Dr. Slump
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|} Dr. Slump (Japanese: Dr. スランプ Dr. Suranpu) is one of the most popular manga (Japanese comic books) of Akira Toriyama. The first issue was published in 1980 by Shueisha's anthology comic Weekly Shonen Jump, and the issues after it quickly launched Toriyama's career (he is currently one of the most famous and beloved manga artists in and outside of Japan).
The initial run of the manga ended in 1984 and it was later compiled into 18 tankōbon. Dr. Slump is a gag manga, and bears little resemblance to the extremely popular Toriyama manga based anime Dragon Ball Z, though the original Dragon Ball anime and manga are much closer to Dr. Slump in its style and humor.
The Dr. Slump manga was made into two separate anime. The first, Dr. Slump & Arale-chan (Japanese: Dr.スランプ アラレちゃん) ran from 1981 to 1986 and spanned 243 episodes. The second anime ran from 1997 to 1999 and only featured 74 episodes. In addition to the series, 10 animated movies have featured the Dr. Slump characters.
Dr. Slump is filled with puns, sex references and bathroom jokes, and parodies of both Japanese and American culture. For example, one of the recurring characters is "Suppaman", a short, fat, pompous buffoon who transforms into a Superman-like costume by eating a sour ("suppa" in Japanese) pickle. Unlike Superman, Suppaman can't fly, and instead pretends to fly by lying belly down on a skateboard and scooting through the streets. Also, a policeman in Dr. Slump can be seen wearing a Star Wars-style storm trooper helmet, just as in the American movies. The Dr. Slump manga has been licensed by Viz Media and is currently being published in graphic novel form, with having most of the sexual references and humor, nudity, and as well as alcohol usage and references edited out or censored. Dr. Slump and the anime based on it have been run in almost everywhere else in the West; for example, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain.Dr. Slump is set in Penguin Village (ペンギン村;pengin mura), a place where humans co-exist with the sort of talking animals found in Donald Duck comics. In this village lives Senbei Norimaki (則巻千兵衛), an inventor (his name is a pun on a kind of rice cracker). His nickname is "Dr. Slump", kind of like nicknaming an author "Writer's Block." In the first issue, he builds a little robot girl he names Arale Norimaki (則巻アラレ, a pun on a smaller kind of rice cracker), in scenes obviously parodying the Italian children's classic Pinocchio (note: "Arale" is Toriyama's official English spelling of her name). Because Senbei is a lousy inventor, she soon turns out to be in severe need of eyeglasses. She is also very naïve, and in later issues she has adventures such as bringing a huge bear home, having mistaken it for a pet. To Senbei's credit, she does have super-strength. In general, the manga focuses on Arale's misunderstandings of humanity and Senbei's inventions, rivalries, and romantic misadventures.
Characters
Names are in the Western order, with the family name after the given name. If the name is different in the English releases, the English name is to the right of the Japanese name''.The Norimaki Family
- Senbei Norimaki (則巻千兵衛 Norimaki Senbei, "Seaweed-wrapped Rice cracker"), Penguin Village's goofy, and lecherous genius inventor; he can also transform into a more handsome, taller version of himself (for a very brief period of time only)
- Arale Norimaki (則巻アラレ Norimaki Arare; "Seaweed-wrapped Mini-rice cracker"), Senbei's myopic "sister," actually a robot created by Senbei. Arale is very naïve but extremely powerful, with techniques like Chikyuwari (地球割り, Earth Chop) and Nchaho (んちゃ砲, Ncha Cannon)
- Gajira "Gatchan" Norimaki (則巻ガジラ Norimaki Gajira) / Gadzilla "Gatchan" Norimaki, a green-haired, cherub-like creature with wings, which follows Senbei home from a time traveling trip; later s/he (it) inexplicably replicates into twins. Gatchan eats almost anything, except for rubber, and particularly likes to eat metal; s/he can also shoot rays from his/her antennae. Gatchan speaks in his/her own language that sounds like "pupipopipi" that Arale somehow seems to understand. In a later installment, it was revealed that Gatchan is actually an angel sent by god to prevent further development of the human civilization. After seeing that other civilizations eventually destroyed themselves and the planets they lived on, God placed an angel's egg on Earth. Gatchan's ability to replicate as well as his fondness of metal should have ensured that humanity would remain primitive and innocent. Seeing that Gatchan failed in the mission (due to Senbei's time traveling intervention), God was about to destroy humanity. However, after seeing the life of Penguin village, he changed his mind and left the earth as it is. Gatchan's real name is a pun on Gamera and Gojira, who is known as Godzilla in the West; hence he is known as "Gadzilla" in the English version.
- Turbo Norimaki (則巻ターボ Norimaki Tābo) (Seaweed-wrapped Turbo, "Turbo" was the name of the author's dog at the time), Senbei and Midori's first son, who is nearly killed by aliens and then revived by them, simultaneously imbuing him with many super powers, including teleportation, flight, and telekinesis. Also a genius surpassing his father.
