Meiken Ninja Hetamaru

**Meiken Ninja Hetamaru** (*Kanji: 名犬忍者ヘタ丸*) is a fictional manga series in the Zayats universe, starring a cast consisting exclusively of dogs.

The manga lasted 12 issues. The Meiken Ninja Hetamaru manga ended after the author, Naonobu Taniuchi, was unable to keep up with his mortgage payments. With the help of fellow Hetamaru fans, Zayats managed to raise enough money to keep the series up. Despite his effort, both Taniuchi and the publisher ended the series anyway because after doing manga for fourteen years, the author had grown tired of drawing manga.

The manga received an anime adaptation, which appeared in Konnichiwa! Big in Japan and ZayaTube.

## Characters

### **Hetamaru Shiba** (柴ヘタ丸)

   The series's main protagonist. An 11 year old genin who is silly and kind of a klutz, Hetamaru trains with his master Shiba-Inu and looks forward to becoming the ultimate best ninja there is.

Hetamaru's mother passed away from food poisoning when he was only 4 years old, and he misses her dearly.

#### Information

* **Age:** 11 (turns 12 at the end of the series)
* **Breed:** Shiba-Inu
* **Relatives:** Master Shiba-Inu (father), unknown mother
* **Anime Voice Actor:** Riiya Isema (伊狭リーヤ)

### **Kenichi Arakaze** (荒風犬壱)

   A born rebel, Kenichi has a different combat style from most ninjas: Instead of using ninjutsus, his main weapon is a katana he inherited from his father, a ronin who lost his life in war.

Hetamaru highly admires Kenichi for his "coolness" and his ability to stand out from the average ninja, thanks to his katana.

#### Information

* **Age:** 14
* **Breed:** Doberman
* **Relatives:** Arakaze no Kuroyoshi (father)
* **Anime Voice Actor:** Toshiaki Kuwahara (桒原としあき)

### **Jungo Kawamata** (川又純吾)

   Jungo is gluttonous and often expects a snack for a reward for succeeding in his training.

Jungo is an anime-original character and is nowhere to be seen in the manga.

#### Information

* **Age:** 13
* **Breed:** Shiba-Inu
* **Relatives:** Unknown
* **Anime Voice Actor:** Shugon Muramura (村々しゅごん)

### **Master Shiba-Inu** (柴犬先生)

    Hetamaru's master. Master Shiba-Inu cares about his disciple more than anything, and will do whatever he can to protect him, regardless of the circumstances.

At one point, it is revealed that Master Shiba-Inu is actually Hetamaru's father, which they were told by his mother before her death to keep a secret from each other until Hetamaru turns 12.

#### Information

* **Age:** 27
* **Breed:** Shiba-Inu
* **Relatives:** Hetamaru Shiba (son)
* **Anime Voice Actor:** Tsuyoshi Kurokoyama (黒小山剛志)

### **Kasumi Inukawa** (犬川霞)

    Hetamaru's love interest. Normally an awfully sweet little puppy, she becomes an unstoppable fighting machine the moment she gains possession of any sort of ninjutsu.

Hetamaru is madly in love with Kasumi, and she seems to feel the same way about him. In one chapter, however, Hetamaru assumes that Kasumi likes Kenichi more than him, and the two begin to fight, but it's then all cleared up that Kenichi was just trying to see what made Hetamaru fall head over heels in love with Kasumi.

#### Information

* **Age:** 12
* **Breed:** Shih-Tzu
* **Relatives:** Unknown
* **Anime Voice Actor:** Daya Uchii (内井打耶)

### **Shiroko Nayuki** (名雪白子)

Shiroko has an unrequited crush on Kenichi.

Shiroko is an anime-original character and is nowhere to be seen in the manga.

#### Information

* **Age:** 13
* **Breed:** Bichon Frise
* **Relatives:** Unknown
* **Anime Voice Actor:** Maitan Meshizuka (飯塚舞単)

### **Jōnin** (上忍)

The series's main antagonist. A ruthless ninja warrior who spent his entire life training to boast his perfect abilities in ninjutsu.

It's revealed in the 12th issue that Jonin killed Hetamaru's mother by poisoning her plate of sukiyaki.

#### Information

* **Age:** 31
* **Breed:** Rottweiler
* **Relatives:** Unknown
* **Anime Voice Actor:** Yoshihisa Kawahara (河原吉久)