The Legend of Zorro (anime series)

Not to be confused with Kaiketsu Zorori.

The Legend of Zorro
Promotional poster for the television series Kaiketsu Zorro
快傑ゾロ (Extraordinary Zorro)
Genre	Historical, adventure, superhero
Anime television series
Directed by	Katsumi Minoguchi
Produced by	Hiroshi Kato Masako Fukuyo Tatsuo Oba
Written by	Sukehiro Tomita
Music by	Hiromoto Tobisawa
Studio	Ashi Productions
Original network	NHK
English network	AU: Nine Network, 9Go!
Original run	April 5, 1996 – March 28, 1997
Episodes	52

The Legend of Zorro (Japanese: 快傑ゾロ, Hepburn: Kaiketsu Zoro, lit. "Extraordinary Zorro") is a Japanese anime, based on the western character Zorro. The series was initially broadcast in Italy in 1994 before being broadcast in Japan two years later, albeit with some episodes skipped (only 46 of the original 52 episodes were shown in Japan).

Plot

Diego Vega, the eighteen-year-old scion of a local landowner, returns from studying in Spain and discovers that his homeland has fallen under the dictatorship of Commander Raymond and Lieutenant Gabriel. Outraged by the oppression, Diego decides to fight the tyrants. Disguised as Zorro, a masked swordsman, he helps the weak, riding away on his horse, Viento.

In his day-to-day life, Diego portrays himself as a clumsy and cowardly boy who flees when faced with dangerous situations only to appear moments later as Zorro. As the local hero, he is known to punish his enemies by cutting a Z-shaped mark into them with the tip of his blade. Diego is accompanied by Bernard, his sidekick, who wears a similar costume and has the nickname "Little Zorro."

Diego's childhood friend and sweetheart, Lolita Prideaux, believes that Spain changed him and she scolds him relentlessly for his idiotic behavior. Lolita is a sweet-tempered girl who wants to fight evil and protect the people by helping Zorro from behind the scenes. She later develops feelings for Zorro, though she is unaware of his true identity.

Characters

Don Diego Vega/Zorro

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki

The main protagonist of the series. As Diego, he pretends to be lazy and clumsy, playing the role of a cowardly fool to hide his secret identity. As Zorro, he is the most noble-minded swordsman in the world. Diego is a rival of Captain Raymond but feels a deep affection for the other man. Diego is calm and reasonable, contrasting with his hot-headed and stubborn companions.

Lolita Prideaux

Voiced by: Maria Kawamura

The female protagonist of the series. Diego's spunky and beautiful, blond childhood friend and love interest. She acts bossy towards Diego, but she has romantic feelings for Zorro.

Bernard/Little Zorro

Voiced by: Rica Matsumoto

Diego/Zorro's sidekick, an abandoned orphan found by Diego when he was still a baby. Diego adopted and took care of him as if he was his younger brother. He helps Zorro by eavesdropping and gathering information, and later develops his own alter ego, "Little Zorro."

Commander Raymond

Voiced by: Jūrōta Kosugi

The main villain of the series, commander of the Spanish Army in California who plots to assassinate the Governor-General.

Lieutenant Gabriel

Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi

A young Spanish officer who serves as Captain Raymond's right-hand man in California. Lt. Gabriel has feelings for Lolita.

Don Alejandro Vega

Voiced by: Ikuya Sawaki

Diego's father. Wealthy landowner and field worker.

Sergeant Pedro Gonzales

Voiced by: Kōzō Shioya

A stout sergeant who often serves as comic relief. Comparable to Johnston McCulley's character from 1920's The Mark of Zorro. He has a good moral sense but remains gluttonous and simple-minded within the army.

Don Carlos Prideaux

Lolita's father.

Catarina Prideaux

Lolita's mother.

Maria

The Vega's housemaid. She is very masculine, boisterous, and not afraid to scold - but takes care of the kids with much fondness.

Viento

Zorro's horse.

Tackle

Diego's lazy hunting dog.

Figaro

Bernard's helpful bulldog.

Nikita

Bernard's love interest.

Manuel

One of Bernard's best friends.

Sergio

One of Bernard's best friends.

Leona

One of Bernard's best friends, a girl who looks like a boy.

Governor-General

In charge of the Californian branch of the army (and town by extension).

Captain Jekyll

Brown

Kapital

Episode list

The Legend of Zorro (1996)

