Tamanegi Tama-chan

Cover to the Keiyaki reprint.

**Tamanegi Tama-chan** (たまねぎたまちゃん, "The Onion Tama-chan"), is a childrens' manga by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, serialized in Shogakukan's 1st Grade magazine.

## Overview

Akatsuka wanted to create a work that his daughter would be able to enjoy, and figured that since vegetables were usually despised by kids, it would be a work in which they were lovable protagonists. The fact that children had grown up to be more pickier in the 1960s in contrast to how children of the 1940s had to make do with eating what they could to survive (along with Akatsuka's own upbringing around vegetables in that time) had also played a part in his decision to create such characters for a manga.

The work was in sharp contrast to the usual gag fare at the time, having a softer and traditionally heart-warming tone with the vegetables instilling polite manners and speech for their readers even when more chaotic situations could happen. It was popular among children, and remains one of the other series that is still acknowledged by Fujio Pro outside the major works due to its significance.

In the series itself, the characters live in a small dwelling known as Vegetable Village, though other types of anthropomorphic characters can also be seen among the populace; fruits, nuts, and even flowers.

### Remake Series

In 2019, the childrens' magazine *Chagurin* announced a new serialization of *Tamanegi Tama-chan*, to begin in the May issue. It is written and illustrated by Fujio Pro (Katta Yoshi), with drawing cooperation by Hiroki Kimura for several stories in the earlier period. Many chapters were initially updates or tracing of the original series, with new elements or punchlines included. Eventually, the series began to become all-new stories with new additions to the case such as the aliens Chiitama and Chiinoko, and Tama becoming a superhero known as Ecobaman.

This announcement was also paired with the news that the 1988 **Omusubi-kun's Fun Rice Exploration** one-shot would see reprint in the appendix booklet to the April 2019 issue.

## Characters

*See also List of characters in Tamanegi Tama-chan for more of the cast between incarnations of the series.*

### Tama

A young onion bulb boy (tamanegi). The protagonist of the series, a leader of his friends with a strong sense of justice. He has a face slightly in the vein of mischievous young boy characters such as Chibita.

As a way of "torch passing", Tama was also used in a minor role in the first *Omusubi-kun* story as Omusubi's rival at school and depicted slightly older and more antagonistic than his depictions here.

### Tomato

A friendly young tomato girl who can easily get along with anyone. She has a face similar to that of young girls like Totoko, a factor which winds up emphasized in an aged-up redesign in her appearances in *Omusubi-kun*.

She can often be seen with her tomato-themed pets, such as Tomato-Neko.

### Satoimo ("Sato-kun")

A child with a taro (satoimo) theme. He is intentionally modeled after Ichiro from Otasuke-kun due to this, but given a button nose and more hairs.

### Bokenasu

An eggplant (nasu)-themed child. He is not too bright, as evidenced by the *boke* in his name and the fact that his full name derives from the slang meaning "faded eggplant" (used to describe someone dumb). He is a gentle animal lover, often seen with puppies like his Nasu-Inu.

As with the other kids above, Bokenasu has a pre-existing Akatsuka basis in that of Hatabo, down to where his eggplant-top hair is depicted black in *Omusubi-kun*.

### Kyusuke

A simple, easy-going cucumber-themed boy with a long head in such a shape.

### Tonkari

A red chili pepper (togarashi) boy who acts as a bully and hot-headed to the others, but secretly wishes that he could make friends with them.

## Serialization

### Original Version

* 1st Grade: September 1967 to December 1969

There are 29 chapters in all. Unlike other manga by Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, this was produced in full-color as the first priority, with a watercolor medium (though there were still some monochrome stories). The comics were meant to be simple but also educational for children.

Although it was popular in the magazine, the feature would be ended in time for 1st Grade to run a tie-in manga to Extraordinary Ataro, due to its own popularity and a large media mix push by Shogakukan to showcase versions of it across their school magazines.

After the wrap-up of the manga, the characters would slip into obscurity, though the similar Kurikurikuri-chan (serialized in Kindergarten through 1971-1972) would focus on a chestnut-headed boy. The late 1980s would also see the arrival of a rice-themed Omusubi-kun feature, which would utilize some of Tama-chan's cast within the three one-shots that were produced.

