It was an animated feature film of "Kaiketsu Zorori" centered around a space theme.
The story begins in a distant galaxy on an alien planet, where a cute alien girl named Clara is reading a picture book about a legendary hero. The protagonist, Zorori, is a mischief-loving vagabond fox traveling with his apprentices—a pair of twin boars. His dream is to eventually get rich, build a castle, and win a cute bride.
One day, the Zorori group witnesses a meteorite falling toward Earth. Eager to get their hands on it and sell it for a high price, they explore the ocean floor in a submersible. However, an octopus gets furious that its home has been disturbed and attacks them. During the struggle with the octopus, an accident occurs, and both Zorori's group and the octopus are launched from Earth into outer space inside the submersible, eventually crashing onto an unknown planet.
Clara, an alien girl living on that planet, rushes to the crash site and greets the group by shouting, "Are you the hero?" Zorori, who loves women, falls in love with Clara at first sight and tries to introduce himself with a cool pose. However, since the octopus is still stuck to his head, he can't look cool at all, ruining the moment completely. Seeing this, Clara becomes overjoyed and exclaims, "You really are the hero!" She then guides Zorori's group and the octopus to the alien village.
The alien townspeople praise and worship Zorori and his companions as "heroes." According to local lore, a legend of a hero has been passed down on this planet since ancient times. Long ago, the people of this planet suffered because of a monster. Then, a hero from a distant planet appeared with three companions, and after a fierce battle, sealed the monster away. The hero apparently settled on the planet permanently, intermarrying with the locals.
However, in the present day, the monster sealed away by the hero has revived, and the townspeople are suffering once again. Right at that moment, Zorori's group (Zorori, the twins, and the octopus), who bear a striking resemblance to the legendary hero's party, showed up. Because of this, the planet's residents firmly believed Zorori's group were the "heroes returned."
Zorori is initially reluctant to take on the monster extermination. However, despite being an octopus, this particular octopus turns out to be strangely handsome and possesses a strong sense of justice. Though taciturn, it willingly takes on the task of defeating the monster on its own. Thus, Zorori and the others unite to face the monster and successfully seal it away once again.
As a reward for defeating the monster, the village chief presents Zorori's group with "a stone that the legendary hero brought from his home planet when he first arrived here." The legendary hero had come from a distant planet, which meant the stone was actually a "meteorite." Zorori is overjoyed at this unexpected reward.
Still, they cannot stay on the alien planet forever, and Zorori's group begins preparations to return to Earth. Clara sheds tears, looking reluctant to see them go. Sensing Clara's romantic feelings, the village chief gently nudges her from behind, telling her, "Go with the hero." Hearing this, Zorori gets extremely excited, shouting, "I've finally found a bride!" And so, Zorori's group returns to Earth, bringing Clara along with them.
However, the one to whom Clara confesses her love is not Zorori, but the octopus. As it turns out, the one the aliens actually worshipped as the hero all along was the octopus, not Zorori. When they carefully re-examined the picture book passed down among the aliens, they realized that the legendary hero's species was, in fact, an octopus. Clara and the octopus are united in deep love, leaving Zorori heartbroken and rejected.
Still hoping to at least gain a fortune, Zorori takes the hero's stone to a jewelry store for appraisal. The result of the appraisal: "An ordinary stone that can be found anywhere on Earth." In truth, the legendary hero's home planet was Earth, and the stone he supposedly "brought from his home planet" was nothing more than an ordinary Earth rock.
The story ends with Zorori, having obtained neither money nor love, slurping down a bowl of ramen in tears.
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