Last week when I was chatting online with my best friend, I suddenly remembered an old cartoon that we used to watch with much attention when we were around 10 years old.
I asked him, do you remember Jonger the cartoon show? And he answered me with an opened-mouth emoticon smile, yes of course. And to those who do not know who Jonger is, allow me to introduce this animated joy more properly. Jonger, is the Arabic translation for a very popular Japanese cartoon in the 1980s that was originally produced in the early 1970s as Astroganga in 26 episodes.
The story was about a hero robot who fights the destroyers from outer space who sought to dominate the Earth.
To me and I’m sure to many others who used to watch this show, Jongar the robot was our childhood hero – vanguard and protector of all that is true.
And out of passion for our childhood hero, my friends and I decided to search for the cartoon over the net.
We were thrilled when we succeeded in finding the opening song of the show and kept searching with much hope to find all the episodes.
During my searching journey for the robot, I came across many other cartoon shows that affected me and many other kids at that time like Grendizer, Mazinger Sindbad, the Smurfs, Captain Maged . etc.
And I was filled with a mixture of emotions: a mixture of happiness and longing for the time of magic were everything seemed possible and perfect. I was compelled to ponder how such shows affected our personalities as we were growing up and made us who are today.
These shows have enriched our spirits with many simple values and morals through a variety of meaningful stories. Through the many episodes of Jonger and other like-minded Japanese cartoons, we grew up to worship friendship, be kind to animals, respect differences, love our countries, and most of all be helpful to others.
Nowadays, cartoons are bit different than the old ones, Moataz Atallah, Mechanical Engineer says, “I prefer the old cartoons than the new ones, they were more dependent on concepts, aims like good against evil; however, the current ones are built in a non-intellectual way, or just funny adventures .
While the stories of the cartoons hold the attention of youngsters, it is also the opening music intros which have captivated our memories for so many years. “I remember the old cartoons from their songs, says Sarah Abd El Aziz, English teacher, sometimes I remember a piece of a song of a certain story and I realize how much I miss it.
No matter how busy or old we become, we shall always recall those old cartoons that made us imagine without boundaries, dream without restrictions, think and laugh with confidence at our childhoods. Those cartoons that made us interact positively with the outer world everyday.
“I would love to introduce my kids to those cartoons that I have grown up with to make them realize many principles that are being neglected in our busy days , says Ahmed Shawki, a pharmacist.
And to those who miss yesterday, to those who are longing to go back in time to the world of our early days that were full of magical memories, here is a breeze from the memories of the good old times that I have luckily found online: http://alsaher.com/cartoons/.
To Jonger, thank you.
Reeham Magdy Abd El Aziz is an economic analyst at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
