History Anime / TheLittlBits

''The Littl' Bits'', known in Japan as ''Mori no Youkina Kobito-tachi'': ''Belfy to Lillabit'' (''Cheerful Dwarves of the Forest'': ''Belfy and Lillabit'') was a children's anime created by Creator/TatsunokoProduction in 1980, brought to America and shown on Creator/NickJr in the early 1990s. It focused on a race of tiny people living in a place known as Foothill Forest. While the show usually had lessons to teach, it did so in a subtle, non-{{Anvilicious}} manner.

** For the English dub, the musical score was completely replaced, including the theme tune cameos. However, in the episode "The Red Rainbow," there's a scene in which the kids sing a song on their way to Starlight Lake. In the Japanese and Spanish versions, we hear the Japanese OP theme sung by the voice actors; for the English version, instead of cutting the scene (which they could have done), they inserted a completely new song about the joys of friendship.

* TheNapoleon: Snagglebit. His original name even ''was'' Napoleon! (and was kept as such in other languages like Spanish and Portuguese.

* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjs0c0_yyyyyyyyy-yyyyyyyyyyy-op_music#.USGpwmcrGSo Japanese theme song]] is different from the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X9Wk6hCois English theme song]].

* TheNapoleon: Snagglebit. His original name even ''was'' Napoleon!

* MissingEpisode: Three episodes are ''extremely'' rare in English. A fourth episode previously considered "lost" in English, "Winter Strawberries," has been found and posted on Website/YouTube.

* TheDeterminator: Chip in episode 2. He wants to be a doctor and he won't take no for an answer, he'll even wait out in the rain until Dr. Snoozabit agrees to take him on as an assistant.

* LostEpisode: Three episodes are ''extremely'' rare in English. A fourth episode previously considered "lost" in English, "Winter Strawberries," has been found and posted on YouTube.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In "The Mystical Monument". Snagglebit, after being a first-class JerkAss to Browniebit over losing a bullfrog rodeo, immediately regrets his behavior when he finds out Browniebit has gone off to explore a dangerous cave. He even outright admits it's his fault.

* PluckyGirl: Lillibit

** "Madam Bella the Weaver": Rosiebit, who is competing against Lillibit (Belfy) for the job of being the village's next head weaver (a position Rosebit believes is rightfully hers, since she's Madam Bella's granddaughter), steals Lillibit's yellow dye to jeopardize Lillibit's chances of winning. Lillibit heads to the mountains to gather flowers to make more dye, and not until she and Willibit (who has gone out to look for her) are trapped by an avalanche does Rosiebit realize how wrong what she did was.

** MissingMom: Snagglebit's mother died when he was very young.

* ThreePlusTwo: Snagglebit, Willabit and Lillibit are the lead trio. Chip and Browniebit are Snagglebit's close friends outside the two others and while important (and even the protagonists of their own episodes), they don't get ''so'' much face time as the former three. In later episodes Chip virtually disappears and his role as Snaggle's sidekick is taken by another boy, called Ricky by Snagglebit in one episode.

* ThreePlusTwo: Snagglebit, Willabit and Lillibit are the lead trio. Chip and Browniebit are Snagglebit's close friends outside the two others and while important, they don't get ''so'' much face time as the former three.

** "Help the Squirrel": Willibit and Snagglebit injure a mother squirrel who was in the process of stealing their picnic basket. The squirrel is not only badly injured, but develops a dangerously high fever, and her hungry brood (for whom she stole the picnic basket in the first place) will be left motherless if she dies. Racked with guilt, the boys head off for the mountains to get ice to break the squirrel's fever.
** "Madam Bella the Weaver": The titular Madam Bella's granddaughter, Rosiebit, is competing against Lillibit in a contest to decide who will be the next head weaver of the village, and jealously depletes Lillibit's Sun-Posey Yellow dye to decrease Lillibit's chances of winning. Lillibit goes into the mountains in search of more sun posies for her dress, and when an avalanche hits, burying both Lillibit and Willibit (who has gone to look for her) in the snow, Rosiebit finally realizes the enormity of what she has done. The irony is that Lillibit, who is making the dress as a gift for Willibit's little sister, doesn't even care about winning the contest and is only persuaded to enter the dress in the contest at Madam Bella's urging.

