Nighthawk’s Top Ten Japanese Cartoon Characters – Part 1
I only need to look into my daughter’s bedroom to see the popularity of Japanese cartoons in the West. Anime has exploded since the 1990s and it’s not just the kiddies collecting every damn Pokemon card they create (Seriously, how long before they run out of creatures and ghosts and rock things and they start putting out Blendermon or Sporkachu?) but adults are snapping up DVDs and comics more now then every before. An anime film, Spirited Away, even carted away an Oscar a few years back. Back home around this time of the year you’ll kind find Bugs Bunny or Nickelodeon character school supplies sitting right next to Yu-gi-oh! and Pikachu. I’d 90% of the Western children haven’t the slightest idea how to play the actual card games (once my daughter told me you play the game by throwing the cards at another person and depending upon where you hit them you score points. Riiiiiiight, Des) but they collect the cards as I once did hockey cards for the character depictions. Comic book stores got a breath of fresh life with anime products and now you can see display cases featuring statues of popular Marvel and DC characters alongside skinny, large eyed and large breasted slim women school girl outfits. Though the boom in the West could be traced to the introduction of English dubbed versions of Sailor Moon and Pokemon in the 1990s, Japanese animation just didn’t sprout up over night and has roots going as far back as the 1960s. Films like Akira and Ghost in the Machine were acclaimed marvels of animation influence many cartoons of the West. Some of my favorite cartoons from my youth like Transformers and Voltron are comparable to similar Japanese cartoons and shows like Teen Titans and Batman Beyond use many facets of anime in their character designs. Here in Japan it’s never died as anime airs in prime time television slots, toy stores are filled with merchandise depecting popular characters and manga comics the size of phone books are found on shelves in bookstores and train station stands. For this article I have not limited myself to pure anime characters but Japanese popular cartoons in general. Since arriving I have been reaquainted with some old characters I already knew of as well as discovering some new faces…one of them made entirely of bread. These two posts are for you, Des. And now part one of my Top Ten Japanese Cartoon Characters:
Honorable Mentions:
Pan-Taron
Pan-Taron, a malformed robot panda, is your protagonist in this modern Japanese cartoon series Panda-Z. The series aired for only 30 episodes but merchandise continues to sell if a visit to a Japanese toy shop is any indication. Pan-tron battles the evil Skull Panda and Panda that’s, errrrr, a skull you dopes!
The best thing I’ve learned about this show is that in many episodes the characters sit around and play Old Maid. OLD MAID! Yes, the card game. I’ve never seen an episode of this show but if your chacaters have nothing better to do then sit around and play cards then maybe you shouldn’t question why you only lasted 30 episodes. The show is more or less a parody of Mazinger Z, a Japanese series from the early 70s which would later inspire Voltron. The robots to not talk and dialogue is expressed by silent film like intertitles and lots of miming. Episodes are only five minutes long mean you can take in this entire show in the time it takes you to order a pizza. Damn, do I ever want a pizza!
Medama Oyaji
Also known as Father Eyeball, Medama Oyaji has got to be one of the oldest Japanese cartoon characters that still maintains some popularity. GeGeGe no Kitaro is a manga series from 1959 created by cartoonist Shigeru Mizki. Medama is the father of the main character. One a normal adult he died from disease to be reborn from his decaying body. Grown now out of his own eyeball, Medama continues to raise his son in the mysterious world of ghosts and monsters that make up the show’s universe.
Various televisions series have been going with the Medama character have been in and out of syndication since the late 60s with the current version starting in 2000. The show has spawned nine feature films. Often depicted bathing, the Medama Oyaji character in merchandise is often seen as a cell phone accessory or as plastic collectibles. Medama Oyaji is the oldest character
Arsène Lupin III
Lupin III is an anime which began in 1971 and aired for 23 episodes. It is based on the manga comic series which dates back to 1967 and is believed to have been influenced by MAD Magazine. Created by Monkey Punch (the pen name for artist Kazuhiko Kato…good thing he didn’t use Donkey as an animal instead), Lupin III follows a gang of crooks roaming the globe committing crimes and evading law enforcement. How charming. Aresene Lipin III, part French/part Japanese, is a master thief and leader of the gang. No superpowers, small monosyllabic creatures or dragon balls here, folks. This series is about humans with normal human weakness and strengths.
Lupin is sort of the anti-Tin-Tin and he’s been around in animated form nearly as long as Astro Boy so he gets an honorable mention. The comic has inspired a few animated series, some animated films and a live action film.
