Extraordinary Ataro

Extraordinary Ataro (もーれつア太郎, Moretsu Ataro), alternatively Furious Ataro, is a gag manga and multimedia franchise by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro.

Overview[]

As The Genius Bakabon became a hit for Akatsuka in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine, he terminated the weekly serialization of Osomatsu-kun in Weekly Shonen Sunday in favor of doing it as longer, monthly installments. Shogakukan's editorial department of the magazine was frustrated by this, as it meant they needed a new frequent competitor to their publishing rival.

They asked that Akatsuka come up with a new weekly series for the magazine that could be a strong hit as Osomatsu-kun was, if even more explosive. Despite the fact that Akatsuka had yet to even think of a title, characters, or plot, Toei had immediately presented the offer to animate the new work. Akatsuka became motivated to think of a new, distinctive gag series that would have a different atmosphere than both Bakabon and Osomatsu-kun, as well as be easy to have synergy with a Media mix collaboration.

Inspired by Michael Powell's film "A Matter of Life and Death" (released in the USA and Japan under the title "Stairway to Heaven") and thinking of a plot about a father and son, he would craft a concept involving the humanity of downtown Tokyo, ghosts, and Edo-like sensibilities. The title came about as Akatsuka decided this new series would absolutely not be inferior to either Osomatsu-kun or Bakabon, but surely even be more popular than both of them, so the word "Moretsu" (used for a strong degree, with equatable words being ones such as "extraordinary", "magnificent", "intense", "furious", etc.) was attached in hopes to make it such a hit.

To further contrast the character of Ataro against what he felt were weak modern children in Japan who were spoiled and had it too well, Akatsuka intended the manga's "dismantled family" premise to show how strong-willed and independent this protagonist would be no matter what disadvantages he would face. In addition, because his Bakabon editor Takao Igarashi ran a greengrocer store, Akatsuka figured that Ataro would run such a business at his young age.

However, contrary to Akatsuka's expectations, the series' readership ratings came at a slow crawl each week; the now-irregular "Osomatsu-kun" still reigned at #1 on the popularity surveys while Ataro only got as high as #3. Not wanting the series to suffer an untimely discontinuation, Akatsuka sped up his plan to kill Ataro's father Batsugoro, with the character dying in the seventh chapter in order to gain more readers' attention with the sudden twist.

To ensure readers continued to pick up the series and to increase the humanity and gag themes, Dekoppachi was added soon after, along with Butamatsu and Boss Kokoro. Eventually in 1969, the animal characters of Nyarome, Kemunpas, and Beshi were also introduced to fill out the regular cast.

Although the Ataro series still did not hit the highest ratings and Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine sales were slow (which was one of the factors that lead to the transfer of Bakabon to Sunday), the development of Nyarome from a regular cat to a talking, anthropomorphic animal would soon snag Ataro the most popularity, setting off a "Nyarome boom". This change in Nyarome came about due to Akatsuka's editor Toshiki Takei wishing for him to do more with the character, as opposed to leaving him as a minor gag, and to make him something like a protagonist. With this shift, the original "humanity tale" theme fell away even more as sharp slapstick continued to dominate the series.

The official English title is not consistent between rightsholders; Fujio Pro opts to translate "moretsu" as "Extraordinary", which would fit the series' tone and happenings (and perhaps Akatsuka's intent in choosing such a title), while Toei Animation titles it "Furious Ataro" (even if it can be said that Dekoppachi is more of the furious character).

Characters[]

For more details, see List of characters in Extraordinary Ataro

Ataro[]

A young boy who runs a vegetable shop. Though he is not good at schoolwork, he has a serious and hard-working but sensitive personality. He is adored by many of his customers.

His name derives from how his parents had planned to have many children, and Batsugoro wanted many sons to name "-taro" before they'd have a daughter. Sadly, Ataro's mother died in childbirth, and left him to be raised by his foolish father.

Batsugoro[]

Ataro's father. He attempts to tell fortunes at the start of the series, but often gets everything wrong. Although he dies while trying to retrieve a young girl's balloon from a tree, he is sent back to Earth a month later as Heaven could not find his name in the registry (due to the unusual kanji spelling).

As Batsugoro's body was already cremated and buried by the time he showed up back home, he resides as an intangible ghost that can only be seen and heard by Ataro. He has the ability to possess those who are unconscious, and can display other ghostly abilities.