* {{Lilliputians}}
* LostEpisode: Four episodes are ''extremely'' rare in English.

** Even the normally sweet-tempered Lillibit (Belfy) had such a moment in one episode... the flying squirrel (Snuffly) kept trying to join in her games with Willibit but always messed them up, and Lillibit yelled at him. Not until Snuffly ran away as a result did she realize what she had done.

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Aside from the studio (Tatsunoko), there was composer Takeo Watanabe (of Anime/CuteyHoney fame) and episode director Mizuho Nishikubo, who later worked on Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold, [[Anime/RedPhotonZillion Zillion]], and Manga/VideoGirlAi.

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Aside from the studio (Tatsunoko), there was composer Takeo Watanabe (of CutieHoney fame) and episode director Mizuho Nishikubo, who later worked on Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold, [[Anime/RedPhotonZillion Zillion]], and Manga/VideoGirlAi.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: [[http://www.littlbits.com/video.html These are pretty much your only means of getting the show on video or DVD]].

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Studio!]] Would you believe that this was created by the same studio that made Anime/SpeedRacer?
** On the other hand, so was {{Superbook}}, which this show predates by a year, and actually used many of the same staff.

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Aside from the studio (Tatsunoko), there was composer Takeo Watanabe (of CutieHoney fame) and episode director Mizuho Nishikubo, who later worked on MysteriousCitiesOfGold, {{Zillion}}, and Manga/VideoGirlAi.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropespage_2925.JPG

''The Littl' Bits'', known in Japan as ''Mori no Youkina Kobito-tachi'': ''Belfy to Lillabit'' (''Cheerful Dwarves of the Forest'': ''Belfy and Lillabit'') was a children's anime created by {{Tatsunoko}} in 1980, brought to America and shown on NickJr in the early 1990s. It focused on a race of tiny people living in a place known as Foothill Forest. While the show usually had lessons to teach, it did so in a subtle, non-{{Anvilicious}} manner.

Not to be confused with Literature/TheLittles (though both deal in {{Lilliputians}})

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Studio!]] Would you believe that this was created by the same studio that made SpeedRacer?

* HairOfGold / RapunzelHair: Lillibit.

* CulturalTranslation: Although the original Japanese version predated "The Smurfs", the show did not make its way Stateside until the early 1990s, thus the reason why a "Smurf"-like naming scheme is used in the English version. Most other versions of the show kept the original Japanese names for the characters or some variation thereof, but in English, Belfy became "Lillibit", Lillibit became "Willibit" (yes, Lillibit was the name of the male, and not the female, lead in the original), Chuchuna became "Teenybit" and so on. The English name changes even carried over into some later European dubs (i.e. Dutch).

* NakedShotaroBoy: In "Let's Go To The Sea", Snagglebit, Chip and Willabit go skinny-dipping.

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Aside from the studio (Tatsunoko), there was composer Takeo Watanabe (of CutieHoney fame) and episode director Mizuho Nishikubo, who later worked on MysteriousCitiesOfGold, {{Zillion}}, and VideoGirlAi.

* {{Americanization}}: Although the original Japanese version predated "The Smurfs", the show did not make its way Stateside until the early 1990s, thus the reason why a "Smurf"-like naming scheme is used in the English version. Most other versions of the show kept the original Japanese names for the characters or some variation thereof, but in English, Belfy became "Lillibit", Lillibit became "Willibit" (yes, Lillibit was the name of the male, and not the female, lead in the original), Chuchuna became "Teenybit" and so on. The English name changes even carried over into some later European dubs (i.e. Dutch).