Rerere's Genius Bakabon

**Rerere's Genius Bakabon** (レレレの天才バカボン *Rerere no Tensai Bakabon)* is the fourth anime adaptation to be produced of Fujio Akatsuka's manga.

Like the previous Heisei Genius Bakabon, it was a collaboration between Studio Pierrot and Yomiko Advertising, but TV TOKYO was now the broadcasting station. The series aired on TV TOKYO from October 19, 1999 to March 21, 2000 for 24 episodes (48 shorts in all).

It would be the final anime adaptation to be produced while Fujio Akatsuka was alive.

## Overview

Although the director changed from Hiroshi Sasagawa to Hayato Date (who had directed Naruto and Saiyuki), there would be reprisals of some *Heisei* staff, including the writer Yoshio Urasawa and character designer Yoshiyuki Kishi.

The series is notable for mostly being done in digital paint, although cel painting was still utilized on some occasions. To both adhere to and parody the stricter censorship mandated for the anime, the Police Officer with the Connected Eyes would now use a model gun instead of actual ammunition, and there would be scenes where characters speak to the audience "Don't try this at home" or "If you're eating, please finish your food as soon as possible". Violent and bizarre gags were also changed, to accommodate the censorship rules. One specific case involved the alteration of the punchline to the Ijikatanai skit; having the character die off-screen from gorging himself, rather than having Papa force him to be continuously eating and defecating a long strip of kelp tied from his tongue to anus.

Most of the voice cast was changed once more, but Eiko Masuyama was retained by special request of Akatsuka who asked that "only Mama's voice may not be changed". Shigeru Chiba continued to reprise his officer and Rerere roles from *Heisei*. The replacement of the rest of the *Heisei* actors and decision to cast anew had to do with the fact that Neruke Planning was involved in the casting of the production, while Kosei Tomita, Megumi Hayashibara, Chika Sakamoto, and Aruno Tahara belonged to the Japan Actors Union. The Japan Actors Union had been in a conflict with Neruke at the time and refused to let any of its talent be appointed, a practice that continued until the early 2000s. As a result, any performers that were hired were ones that did not belong to that union; many newer ones were also recent graduates of the Yoyogi Animation Academy's voice acting program.

In the case of Hisahiro Ogura, who was cast as Papa, he had gotten attention for being part of the Super Eccentric Theater troupe but this would receive criticism and accusations by viewers for the "stunt-casting" and their opinion that his performance as Papa was vastly inferior to that of Masashi Amenomori or Kosei Tomita. The president of Studio Pierrot, Yuji Nunokawa, would later note the controversy in his 2013 Pierrot memoir *Why Does Creamy Mami Transform with a Stick? The Secrets of the Studio that Produces Beloved Content*, acknowledging the critics that lambasted the decision but stating that he went through "trial and error" to make the best use of Ogura in the role of Papa.

Due to the seizure incident that occurred with *Pokemon* and the new rules for TV broadcasting, Unagi-Inu would appear before the episode titles and remind viewers to sit away from the TV screen when watching. A form of cross-promotion also occurred during the series' run, where Hisahiro Ogura's voice could be heard promoting it as airing after *Pokemon* (which at the time was airing as "Pokemon Encore" reruns due to the Porygon incident)*.*

### Relationship with other Akatsuka works

The Osomatsu-kun characters of Iyami and Chibita show up sporadically in episodes, sometimes with speaking parts, along with others like Dayōn, Dekapan, and Hatabō. However, none of the actors from Pierrot's *-kun* are retained for these cameos, perhaps in part due to the aforementioned case with Neruke Planning vs. the Japan Actors Union.

These are the times such character appearances can be seen in the show:

## Staff

* Original manga- Fujio Akatsuka
* Planning - Yuji Nunokawa (Studio Pierrot), Keisuke Iwata (TV TOKYO)
* Character design - Noriyuki Kubo, Yoshiyuki Kishi
* Producers- Yuji Nunokawa (Studio Pierrot), Keisuke Iwata (TV TOKYO), Kyotaro Kimura (Yomiko)
* Director- Hayato Date
* Screenplay- Yoshio Urasawa, Kazuhisa Sakaguchi, Daisuke Yajima, Akatsuki Yamatoya, Hiroshi Hashimoto, Hiro Masaki
* Music- Kaoru Wada
* Sound Director- Toshiki Kameyama
* Animation Production- Studio Pierrot
* Art Director- Yuji Ikeda
* Production - TV TOKYO, Yomiko Advertising, Studio Pierrot
* Broadcaster- TV TOKYO

