Wikia

For the Character nicknamed "Dr. Slump" see Senbei Norimaki

Dr. Slump

Dr. SlumpドクタースランプDokutā Suranpu
Genre	Comedy, Science Fiction
Manga Series: Dr. Slump
Authored by	Akira Toriyama
Publisher	Shueisha
Serialized in	Weekly Shōnen Jump
Original run	1980 – 1984
No. of volumes	18
Anime series: Dr. Slump & Arale-Chan
Directed by	Minoru Okazaki
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	Fuji TV
Original run	April 8, 1981 — February 19, 1986
No. of episodes	243
Anime series: Dr. Slump (1997 remake)
Directed by	Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	Fuji TV
Original run	November 26, 1997 — September 22, 1999
No. of episodes	74

Dr. Slump (Dr. (ドクター) スランプ) is a gag manga series by Akira Toriyama that was serialized in Shueisha's anthology comic Weekly Shōnen Jump from January 1980 to August 1984 and eventually compiled into 18 tankōbon. The series helped to launch Toriyama's career and was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen and shōjo manga in 1982.^[1]

ThemesEdit

Dr. Slump is filled with puns, 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 changes into a Superman-like costume by eating a sour-tasting ("suppai" in Japanese) umeboshi. Unlike Superman, Suppaman can not fly well, and instead pretends to fly by lying belly down on a skateboard and scooting through the streets. In the game Super Dragon Ball Z, in the city level, by breaking the porta-potty, Suppaman (with the hiragana "su" character on his chest) will roll off on his skateboard. Also, a policeman in Dr. Slump can be seen wearing a Storm Trooper helmet, just as in the American movie Star Wars.

PlotEdit

Dr. Slump is set in Penguin Village (ペンギン村, Pengin Mura), a place where humans co-exist with all sorts of anthropomorphic animals and other objects. In Penguin Village lives Senbei Norimaki, an inventor (his name is a pun on Senbei, a kind of rice cracker). His nickname is "Dr. Slump" (a joke that can be seen as similar to nicknaming an author "Writer's Block.") In the first chapter, he builds what he hopes will be the world's most perfect little girl robot, named Arale Norimaki (a pun on another kind of rice cracker), in scenes obviously parodying the Italian children's classic Pinocchio. 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 and having mistaken it for a pet. To Senbei's credit, she has super-strength (and, in a Dragon Ball crossover, she proved to be genuinely stronger than the young Son Goku, prompting him to train harder). In general, the manga focuses on Arale's misunderstandings of humanity and Senbei's inventions, rivalries, and romantic misadventures. In the middle of the series, a continuously-appearing villain named Dr. Mashirito shows up who is based on Toriyama's editor at the time.

MediaEdit

MangaEdit

Dr. Slump was originally serialized in the Weekly Shōnen Jump from issue 5/6 of 1980 to issue 39 of 1984 and subsequently collected in 18 tankōbon volumes under the Jump Comics imprint. It was reassembled as a nine-volume aizōban edition in 1990, a nine-volume bunkoban edition in 1995, and a 15-volumekanzenban edition in 2006. Viz Media published an English adaptation of 18 original Dr. Slump volumes from 2005 to 2009, with translation done by Alexander O. Smith. Dragon Ball, though the original Dragon Ball TV program and early manga chapters, are much closer to Dr. Slump in its style and humor.

After Dr. Slump ended in 1984, the manga's characters of returned for an extended cameo in Toriyama's next series Dragon Ball, in which Arale and Goku briefly team up to help Goku defeat General Blue during the Red Ribbon Army storyline.

A Dr. Slump follow-up manga was written by Takao Koyama, illustrated by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, and serialized in V-Jump from 1994 to 1996 under the title Dr. Slump Returns, But Only For a Little While. It has been collected into four tankōbon volumes.

To promote the release of the first Dr. Slump & Arale-chan DVD box set, Akira Toriyama illustrated a special one-shot spin-off titled Dr. Mashirito and Abale-chan published in the fourth 2007 issue of the Weekly Shōnen Jump. The story centers around an evil counterpart of Arale created by Dr. Mashirito Jr. and named Abale. Dr. Mashirito and Abale-chan was adapted into a five-minute short shown theatrically alongside the One Piece feature film One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta.

AnimeEdit

Dr. Slump & Arale-chanEdit

The original anime adaption to the manga was called Dr. Slump & Arale-chan (Japanese: Dr.スランプとアラレちゃん) and ran from 1981 to 1986 and spanned 243 episodes.

Dr. Slump (1997 remake)Edit

The second anime ran from 1997 to 1999 and featured 74 episodes. In addition to the series, 11 animated films have been made.

Crossovers with Dragon BallEdit

After the original manga ended, the characters of Dr. Slump returned for an extended cameo in Toriyama's next manga and anime series Dragon Ball (chapters 70-73, or manga volume 7). Arale Norimaki and Goku briefly team up to defeat General Blue during the General Blue Saga.