Dekoppachi[]

A short-tempered boy with a strong sense of justice and heavy emotions. His head is very durable, and can serve him well in fighting. He is well-liked by girls and motivated by their feelings.

He originated from a character Akatsuka drew in his 1962 gag one-shot Chankichi-kun, this prototype being a friend of Chankichi named Dabo. In the original run of the manga, Dekoppachi is not named until issue #13 of the 1968 stories, with his name being decided by a reader.

Nyarome[]

A mischievous and stubborn stray cat who can walk and talk like a human being, and who has a love of human women. Like Dekoppachi, he will not give up easily no matter how much he is beaten down.

Serialization[]

For more details, see List of chapters in Extraordinary Ataro

Original Run (Shonen Sunday)[]

The title began in Weekly Shonen Sunday issue #48 (11/28/1967), with early chapters focused more on Ataro's life with his unreliable fortune-telling father Batsugoro, and their involvement in stopping criminals. However, the setting of Batsugoro's death would soon enter the story, with Ataro now having to deal with being able to see his father's ghost that would aid him.

The cast would soon be expanded, with supernatural elements initially taking the forefront with God and his disciple showing up. Soon, Dekoppachi would be introduced as a sidekick for Ataro, and Boss Kokoro would provide more of an antagonist role.

While other Akatsuka characters would often cameo or make prominent guest-star roles in some chapters, the three-way crossover stories featuring the casts of Osomatsu-kun and Bakabon would become a more eventful way of Akatsuka and Fujio Pro incorporating the other series. Nyarome, initially a regular kitten in his first appearance, would become more anthropomorphic and gradually take over the plots, as characters like Iyami and Bakabon's Papa had done previously with their own series.

Unfortunately, Toei made the decision to wrap up the anime adaptation, partly from there being desire to replace Nyarome with a new character and gimmick in pressures from the sponsor side. This in itself caused the Ataro manga to be abruptly ended in 1970 issue #27 right in the middle of the "Nyarome boom", to Akatsuka's regret as he faced burnout from the ordeal. The anime series would finish later in the year, shortly after Toei had switched to the color format for the final 13 stories.

By the final serialized portion of the manga, Batsugoro had fallen out of use and had been taken back to Heaven for business, while Nyarome, Kemunpas, Beshi, and Boss Kokoro had dominated the plots. Ataro himself was in a reduced role for many stories, but showed up in the final chapter.

Grade Magazine Version[]

Parallel "Ataro" features did continue to run in Shogakukan's grade school magazines through 1970, though they were exclusively drawn by Fujio Pro assistants and have not made it into reprints (much like the grade school magazine Osomatsu-kun chapters). The exception to this is a few scattered chapters making it into the Takeshobo edition, though they are placed at random.

1st Grade: January 1970 to March 1971
2nd Grade: January 1970 to November 1971
3rd Grade: January 1970 to June 1971
Kindergarten: April 1969 to October 1971
4th Grade: October 1969 to March 1971

Extra Features: The Flower of Dekoppachi and Gag + Gag[]

During the original serialization of Ataro, an extra edition-style spinoff titled The Flower of Dekoppachi ran in both the Weekly and Deluxe magazines of Shonen Sunday through 1968 to 1970. These stories centered more around Dekoppachi, and had more alternate universe-style settings with the cast and other Akatsuka characters. Some of these stories were chosen by Toei to be adapted into the anime as well, albeit loosely.

After Ataro wrapped up, another brief spinoff with the characters titled Fujio Akatsuka's Gag + Gag ran from July 5 to September 6, 1970 in Weekly Shonen Sunday.

Remake Manga[]

To tie into the new anime adaptation by Toei in 1990, a new series ran in Kodansha's Comic BomBom through April 1990 to January 1991, with a simultaneous feature in TV Magazine from May 1990 that ended around the same time.

These stories were much more simplistic and shorter, with some closely following to episodes of the new anime while others had their own plots and gags. Momoko, a character present in the new anime, made cameos in a few chapters. The BomBom Ataro logo also incorporated a peach around this time, to represent her. The peach can also be seen in the 1990s reprints of the original manga, even if it does not cover this new era.

Reprints[]

Ataro ch1traceremake — Chapter 1 frontispiece, original serialization vs. Takeshobo.