No.	Official English title
1	"Return of the Hero"
In the beginning of the 19th Century, California is under the Spanish Empire. The military squad that was transferred to the little town of Santazco imposed a status of terrorism at the poor people's expense, by stealing their money and their food on a daily basis, leading them to even bigger hunger and poverty, and by processing to cold executions of the rebelling men and torments of their women and children, breaking as such their own laws. Diego de la Vega, the only child of the wealthy Vega family, is on a ship to go back to his home country, California, because his father, Don Alejandro, has asked for his return from Spain after his graduation. In the meantime, Lolita Pulido, the only child of the equally wealthy Pulido family and Diego's childhood friend, and Bernard, Diego's young brother-in-law, are helping a man named Chichita to leave away from California, along with his wife and their baby, because Chichita was teaching freedom to the people and as such, he was accused by the army for treachery and was about to be executed. Lolita meets Diego at the ship and asks him to help her hide the family inside. Unfortunately, the soldiers find them and arrest them, but they spare the baby. Lolita tries to stop the soldiers, but fails, and later gets angry with Diego when the latter showed cowardice and fear in front of her and the soldiers. Later, a welcome back party is organized at Vega's manor on Diego's behalf, and the whole town has been invited to attend it. Lolita leaves the party because she is still upset with Diego, and her parents, Carlos and Catarina, started to worry since she has decided to marry Diego a long time ago and, along with Don Alejandro, they agreed to it. Bernard has undertaken the baby's care, along with Diego and Lolita. As the party was continued, Sergeant Pedro Gonzales arrived with some soldiers to announce to the attendees that Chichita is to be executed in a few minutes. Everyone in the town is insistent on going to watch the execution as a paradigmatic punishment from the army. Diego overhears the news and takes action, becoming his alter ego: the heroic protector of the people and defender of justice and salvation, the masked swordsman Zorro. He arrives in time to stop the execution and, after dealing with the army, he helps Chichita and his wife to run away. The villagers cheered, but Commander Raymond, the head of the army, was enraged with Zorro's interference. The following dawn, the army searches for the family inside the ship, but without any result. Lieutenant Gabriel, Commander Raymond's second in command, spots a few small boats in the open sea and realizes that the family may be on the other shore preparing to meet them. Gabriel finds them and is about to murder them, but Zorro arrives in time and manages to defeat Gabriel after a hard fight. Chichita and his family manage to leave away from California safely in the end.
2	"The Barrels of Wine"
One night, two carts full of barrels with wine are being moved from a farm to the warehouse of one poor family from Santazco. The carts pass through a mountain pass. A group of bandits ambush the carts and steal the wine. The next day, the army came to the house of that family to collect the taxes from the yearly productivity of the wine. Since these people had their wine stolen last night, they can't pay their taxes, so the army decided to foreclose their wheat. Diego, who was present during those events, showed once more in front of Lolita cowardice and immaturity, and that annoyed her and Bernard. Later, Sergeant Pedro Gonzales was invited to Vega's house and had lunch with them and the Pulido family. The two families were awaiting some carts full of wine in a few hours, and they had to protect it from those bandits, so that they won't end up like their neighboring family from before. As such, the kind Sergeant volunteered to guard the carts with his own soldiers and Diego, Bernard, and Lolita joined them. The local wine seller, Brown, was selling his wine at a low price due to the fact that this year's grape crop was poor and ran out of stock swiftly, but the people entered his shop to buy more wine since theirs was stolen. It is later revealed that Brown was the one who hired these bandits to steal for him the people's wine, so that he sells it at a high price and make even more money. The head of the bandits was about to be paid by Brown after stealing the Vega's and Pulido's wine, so he organized a plan to ambush the carts. Indeed, some of his henchmen distracted the soldiers, and he along with the rest ambushed Diego, Bernard, Lolita and Gonzales, demanding that they give them the wine. Diego pretends to be scared and runs away. Lolita tries to rush through the bandits, but fails and is cornered by them. Being somewhere alone, Diego calls for his loyal horse, Viento, and turns again into his alter ego, Zorro. He saves Lolita and, along with Gonzales, he fights the bandits, capturing one of them in the process. Unfortunately, the other bandits escaped with a cart of wine. In order to find out who is the mastermind of that big scheme, Zorro whispered to Bernard that he has already marked all the barrels with a “Z” sign and gave him some instructions. As per request, the young boy along with his friends proceeded to examine all the barrels around the town. They ultimately found the barrels with the “Z” sign in Brown's yard and, since they have marked the outer walls with the same sign, Bernard could memorize its location with ease, so he sneaked alone at that night with a disguise identical to Zorro's to retrieve the stolen wine, but was discovered by the head bandit and was caught, at the same time that Commander Raymond paid a visit at Brown's shop to inspect his stock. The wealthy entrepreneur bribed him with the wine, assuring him that the people will buy only his wine at a low price, but Zorro intervened to reveal the whole truth to Raymond about Brown's devious scheme. The captured bandit also confirmed his involvement to the case. The other bandits and Raymond's soldiers were easily defeated by Zorro, but then the head bandit appeared with the captured Bernard. The masked hero hesitated to fight for his friend's life, but the brave boy escaped with ease, and Zorro defeated the bandit after a hard fight. He revealed to Brown and Raymond that the barrels he marked with the “Z” sign weren't filled with wine, but water, thus becoming decoys to confirm Brown's involvement to the previous thefts of the wine barrels. Now the truth was revealed and before departing, Zorro snatched Brown's money to give them back to the family who had lost their wine in the beginning, so that they pay their taxes and take their wheat back. At last, Raymond ordered Brown to give the stolen wine back to their owners, assuring him that he will collect the taxes from him as well. After escaping from the Commander's men, Bernard confessed to Zorro that he found out his real identity, and shared a tender moment with his elder brother, referring to the past, the night that Diego found the orphaned boy out of the Vega's family manor with a high fever and took him inside, so that Maria, the housemaid, will treat him, and since then, the family decided to adopt him, giving him the name he has till now. And now that Bernard knows who Zorro truly is, he decided to fight for justice alongside him, creating as such his own alter ego: Little Zorro.
3	"Proposal of Marriage"
