Dr. Slump (Japanese manga)

[skcheung]

IMG_5975 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

My tribute to Akira Toriyama, who suddenly passed away on March 1. Probably the most popular manga of Toriyama san is the Dragon Ball. However, to me it is Dr. Slump which gave me so much joy in my childhood years. Dr. Slump was created in the early 1980s. So, you may be too young to have heard this famous manga that had since then made Toriyama san a top manga creator. Hope you would be attracted to watch this manga.

博士 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Dr. Slump (Senbei Norimaki)
He is a creative scientiest/inventor in the Penguin Village. The main character Arale Norimaki is his creation.
He is extremely erotic and is particularly so when he meets his lover Midori Yamabuki.

 

山吹老師 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Midori Yamabuki, teacher of Arale Norimaki
Lover of Dr. Slump and they finally are married.

 

英俊博士 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Dr. Slump could be very handsome and tall when he feels such a need arises, particularly when he is in front of Midori. However, such a handsome look usually lasts no more than 2 seconds.

 

小雲 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Arale Norimaki the main and most popular character.
She was a robot invented by Dr. Slump. She was kind and innocent to the extent that she hardly know about the dark side of reality. She possesses mighty power but she misuses it and creates trouble.
She likes to play with poop.

 

小吉 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Gatchan.
He is hatched from an egg which Dr. Slump brings from the prehistoric ages. He is then adopted into the Norimaki family.
He likes to eat anything including even metal scraps and he likes to follow Arale no matter where she goes.

 

宇宙大王 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

King Nikochan and his servant
They are aliens from an inferior race.
They come to conquer the earth on the assumption that it is a planet weak enough to conquer.
However, they meet Arale and Gatchan and their spaceship is eaten by the latter. Since then they have to stay in the earth and search hopelessly for another spaceship.
The most obvious feature of these characters are their buttocks are grown on the top.

 

太郎 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Taro Soramame
A high school student of the Penguin Village and a friend of Arale.
He has a trendy look and seems to be a bit arrogant. However, he has a kind heart.……

 

小茜 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Akane Kimidori
A good friend of Arale. She is a bit rebellious and looks for small advantage. She often takes advantage from Arale. However, basically she is kind-hearted. 

 

小雄 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Peasuke Soramome
Classmate of Arale and little brother of Taro Soramome. His height is always mocked about by his friends and Taro.

 

馬斯特博士 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Dr. Mashirito
Villain of this manga. He keeps thinking that Dr. Slump is an obstacle to his evil plan of conquering the world. So, he wish to defeat Dr. Slump, Arale and Gatchan. He created several robots in an attempt to achieve this, the most notable one is Obotchaman or Caramel Man 004.

 

小寶寶 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Obotchaman / Caramel Man 004
It is created by Dr. Mashirito in order to destroy Arale. However, he turns out to be a kind-hearted robot and they become friends.

 

春夢婆婆 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Grandma Spring, a supporting role in the manga.
She often appears in the manga suddenly. She has been playing hide-and-seek with other spirits for the whole life.

 

草菇妹妹 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Kinoko Sarada
A lousy little girl and she enjoys being alone.
She always rides a tricycle and asks other people to perm their hair.

 

史谷 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Skop.
This character is modelled after Spock of the Star Trek.
He is a classmate of Arale and the top student of the school of the Penguin Village. He prefers to concentrate on his studies and he never has a clue why everyone in the school is not studying seriously.

 

鳥山明 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

The self-portrait of Akira Toriyama
He often appears in the manga when the author feels the need to make an explanation of what is happening in the cartoon.
The author portraits himself as a bird because his name contains the word of "tori" which is "bird" in English.

 

酸梅乾超人 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Suppaman
When in disguise, he works as a reporter.
He changes his clothes in a phone booth and eats a pickled plum and rolls around with his belly on a skateboard.
He lies to himself that he is going to protect the world. However, neither he has a sense of justice nor real superpowers. He doesn't care much about the safety of other people but only about his reputation and is being regarded as a hero, and is easily offended when others make fun of him.
He's a coward in front of enemies, and mean and violent towards innocent villagers as he usually launches grenades at people who annoy him for some reason. 

 

豬 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Pig-copter
He makes minor appearance in the manga. Usually he makes announcement to the people of the Penguin Village, such as to say good morning.

 

警察 by SK MOC, 於 Flickr

Policemen of Penguin Village
They actually have names. The taller one is Pagos and the shorter is Gala.
They appear frequently in the manga but they are doomed to be played trick by Arale and Gatchan.
Their car is squashed completely every time. 

[Shiva]

Nice collection you have built.

[Borex]

Nice! Now i want to read these comics! Is it a bit like the early dragon ball stories?

[PaleozoicBricks]

Man this makes me want to go back an finish the manga 

5 hours ago, Borex said:

Nice! Now i want to read these comics! Is it a bit like the early dragon ball stories?

Yea kind of. Its early dragon ball but way stupider, in the absolute best way possible. 

[Borex]

3 hours ago, PaleozoicBricks said:

Man this makes me want to go back an finish the manga 

Yea kind of. Its early dragon ball but way stupider, in the absolute best way possible. 

Ah good to hear! I’ll try to find those comics then!

[PaleozoicBricks]

On 4/21/2024 at 2:19 AM, Borex said:

Ah good to hear! I’ll try to find those comics then!

Overall, I read the first 4 volumes and I found them pretty funny. As a die hard dragon ball fan I also tend to prefer the more light hearted earlier parts of the story overall. 

[skcheung]

7 hours ago, PaleozoicBricks said:

Overall, I read the first 4 volumes and I found them pretty funny. As a die hard dragon ball fan I also tend to prefer the more light hearted earlier parts of the story overall. 

By the time these first few volumes were shown on TV 40 years ago, I was then an elementary student in Hong Kong. I still remembered many details of these volumes. Too funny.