cartoon ended up being mostly about her.
That would maybe be better if this weren't the first and only season of the show. So just as we are getting used to the cartoon, the pirates and what they do and how they do their thing, Sandokan meets his love interest, and it's all about her now. Without giving spoilers here, it's quite crazy how we spend so many episodes dealing with the kidnapping of Mariana by Sandokan TWICE (which, of course, they treat as a rescue) so they can stay together and marry. You really gotta wonder what he would do if Mariana didn't fall in love with him, but with William.
It's funny since even the cartoon had to pretend that their captain suddenly was asking his men to risk their lives and more than once to "save" this random chick just because he wanted to bang her, and after a few words, they were fine with that idea. Stuff like this is hard to buy when we don't know all the characters well, besides the little we see of them contradicts stuff like this. In one episode, they board one merchant vessel, and at least Giro-Batol and Sambiglione were ready to pillage it for its money and products, but Sandokan told them nope, can't do it since it's not a Rajah ship, even telling them to put everything back. But...why did we see this? If they were pirates for years, then certainly those guys would know the stuff Sandokan was ok with taking and from whom and all that. And would such pirates be that happy to risk their lives for a random girl just because Sandokan says so? It's true that technically it's Rajah who is spreading the word around the seas that Sandokan is just a pirate, but Sandokan seemed to be acting the part, or at least his men believe they are pirates. And pirates wouldn't be ok with the Mariana nonsense.
So, don't expect much in terms of a plot here. The little that we got is either basic or a bit nonsensical, which wasn't that uncommon for the time for a cartoon focused more on the "action". Yet, Sandokan is one of those cartoons that is more about the action and adventure than anything else. There's no time to rest, no time to know our characters better aside from their brief interactions with each other or with the plot of the episode, and there's no filler to show such things either. One episode will always lead directly into the plot of the next episode, with lots of action in each one. Most of the time, it's always about rescuing someone, be it Sandokan himself or Mariana.
Not that you should expect it to be a masterpiece in that sense either. This is a cartoon from 1992 made by BRB Internacional, and...from what I see, it had a budget for sure. You will see the typical "animation mistakes" of the time, like mistakes in the color of characters' bodies or clothing, dead eyes while speaking, and so on. But for a cartoon of the time that wasn't made by a powerhouse like Disney, there is quite a share of action, and the animation is at least ok for the most part. Just...don't expect anything of the same quality as, # The Animated Series xP!
Speaking more of action, Sandokan was probably in a weird spot, as there is a lot of stuff that I'm sure was even more fucked up in the books. A lot more than what we see in the cartoon. We do see some stuff that you would never see in a Disney cartoon back then! Like a poor kid being kidnapped, traumatized, and about to be sacrificed for a god. Rajah eating a fish (normal, not anthro) ALIVE. Some bodies here and there, Sandokan himself kills at least around ten guys during the cartoon. And yet, you can tell they held back as much as they could! You will never see blood or gore. So, when a character that is one of the good guys dies later by being shot, you won't even notice he wasn't just going to sleep or something if it wasn't the dialogue letting you know he was shot and was dying.
Of course, it's the Rajah who’s responsible for most of that fucked up stuff. While you never see the "result," you do see that sometimes he fed people to his shark, with one time he let one guy hang with sharks under him in the water, and you see him cutting the rope, so while the cartoon never shows you what happens, you know what happened to that character. What shocked me the most about those times was Rajah eating the fish alive, though I didn't see that coming at all! So, if you're someone a bit sensitive to such stuff but think you can watch old cartoons like this without being triggered by anything, watch out for that!
Another thing to keep in mind if you decide to check this cartoon is that, unfortunately, the ending is open. I will talk about this in more detail in the spoiler section, but, yeah...I dunno if they were planning on doing more sequels later or whatever, but the cartoon kinda just ends without solving the main plot, which is defeating the Rajah. That sucks, but it is what it is.
So now I will talk about some spoiler stuff like the ending of the cartoon. If you want to avoid spoilers and want to see what the cartoon offers for furries, which is the main point of my review, then please scroll down to the “KEMONO SCALE JUDGEMENT” section!