- Midori Yamabuki (山吹みどり "Orange-yellow Green" Yamabuki Midori), Arale's beautiful teacher and Senbei's dream girl - who later becomes his wife (resulting in a name change)
- Obotchaman (オボッチャマン Well-mannered boy raised in a good environment+Man), robot made by Mashirito with the same plans as Arale, but male. Extremely polite and well-mannered, and Arale becomes a later love interest
The Kimidori Family
- Akane Kimidori (木緑あかね Kimidori Akane "Yellow-green Red"), Arale's "bad girl" friend
- Aoi Kimidori (木緑葵 Kimidori Aoi "Yellow-green Blue"), Akane's older sister, who works at the coffee shop
- Kon Kimidori (木緑紺 Kimidori Kon "Yellow-green Navy blue"), Akane and Aoi's father
- Murasaki Kimidori (木緑紫Kimidori Murasaki "Yellow-green Purple"), Akane and Aoi's mother, who is always wiggling her butt and acting bubbly
The Soramame Family
- Taro Soramame (空豆タロウ Soramame Tarō), Arale's "bad boy" friend at school who tries to act cool
- Peasuke Soramame (空豆ピースケ Soramame Piisuke, Broad bean Pea+common male name ending, "Peasuke" in the English translation), Taro's little brother who always wears an animal hat.
- Kurikinton Soramame (空豆クリキントン Soramame Kurikinton Broad bean Pun on sweet chestnut paste that sort of sounds like Clinton), the father of the Soramame family and a barber. Looks similar to Clint Eastwood.
- Mame Soramame (空豆まめ Soramame Mame Broad bean Bean), Taro and Peasuke's mother, who also wears an animal cap like Piisuke
Other recurring characters
- Mashirito (マシリト the name of the author's boss at the time, Torishima, reversed), Senbei's evil mad scientist rival, he looks strangely similar to the author's boss.
- Suppaman (スッパマン Sour+Man, sounds like Superman), hero-wannabe from a far away planet, who unfortunately has no super powers or sense of justice; rolls around with his belly on a skateboard, throws grenades, and changes his clothes in a phone booth, eating an umeboshi to transform. Suppaman works as a reporter when in disguise as Kenta Kuraaku (暗悪健太 Kuraaku Kenta, Dark-and-Evil Bob (or any other typical male name)) note that Kuraaku Kenta sounds like Clark Kent.
- Pazan (パーザン Loser+Zan (as in Tarzan)), Tarzan hero wannabe with almost exactly the same face as Suppaman; shares a mutual dislike with Suppaman
- Bubibinman (ブビビンマン Sound of a fly buzzing+Man), hero-wannabe from Suppaman's planet, who came to Earth after hearing that Suppaman (the weakling) had become a hero here, using his powers of flight and superhuman strength; unfortunately side-tracked by his obvious fly tendencies (and resulting diet)
- Unchi Kun (うんち君 Mr. Poop), one of several coiled poos (much like soft ice cream) that appears occasionally, tends to have a sense of justice in general, has feet to run around with (in Japanese children's books, a similar character with the same name appears to teach children potty training)
Trivia
After the original manga ended, the characters of Dr. Slump returned for an extended cameo in the Dragon Ball manga (and anime), also by Akira Toriyama, in chapters 81-83. (These issues are collected in volume 7 of the Dragon Ball compilations.) Arale and Son Goku briefly team up to help Goku defeat General Blue during the General Blue Saga. Arale also makes a smaller cameo in the third Dragon Ball movie, Mystical Adventure (Japanese: Makafushigi Dai-Bōken). Because of these cameos (and other similarities), many fans consider the two series as taking place in the same fictional universe. The manga cameo showed a distinct change in the author's art style by that time, making Arale and the gang look somewhat bloated. The characters later appeared in a special one-shot story called "Chotto Kaettekita Dr. Slump" (loosely translated: "Dr. Slump Returns, But Only For a Little While").Trademark expressions from the manga include:
- "N-cha" (Senbei's greeting; also used by Arale)
- "Bye-cha"
- "Hoyoyo" (an expression used by Arale to signify bewilderment or mild confusion)
- "Kiiiiiin" (Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of an airplane engine)
In the manga, Toriyama himself has been portrayed as a bird (the "tori" in his last name means "bird", hence the name of his production studio Bird Studio), although Toriyama actually based the design of Senbei on himself (as a number of American comic strip artists have been known to do). He has also portrayed himself as a small robot with dark goggles, and simply a middle-aged man with dark sunglasses and surgeon mask (signifying anonymity). In addition, other real people made appearances as well, such as Toriyama's bosses (like Torishima), assistants, and wife, Toriyama's colleague friends (like Masakazu Katsura), and others.
The English language version of the manga is translated by noted game translator Alexander O. Smith.
External links
- http://the.animearchive.org/drslump/1/
- [Dr. Slump]
- [Arale's Jumpstation Dr Slump Fan site]
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