In 2020, Edinburgh News published an article about the Hello! Sandybell, discussing how rare it was to find an anime set in Scotland...and used a screenshot of the Cornwell brothers from Candy♡Candy. The error is still up to this day.
AniMagazin (January 2023) states that apart from Hungary, the only other European countries Hello! Sandybell aired in were France and Spain. This is untrue as it also aired in Italy, Greece and Romania. It was also shown in the Nordics through casette tapes.
Creator's Favorite Episode: Several people working for Wendros AB who produced the Swedish dub, including the company's founder Christer Hagström, have stated that Hello! Sandybell was their favourite anime dub project (along with Candy♡Candy).
Crossdressing Voices: In the French and Italian dubs, both Ricky and Charles have female voice actresses (including their Other Darrins).
In the Swedish dub, while female characters are for the most part voiced by female voice actors, minor female roles are sometimes voiced by male voice actors. Most notably, the below mentioned Tomas Bolme also voiced Kitty's mother, Mrs Shearer. On the flip side, Ricky was voiced by a female voice actress.
Tomas Bolme, the dubbing director and translator of the Swedish version, also voiced Mark Blanche Wellington and Leslie Christie.
The first six episodes of Greek dub were originally translated and dubbed by Spyros Milionis, who also voiced Mr. Scott (episode 4). The remaining ones were directed by Michalis Balis, Dimitra Dimitriadou and Christina Donori. Dimitriadou also voiced the Narrator, as the previous voice actress for it left.
Jorge Mota directed the European Portugeuse dub and voiced Charles and Leslie Christie.
Dueling Dubs: When the series was dubbed into Italian, it had two dubs - an original one directed by Federico Danti and a Rai dub directed by Renzo Stacchi. The Rai dub also had a different script.
Foreign Dub as Basis: The European Portugeuse dub of Hello! Sandybell was based on the Italian dub. It's why the European Portuguese and Italian theme songs sound so similar. The Portuguese dub also added a lot of it's own Dub Name Changes.
Late Export for You: While this anime reached most of Europe's shores a few years after release, it didn't air in Russia until 1995 on the channel 2x2.
Life Imitates Art: The anime features a Scottish character named Kitty Shearer, who later decides to work as a journalist. Come 2003, and there really is a Scottish news presenter and journalist called Catriona Shearer, who goes by "Kitty" for short.
No Export for You: It was never broadcast in the USA or Canada, because of the lack of English dub (though since it had a French dub, it would have been fit for some Canadian stations).
Otaku O'Clock: The 2018 Marathons on Italia 1 were broadcast during the "Orario Notturno!" timeslot.
"Sandybell" is also the name of a popular pub in Scotland.
The French dub of Hello! Sandybell was also broadcast in Belgium and Romania.
In spite of being a cornerstone of anime fandom in Sweden, Hello! Sandybell has never been broadcasted on Swedish television. Instead, the anime owns its popularity in Sweden entirely thanks to home video releases (especially rental VHS tapes from the local gas stations), which was standard practice for all anime that was dubbed at the time.note for those wondering, the first anime to be broadcast on Swedish television was Sailor Moon in 1996.
about the Hello! Sandybell, discussing how rare it was to find an anime set in Scotland...and used a screenshot of the Cornwell brothers from Candy♡Candy. The error is still up to this day.