Malcolm in the Middle is looked back upon as one of the classic sitcoms of the early 2000s, a series with a solid run that serves as a sort of time capsule for the era. The show starred Frankie Muniz as the eponymous middle child in the household, after his eldest brother is sent off to military school. Produced in a more modern style for its time when compared to more traditional, laugh track laden sitcoms, the series was known for being absurdly relatable, and for being the show that helped launch Bryan Cranston into the public consciousness. And, while the show itself didn't rely on pop culture references much, its iconic opening credits were chock-full of them.
Said credits feature a character from an anime that most likely won't recognize. To this day, many anime aficionados are still stumped as to who this character is and what show they're from. The character and clip actually hail from the relatively obscure anime Nazca. Here's a closer look at how such a completely unknown show made it into one of the most popular sitcoms of the 2000s.
Nazca In the Middle
In the show's intro — which always came after one of its non-sequitur cold opens — there's a veritable onslaught of clips. showing the malaise of media consumption during Malcolm and his brothers' youths. The first of these is from the 1960s film One Million Years B.C., a remake of the 1940s classic One Million B.C.. The clip sees a group of cavewomen fighting off a gigantic, dinosaur sized turtle.
The next clip after this shows an deathly dramatic character from what is obviously an anime. This is actually Shiogami, a character from Nazca, or Dimensional Movement Nazca as it was known in Japan. The character is a sadistic and cruel warrior, whose viciousness is typically directed toward the series protagonist, Miura Kyoji. Eventually, the spirit of the ancient warrior Jigami awakens inside of him, giving him even more drive to take down his rival. The clip itself, which features heavy rain pouring down on Shiogami, is from one of the show's many fight scenes.
Crossing the Nazca Lines
Nazca first premiered in 1998, airing for 12 episodes between April and June. The series' story centered around people who discover that they are the reincarnations of warriors from the Incan empire, hence the name. Miura Kyoji, a kendo student, discovers that not only is he the reincarnation of the warrior Bilka, but his instructor Tate, who is actually the Incan Yawaru, wishes to cleanse the world by way of destroying it. From there, Kyoji faces the increasingly difficult internal battle of trying to either redeem and change his former mentor, or destroy him outright to save the world.
The short-lived series never made much of a splash in Japan or America, nor is it particularly highly regarded among anime fans. On top of that, it wasn't part of any regularly available broadcast on American television and it isn't currently available to stream. There was a later manga adaptation, but it fell into the same obscurity as its source material. Needless to say, its inclusion in such a mainstream sitcom is very surprising. Perhaps someone in production was a big Nazca fan?