Nobody's making a song about a kid and a boat in 1981 unless they mean something by it. Kantarou exists in that space where a children's song stops being performance and becomes pure feeling, the kind of thing you hum without thinking about why it stuck. The melody doesn't try to impress you. It just meets you where you are and stays there.

A single-episode animated music video made for the song "Kitakaze Kozou no Kantarou" and shown on NHK's Minna no Uta program. Two versions exist, one from 1974 and one from 1981, and both use identical animation. Only the vocals change. Masaaki Sakai sings the earlier version with the NHK Tokyo Children's Choir, while Saburou Kitajima performs the later one with the Hibari Children Chorus.