Another beautiful morning found the little town of Santazco. At Vega's family manor, Diego, as usual, is sleeping under the sun, along with his pet dog Tackle, while his father, Don Alejandro, is working in the fields along with the workers of the manor and sweating heavily. He has become a laughing stock for the villagers day by day, and Maria tries again and again to make him change his bad public image, and start working like a man. Don Carlos, Lolita's father, just passed by and saw the only child of Vega in this bad shape. He expressed his worries to his wife, Catarina, about Diego being the right man to marry their own only child, Lolita, because of his constant idleness, despite them having agreed with the marriage, along with Don Alejandro. On the other side, Catarina considered Diego's attitude as a motivation for them to speed up the marriage as soon as possible, so that they get their fair share from Vega's property and the family would avoid bankruptcy. Carlos agreed with the idea. When Lolita joined the talk, her parents preferred not to talk about the marriage and just ask her daughter about Diego as a character. For a very long time, Lolita has considered that Diego has become lazy, boring, coward, and a good for nothing man since his return from his studies in Spain, and she isn't interested about him anymore. And after reading his letters from his practices at swordfighting, she got even more angry because she didn't see him fighting for real. Only if Diego showed some desire to fight like a man, she would change her aspect about him. All of a sudden, she spotted out of her window a happy Lieutenant Gabriel coming to her house along with his soldiers. He delivered a marriage proposal to Lolita, to her parents' surprise. Gabriel confessed to them that he was charmed from the maiden's beauty and liveliness for a long time, and was making his preparations to ask her marry him. Carlos and Catarina, despite being in a predicament, decided anyway to tell the officer the whole truth: Lolita has already a fiancé, Diego. This angered Gabriel, who decided to find the only child of Vega. When he did it, he decided to challenge him to a duel for the hand of Lolita. Bernard and Lolita, who were present in the scene, were surprised about Gabriel's attitude, and especially Lolita, whom Gabriel asked her to marry him. But later the maiden asked Diego to accept the challenge, in order to show her that he is truly strong, according to the letters she read before. The young man, being consumed by tremendous fear, refused to fight and ran away, suffering a humiliating defeat from the Lieutenant and making the entire town laugh at him. Both Gabriel and Lolita called Diego a coward and Bernard fell in agony. But Lolita also rejected Gabriel's proposal, telling him that she hates all soldiers and left away, making the villagers laugh at him now. An extremely mad Gabriel, after shouting to the people to shut up, threw Diego in jail due to the humiliation he suffered from him. Then he spotted an arsonist being in the same jail with Diego and came up with a smart idea to use him so that he takes what he wants: Lolita. He instructed him to burn down Don Carlos's warehouse at night and then leave away from here. While Don Alejandro and Don Carlos were discussing about their children and their future if they were about to marry each other, Bernard came to inform them about Diego's imprisonment. The arsonist did his job and the next day Gabriel, putting on an act, arrived to inform the Pulido that the fire in the warehouse was the result of an arson, and that he will hunt down and capture the arsonist, in exchange for the hand of Lolita. The maiden, who has seen how far Gabriel can go to claim what he wants, ran away full of rage, but Gabriel ambushed her and kidnapped her. He put her in another secret jail and tried to reason with her and warn her about her family's well-being, but Lolita refused to listen to the mad officer and sent him away out of her hatred for him. At night, Bernard deployed Tackle to help Diego escape from jail and warned him about Lolita, whom her parents can't find anywhere. So, after turning into Zorro, he captured the arsonist as he was about to burn another warehouse and forced him to confess where Lolita is being kept. After the arsonist revealed the location, Zorro tied him on a tree, and showed him to Carlos and Catarina as the one who destroyed their warehouse. Then ran to the jail and defeated all the soldiers, whom demanded to release Lolita and run away. They did it, and the maiden ran to hug her savior and thank him. Gabriel arrived to the scene and Zorro gave him a dishonored defeat after scolding him and calling him liar and coward. But when Commander Raymond arrived with the captured arsonist, he left away along with Lolita, with the soldiers running to capture Zorro. Being ashamed now in front of his superior, Gabriel admitted his errors and promised to leave alone Lolita from now on, as per Raymond's order, and neither him nor the arsonist will tell anything to anyone about the events. The next day, Lolita asked her mother to marry Zorro, but Catarina told her daughter that Zorro is someone who belongs to everyone's hearts.
4	"Wake Up My Friend!"
The Spanish army went on its usual patrol another sunny morning at the streets of Santazco, while the people around were discussing and buying anything they needed. Some soldiers stopped at a stand to pick up some fruits to feed themselves. The owner demanded that they pay them, but they refused and they started to destroy the stand and beat up the man, despite his pleas. The people watched the scene idly, but Lolita shouted to the troops to stop. Diego interfered when he saw the troops surrounding his friend, and soon he got in trouble, as they started to attack him. They only managed to injure themselves and their comrades, which enraged them more. Fortunately, Lieutenant Gabriel ended the fight, saving Diego, and apologized to Lolita for his troops' behavior. The maiden chastised Gabriel for coming too late, but the officer remained calm, and he along with his soldiers continued their patrol. After the atmosphere cleared, Diego and Lolita heard a familiar voice calling them. It was their childhood friend, Oro Perez, who was overjoyed to see his pals after so many years, especially Diego, with whom he was playing every day. Oro is just like Diego, immature and joyful, but unlike him, he is brave, hotheaded, and he doesn't hesitate to start up a fight with someone. He also admires the Spanish army and he wants to join. Lolita scolded Oro and explained to him that the army commits crimes for their own benefits. The young man, however, still aims to join the army and he vowed to himself that one day he will achieve it. This concerned Diego a little. At home, Oro's dad, Don Ricardo, was plotting with his comrades to blow up the military camp with gunpowder that they hid in a cave deep inside the mountains. They were about to start a big rebellion against the army to reclaim the people's lost freedom. Oro, who eavesdropped his dad's conspiracy, ran to inform the army, but Don Ricardo spotted his son and asked him where he is going in such a hurry. Oro didn't say anything and ran off. At night, he discussed with Gonzales about the conspiracy, not wanting to reveal the people who are involved, but the Sergeant didn't believe him. On the other hand, Gabriel believed the young man, and so, he took his soldiers along with Oro and they stormed off to the mountains. They managed to find the boxes with the gunpowder and blew them up. The whole town was alerted about the explosion, and especially Don Ricardo, who couldn't believe that the army found out about his organization's plan so easily. Gabriel paid Oro for his information, but the young man asked the Lieutenant to let him join the army. Gonzales disagreed since Oro doesn't have any training experience, but Gabriel agreed, telling him that he needs to work hard to