|
|
|---|
Dokonjō Gaeru (ど根性ガエル lit. Gutsy Frog) is a Shonen manga and anime from The Seventies, created by Yasumi Yoshizawa. The manga was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1970 to 1976, then had two anime TV series made by TMS Entertainment (in 1972-1974 on TBS, and 1981-1982 on NTV). It has reached cult status in Latin America and especially in Chile. There's also a live-action TV series, made in 2015.
This is the story of a middle school boy named Hiroshi and Pyonkichi, a rather special talking frog. One day, Pyonkichi is jumping around and minding his own business, and then Hiroshi crashes on him. Somehow, Pyonkichi survives... as his soul sorta becomes an imprint on Hiroshi's shirt. Since Hiroshi is very poor and that's his only good shirt, he's forced to keep it as well as Pyonkichi, who becomes a sort-of member of his family and his best friend...
Yep, this is one really weird show.
Odder still, a live-action American movie adaptation was rumored to be in development at one point, but has yet to see the light of day. The original series, however, has been shown on Japanese-language TV in the U.S. More recently, the series has begun streaming on the streaming app Pluto TV in Japanese with English subtitles. There was also apparently an English dub made in Hong Kong, but very little is known about it.
Dokonjo Gaeru has the following tropes:[]
- Animal Motifs: Aside of frogs, we have gorillas... for the local bully.
- The said bully's sidekick is named Mogura, which is Japanese for "mole". As his name implies, he can dig underground.
- Big Brother Mentor: Sakakubei is this to Hiroshi.
- Birds of a Feather: Both Pyonkichi and Hiroshi are Hot-Blooded Big Eaters who won't give up ever.
- Break Her Heart to Save Her: At some point, Pyonkichi's frog girlfriend Pyonko appears. Pyonkichi treats her real badly, which greatly upsets Hiroshi; when he asks why would he do such a thing, Pyonkichi cries and explains that he doesn't want her to suffer due to his special situation so he'd rather have her hate him.
- A Boy and His X: A boy and his talking shirt! ... Sorta.
- Chef of Iron: Sankakubei is a somewhat odd Supreme Chef... and a rather badass martial artist.
- Cool Shades: Hiroshi is never seen without a pair of shades on his head.
- Disappeared Dad: Hiroshi's father is explicitely mentioned to be deceased, so he lives with his Housewife mother.
- Dub Name Change: Averted in the insanely popular Latino Spanish dub, which keeps all the original character names and doesn't even try to hide its country of origin. The apparently-abortive U.S. live-action movie would have renamed Hiroshi "Frankie" (and had him played by Frankie Jonas to boot).
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gorilla-Imo frequently bullies Hiroshi, but he does have a soft-side, such as his love of cats.
- Names to Know In Anime: Masako Nozawa plays Hiroshi, the late Noriko Ohara voices his mother, and Pyonkichi's voice actress went on to voice the mother of another Ohara character. In the second series Hideyuki Tanaka plays Minami-sensei, Keiko Toda is Yoshiko-sensei and Kei Tomiyama is Sankakubei.
- On the production side: Yoshifumi Kondo (later of Nippon Animation and Studio Ghibli) and Yoshiaki Kawajiri were animators on the '70s series, as was Tsutomu Shibayama (future Ranma 1/2 director). A few episodes were also written by Long Runner anime screenwriter Masaki Tsuji. Shibayama was also chief director on the '80s series.
- No Name Given: The sushi parlor owner/Sankakubei's boss, Hiroshi's mother.
- Older Than They Look: Goro looks like a grade schooler. So does his future girlfriend, Misako.
- One-Hit Wonder: This was Yasumi Yoshizawa's first manga and the only one that was successful. Since then he created dozens of other titles, but they all failed to gain interest.
- The Ojou: Kyouko Yoshizawa is middle to high class. She sometimes gets mad at Hiroshi for calling her "Kyoko-chan," as this implies that he and she are equals on the social scale.
- The Other Darrin: Apart from Masako Nozawa as Hiroshi and Sachiko Chijimatsu as Pyonkichi, most characters from the 1972 series were recast for the 1981 remake with new voice actors. Kyouko in fact had a third voice actor change in the middle of the '80s series.
- Panty Shot: Kyouko is also often the victim of this.
- Plucky Girl: Kyouko is this, too.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Yoshiko-sensei is pursued by Minami (hinted to be from a rich family) and Sakakubei (Hiroshi's Big Brother Mentor who works as a sushi chef). She barely seems to notice their interest in her.
- Perpetual Poverty: Almost everyone in the series, starting with Hiroshi.
- Supreme Chef: Sakakubei, justified as he works as a chef in the local sushi bar.
- Slice of Life
- Tokyo Movie Shinsha: Both TV shows were produced by TMS, one of their more well-known (in Japan) properties. The '70s series was a co-production with A Pro, who also subcontracted for TMS on other shows including Aim for the Ace! and Lupin III.
- Tsundere: Kyouko is a Type B.
- Also Yoshiko Yamanaka.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Hiroshi's mother.