Akebono: "Complete Works" 12 volumes (1969). As with various other Akatsuka reprints, frontispieces to certain chapters were discarded for space and there is panel re-arrangement along with traced copies of chapters to remove any evidence that they were originally colored.
Tachikawa: 1 volume (1976)
Kodansha: 11 volumes (1990).
Takeshobo: 9 volumes (1994). "Flower of Dekoppachi" chapters reprinted in vol.6, while "Gag + Gag" is reprinted at the end of vol.9. Cover art by Minematsu. Discriminatory terms started to be censored with this release, which carries to the eBook version. There are newly-colored chapters for this edition, but while also done in watercolor, they may bear quite the difference to the original serialization color palettes.
Shogakukan: "Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works", 9 volumes (2002, 2005 via Comic Park). Reprint of the Takeshobo edition. Some chapters of the TV Magazine remake are included in a 10th "extra volume".

eBookJapan: 11 volumes (2008). The first 10 volumes are the Shonen Sunday version, with the final containing the full run of the remake manga. The "Flower of Dekoppachi" spinoff and "Gag + Gag" are available in a separate 1-volume release.

The reprints from Akebono all the way up to eBookJapan may contain some chapters set out-of-order where Nyarome and his design are concerned, which can create confusion for new readers. The fact that the Takeshobo release also has a few grade magazine chapters randomly thrown into places can make things even more disjointed.

The Shonen Sunday chapter of "Ataro Has Died" was also missing from editions prior to the eBookJapan release, along with most of the remake manga, but they are included within that digital edition. "Ataro Has Died" finally received some form of physical reprint when the raw pages of its manuscript were printed in the 2018 Coredeiinoda! book set covering Akatsuka's works.

Art Style[]

Media[]

Anime[]

See individual pages for detailed information on each adaptation.

Ataro has been adapted into two TV series at present.

First work: Aired on NET from 4/4/1969 to 12/25/1970 for 90 episodes. Produced by Toei Animation. The first 77 episodes were made in monochrome format, while the remainder are in full color.
Second work: Aired on TV Asahi from 4/21 to 12/22/1990 for 34 episodes. Produced by Toei Animation.

Unproduced Studio Zero version[]

Though it has been said that Akatsuka had struck a deal with Toei to eventually adapt Ataro into an anime when he came up with the concept, Studio Zero had taken interest in producing a version of the series in July 1968, around the time that The Genius Bakabon was also being optioned by Nippon TV Douga.

A broadcasting was planned for October 1968, network not yet decided, though by the end of the year no movement had been made on the project. In a December 1968 issue of COM, it would be announced that Studio Zero was still wanting to produce an Ataro series, but that it was simply "under consideration" (along with a possible Studio Zero adaptation of Bakabon, in light of the failure by Nippon TV Douga to get it approved for a series).

Going by the short amount of time between these announcements, to the airing of the first Toei adaptation on NET, it would appear that the Studio Zero version of Ataro may never have progressed to the pilot stage and may have not even gotten very far in its planning at all.

TV Drama[]

Main article: Extraordinary Ataro: Nyarome!! What Happened to the Girl When She Learned the Secret of Her Birth!?

Fuji TV's weekly program Monday Dramaland would loosely adapt the manga for its first (of three) Akatsuka-based adaptations, with this special airing on May 20, 1985.

It has never been re-released to home video format, however, and detailed information can be difficult to come by. It is notable for the setting of Ataro having a younger sister named Akko (played by the idol Yoko Oginome), but as revealed in the plot by Batsugoro, she is not truly his sister and in fact the daughter of another man.

Overseas Releases[]

While the manga has yet to receive an official foreign translation, the 1990 anime was dubbed for TVB in 1991 under the title "There's a Ghost Around" (隔離左右有隻鬼).

A Korean dub later aired on South Korea's JEI Talent TV in 2011, under the title "Be Strong, Geomdong" (굳세어라금동아). Both dubs localized the characters' names, and the Korean dub contained paint edits to remove Japanese references.

Gallery[]

Original Artwork[]

Covers to Reprints[]

References[]

External Links[]

Extraordinary Ataro at Koredeiinoda (Japanese)
Extraordinary Ataro eBookJapan page (Japanese)
Toei Animation page for 1969 Ataro anime (Japanese)
Toei Animation entry on 1990 anime (Japanese)
"Furious Ataro" entries on Toei Animation USA Catalog, under "Comedy" (English)
Article on original Toei anime by Charles Brubaker, Cartoon Research (English)