become a good soldier. The next day, Oro, with his military uniform, celebrated for the fulfillment of his dream while walking the town streets. Everyone started to gossip about Oro's new uniform. Meanwhile, Don Ricardo decided that since the army knows about his organization's activity, they need to pause their plans for some time. When he saw his son with a military uniform, and when he learned the reason he wears it, he concluded that he gave away his plans to the army. Father and son had a serious argument, with the first demanding that Oro takes out the uniform, and the latter refusing with anger and leaving the house. Nothing is the same for Oro anymore. Not to mention about his own father, even the whole town started to hate him and ridicule him. But the young man was blinded by his foolish ambitions, that he didn't care about his abjection. Gabriel, in order to get rid of that hotheaded youngster and take what he wants, came out with a true bluff: he promised to Oro that he will promote him to Head of the Military Counter-Espionage if he brings to him valuable information about Zorro's hideout. The young man was overjoyed and promised that he will fulfill his "mission". Don Ricardo, after sending his son away from the house, discussed with Don Alejandro, Diego's father, about his son's abjection and his new mission for the army, and compared Oro with Diego, who is not ambitious and arrogant, despite him having his own flaws. Diego has concluded that his best friend bit off more than he could chew, so he set up a plan to make him open his eyes and make amends for his bad actions, and asked Bernard's help. Oro spotted Zorro's figure out of his room and ran to capture him, but he lost him. Then, he found a note from the masked hero. He showed it to Gabriel and Gonzales and that night, the army headed out to the place: a cabin near a dam. The soldiers surrounded the cabin and Oro entered the front door, but he found out that there was no one inside. When the army was preparing to ambush Zorro, Zorro ambushed them first, along with Little Zorro, who both organized everything to lure the army into a trap. While Zorro was fighting Gabriel and his troops, Little Zorro was struggling to open the dam. He finally did it, and the water flooded everything, giving the victory to the masked heroes and a big slap from Gabriel to Oro, whom he fired from the army despite him not having any idea about the trap. Oro fell into a big despair, and Diego visited him the next morning. He encouraged his friend to go to his father and apologize for his behavior towards him. Oro did it, and Ricardo finally accepted his son back, now that he understood how threatening the army is for the people. But now that Oro has become a huge fan of Zorro since he decided to fight against the army, new problems occurred for his best friend, Diego...
5	"The Ties of Blood"
The town of Santazco holds its annual rodeo, and everyone gathered at the cliff over the ocean to watch it and have fun. Don Alejandro and Don Carlos, Diego's and Lolita's fathers respectively, have stored a part of their fortune inside a bag that is being laid on a bottomless barrel. The barrel is being held with a strong rope which ties two giant stalagmites upon the water. The challenge is that whoever of the two competitors reaches the barrel first without falling into the ocean takes the gold and wins the game. Diego has been chosen as one of the challengers. Everyone, minus Lolita, encourage Diego to keep it up. The young man, wanting to impress his girlfriend for once, gives up on being a coward and reaches the barrel. He achieved his goal, but when he heard Carlos saying that Diego will marry Lolita and the maiden expressing her true feelings about Zorro and that she will marry him, the lone child of Vega gave up the try, so he purposely lost his balance and fell into the ocean, causing Lolita to storm off out of anger and the rest to lower their heads out of shame, since he lost the gold and the game. And as Diego was recovering from his cold, he was accepting Maria's usual scoldings. On the other hand, Lolita felt depressed about the fact that despite she likes Diego, she can't marry him because he isn't as brave and strong as Zorro. Her thoughts were interrupted by Bernard, who called her for a trip they were about to take along with Diego, and Lolita agreed to come along. Diego and Lolita (without Bernard along) reached the coastal town Porto Ringo, where its residents seemed to be filled with much joy and happiness everywhere, even the local bar. The pair learned from the bartender and another civilian that this town's quality of life has been improved greatly thanks to their mayor, Pablo Santes. Indeed, this town is governed by the Spanish army as well, but the mayor refused to follow its brutal policy about the raise of the taxes, because the people are as poor as the people of the other towns and as such, they can't pay exorbitant amounts of money to the state. Diego and Lolita complemented the mayor's courage of defying the Spanish army and caring about his people's well-being, but the moment was interrupted by the presence of two familiar individuals in the town: Lieutenant Gabriel and Sergeant Gonzales, who were wearing plain clothes, and Diego wondered what they were scheming. On the way back, the pair found Bernard playing in the coast with a new friend who had saved from drowning: an 8-year old girl called Gina Santes, who is the mayor's daughter. Bernard had talked to Gina about Diego and Lolita, and the girl invited them all to her house to meet her father. As they were about to move, suddenly an old fisherman came up and showed the company a bunch of oddly dead fish floating in the ocean, near the Whale's Rock, the town's touristic sightseeing. The fisherman begged Gina to talk to her father about the dead fish, since that incident lasts for a very long time. Anyway, Gina showed to her friends her house, their rose garden, and her father, Senor Santes. The mayor's wife had passed away three years ago, so he takes care of his daughter and their house, along with the housekeeper, Ed. At night, during the dinner, Gina showed her father the dead fish from before, and Santes became totally upset from the scene. It seems that some old memories woke up in his mind, so he pretended that he felt discomfort and left the table. As the three were heading back to Santazco, Diego spotted Gonzales in the bar, and after asking Bernard to escort Lolita to her home, he rushed inside to discuss with the Sergeant. He learned that he and Gabriel came to Porto Ringo to investigate Senor Santes's past and find some valuable information. They did find something that is connected to the dead fish from before: poison. By using that information, Commander Raymond and Gabriel are planning to expose the mayor to his citizens and force him to raise the taxes. Knowing that the mayor and Gina might be in danger, Diego rushed to the house where Raymond and Gabriel are at this moment, forgetting to pay Gonzales for his wine. He indeed found the two officers blackmailing Santes about the poison who has killed lots of fish, and Gina was watching the whole scene. After the officers left the house hoping that the mayor will change his mind next time and raise the taxes, Gina asked her father what is going on. Santes, not having other choice, told her daughter the whole story, and Diego stayed to hear it. Three years ago, Pablo Santes was the owner of an infamous transporting company that carried all over the world food and other products. One day, his company carried a secret cargo for the Spanish army: weapons and barrels with liquid poison, just like Gonzales said before. Santes did not know about the content of