### Voice Cast

* Bakabon's Papa- Hisahiro Ogura
* Bakabon- Yoshiko Kamei
* Bakabon's Mama- Eiko Masuyama
* Hajime- Yukiji (Akiko Suzuki)
* The Police Officer with the Connected Eyes, Rerere- Shigeru Chiba
* Unagi-Inu- Kozo Shioya

## Theme Song

### Opening theme

**"The Laughing Man"** (笑う人)

Lyrics, Composition- Hiroki Sakieda /Arrangement, Band- Booing Sheyner

The first opening song to appear in a Bakabon program that doesn't involve any character names or catchphrases. The lyrics are considerably different between the TV-size and album versions, as Hiroki Sakieda was requested to alter them to be more fitting for a Bakabon work. As a compromise, Booing Sheyner produced a TV-size version of the song with the different lyrics.

### Ending theme

**"So Good!"**

Lyrics- Yamato Sawamura/Composition- Satoshi Henmi/Arrangement- Norio Nonaka/Singers- Village Purple

## Episode List

Episodes 11 and 12 were broadcast together as a New Years celebration event, while 23 and 24 also were broadcast on the same day as a way to commemorate the show's finale.

1. 地球のウワサは宇宙規模なのだ/パパは正義の大ウソつきなのだ
2. 食べて死ねたら本望なのだ/トイレは火星行きなのだ
3. 知能指数は700円なのだ/愛は人を変えるのだ
4. ウナギイヌ、出生の秘密なのだ/すっぽんぽんのお見合いなのだ
5. 俳句の先生の弟子になるのだ/パパが社長になったのだ!
6. あそびにきたのだ 土の中/おサカナ泥棒、誰なのだ?
7. 交番のシンマイさんなのだ/ご先祖様の本官さんなのだ
8. 八ッつぁん熊さん お巡りさんなのだ/食べずにガマンの恩返しなのだ
9. 大きい舌はいいことなのだ/ゆかいソーカイ忘年会なのだ
10. おとぎの国の桃太郎なのだ/鬼退治の浦島太郎なのだ
11. 頭で空手で空頭なのだ/足りないお金の身代金なのだ
12. 物置いらずの人なのだ/ママの同級生の金持ちなのだ
13. ロボットのパパなのだ/飲んで太って復讐なのだ
14. 金はなくともスキー放題/鬼は外の腹話術なのだ
15. 動物合わせでノーベル賞/しょうじで習字で墨ません
16. 売れてるハジメのサーカスなのだ/マウスでハウスがチュー意報
17. パパがセビロを作るのだ/モク山さんの禁煙なのだ
18. ユカイカイカイ キキカイカイ/本官さんのリストラなのだ
19. パパは警官になったのだ/神のおつげのカタグルマなのだ
20. ゴミだらけは美しいのだ/頭を丸めて丸儲けなのだ
21. 掃除対決!! レレレとそうじ鬼!!/おくさんこわい エントツこわい
22. アチチな砂漠はカラカラなのだ/こイスる一途なイスなのだ
23. そうじき者は悪に勝つのだ/たたえよ鉄カブト
24. 必殺紅トカゲ団! 劇画大作戦!/やっぱりママが好きなのだ

## Overseas Broadcast and Adaptations

### Spain

*Main article: Cosas de Locos*

The series was licensed in 2005 by Jonu Media, and combined with *Osomatsu-kun* and *Heisei Genius Bakabon* as part of a package deal from Pierrot.

The resulting 156-episode **"Cosas de Locos"** ("Crazy Things") would air in Spain, dubbed in the Castilian dialect. Jonu would also produce regional variants; the Galician version **"Cousas de Tolos"** , the Basque **"Zoroak Zoro"**, and the Valencian **"Coses de Grillats".**

The overall humor of the series was often localized to better appeal to Spaniards, with celebrity references being changed to be more recognizable. Some characters also underwent name changes to either make puns off of their design, or to insert Spanish adult innuendo. Other than this, many characters' names stayed intact.

The dub initially used translated versions of the Rerere opening and ending themes, before switching to the themes used from Osomatsu-kun.

*Cosas de Locos* has since been released on four (now out of print) DVD box-sets, with both the Castilian Spanish and Japanese audio tracks available. Unfortunately, the *Cousas de Tolos, Zoroak Zoro,* and *Coses de Grillats* versions remain obscure without home video release.

## External Links

* Entry in Studio Pierrot's catalog (Japanese). English-translated version also available.