Arale Norimaki also makes a smaller cameo in the movies Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure, and in Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug as a picture on Gohan's wall.

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 Norimaki and the gang look somewhat bloated. The characters later appeared in the third manga called "Chotto Kaettekita Dr. Slump" (loosely translated: "Dr. Slump Returns, But Only For a Little While").

Suppaman also makes a brief cameo, trying to stop General Blue. When General Blue proves his strength, Suppaman promptly begs for forgiveness for his earlier taunts (he tried to show off being strong by breaking 3 bricks with one punch, which also hurts his hand. General Blue then promptly lifts and crushes a phone booth effortlessly).

Goku also makes a brief cameo, trying to stop Mashirito (in the manga and anime).

CanonicityEdit

Dr. Slump is implied to exist in the same universe as Dragon Ball by the cast and Penguin Village appearing in the General Blue Saga. It is implied as well that its place in the Dragon Ball timeline is before the events of Dragon Ball, since all of the characters are in the positions they held at the end of the series (examples: Tsun Family residing in Penguin Village, Taro being a cop, Midori being married to Senbei and Turbo existing, Obotchaman existing, Gatchan #2 existing, etc.). In this way, it can be viewed as a prequel, much like CLAMP's Angelic Layer was a prequel to Chobits.

However, many parts of Dr. Slump do in fact contradict it from being in the same universe as Dragon Ball, for the obvious reason that it was written before Dragon Ball was. Many real world locations and landmarks that do not exist in the Dragon Ball universe are shown to exist. One major contradiction is a character in Dr. Slump named "Kami" who is an old man who bears a similar appearance to Master Roshi and is the guardian of Earth. His existence is a direct contradiction with Kami from Dragon Ball, who is also the guardian of Earth but is a Namekian.

Video GamesEdit

A handheld game by Animest called Hoyoyo Bomber was released as a Game & Watch clone in 1982 in Japan. Another Dr. Slump video game was released in 1983 for the Arcadia 2001. A game for the PlayStation based on the second television series was released on March 18, 1999. Dr. Slump: Arale-Chan for Nintendo DS was released on October 30, 2008; Goku also appears in this game.

Arale appears in the 1988 Famicom game Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden. In Jump Super Stars, Arale and Mashirito are battle koma (playable characters), with the latter as the game's main antagonist. They both return in the sequel, Jump Ultimate Stars, in exactly the same roles. Also, Senbei Norimaki is a Help Koma (support character) that can strengthen Arale Norimaki if his Koma is adjacent to Arale Norimaki's Koma in both games, and Midori, Gatchan, Obotchaman and Poop-Boy were added as support characters in Jump Ultimate Stars.

Arale appears as a playable character and Penguin Village is a playable map in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (PS2 and Wii). In the PS2 game Super Dragon Ball Z, Suppaman appears in the background of the city level and he will roll off on his skateboard after breaking a telephone booth. Finally, Arale can be unlocked as a playable character in both Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for Wii and Dragon Ball: Origins 2 for DS.

Characters & CastEdit

This is a list of characters from Dr. Slump that appeared in Dragon Ball related media.

Character Name	1980's Voice Actor	1997 Voice Actor	Funimation Dub (Dragon Ball) Voice Actor
Arale Norimaki	Mami Koyama	Taeko Kawata	Meredith McCoy
Senbei Norimaki	Kenji Utsumi	Yūsaku Yara	Brice Armstrong
Gatchan	Seiko Nakano	Chie Sawaguchi	Unknown
Midori Yamabuki/Norimaki	Mariko Mukai	Yūko Minaguchi	Unknown
Turbo Norimaki	Yūko Mita	Yūko Mita	Unknown
Obotchaman	Mitsuko Horie	Motoko Kumai	Unknown
Akane Kimidori	Kazuko Sugiyama	Hiroko Konishi	Unknown
Aoi Kimidori	Naomi Jinbo	Hiroko Emori	Unknown
Taro Soramame	Toshio Furukawa	Shinichirō Ōta	Unknown
Peasuke Soramame	Naomi Jinbo	Megumi Urawa	Unknown
Kurikinton Soramame	Kouji Totani	Nobuaki Kanemitsu	None
Tsukutsun Tsun	Shigeru Chiba	Ryoutarou Okiayu	Unknown
Tsururin Tsun	Yūko Mita	Houko Kuwashima	None
Tsuruten Tsun	Hiroshi Ohtake	Kouji Yada	None
Tsuntsunodanoteiyugo Tsun	Mitsuko Horie	Michie Tomizawa	None
Gyaosu	Kouji Totani	Bin Shimada	Unknown
Gala	Isamu Tanonaka	Nobuhiko Kazama	Unknown
Pagos	Masaharu Satō	Michio Nakao	Unknown
Polly Buckets	Toshiko Fujita	Masako Katsuki	Unknown
Charmy Yamada	Ryō Horikawa	None	Unknown
Dr. Mashirito	Nachi Nozawa Keiichi Noda Yasuo Yamada (Movies) Akira Kamiya (1992 Movie)	Ryoutarou Okiayu	None
Sourman	Tesshō Genda	Toru Furuya	Unknown
King Nikochan	Hiroshi Ohtake	Bin Shimada	Unknown
King Nikochan's servant	Shigeru Chiba	Ryō Horikawa	Unknown
Parzan	Kouji Totani	Minori Matsushima	None
Bubibinman	Mugihito	Mugihito	None
Kinoko Sarada	Kazuko Sugiyama	Noriko Uemura	Unknown
Daigoro Kurigashira	Tetsuo Mizutori	Nobuo Tobita	None
Donbei	Shigeru Chiba	Kappei Yamaguchi	Unknown
Trampire	Unknown	Unknown	None
Tori-bot	Isamu Tanonaka Hideyuki Tanaka (human version)	Unknown	None