that cargo, till he discovered it during a tactical check when the ship was sailing in the open sea. But a strong storm occurred and the ship along with the poison sank near the Whale's Rock. The army had assured Santes that the barrels were sealed, but unfortunately the shipwreck had caused the poison to get leaked into the ocean, and all these years the people of Porto Ringo were in grave danger due to the poison. The army didn't do anything to stop the leak and now Raymond blackmails Santes with that information. Gina, totally shocked and with her tears flowing all over her face, ran out of the house shouting to her father that she hates him. Santes ran behind her to calm her down, but Diego emerged to tell the mayor that he overheard everything and asked him to talk to Gina. Diego comforted the little girl, and decided to lead her to the hotel, where they will stay for the whole night, and he will inform her father. Santes was totally sorrowful and the next morning he took a small boat and went out to the ocean on his own to try to stop the leak in the Whale's Rock. Unfortunately, a massive storm occurred at that time. Santes, however, defied the waves and continued his mission, even knowing that he might get drowned. Before leaving, he left a rose to Gina, telling his daughter that he truly loves her. Lolita and Ed informed Diego and Gina about Santes and the wild weather, so everyone rushed out to ask the fishermen to take them with their boats to the Whale's Rock, so that they will save Santes. The old fisherman from the previous day, when he learned that Santes is in the open sea, offered to help. All of a sudden, the army arrived and surrounded the people, preventing them from going to save Santes. Diego, totally mad, rushed towards Gabriel, but the officer punched him to the face and threw him into the sea. Gina, drawing courage from her father's pure feelings, stood against Gabriel, even knowing that she will be shot dead. Before the officer pulls the trigger, Zorro appeared and fought against him and his men, distracting them enough so that the townspeople, minus Gina and Bernard, will go to the Whale's Rock and help Santes to remove the poison barrels from the ocean. The masked hero forced the soldiers to retreat after a hard fight (and asked Gonzales to forgive Diego for him neglecting paying his wine last night), and after waving his goodbye to the people, the good news finally arrived: Senor Santes was saved, and the poison barrels were successfully being removed from the ocean. Gina tearfully hugged her father saying that she forgave him. And the people also forgave their mayor and thanked him for risking his own life to save them and the sea from certain doom, showing to everyone that he truly cares about the town and his family. Santes emotionally returned the favor and everyone applauded. As for Diego, despite his one and only moment of bravery, managed to hide the true identity of Zorro from everyone who were present, by coming out of the water and entertaining them.
6	"The Red Jewel"
Bernard gets awoken by a bunch of bandits riding past and heading for Prideaux's house. The bandits tie up the Prideauxs and use a ruby to hypnotize them into revealing where their wealth is. Lolita interrupts them and snaps her parents out of it. Zorro is outside the house waiting for the bandits and takes back Prideaux's money, but he too is hypnotized by the ruby and gets injured in the process. The army arrives and blames Zorro for the robbery. Lolita cries in her room refusing to believe Zorro is a thief. It's revealed that Lieutenant Gabriel hired the bandits in an attempt to be a hero for Lolita while also framing Zorro. Diego, Lolita, and Bernard meet up at a traveling circus where Lolita gets hypnotized and kidnapped. Zorro finds the ship the bandits are hiding on. He fights the villain, rescues Lolita, and clears his name by making the bandits confess to the army.
7	"Too Many Zorros"
Diego and Bernard are traveling out of town when they come across an army roadblock with a too happy Commander. They learn he is so happy because Fernandez, a wealthy man who passed away six months ago, had an immense property that would go to the state (aka army) the next day unless his estranged daughter arrived in town to claim it. The roadblock was established to stop her from coming to town. Diego and Bernard pass the barrier and discover Fernandez's daughter, Hannah, crashed by a nearby riverbank. They help her sneak into town. Lolita gets upset Diego is hiding a girl and takes off her disguise, just in time for the army to see it and arrest Diego and Hannah. Lolita and Diego come up with a plan to escape by getting the townspeople to all dress like Zorro and distract the army. With the help of the real Zorro, Hannah is able to claim her father's land in time.
8	"Killer Guitar"
Maria yells at Diego to not be lazy and go get groceries. Diego meets up with Lolita only to get ambushed with her latest interest: horoscopes. Diego and Senor Sanchal are both predicted to have bad luck and both ignore the warning. Senor Sanchal is a popular man who runs "Santazco", the town's newspaper, and is not afraid to write articles that criticize the army. The next day, Sanchal is found dead. Diego suspects the new mysterious guitar player that's in town. At Sanchal's funeral, the army refuses to allow the funeral to take place and makes the town go home. Bernard finds out the guitarist is an assassin working for the army. Zorro fights the army and, when they are defeated, the army kills the guitarist so he can't testify the truth. Senor Sanchals gets a proper funeral at the end.
9	"The Treasure of Dreams"
The town's cooky old man has dreams of finding a pirate's treasure and has gone on several trips for it. He goes to Mr. Vega and offers to whip cowardly Diego into shape in exchange for Vega funding his next adventure. He agrees and Diego and Bernard get sent on a treasure hunt. The army and bandits follow the men in hopes to get the treasure themselves. Zorro defeats them and the old man gets his treasure: a real pirate ship.
10	"Untrue Feelings"
Lolita's cousin, Lasal, is coming to town. Lasal is a widowed beauty whom Lt. Gabriel "falls in love" with. She still loves her deceased husband however and continues to wear the famous and expensive wedding ring he gave her. This ring becomes the target for many criminals, who Gabriel defeats. Gabriel spends time wooing Lasal until she trusts him enough to hand over her ring - at which point he betrays her and leaves. Zorro gets the ring back and Lasal promises not to be deceived again.
11	"Mystery Mountain"
The townspeople are being scared awake by some mysterious moaning coming from the mountain. Bernard gets teased by his friends for being scared and takes up a dare to go up the mountain. Lolita and Diego go shopping and discover that a lot of fake money is being traded and causing conflict. After going up the mountain, Bernard and his friends find the fake coin operation (which is also the source of the "moaning"). The kids get caught, Zorro goes to rescue the kids, the kids destroy the operation, and the day is saved.
12	"Man's Best Friend"
A little pit bull is discovered by Bernard. He decides to rescue the stray dog and name him Figaro. Maria the housemaid does not like him and wants to kick him out. Figaro proves his worth as a very intelligent and clever dog able to help out little Zorro.
13	"Little Zorro at Full Blast"
Lolita is hired to babysit a young girl named Nikita (who is Bernard's crush). Bernard goes shopping and overhears some thieves planning to rob Nikita's home tonight. Bernard, wanting to prove he's an adult, tries to defeat them alone. When the battle begins Little Zorro is joined by Zorro and the two defeat the robbers and save the women.