These are the chapters that can be seen within the series:

1. **"Drive"** (ドライブのまき, September 1967)
2. **"Meanness"** (いじわるのまき, October 1967)
3. "**The Kidnapping of Tomato-chan**" (とまとちゃんのゆうかいのまき, November 1967)
4. **"The Persimmon Thieves"** and **"Lost"** (かきどろぼうのまき・まいごのまき, November 1967 appendix)
5. **"Christmas"** (クリスマスのまき, December 1967)
6. **"New Year Games"** (しょうがつあそびのまき, January 1968)- *unreprinted*
7. **"Snowman"** (ゆきだるまのまき, February 1968)
8. **"The Bad Turnips"** (わるいかぶのまき, March 1968)
9. **"Starting Today, We are 1st Graders"** (きょうから１ねんせいのまき, April 1968)
10. **"A Carp Streamer and Chestnuts"** (こいのぼりとクリのまき, May 1968)
11. **"Natsumikan and Car"** (なつみかんとくるまのまき, June 1968)
12. **"New Transfer Student Su-chan"** (てんこうせいのすうちゃんのまき, July 1968)
13. **"A Fun Camp"** (たのしいキャンプのまき, August 1968)
14. **"The Tomorokoshi Boy"** (とうもろこしぼうやのまき, September 1968)
15. **"The Persimmon Artist"** (にがおえかき, October 1968)
16. **"Marathon Competition"** (マラソンたいかいのまき, November 1968)
17. **"Mouse"** (ねずみのまき, December 1968)
18. **"New Years"** (おしょうがつのまき, January 1969)
19. **"Snowball Fight"** (ゆきがっせんのまき, February 1969)
20. **"Korosuke the Bear"** (クマのころすけのまき, March 1969)
21. **"Tonkari-kun's Camera"** (とんかりくんのカメラのまき, April 1969)- *unreprinted*, art credited to "Fujio Pro"
22. **"The Carp Streamer Thief"** (こいのぼりどろぼうのまき, May 1969)
23. **"Ringo-chan's Hospital Visitation"** (りんごちゃんのおみまいのまき, June 1969)- *unreprinted,* art credited to "Fujio Pro"
24. **"Boat Adventure"** (船の冒険のまき, July 1969)- Art for the chapter credited to "Fujio Pro"
25. **"Let's Go Camping"** (キャンプへ行こうのまき, August 1969)- *unreprinted*
26. **"Saboten-chan"** (さぼてんちゃんちのまき, September 1969)- *unreprinted*, art credited to "Fujio Pro"
27. **"Satsumaimo's Snacktime"** (おやつはさつまいものまき, October 1969)- *unreprinted*
28. **"Fishing"** (さかなつりのまき, November 1969)
29. **"Muddy Playtime"** (どろんこあそびのまき, December 1969)

Many chapters were remade for the Chagurin edition, although unreprinted chapters and many others were left out when it changed direction, and it is also questionable how many of these stories Fujio Pro has the original artwork pages for.

### "Kindergarten" magazine version

An alternate version of *Tamanegi Tama-chan* ran in Kindergarten through January 1968 to April 1969. In this serialization, the characters were given photos of vegetable heads with facial features drawn atop. There was also a more recurring, clear-cut villain character of "Zakuro-ojisan" (a pomegranate).

Although Akatsuka and Fujio Pro appeared in the credits as being responsible for the original work, this version was handled by uncredited members of Studio Zero (which itself received billing alongside Fujio Pro).

## Reprints

* Shogakukan: "Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works" DVD-ROM set (2002). 8 chapters reprinted.
* Keiyaki Publishing: 1 volume hardcover edition (2004). The cover was designed by Rieko Akatsuka. Though there are more chapters collected for a total of 21, they are out of order and there has still yet to be a truly 'full edition' . It is also missing some chapters that were present in the DVD-ROM edition (such as chapters 11 and 24). The edition is also known for the practice of attempting to restore chapters from raw, saved manuscripts that still had tape attached to them and that also had lost their glued-on typed serifs, resulting in the dialogue being in faint pencil. In some cases, the loss of some manuscript pages for chapters also meant scanned magazine versions having to be substituted, and so the print quality can be seen to be highly variable.

## Media

### Sonosheet

Three sonosheets were produced for the series, the first appearing in the appendix in the April 1968 issue of 1st Grade. The sonosheets contained a theme song and audio drama.

In 2004 after the hardcover release, Tama-chan was said to be considered for an anime adaptation to air on Fuji TV, but it did not come to be due to a lack of companies willing to be sponsors and part of the production committee. Yoshio Urasawa was said to have written a pitch bible for the show, but it has never come to surface beyond anecdotes about his involvement.

### Trading Cards

Limited edition trading cards of the cast were also produced by Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, and included with a 1st Grade appendix. The cards are notable for featuring characters that never got to actually be used in the series, such as Tama-chan having two brothers (a teenager, and a baby) as well as other family members for the Vegetable Village children.

## External Links

* Tama-chan page at Koredeiinoda (Japanese)

* A blog post on the Tama-chan sonosheet (Japanese)
* "Tamanegi Tama-chan" write-up at the Fujio Akatsuka Preservation Society (Japanese)