Okay, onto the main list.
10. Shinnosuke Nohara
Crayon Shin-chan is the five-year-old son of crazy, hippie dope smoking parents. They got to be, right? Who else is going to name their kid after a Crayola product? Ohhhh, that’s the name of the show and the word crayon in the title is supposed to signify the school grade the boy is in. Got ya! Shinnosuke Nohara, the five-year-old, is a little brat kid often referred to as the Bart Simpson of Japan. If that is the case I imagine 75% of my students are watching this show and emulating the kid. His main character trait is that he is a skirt-chaser. Yeah, you read that right, a five-year-old is running after girls and his character description states that he prefers older women because girls his age, you know…FIVE, don’t appeal to him! I never thought I’d say this but this kid really needs more Elmo in his life. Here’s to you Mrs. Nohara… He loves chocolate, adores the superhero named Action Bastard and will often dress up as animals or plants to attract attention. When really seeking an audience Shinnosuke tears off his pants and proceeds to do the “buri buri” which can be translated into the Ass Dance! He makes fun of his mother’s looks, uses foul language and is generally just a little shit. The show began in 1992, which is actually surprising to me considering the content description. It still airs today with over 2000 episodes in its so far 15year run. There have also been a few films. In 1994 Fox Kids started broadcasting the show in the UK. Character names were changed to more English friendly pronunciations.
It is interesting to note here that due to the content that might be considered objectionable to American audiences the show never aired in the US during this time period. If FOX isn’t playing you it’s got to be bad! This is the Network that was airing Married With Children in Prime Time! Censors, it was believed, would find the nudity of the child during the Ass Dances, references to breast sized by the main character’s mother (yes, a cartoon mother fretted over her less then ample bosom) and other sexual references in what was considered a children’s show would not be fitting of any US network. However in 2006 the company FUNinmation picked up the US broadcasting rights and a DVD release of the show is set for the 18th of this month. Their English dubbing of the show caters to a more adult audience and the show received a test run during the Cartoon Network’s popular Adult Swim time slot. The characters are now based in Texas, not the original Saitama Prefecture of Japan. Sexual references once deemed inappropriate for American broadcast have been beefed up for this dub and various references to American culture have been added in. You have to have those Britney Spears references in there for the kiddies! It is interesting that even with the Texas setting they have kept the original Japanese names.Yes, in watching YouTube clips of this show this kid is a carbon copy of most of my students. You want to see what I deal with watch 30 hours straight of Crayon Shin-chan.
9. Hamtaro
The doe-eyed hamster Hamtaro is the title character of the anime which began in July of 2000 and ran for 296 episodes ending in March 2006. The character was born in children’s books penned by Ritsuko Kawai, the first being in 1997. The creators of this show must be trying to reach Pokemon statues in sheer amount of characters as there are a whole whack of hamsters on the show with Hamtaro serving as the Pikachu role. Together they are called Ham-Hams which would better suit a collective of pigs, don’t you think? Our lead hamster belongs to a human named Laura. He is the object of affection for the female hamster Bijou only Hamtaro is a dumber the a box of hair when it comes to love and he doesn’t realize this. In the Japanese version of the show Hamtaro ends all of his sentences with “na no da”, a playful Japanese phrase which doesn’t mean anything really but sounds really cute. I’ve never seen the show but I imagine 20 minutes of the cartoon is spent watching the hamster run around a steel wheel, five minutes is spent watching him suck water from a bottle and five minutes is spent watching him being inserted into various rectums. In reading the show description I see that there is a ninja hamster. I really think a ninja hamster should have it’s own show. Just the name Ninja Hamster makes me want to watch.
So far there are 4 feature films, all airing only in Japan. Along with a lot of plush toys, Hamtaro has made it over into video games, collectible figures and various stationary items to name a few. Hamtaro is not to be confused with Ebichu the house cleaning Hamster, another hamster based anime only this show is geared towards more adult audiences and sounds much more interesting. That cartoon has sex and violence all involving cute hamsters. I LOVE JAPAN!