14	"The Stagecoach Is in Danger!"
Lolita, Diego, Bernard, and Figaro are all ready to head back home after their visit to a neighboring town. They decide to take a stagecoach along with a drunk doctor, a wealthy family, and Gonzales. As they begin the journey back, a gang called "The Red Wolves" ambush the coach and demand the child of the wealthy family be hostage. The kid (because he's dumb) is excited to go with the Red Wolves while his family pleads and fights with them not too. Bernard, claiming he is the child of the wealthy family, also gets taken hostage. Zorro teams up with the wealthy father and the army to get the children back.
15	"Lolita's Kiss"
The governor's festival is coming to town. All the local maidens will compete in a dance competition. The males will compete in a fencing tournament the two winners will kiss. Lolita's friend is sick and asks Lolita to take her place as a dancer. Lolita agrees, but she is aware that Gabriel is set to win the sword fencing competition. Bernardo begs Diego to join the competition, but Diego refuses to join even though he wants to kiss Lolita. The scorpion gang is using this chance to rob people. Zorro goes and defeats the scorpion gang and decides to go to the festival. Gabriel and Lolita win the competition and are about to kiss. Zorro then asks to fight Gabriel for the right to kiss Lolita. The Army agrees and Gabriel loses. Zorro kisses Lolita and leaves the festival.
16	"The Sword from Japan"
The day starts in the Vega household where a group of travelers has stopped for rest and directions. Diego notices that they are actually the Scorpian gang and that they are heading to Kuega Pass, where Bernard knows a valuable Japanese sword is to be gifted to the Governor-General. Zorro warns the army of the ambush, helps them to get past it and frees the local villagers. One family remains captured, however, so Zorro agrees with the Scorpians to get the sword in exchange for their freedom. The army refuses to give up the sword nor help the family, so Zorro steals it. The Scorpians go back on their word forcing Zorro to fight them, win the day, and embarrass the army in the end.
17	"Cornered"
Maria is scolding the boys on not eating the food she makes but instead letting Figaro (Bernards dog) eat it all. Some doggy shenanigans ensue until Maria gets extremely mad and throws Tackle (Diego's dog) out. Lolita tells the Vega family that the army arrested an old man for being a "rebel". Zorro attempts to free him but gets injured by the army's newest attack/hunting dogs. The army dogs have caught Zorro's scent and can now track him anywhere. He flees from his home to attempt to shake the dogs off. Lolita and Bernard find Zorro and try to help him with his injuries. Zorro has to defend them when the dogs show up again but can't due to his injuries, which is when Tackle comes to the rescue. They take Zorro to Lolita's barn and treat him, but the army catches up. In the end, Tackle saves the day and Zorro sends Lieutenant Gabriel on a dog chase.
18	"The Clever Detective"
The town attends a welcome home party for Lapaz, a young man who attended the same school in Spain as Diego. Lapaz actually skipped school a lot and hung out with the wrong kind-of crowd in Spain, but asked Diego to keep that a secret. Lolita's parents talk about how Lapaz's father, Don Jose, is in shady business and wouldn't be a good in-law. Gonzales gets injured at the party but then is arrested for an attempt to murder Don Jose, who was found with a stab wound in his back. After interrogating Gonzales, the army arrests Lapaz for the murder attempt. Zorro vows to clear Lapaz's name and find the true criminals. Turns out, Lapaz got into gambling debt in Spain and had debt collectors come after him. Zorro solves the case and reveals that the debt collectors were the ones who attempted the murder to get the family's land. The Lapaz family convince the army to let Zorro go.
19	"A House of Deadly Tricks"
The army contracted two brothers to make a house of deadly traps to kill Zorro. To lure Zorro they steal money from Don Carlos in a fake investing venture. Little Zorro is caught and is trapped inside the house. Zorro enters the house to rescue Little Zorro. After avoiding and surviving many traps the brothers decide to blow up the house. Zorro and Little Zorro survive the explosion by hiding in a vault and retrieve all the money stolen from Don Carlos.
20	"Vengeance"
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21	"Wings of Dreams"
Kid invents hang gliding. Robbers attempt to steal it. Robbers instead steal the townspeople. Zorro uses hang gliders to save the day.
22	"Gonzales the Thief"
Gonzales gets blamed for a robbery that occurred and the army offers a reward for his capture. Diego and Bernard lure Gonzales out of hiding with food and decide to help him. The real thieves find Gonzales and turn him in to claim the reward. Zorro fights the army while Little Zorro and Gonzales go after the real thieves. The thieves get caught, but Gonzales doesn't get recognition since Zorro helped him.
23	"The Bride from Spain"
A young woman arrives from Spain. She is a former acquiescent of Diego and claims that Diego offered his hand in marriage. Diego claims that he never made any promise. While everyone is baffled from this a gang of thieves starts to steal from people. After investigative work, it is found out that the marriage was a ploy to extort money from the Vega family. Zorro apprehends the thieves and reveals that to the young woman that her friends used her. She leaves back for Spain, but not before making Lolita jealous for one last time.
24	"The Peoples Enemy"
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25	"Tears of Clown"
The circus is in town. Little does Diego know that the army has contracted an assassin within the circus armed with a magical amulet to kill him. Diego, Bernard, and Lolita befriend a circus boy and his father a circus clown. The circus clown carries a shame from his past. Gabriel gives tickets to Lolita to lure her into a trap. In this battle, Zorro gets hurt and almost loses until the clown he befriended saves him. Zorro rescues Lolita and the circus clown gets his resolution.
26	"Pepita"
Pepita, a little girl who sells flowers, is known for making up stories. A nice old man, Mr. Aiden, stops by her stall. Pepita overhears some bad guys plotting to kill Aiden over business. That night, the mines are blown up and Aiden is forced to close his business. Pepita tries to tell people who the criminals are, but only Bernard believes and helps her. The South India Trading Company (SITC) hosts a party to announce and promote their presence in the town. Diego knows that the company is trying to create a mining monopoly and were the ones behind the bombing. The kids get caught sneaking around and get captured. Zorro saves the kids and the company covers up the kidnapping by paying off the army.
27	"Lady Barbara"
The General Governor's wife, Lady Barbara is demanding to go back to Spain and Commander Raymond is helping her (in the hopes that eventually the General would go to). Raymond and Gabriel offer her a parting gift, which is actually the townspeople's stolen jewels. Zorro makes a plan where Bernard saves Barbara's life and she fondly takes him in. Barbara, Bernard, and Zorro (in disguise) all board the ship and depart. A gang takes the boat hostage, Zorro saves the day, and Bernard/Little Zorro bids Lady Barbara farewell.
28	"The Haunted Ruins"
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29	"The Great Art Swindle"
