It aired in California on one or more regional UHF stations, and I still remember a tape from Laurine that was labeled “Cyborg 009 with(out) subtitles,” because some of the earlier episodes were shown in pure Japanese (see also: Galaxy Express 999 broadcasts by Entel Communications in New York, which didn’t start subtitling them until episode 6). The 1979 version of Cyborg 009 was the first subtitled anime series that I got the chance to see. Decades later I would discover that original tape was actually the property of Dougo13, recorded for him by a friend from cable TV in Vancouver.

The rumor was that the original tape that this was several generations down from was recorded somewhere in Canada, possibly as part of a series of other subtitled anime films. In the mid 1980s, the very first anime feature film I ever saw in Japanese with English subtitles was My Youth in Arcadia, on a crackly, multi-gen VHS tape.

Download links are near the end of the post, for anyone who wants to scroll past the rambling history lesson.

Download cyborg 009 1979