Anime staffEdit

Director: Minoru Okazaki, Akinori Nagaoka, Daisuke Nishio, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Yoshihiro Ueda, Yoshiki Shibata (remake only)
Producers: Tokizō Tsuchiya, Keizo Shichijo, Seiichi Hiruta
Script: Satoru Nishizono (remake only), Masaki Tsuji, Michiru Shimada, Shunichi Yukimuro, Yasushi Hirano, Tomoko Konparu, Takao Koyama, Toshiki Inoue
Animation Supervisor: Toyoo Ashida
Animation Director & Character Designs: Sachio Ebisawa, Minoru Maeda, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Shinji Koike (remake only)
Key Animation: Hiromi Matsushita, Mamito Tayama (1983), Yasuhiro Nakura
Music: Shunsuke Kikuchi, Takeo Watanabe (remake only)

ReleaseEdit

The original 1980s series was released on Region 2 DVD in Japan in two parts. The "N'cha collection" was released in March 2007.^[2] The "Hoyoyo Collection" was released in September 2007.

The English translation of the manga is done by Alexander O. Smith.

TriviaEdit

Several expressions from Dr. Slump had gone on to become part of Japanese culture. Trademark expressions from the manga include:
- "N-cha": Senbei's greeting and apparently a truncation of "konnichiwa"; also used by Arale.
- "Bye-cha"
- "Hoyoyo": an expression used by Arale Norimaki to signify bewilderment or mild confusion.
- "Kiiiiiin": originally a Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of an airplane engine.
- "Cul": Arale talk for "Cool".
In addition, the round glasses Arale wears have inspired the Japanese phrase "arare megane" (Arale glasses).
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 contagion mask (signifying anonymity). In addition, other real people make appearances as well, such as Toriyama's bosses (like Kazuhiko Torishima), assistants, and wife, Toriyama's colleague friends (like Masakazu Katsura), and others.

GalleryEdit

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

Penguin Village residents
Norimaki Family	Senbei Norimaki • Arale Norimaki • Gatchan • Midori Norimaki • Turbo Norimaki • Obotchaman
Kimidori Family	Aoi Kimidori • Akane Kimidori
Soramame Family	Kurikinton Soramame • Taro Soramame • Peasuke Soramame
Tsun Family	Tsuruten Tsun • Tsuntsunodanoteiyugo Tsun • Tsukutsun Tsun • Tsururin Tsun
Penguin Village Police Force	Gyaosu • Gala • Pagos • Polly Buckets • Charmy Yamada
Extraterrestrial Residents	Bubibinman • Cheeta • King Nikochan • King Nikochan's servant • Parzan • Sourman
Other Residents	Daigoro Kurigashira • Donbe • Dr. Mashirito • Gamera • Kinoko Sarada • Mr. Pig • Nejishiki • Old Woman Spring • Penguin Village Junior High Principal • Rat • Tori-Bot • Trampire
Poops	Bird-Poop-Boy • Manure-Boy • Poop-Boy
Related articles	Dr. Slump • Dr. Slump: Arale-Chan • Gengoro Island • Unnamed fusion of Piccolo and Dr. Mashirito • King Nikochan's spaceship • Nikos • Okakaumeboshi • Penguin News Network • Planet Nikochan • Pola & Roid • Tomato, Girl Detective • Akai Tomato • Wonder Island

[ShogakukanAward-0] 小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者, Shogakukan

[1] Amazon.co.jp： Dr.スランプアラレちゃん DVD-BOX SLUMP THE BOX んちゃ編: DVD: 小山茉美,内海賢二,向井真理子,杉山佳寿子,古川登志夫,神保なおみ,玄田哲章,鳥山明

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