Also known as The Wonderous Koala Blinky, Noozles was a 26-episode series by Nippon Animation Company that was originally released in Japan in 1984 and aired on the Fuji TV network. In Japan, it was the result of a brief Koala fad that swept the country after the birth of a Koala within the Tama Zoo in Tokyo and the later addition of several more koalas as a gift from the Australian government (Adventures of the Little Koala has a similar history). Noozles was dubbed by Saban International and got its greatest prominence in English when it was endlessly rerun on Nickelodeon from 1988 through 1993.
The show starts out as a simple story about 12-year-old Sandy, who receives a package from her long-lost grandfather that was recently recovered from a shipwreck. The package contains a stuffed Koala. Upon Sandy giving the Koala a "Noozle" (also known as an Eskimo Kiss), the toy comes to life and introduces himself as Blinky. She soon also meets his sister, Pinky, who just wants Blinky to go home with her to Koalawala land, though Blinky always refuses. Pinky can fly and summon magic portals using a tube of lipstick, leading to the trio going on many whacky adventures. Even Sandy's grandmother gets in on the act.
About halfway through the series, the show suddenly got more serious as Sandy visited Koalawala Land, the dimension where her friends and many other anthromorphic Australian creatures live and the show's plot grew so dark that by the end of the series, the fate of both worlds were at stake and the mystery of Sandy's grandfather's disappearance is the key to saving them. Oh, and the Koalas of Koalawala are basically human-hating Nazis that arrest and condemn humans to eternal imprisonment on sight.
Not to be confused with another series starring a koala named Blinky, although it could be argued that the name of the character in this series is a reference to that onenote .
Tropes:
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Both Sandy's father and grandfather are one.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: That explains the Bait-and-Switch Credits.
- Toshio Furukawa sings the ending theme in the original Japanese version, despite not having a voice role in the series. (The opening theme was sung by TARAKO, who also voiced Mark.)
- And I Must Scream: The fate of Sandy's grandfather in the Crystal Palace.
- Apocalypse How: Blinky's here to prevent a multiversal apocalypse. Seismic testing has damaged the axis connecting his universe to ours, resulting in them separating off balance and far too fast; without careful control of the separation, this will result in the two universes ripping themselves apart.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Pinky is envious of how close Sandy and her older brother are and is constantly trying to find ways to trick or strongarm him into going back home with her.
- Bait-and-Switch Credits: The cheerful theme song
that continues to play throughout. - Barefoot Cartoon Animal: None of the Koalas wear shoes.
- Bittersweet Ending: Blinky and Pinky must save the universe by safely separating Koalawala Land and our world before they shatter each other apart. This means that Sandy will never see them again. She doesn't get her grandfather back either, since he's still trapped forever. On the other hand, the mysteries are solved, her father is home seemingly for good, and her mother reminds her that as hard as the separation is, she'll always have the memories of the time she had with Blinky and Pinky.
- Caught in a Snare: Sandy in "The Mysterious Message."
- Cerebus Syndrome: You'd be forgiven for thinking the second half of this series was a completely different show. Or a fever dream.
- Clingy Jealous Guy: Mark gets jealous when Sandy (accidentally) mentions Blinky, thinking Blinky must be Sandy's boyfriend.
- Cool Old Lady: Grandma Brown, who proved to be quite useful throughout the series, and was the only other person besides Sandy who knew about Blinky and Pinky.
- Cosmetic Catastrophe: In the episode "Like Father, Like Daughter," Sandy decides to try some of her mother's makeup, and, having no idea how to apply it correctly, comes out looking something like the love child of Dee Snider and Cyndi Lauper. Instead of being angry, Sandy's mother begins laughing hysterically when she sees - as does Grandma - and a hurt Sandy flees in tears.
- Crapsaccharine World: Koalawalaland for all its wonder is rather dark, as the inhabitants are not so much "born" as incubated and they're rabidly anti-human.
- Creepy Doll: Blinky, sort of. He enters something called "Magic Sleepytime" to pose as a stuffed animal, which means he "sleeps" with his eyes open...
- Dub Name Change: Surprisingly (for a 1980s English dub of a children's anime series) averted in the English dub, where the only name changed is Printy to Pinky.
- Eldritch Location: The Crystal Place is an unimaginably complicated maze contained within crystal spheres that draws people's spirits in and traps them so that they must wander forever seeking and never finding the exit.
- Eyelid Pull Taunt: Pinky gives Blinky one in the first episode during the pancake-mix fight. It was cut in the English dub, possibly because it was considered too Japanese.
- Fantastic Racism: The residents of Koalawala Land are violently anti-human.
