The Adventures of Pepero

The Adventures of Pepero
Cover of EP showing two main characters.
アンデス少年ペペロの冒険 (Andesu Shōnen Pepero no Bōken)
Genre	Adventure
Anime television series
Directed by	Kazuhiko Udagawa
Written by	Masaki Tsuji Shigeharu Harajima Yū Yamamoto Shun'ichi Yukimuro Tadashi minutesagai Izumi Arima Yūji minuteso Kyōdō Oda Naoko Miyake Sōji Yoshikawa Keiji Kubota
Studio	Wako Pro
Original network	NET Network
Original run	6 October 1975 – 29 March 1976
Episodes	26

The Adventures of Pepero or The Adventures of Pepero the Andes Boy (アンデス少年ペペロの冒険, Andesu Shōnen Pepero no Bōken^?) is a 26-episode anime television series created by Tatsuya Ono and Sumio Takahashi and aired on the NET Network from 1975-10-06 to 1976-03-29 in Japan. It has since been then translated and broadcast in several languages worldwide. The story follows the young boy Pepero as he searches for his father who has gone missing while seeking the mythical golden city of El Dorado.

The theme songs for the series are Pepero's Adventure (ペペロの冒険, Pepero no Bōken^?) (opening) and O Wind, Please Carry My Message (風よつたえて, Kaze yo Tsutaete^?) (ending), both composed by Takeo Yamashita and arranged by Hiroshi Tsutsui, with lyrics by Kazuo Umezu and vocals by Mitsuko Horie.

The story starts with Pepero, a young boy in a small poor village in the Andes who lives with his mother in their small house in the village. Pepero's father had left the village earlier in search of the mythical El Dorado, a city that is said to be built completely out of gold which no one has ever found. Pepero's father's aim is to put his family and village out of poverty. However, the father is away for a very long time and no one heard anything about him since he left. The story starts with Pepero seeing the reflection of a golden eagle in a river when he was filling some pots with water. Pepero considers that a sign that his father is alive and that he should look for him. His mind is made up when he meets two weary travelers, an old man named Titicaca and an amnesiac girl named Kayna, who apparently had heard of the mythical El Dorado. Pepero's mind is made up and he decides to set off on the quest for El Dorado with Titicaca and Kayna agreeing to come along with him. On the way, he picks up more friends like Aztec, a teenager who has to look after his siblings while his mother is sick and who sometimes resorts to stealing to support his family and agrees to tag along in promise of the lost treasures, and Chuchu, who is a small boy performing in a circus and who has to look after his sister. In one episode, Pepero succeeds in taming a wild white horse and the horse repays him by coming to Pepero's rescue whenever the latter whistles. Pepero also wears a unique necklace in the shape of a white horn which is the same as the one worn by his father. This helps people identify him as the son of Carlos. This fact is uncovered when Pepero meets a guy who claims that he is Carlos and who is wearing the same necklace. At the end of the episode we discover that Carlos actually saved this man and gave him his necklace.