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE CARTOON
- Sandokan's friendship with Tremal-Naik is the kind of thing we should know in detail, but as it is, we don't even know how they met lol. So, we have to assume he saved his life many times in the past for him to go out of his way and just "abandon" Mariana after "rescuing" her (for the first time) to save Tremal-Naik's daughter after she was kidnapped by one of Suyodhana's thugs. Given that Tremal-Naik and Kammamuri seem to be important characters in the books, and I think that's the only reason they showed up in the cartoon, it's crazy how little we know about them.
I mean, why on Earth does he have a fortress on the island of the Dayakos? And maybe it's a recent thing, It's so weird because Sandokan and his men act like they've never been there before, but if Sandokan has been Tremal-Naik's friend for years and they're so close he's willing to go out of his way to help him rescue his daughter, and yet they only went to his home/fortress once all this time? So what's going on here xD!
- Speaking about Tremal-Naik, he must be even more kind or naive than Sandokan. Suyodhana not only killed his friend, Vidar (who became the only good guy to die), but also kidnapped his daughter and was almost responsible for all of them to die in India, and yet...he just takes him to be "judged" by this "Grand Indian Council," which makes no sense. Even if this act made sense, what the heck is that council? Wasn't Abu Asam the leader of the country? And he already showed that he doesn't give a fuck about who Suyodhana is or what he did, since he needs his men to help in his rebellion, soooo what Tremal-Naik thinks is going to happen? Maybe this wouldn't be an issue if we had followed through with this plot thread, but...we never see Suyodhana again. Urgh.
- Tewilliker's journey is the most filler stuff in the entire cartoon, such a waste of time. As if we couldn't just have him send a letter to James, or only see him by the end, or something so he can tell him the information he asked for about Sandokan's lineage. Which is ironic since not only does this bit sucked for being filler as it is, but it brings two issues, and one of them is quite big.
Since James only gets this very important information by the last episode, which is already too busy dealing with the two weddings plus the Rajah stuff, there's no time for anyone to do anything about it. Which means Tewilliker's journey isn't just filler but completely useless as well in the end.
The worst part is how this makes no damn sense. Maybe the books explain this stuff better, but...soooooo, Sandokan wants to take over the throne. And there's this place called "record office" that literally can tell anyone who bothers to come here that the current Rajah is just an usurper and not the rightful heir to the throne, thanks to their registers...and Sandokan somehow never heard of such a place? What the fuck was he doing all this time then?! We aren't even sure if the information about that place is enough to prove that he is Sandokan, as the heir of the throne, but at least it's enough to prove to everyone that the current Rajah is a fake! It's crazy how all those years, and Sandokan either never heard of that place, or he chose to ignore it despite having a way to weaken Rajah's claim to the throne and strengthen his own. This makes no sense since he seems concerned with showing people that James Brooke is lying about who he is and about his claim to the throne.
- Worse than that, at least to me, is the ending...since it's not only open, but because of what happens in it. IMO, there's only one thing worse than an open ending, and it's an open ending that obviously was at least hinting or going for another season. And it's the case here. After finally getting his hands on James Brooke, the guy who killed his family and took over the throne, he just imprisons him in a random cell. Without a single guard to watch over him. And thanks to Sandokan being dumb as fuck, of course, James not only escapes but does so with Baron William! That's quite a big cliffhanger to end the cartoon with. So much so that they most likely were planning a second season or, at least, this is a case of the creators trying to get another season by ending their show with a big cliffhanger. Shame that didn't work.
- While I do like James Brooke as a villain, it will depend on your tastes since he's the typical cartoonish evil villain. They went all in with that. By comparison, I think Baron William is much more interesting and complex as a character; you can even kind of sympathize with him by the end. Imagine having your eye on that girl you want to marry for years, then out of nowhere, some random "pirate" shows up and somehow you are being FORCED by your boss to show up to their wedding...right after your own wedding to her was canceled because that same pirate kidnapped her lol.