8. Son Goku
Goku, as he is called in the English dub, is the main character in the anime Dragon Ball. He was introduced by Japanese artist Akira Toriyama in the mid-1980s in the form of manga comics that debuted in the weekly magazine Shonen Jump. The original run of comics were turned into 42 tankobon books and in recent years it has been in a sort of special edition format for new audiences to appreciate the history on yet another Japanese comic that become much more popular because of the resulting cartoon. The first run of anime episodes started in 1986. The show would run for 153 episodes with Goku as the main character searching the globe for magical Dragon Balls. What a kid wants with dragon testicles is beyond me but, hey, it’s not my show. Where Pokemon and Sailor Moon would be great successes in America, Dragon Ball may have been introduced too soon as the first few tries for the show in the Canada and the US failed. In the late 90s with many other Japanese cartoons being lapped up by Western kids, Dragon Ball was reintroduced and was accepted by Western audiences. Removed in the American version of the show are some of the more adult themes from the Japanese version of the cartoon. Edited, some say censored, out was some nudity, blood and sexual innuendo common in many Japanese cartoons. Also removed were scenes depicting drugs and drink and the omission of a homosexual characters sexual preference. Bah, I say! General Blue is censored but Squirtle is allowed to be flaming gay?
Four films would be produced as well as a live action movie that isn’t recognized as part of the Dragon Ball saga as it was made unofficially. There are three separate entities in the Dragon series: 1) Dragon Ball (as we have been discussing here); 2) Dragon Ball Z (the popular successor to the first series that shows the lead character in adulthood); and Dragon Ball GT (taking place ten years after Dragon Ball Z). All three shows have reaped massive heaps of success but Dragon Ball Z is the most familiar entry to Western audiences. In the original series Goku is a small child beginning his quest for he seven magical Dragon Balls. When all are collected one can bring the mighty Shenlong into the world, a great dragon. Goku wasn’t so interested in this quest as his goal was to become a master martial artist but he was convinced into traversing the globe believing that the knowledge would advance his skill. If I had the option of large, fire breathing dragon over a crane kick I’d be tossing a whole lot of Eragon your way! Dragon Ball Z takes place 5 years after the first show and shows Goku with a wife named Chi-Chi and a son named Gohan. Goku is told by a warrior alien that he is part of the lineage of Saiyan, a dying alien race, and his is later killed in battle. In the after-life he trains vigorously and discovers knew powers. He is brought back to life by Shenlong where many new adventures await him. In the final series Goku must return all seven Black Dragon Balls after they were scattered across the universe. Dragon Ball is a prime example of the success of Japanese animation overseas. Where it original failed to attract an audience it achieved popularity despite being virtually the same product years later during the anime boom.
7. Yugi Mutou
Are you sensing a trend here? If you want to make in big in the world of Japanimation you have first got to succeed in comics. Like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and Arsène Lupin III, Yugi, the protagonist in the hit series and card game Yu-gi-oh! got his big break in manga. Yu-gi-oh! is quite young by manga standards as the comic stories debuted only eleven years ago in 1996. Created by Kazuki Takahashi the first comic series was featured in the same magazine where Dragon Ball got it’s start many years before. The comic dealt with the main character Yugi battling various baddies while palling around with his friends. There was surprisingly little magic and monster duels in the first few years of the series, something that would become a staple of the Yu-niverse later on. Two other manga series would follow but by then Yugi had made the jump to television and a card game that rivaled Magic: The Gathering in the annals of geek-dom. The first Yu-gi-oh! series began in April of 1998 and is based on the first manga series of stories. It totaled 27 episodes. The second anime series from April 2000-September 2004’s 224 episode run is where the character gained prominence and success in both Asian and American markets. Due to the success of the Duel Monsters fictional card game aspect of the original series a real life playable card game was created and became a sensation. Yu-gi-oh! cards were coveted by Japanese children as much as, if not more so, then Pokemon cards. The detailed artwork and character design differed from the more cartoony Pokemon cards and the game itself had a more mature feel to it. It was embraced by teenagers and young adults and soon made it’s way over seas where comic book shop tables could be filled with men tossing down a few hands of Yu-gi-oh! before returning to their mother’s basements. The success of the second series of Yu-gi-oh!, Duel Monsters, furthered the phenomena that was the card game. In this series almost all the battles undertaken by the main character Yugi deal with the card game.