Diego and Lolita visit an art exhibit, owned by the SITC, where many famous paintings are open for sale to the public. Diego suspects that something is afoul with the paintings. Bernard finds a mysterious man running away. The man is named Rodrigo and was forced to paint fakes for the art exhibit. Zorro helps him escape to Spain and exposes the art exhibit.
30	"Gonzales in Love"
While on his day off, Gonzales finds and rescues a young woman being attacked by debt collectors. He befriends her and falls in love with her. The debt collector lures in victims with a low-interest rate only to replace their contract with one several times higher. The debt collector captures Sal and reveals that she is the granddaughter of a duke in England. Gonzales rescues her and has her return to England.
31	"Fire in the Sky"
A lot of wheat fields and wheat storage houses are being burned by a supposed social reform group. With the shortage of wheat, the South Indian Trade Company has increased the prices of grain leaving many hungry. Diego's dad Don Vega responds to the crisis by offering his own wheat as bread to the poor. He pays a boy to go and spread the word. The boy's father is a drunk who causes shame for the boy. His father then gets a job offer to stand near Don Vegas storage. He is blamed for the arson attacks and chased by the army. Eventually, he finds the real people responsible for the arson attacks. Zorro defeats the arsonists, clears the name of the boy's father, and resolves the wheat shortage
32	"A Doctors Dylemma"
The South India Trading Company has open a hospital with new doctors. The people however prefer the local doctor who has always treated them. The trading company tries to get the doctor to join but he refuses to work with them. They then discredit him by causing him to sleep during an operation. With the local doctor discredited the only medical place is the Trading Companies. They charge exorbitant prices and one of their doctors decides to expose them as corrupt. It isn't until the son of the president of the hospital gets injured that they decide to confess to their crimes and restore the credibility of the local doctor.
33	"Lolita in Love"
Lolita and Diego are out shopping in town. A gang of thugs harasses Lolita and Diego pretends to be weak and useless to keep his identity a secret. A handsome man on a white horse defends Lolita and copies the Zorro Z slash. Lolita believes that the man is Zorro and becomes infatuated with him. Rumors spread that he is Zorro and the army goes to capture him. He claims to be the son of the Duke of Spain and his fame spreads even more. Diego warns Lolita that the man is not what he seems but she refuses to listen. Lolita is kidnapped and an expensive ransom of 500 gold coins is demanded. The man promises that he will pay the ransom but claims that he has no money at hand. Carlos and Don Vega collect the ransom money and they give it to the man. Zorro follows after him. The army comes and warns Carlos that they found out the Duke has no adult son. That man wanted who only wanted to kidnap Lolita. After exposing them and defeating them Zorro tells Lolita that the man that truly cares for her is coming. Zorro leaves and returns as Diego offers to return her home.
34	"The Order to Kill Zorro"
The South India Trade Company had contacted 3 of the best assassins from around the world to finally kill Zorro. At the same time, Diego has spotted his senior classmate Teo Angelo in town. Teo was the one who taught Diego how to fence and is better in sword fighting than Diego. They promise to meet each other later. The Army lures Zorro to the mines where Zorro defeats them and goes on his way. Zorro is able to defeat the first assassin but then has to fight Teo. Zorro is stunned and he gets defeated by him. Teo recognizes Zorro and hesitates to kill him. The third assassin tries to kill Zorro and Zorro escapes. Diego gets his wounds treated and is met by Teo. Teo explains that after losing his Father and Mother to poverty he swore that he would become rich and powerful, but he cannot kill his friend. Teo begs Diego to retire Zorro but Diego refuses. They decided to fight to the death at dawn. The third assassin overhears them and follows them to the designated spot. The two of them fight at dawn and Zorro loses to Teo. Teo cannot kill Diego and the third assassin fires poison darts. Teo saves Diego but gets hit with the lethal darts. With his final breath, Teo instructs Diego as he defeats the third assassin. Diego buries his friend and vows to fight for justice.
35	"Gonzales in Love Again"
A new female magician, Amilia, is performing in town and ropes Gonzales into assisting. With a kiss on the cheek, he falls in love. The town's casino has been getting customers into debt. The grandfather, after entering the casino, gets shot, goes missing, and gets falsely charged for being a burglar. Gonzales brings Amelia to Vegas to stay while they look for her grandfather. Diego, Bernard, and Gonzales find the grandfather injured on the road and bring him back to Amelia for treatment. Gonzales tells Lolita about his love for Amelia and she helps them to get engaged. Zorro eventually saves the grandfather from a second assassination attempt and clears his name. Amelia, despite having agreed to marry Gonzales, is too heartbroken to leave her grandfather and goes back with him to Spain.
36	"Unmasked"
Diego is excited for his old college friend, McCrea, to visit from Spain. McCrea is now an author who got permission from the King of Spain to do a book on Zorro and to get assistance from the army on the topic. McCrea, not knowing about the army's corruption, begins investigating around town, but continues to get flak for being the "army's dog". He then sees the army attempt to capture a family whose father they killed for advocating freedom. After realizing how bad the army is, he decides not to work with them, but continues his investigation - getting increasingly suspicious of Diego. One day, the army seize McCrea's notes and arrest Diego based on what was written. McCrea decides to help Diego/Zorro upon realizing they have been safely hiding the family from the army. Little Zorro and McCrea team up to help Diego/Zorro escape. McCrea then travels back to Spain with the family, but not before promising to not write his book until Zorro is no longer needed.
37	"Diego Under Cover"
A bunch of teenagers want to fight the army for justice just like Zorro. A man overhears this and convinces them to follow his "missions" (orders) and to take up a sword like Zorro. The kids get a big head and take their fights too far. Diego decides to join the teen gang so that he can stop them. He finds out they are being manipulated, steals their stolen goods back, and convinces them that they can fight for justice in other ways.
38	"The Underwater Adventure"
A new inventor is in town who has created a mechanical knight named Max. She also invents a submarine in honor of her deceased son who loved the ocean. At night, Diego catches people sabotaging the submarine. Lolita and the kids get invited to join her on the first dive underwater. Because of the sabotage, the submarine begins to sink and the kids are forced to evacuate. Zorro fights off sharks, saves Lolita, and exposes who sabotaged the ship.
39	"The Battle in the Storm"
The townspeople are building an embankment (dam) during the storm season for when the river overflows. Some new debt collectors threaten the man in charge to pay up - he can't and the townspeople protect him. One of the debt collectors is a swordsman hired to handle Zorro. A plot is created to destroy the town's embankment, have the South Indian Trading Company build a new one (which they will monopolize), and get Zorro and the people's money in the process. The debt collectors come back and trap Zorro in a net in the overflowing river. Lolita tries to cut Zorro loose, but Zorro begs Lolita to go as giant tree logs are released to smack the embankment (and Zorro) down. The army fires canons to stop the logs. Zorro escapes and fights the collectors in a stormy battle.