You can't really blame him for what he did by the end. It's a shame that, maybe, to not make Sandokan as villainous as he might seem about this mess, they make William and Mariana's uncle more evil if compared to Sandokan (who, really, was just lucky that Mariana happen to had fell in love with him too) with that plan of hiring those Indian thugs to kidnap Tremal-Naik's daughter, an innocent little girl who has nothing to do with their feud with Sandokan. That was a very weird bit; it's the kind of evil shit that someone like James Brook would do, not those two, but they had to make William seem like scum to make Sandokan look good, I guess. As if he needed that boost when Mariana already loves him back.
KEMONO SCALE JUDGEMENT
Now that we put that out of the way...it's KAMIKAZETIME!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdCNGX4Z_e4
It's easy to recommend Sandokan for fans of action or adventure-focused cartoons of that time, especially if you're a fan of pirate stuff...even if technically those guys aren't really pirates xD. But, yeah. If you don't mind the typical flaws that cartoons of this time had, you might enjoy it, even if just for the furryness alone.
As for the furryness itself, this cartoon really is among the best of its kind for sure. And certainly among the best made by BRB Internacional. You can see for yourself:
Baron William: https://imgbox.com/g/7iiCMqooXY
Captain Collins: https://imgbox.com/g/JPEnLgQAfA
Chief of the crocodiles: https://imgbox.com/g/ExhG05cSk2
Chief of the tribe: https://imgbox.com/g/Elw3qJkMaL
Commandant's men: https://imgbox.com/g/IHH6E2BUEZ
Chef: https://imgbox.com/g/RzWE0ib8We
Crackers: https://imgbox.com/g/XYUSqkTh4I
Crocodile pals: https://imgbox.com/g/JoLNLBjoSv
Dayakos: https://imgbox.com/g/S54sSkT8jc
Edward: https://imgbox.com/g/aNg8Md9BTe
Commandant (second lol): https://imgbox.com/g/8QG2PHjGJl
Giro-Batol: https://imgbox.com/g/QYcejtZU1E
Group: https://imgbox.com/g/8SbSeelY6O
James: https://imgbox.com/g/7XjrP1vpGc
James Brook: https://imgbox.com/g/H4Bd47jCdI
James men: https://imgbox.com/g/dlG1S2e46F
Kammamuri: https://imgbox.com/g/XmiQhdITY6
Lawrence: https://imgbox.com/g/kG8WRGVkGa
Malco: https://imgbox.com/g/ug2IB32XCA
Mariana: https://imgbox.com/g/QEK1nXKZDG
Merchant: https://imgbox.com/g/za5hYMN6ps
Monkeys: https://imgbox.com/g/dUKtdEnDLh
Nasumbata: https://imgbox.com/g/urqcIbwnWN
Patan: https://imgbox.com/g/xkdJ6DQLPc
Pirates: https://imgbox.com/g/ZRS24qAojq
Pisango: https://imgbox.com/g/uliHFlhsKN
Rajah men vs tribe: https://imgbox.com/g/CAqbpcHfmO
Rajah men: https://imgbox.com/g/wm2JqE6rUg
Red Claw: https://imgbox.com/g/fImCgwpPl9
Sambiglione: https://imgbox.com/g/5YEFjDgwRb
Sandokan: https://imgbox.com/g/PrwtcLZjx4
Sandokan and crew as tribe: https://imgbox.com/g/kGrkF0LOvD
Sandokan's past: https://imgbox.com/g/78sOQ1rmeP
Sgt. McSuane: https://imgbox.com/g/IcKyP2fvfR
Shamina: https://imgbox.com/g/UDTG9rNfdX
Surama: https://imgbox.com/g/m7sUz2p7wk
Taibon (left guy): https://imgbox.com/g/WOsdPnFTLR
Tangusa: https://imgbox.com/g/6mnDDZ7ILI
Tewilliker: https://imgbox.com/g/E99MRgb4gg
Tremal-Naik: https://imgbox.com/g/8K5pMhfESx
Tribe: https://imgbox.com/g/kngFh3Db0C
Tuscan: https://imgbox.com/g/YxWlMLgshl
Suyodhana and his thugs: https://imgbox.com/g/CREvOqUkIk
Vidar: https://imgbox.com/g/Rn5e4R65rH
Weyson: https://imgbox.com/g/byPRT9hRTE
William's Wedding furs: https://imgbox.com/g/YAPrg7anzb
Yanez: https://imgbox.com/g/7WArDy7zpK
Yash McHenrick: https://imgbox.com/g/qPQP45tyUA
That's quite a big number of furry characters for something that has only 26 episodes, especially back then! And do notice how we got no less than four tigers as part of Sandokan's main crew, counting himself, but they all look very different from each other. So, there's also some variation here, even when you see the same animal in other characters.