Until 2004, the character had been part of every comic, series and movie since the beginning. Like the Sailor Scouts in Sailor Moon, Yugi wears a traditional Japanese school uniform. He lives with his grandfather and from this relationship Yugi acquires a fondness for puzzles, the Duel Monsters game being his favorite. His name itself, Yugi, means game in Japanese. One of the story arcs in the series has Yugi creating a darker version of himself called Yami Yugi. When the second series ended in 2004 a new series was quickly put into production. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX picks up five years laer. Yugi Mutou would get a cameo in the first episode as this series follows Jaden Yuki in his quest to become a duel master. The show has spawned three films and still is very popular in Canada and the United States with daily episodes running in syndication. After Pokemon I’d say this is my daughter’s second favorite Japanese export. She has a slew of cards and enjoys the dragon characters. Various toys have been released to support the card game and one Christmas I purchased for my redheaded wonder something called a Duel Shot Wrist Band. This was a device you slapped onto your arm. There were four or five holsters that held whatever Yu-gi-oh! cards you wanted to stick inside and at the push of a button out flew the cards. For the longest time I thought that this was the game. Kid slap this odd looking device to themselves and through playing cards at each other. Gone were the days of Lego and Snake Mountain, transforming sharks and pizza loving turtles. In came the days of throwing small rectangular pieces of plastic at each other. I’ve since discovered that there is an entirely different aspect to this game, one that requires strategy but I think tossing cards at my kid like they were ninja stars is a lot more fun.
6. Anpanman
A cartoon character made out of bread becoming a national phenomenon of popularity? Only in Japan, folks! Anpanman man, quite literally Man of Bread, is one of those anime sensations that just hasn’t caught on in the Western world like Pokemon but is a raging success over here. Anpanman is the lead character of a cartoon show of the same name that has been around since the late 80s. The character itself, however, has been around since 1968. Created by children’s story author Takashi Yanase, Anpanman’s origins are quite tasty. Baked by his Uncle Jam, and with a little help from a magical shooting star, Anpanman’s head is a large bun based and named after a popular Japanese snack. Anpan is a bun (think hamburger buns only slightly smushed) filled with red bean paste. The bun tastes sweet and if the thought of eating a sugary tasting bun filled with bean paste turns you off don’t worry. I was turned off too. Tasting one you learn how you should never judge a pastry by description. “An” is the Japanese word for the bean jam and “pan” is word borrowed from Portuguese meaning bread. The character was inspired by starvation. I hear Braun thought up the Munchkins for the same reason. Yanase was a soldier in the second World War and during long stints without food he would often fantasize devouring anpan. He started sketching the character that would one day make him rich.
Over 50 million books of the adventures of Anpanman have been sold in Japan, nearly 20 films, a series of shorts and a cartoon series that has been running from 1988 all keep the man of bread making it’s creator a lot of dough. (okay, the bread puns stop here) In 2005 a survey was conducted that revealed that Anpanman was considered the most popular children’s character between infants and preteens. I’ve noticed a few Anpanman pencil cases being totted about by some of my older students but most of my young kids have some sort of Anpanman related item they bring into lessons. Usually it is a pencil with the character perched on top but I have also seen erasers, rulers and even a pair of shoes bearing that tasty bun head. This has to be one of the only characters in cartoon history that you also really, really want to eat. Being made of bread, Anpanman doesn’t work well in wet situations, turns him into a mushy sandwich, and he hates getting his head dirty. No fear, though, as his wonderful Uncle Jam can just bake him a new head to rejuvenate his strength. Convenient, huh? I wonder what happens to his old head? I mean, that’s a lot of bread. You could at least be offering it to the homeless there, Uncle Jam! Hey, but he doesn’t just taste great. This man of bread can kick some serious buns (okay, no more now…I promise) with his An-punch and An-kick. I think people aren’t so much harmed by being punched by a piece of smiling bread as they are bewildered. Ever the good Samaritan, Anpanman will let starving people feast off his own head. Again, only in Japan, folks! The series bad-guy is Germ Man or Baikinman which almost looks like Bikiniman if you glance really quickly. Bread man hates Germ Man and what self respecting food product wouldn’t hate possible contamination. Really, I think the underlying message in this show is about sanitary working conditions for bakers. Thrawting Germ Man’s plans to turn the planet into a world of viruses is not easy and Anpanman calls on a little help from his friends. There’s Butter Girl, a dog named Cheese, some dude with a head sliced from a loaf of white bread and Currypanman, a character with a bread head filled with curry. Describing this show is making me hungry. If walking into a toy store or passing a stationary aisle doesn’t tell you how popular this bread head is some of the trains here are totally devoted to the character and the show with the cars painted depicting scenes from the series. You know, if you remove those three grapefruits on his face, round out the eyes a little and add a yellow shirt with a zig-zag pattern and you kind of have Charlie Brown. Somebody get the Schulz estate on the phone! We’re going to make the bread man wish he’d never been raised. (OUCH! Was that an entire frozen dinner somebody just chucked at me!)
