We’re just 10 days out for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but just in case you’ve had your fill of the prequels, there’s a Japanese equivalent that not many people will know about. From the minds of Italian and Japanese content creators comes Montana Jones, an animated comedy-adventure series that parodies the Indiana Jones franchise with a furry protagonist shaped in his image, Montana Jones. There are plenty of similarities between Montana Jones and another famous Italian-Japanese fusion, Sherlock Hound — are we sensing a theme here?
Many of the characters are modeled after big cats, consisting of Montana Jones, his cousin Alfred Jones, Agatha Jones, Melissa Thorn, and Lord Zero. Montana and Alfred are often assisted by journalist Melissa, the daughter of a diplomat, and the trio often cross paths with Lord Zero, an eccentric art lover and master thief. Montana, Alfred, and Melissa journey to real-world locations such as the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids of Giza, Istanbul, or Easter Island.
Montana Jones consists of 52 episodes overall, each of which is set in a new location around the globe. Although you won’t have much luck understanding it unless you’re fluent in Japanese, the official website for Montana Jones is still active, able to be accessed here. It’s no Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but it’ll certainly tide you over until June 30.
If the concept has piqued your interest, we’re sad to say that English-language copies of Montana Jones are hard to come by. As for streaming, there is a Spanish dub on YouTube with subtitles, but maybe if we kick up enough fuss, TMS will put it up for free on YouTube like they did with its sister series. We can stay hopeful, can’t we?
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny arrives in theaters on June 30, marking Ford’s final outing as the titular character.