40	"My Fair Lady Zorro"
The South Indian Trading Company (SITC) has a new monopoly on the fruit economy and is jacking up prices too high. A female blacksmith decides to make her deceased dad proud. She decides to test her sword-making skills and parades as Zorro. Diego/Zorro, hearing of her skills, disguises himself and gives her Zorro's sword for maintenance. She uses the sword and Zorro confirms she's the pretender. After Lolita's family farm is attacked by the SITC, the two Zorros escape and he tries to talk her into joining the fight for justice. She refuses and instead vows to become the best blacksmith she can be.
41	"Lolita Get Your Gun!"
Lolita and the girls are insulted when Diego and Bernard mention their bad-smelling expensive perfume. After a discussion, Lolita goes back to the store to return the perfume but discovers that the perfume was a fake copycat sold by the South India Trading Company (SITC). When the shopowner mentions he can't compete, Lolita offers to catch the fake perfume makers herself. When she spots the fake salesmen on the street, she gets caught in the back of their wagon and gets taken to the "all-female" convent where the illegal operation is taking place. Diego and Bernard - having heard of Lolita's capture - come up with a cross-dressing plan to enter the convent. When the fight begins, however, Zorro refuses to fight women - so Lolita grabs a gun to expose the imposters and help Zorro defeat the criminals. Zorro and Lolita embrace just before the final villain appears. In the end, SITC is forced to close and the real perfume maker is able to continue his business better than ever.
42	"Trapped by Ninja Magic"
A wealthy couple is on the way to a ball dressed in their finest clothes and jewels when suddenly, a magical thief attacks their carriage and steals their jewels. Gonzales tells the story to Diego and Bernard, to which Diego states that women shouldn't go out with such expensive jewels. Maria scolds the men about their lack of understanding about women. Diego studies up on magic to prepare for the fight when Lolita enters in a beautiful ballgown and jewelry - ready for her date with Diego (which he forgot about). On the way to the ball, they get stopped by the thief. In their attempt to flee, Diego rips Lolita's sleeve and then runs away from the fight. Lolita gets trapped by the shadow magic when Zorro appears. Zorro is able to free Lolita and captures one of the magical knives. Before they can continue, the army begins to approach forcing the villain and Zorro to flee, but not before he compliments Lolita on her beauty. The next day, Diego is able to find the answer to the magical knives in his studies and learns it is used by ninjas. As he is discussing his discovery with Bernard, Lolita finds Diego and gives him a beating for leaving her behind. Diego, to apologize, takes Lolita to the local dressmaker and meets the new Japanese tailor Hachisuka. It is revealed that Hachisuka was rescued by General Ramond at sea and feels that he owes a debt. That night, Hachisuka sneaks into Lolita's room while she's asleep and kidnaps her in order to lure Zorro. Zorro, knowing the trick behind the ninja magic, is able to corner Hachisuka. In the end, they talk it out and Hachisuka goes back to Japan.
43	"Beauty and the Monster"
It's a Donkey-Kong-Cat episode. A monster shows up in the town. Lolita gets taken by the monster while on an errand and, like Donkey Kong to Princess Peach, the monster likes her because she's nice and pretty. Lolita spends the episode getting into trouble with the army and bandits while trying to protect the misunderstood monster. When Diego goofs in his rescue attempt, Zorro is there to save the monster, the town, Lolita, and the day. Oh, and then the monster cat walks into the ocean and back to Godzilla island. (Seriously, what is this episode?).
44	"Gabriel's Rebellion"
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45	"The Legend of the Sacred Wood"
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46	"The Hipnotic Doctor"
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47	"The Kidnapping of the Governor-General"
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48	"A Righteous Military Officer"
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49	"Farewell to the Army"
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50	"Blast Off the Demonic Cannon"
The South Indian Trading Company has gotten a massive cannon that can easily wipe out rebels. The cannon is stored on top of a mountain and heavily guarded by massive walls, numerous soldiers, guard dogs, and traps. Everyone is counting on Zorro to destroy the superweapon, but Diego is uncertain he can it. Diego then eavesdrops on Lolita becoming engaged to a wealthy suitor, heartbroken he decided to go risk his life and stop the superweapon. He ties up Bernard and leaves alone. He then kisses a sleeping Lolita before his mission. Using kites and decoys he distracts the guards and goes inside. He avoids the traps and avoids the dogs. He destroys the cannon and is rescued by Bernard. Happy that he managed to do this feat he returns home. Lolita then tells Diego that she has rejected her suitor and has decided to remain single.
51	"A Prelude to the Collapse"
The South Indian Trading Company has had enough failures and has decided to audit the California branch. Afraid of having all their shady practices discovered the local trading company president decides to run. He has a ledger containing all of the hidden crimes he committed with the Spanish army. Zorro tries to capture the president and his ledger, but then a hired bounty hunter from the Indian trading company appears. He wants to take the president and the ledger back to Spain to the CEO to be held accountable. Zorro and the bounty hunter fight. The bounty hunter is better skilled and badly hurts Zorro. Zorro then flees but at the same time is shot by the Spanish army. Afraid little Zorro decides to get Lolita to treat Zorro's wounds and discover his real identity. Lolita removes the bullet and bandages Diego. She then volunteers to help. She dresses up as Zorro and helps save the day. The bounty hunter captures the president and the ledgers and returns to Spain. Diego vows that the day of reckoning for the army is coming.
52	"The Sword of Justice Forever"
Knowing that their time is up the army decides to stage a coup and kill the governor. Zorro and little Zorro go rescue the governor while Lolita fires a machine gun. The hide the governor and prepare for the army's uprising. Diego has a tender moment with Lolita. Diego's dad and maid interrupt to help. They reveal that they always knew and help. Diego with his friends works to defeat the army. Gonzales finally stands up to his superiors. With the army finally, in order, Lolita asks about Zorro. Diego says that Zorro is no longer needed, but whenever there is injustice and people in need then Zorro will appear.

Music

The series soundtrack contains two pieces of thematic music. The opening theme is titled "Zorro", and the closing theme "Chikai" (誓い; "Oath"). Both are sung by Masaaki Endoh and are used for all aired episodes.

External links

• Official anime website Archived 2017-10-28 at the Wayback Machine of Production Reed (in English)
• Official anime website Archived 2019-01-01 at the Wayback Machine of Production Reed (in Japanese)
• [1] on MONDO TV
• The Legend of Zorro (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kaiketsu Zorro at IMDb