Of course, that only happens for a character. Many of the guards, grunts, or soldiers are carbon copies of each other, like the Dayakos, lol. It's very rare to see one of those "generic" guys looking different from others, but it can happen. It's funny since even when a character only shows up for like 3 minutes at most in one episode, like the chef, he is unique and has a good design! You would be excused if you saw him and thought he was part of the main cast for their design alone, because of the effort put into it. So, just don't expect to see this level of effort for the generic goons as well.
For most of the cartoon, we will see Sandokan and his crew, and all of them have quite good designs, which is great. Plus, the other characters, including the villains, also have good designs, and we see them a lot. Usually, for a cartoon like this, when they don't have human characters or barely have them, they tend to only have adventures with the main cast and maybe the "NPC" or villain of the week, but it's not the case here. You will see a lot of furry characters in all episodes, and most of them are unique, and their designs are good!
However, one of them does bring into question something which I feel kinda "breaks" the immersion this world and its lore should have...and I'm talking about Crackers. Or, to be more specific, about the feral x furry issue this cartoon has. See, the world of Sandokan doesn't make much sense furry-wise! You have anthro and feral animals of any species just living side by side. How the fuck does that work xD. Was evolution completely random in that world?
It's so weird to see stuff like Sandokan attacking a feral tiger. Or Crackers, who clearly has the intelligence of an anthro furry character like the rest of the crew, but can communicate with the other "feral" parrots, and they all look just like him, sooo is he a feral or...thinking about this stuff can make your brain cry!
Now, it's obvious that the writer or director or whoever was responsible for this decision didn't give a fuck since in the end of the day it's just a kid's cartoon. Regardless of how this just hurts the world-building or lore of their cartoon. It's because of details (well, more like lack of detail, I guess...) like this that stuff like BNA: Brand New Animal sucks so much! So, it has to be either called out or praised, depending on the case.
So, for those reasons, I believe that Sandokan deserves a...*turns around and points dramatically at the cartoon* A FOUR OUT OF FIVE OF LOF IN THE KAMIKAZE SCALE!!!
Aside from this weird issue with the animals, this is still quite a solid furry cartoon for its time, and I'm surprised I don't see it being talked about at all today, especially given how popular Sandokan seems to be in some countries. If you are a fan of the character and like furry stuff, then you will probably like this one a lot. For everyone else, try watching until Sandokan meets Mariana, then see if you're still invested enough to continue, even if just to see more of the furryness! But do keep in mind that, unfortunately, the ending is open since Sandokan never defeats James for good and regains his throne.
The best furry character this time is...oh, geez...this is a hard one! Character-wise, I think I will go with Malco. Can't go wrong with a tiger that kicks ass and can sleep through anything. But design-wise, maybe would go with Giro-Batol even if I'm not 100% sure if he's an otter or hybrid or what xP!!
The "kemono in the refrigerator" this time is...while I certainly wish we saw more of some characters, I don't think any of them deserve this infamous "award", fortunately! It doesn't feel that any of them was "kemono in the refrigerator"ed. That's ironic since James literally fed a couple of characters to his sharks, but only after they had their turn to shine and did their thing! So...yay~
Aaaand that’s it for this one! Hope you guys enjoyed reading this review. Please don't hesitate to leave your comments and opinions about it, and also about Sandokan if you happen to have watched it or maybe wanna check it out, thanks to this review xD. I want to leave those journals as a place where people can discuss the respective things being reviewed here!
