Norakuro

show This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (July 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 2,616 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:のらくろ]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|ja|のらくろ}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Norakuro
Manga volume 1 cover (1975 bunkoban edition)
のらくろ
Manga
Written by	Suihō Tagawa
Published by	Kodansha
Magazine	Shōnen Kurabu
English magazine	US Kramer's Ergot
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	1931 – 1981
Volumes	36
Anime film
Private 2nd Class Nora-Kuro: Drill Chapter
Directed by	Yasuji Murata
Written by	Chuzo Aochi Suihō Tagawa
Studio	Yokohama Cinema Company
Released	June 14, 1933
Runtime	1 film reel
Anime film
Corporal Nora-Kuro
Directed by	Yasuji Murata
Written by	Chuzo Aochi Suihō Tagawa
Music by	Ryozo Sugita
Studio	Yokohama Cinema Company
Released	March 9, 1934
Runtime	11 minutes
Anime film
Private 1st Class Nora-Kuro
Directed by	Mitsuyo Seo
Written by	Suihō Tagawa
Music by	Asahiko Ochiai
Studio	Seo Talkie Manga Labs
Released	1935
Runtime	1 film reel
Anime film
Private 2nd Class Nora-Kuro
Directed by	Mitsuyo Seo
Written by	Suihō Tagawa
Music by	Asahiko Ochiai
Studio	Seo Talkie Manga Labs
Released	1935
Runtime	2 film reels
Anime film
Nora-Kuro's Tiger Hunt
Directed by	Mitsuyo Seo
Written by	Suihō Tagawa
Studio	Geijutsu Eiga Sha
Released	1938
Runtime	10 minutes
Anime television series
Directed by	Toru Murayama
Music by	Hidehiko Arashino
Studio	Eiken
Original network	Fuji TV
Original run	5 October 1970 – 29 March 1971
Episodes	26
Anime television series
Norakuro-kun
Directed by	Masami Anno
Studio	Studio Pierrot
Original network	Fuji TV
Original run	4 October 1987 – 2 October 1988
Episodes	50
Anime and manga portal

Norakuro (Japanese: のらくろ) is a Japanese manga series created by Suihō Tagawa, originally published by Kodansha in Shōnen Kurabu, and one of the first series' to be reprinted in tankōbon format.^[1] The titular protagonist, Norakuro, or Norakuro-kun, is an anthropomorphic black and white dog inspired by Felix the Cat.^[2] The name Norakuro is an abbreviation of norainu (野良犬, stray dog) and Kurokichi (黒吉, the name of the dog, literally meaning "black luck").

Norakuro strongly influenced Machiko Hasegawa, the author of Sazae-san, who apprenticed with its author Suihō Tagawa, as well as Fullmetal Alchemist author Hiromu Arakawa.

History[]

English version of a 1937 Norakuro strip as published in the sixth Kramer's Ergot comics anthology.

In the original story, the central character Norakuro was a soldier serving in an army of dogs called the "fierce dogs regiment" (猛犬連隊, mōkenrentai). The strip's publication began in Kodansha's Shōnen Kurabu in 1931, and was based on the Imperial Japanese Army of the time;^[3] the manga artist, Suihō Tagawa, had served in the Imperial Army from 1919 to 1922. Norakuro was gradually promoted from private to captain in the stories, which began as humorous episodes, but eventually developed into propaganda tales of military exploits against the "pigs army" on the "continent" - a thinly-veiled reference to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Serialization of Norakuro stopped in 1941 for wartime austerity reason. After the war, due to the popularity of the strip, the character returned in various guises, including a sumo wrestler and a botanist.

Pre-war animated films based on the military Norakuro, and two post-war animated series of Norakuro, in 1970 and 1987, have also been produced. In the 1970 series, the voice of Norakuro was played by Nobuyo Ōyama, also known as the voice of Doraemon. During the 1980s and early 1990s Norakuro was the mascot of the Physical Training School (Tai-Iku Gakko) of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

There is an excerpt that appears in the sixth Kramer's Ergot comics anthology which is the only example of Tagawa's work published in English.^[3]

References[]

External links[]

• Norakuro-kun at Studio Pierrot
• Norakuro-kun at Studio Pierrot (in Japanese)
• Norakuro Kun at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Norakuro (1970 TV series) (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Norakuro-kun (1987 TV series) (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia