Song of The Ladybug

Song of The Ladybug is a Japanese kodomo manga written and drawn by Noboru Kawasaki and published by Shogakukan between 1973 and 1976 in the educational magazine for the Shogakukan elementary school no Gakushō Zasshi. It was then collected in four volumes and is unpublished in Italy.

An animated television series of 104 episodes produced by Tatsunoko and broadcast by Fuji TV between 1974 and 1976 was taken from the manga. The series was dubbed in Italian and broadcast from the eighties on local televisions and subsequently replicated by various syndications , including Junior Tv, Supersix and Italia 7; in 1996 the anime is also re-proposed on the television station Telemontecarlo and this is the last broadcast on an Italian television channel. From 2 December 2013 the episodes are published for streaming on the internet on the YouTube channel Mondo TV - The smile of children !. The total of the episodes broadcast in Italy are 101 of the 104 episodes.

## Plot

The story takes place in the Ueno district of Tokyo where the seven Ischu brothers live, orphans of parents who, very poor but proud, often refuse the financial help of their very rich grandfather, preferring to do some part-time jobs to earn what they need.

The seven young people had grown up until recently, happily supported by the love and care of their parents: as a sign of gratitude, the children give the couple a lottery ticket for a tourist trip to Hokkaidō, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, the parents are involved in a plane crash during the trip: their bodies are not found and not even reported as missing (in the anime they die exhausted from exhaustion and fatigue).

Although this certainly turns out to be a truly shocking tragedy for young people, they do not allow themselves to be overwhelmed and abandoned to despair: they must rather join forces to be able to stand independently on their own legs without the help of any adult, without having to depend on no one else. They will have to make a living on their own.

Their courageous but also tiring life thus begins, continuing to help each other with true fraternal affection: their sincere and lively attitude, their good and independent nature will gradually succeed in winning the admiration and encouragement of all the people of their community.

The smallest of the family, Yoko, is known by all as "Ladybird" because there are seven black spots on the ladybugs' livery, precisely the number of siblings. Ladybug is five years old, she is clumsy and stubborn, she still pees in bed, but she also knows how to be very sweet and loves animals: she has two dogs, one of which is called Karabe, and then also a pig, a cat and a duck with which it accompanies wherever it goes.

Ladybug does not go to school and during the day she remains alone, which is why we see her very often go to the zoo to visit Kuma, a great friend of her deceased father; or she goes around the neighborhood for a while with her animals, or plays with her friends. The eldest sister is called Sukimi, has a calm and thoughtful character and is in the task of being a mother to all the brothers, also doing housework.

The second brother is Kaji, who has a very impetuous and proud character; at school he is not doing well at all and that is why he is very often put in detention by Professor Ban, who willingly uses these Spartan methods. He loves sports very much, especially boxing (so much so that he looks a lot like Rocky Joe) and is in love with his classmate Urara. Within the family he acts as a father to his younger brothers and delivers the milk early in the morning.

The third brother is called Mitzuo and is doing very well in school, it seems that he is the intellectual of the family: he is very responsible and would like to become a great scientist. The fourth brother is Mokuzake, fat and pessimistic in every situation, who would like to become a Buddhist monk and in the morning, accompanied by Mitzuo, goes to deliver the newspapers. The fifth is Kintaro (who looks a lot like Ugo king of judo); he has a strong fondness for beautiful girls and would like to become a farmer. The sixth is instead Sushimaru who doesn't even have a hair on his head and would like to become a detective.