- Floating in a Bubble: Pinky's magic compact emits bubbles enabling the user to float through the air. It only works as long as the compact is open, however, and Pinky sometimes closes it on purpose when Sandy and Blinky are using it, just to scare them.
- Gratuitous English: The Japanese opening song has some: "Miracle telepathy", "My sweetheart", etc.
- High Koala-ty Cuteness: Blinky and Pinky.
- How Do I Shot Web?: In the first episode, the first several times Sandy wakes up Blinky were entirely on accident, not realizing rubbing their noses together (or a “noozle”, as they call it) was how she did it. It finally occurs to her by the end of the episode.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Pinky can be selfish, manipulative, and petty; but in times of crisis (such as when Sandy's father was accidentally transported to Koalawala Land) she can be counted on to help in whatever way she can. Also, when Sandy and the Koalas were transported into the world of the Cinderella fairy tail, Pinky was genuinely outraged after learning of the abuse Cinderalla's stepfamily put her through and acted as the fairy godmother so she could go to the ball.
- Lethal Chef: Narrowly averted in the episode "The Magic Vacation," when Sandy is helping prepare dinner for her father's homecoming and is so distracted she nearly sifts salt into the cake she is baking instead of sugar. Thankfully her mother stops her in time.
- Literal-Minded: Sandy sometimes displays a surprising amount of naivete for a girl who is supposed to be 12 years old. In the episode "Like Father, Like Daughter" (aka "I Am Beautiful"), Sandy overhears her grandmother and mother talking about how much she is like her father, and immediately takes this to mean she's going to look exactly like her father when she grows up - beard and all. After Sandy angsts about this for the entire episode, Grandma finally explains that she was referring to Sandy and her father having similar personalities.
- Loving Bully: Mark shows traits of this with Sandy. He enjoys taunting her sometimes, which can be explained by the fact that he has a crush on her. Sandy is oblivious to this and thinks Mark's just being a Jerkass.
- Magic Skirt: Sandy in an episode where she gets caught in a kiwi's snare.
- Mistaken for Thief: In episode 3, "Sandy's Birthday Surprise," Sandy sees a strange man in her house and, thinking the man is a burglar, runs to get the police. Turns out it's Sandy's father, whom she didn't recognize because he'd grown a beard. She still doesn't believe it until he shaves the beard off.
- Mood Whiplash: When the more serious parts of the plot kick into gear.
- Never Mess with Granny: Sandy's grandmother once forced Pinky to clean the entire house as punishment for her troublemaking. For the duration of the series' run, Grandma remained the one person Pinky was afraid of.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Sandy initially tries to tell her mother about Blinky and Pinky, but she doesn't believe her. Blinky repeatedly going back to sleep when she tried to show him to her didn't help. She eventually decides it's better not to tell her and keeps it a secret until the end of the series. When her mother finally finds out the truth she asks Sandy why she didn't tell her. Sandy reminds her that she didn't believe her when she did.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Sandy's koala disguise, which you can see in the opening is just a koala hat and partial face mask...and nothing else.
- Parental Neglect: With Sandy's father away from home, her mother, Kelly, often has to work long hours as a journalist and doesn't have very much time to spend with her daughter, and Sandy often ends up preparing her own dinner or having takeout. Nevertheless, she does truly love her daughter and wishes she could spend more time with her.
- Pie in the Face: "Magic flying pancake mix" in the face, actually, in episode one. It happens first to Sandy when she opens one of Pinky's magical gadgets despite Pinky's warning her not to. She and both koalas end up playfully throwing the stuff at each other.
- Rich Bitch: Olivia. She's vain, selfish and materialistic, sometimes unnecessarily rude to Sandy's plain-looking friend Emily, and plays The Rival to Sandy in a few episodes (including "Cinderella Sandy").
- The Runaway: Sandy decides to run away from home in episode 21 after learning that her mother apparently broke her promise to take her shopping in order to attend an amusement park. Turns out Sandy's mother was only at the park for work purposes.
- Shout-Out: In the English dub of the Cinderella episode, Cinderella's mouse friends are known as Gus and Jaq, just as in the Disney film.
- Team Rocket: Franky and Spike, two poachers who occasionally went after Blinky and Pinky. They are eventually trapped in The Crystal Place.
- Took a Level in Badass: Blinky in "Naughty but Nice," after being mesmerized by Pinky. Pinky regrets it when she sees how mean Blinky's become.
- We Do the Impossible: Blinky boasts of being able to do just that in the pilot.Sandy: You mean you can make the impossible possible?Blinky: (takes a bow) That happens to be my specialty.
- Youthful Freckles: Sandy.
