We are Manga-ka: The Tokiwa-so Story

**We are Manga-ka: The Tokiwa-so Story** (ぼくらマンガ家 トキワ荘物語 *Bokura Manga-ka Tokiwa-so Monogatari*) is an animated TV special broadcast as part of Fuji TV's Nissei Family Special, airing on October 3, 1981.

## Overview

The special loosely adapts the memoirs surrounding the Tokiwa-so apartment complex and the famous manga-ka who lived there for a time, in particular the paths that Shotaro Ishinomori, Fujio Akatsuka, and the Fujiko Fujio duo (Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko) took on their way to fame.

However, while other manga-ka may play more of a role in the plot or have dialogue, there are others who only show up as brief or silent cameos and other Tokiwa-so residents (Joji Yamauchi) who do not appear, due to the plot only covering up to the late 1950s.

There was direct involvement from some of the authors themselves in this special; Shinichi Suzuki directed it, while Shotaro Ishinomori was responsible for the character designs. The veteran screenwriter Masaki Tsuji had also had previous involvement with the anime adaptations of some of the authors' works as well.

Various characters from different works by each author may also pop up in the special, either within the context of them being fictional works or them seen in cameos as residents of the neighborhood.

## People depicted in the special

* Shotaro Ishinomori
* Fujiko F Fujio (Hiroshi Fujimoto)
* Fujiko Fujio A (Motoo Abiko)
* Fujio Akatsuka
* Hiroo Terada
* Naoya Moriyasu (non-speaking role)
* Shinichi Suzuki
* Tokuo Yokota (non-speaking role)
* Kunio Nagatani
* Jiro Tsunoda
* Shunji Sonoyama
* Hideko Mizuno
* Takao Yokoyama

An editor for Manga King (voiced by Hiroshi Otake) and Ishinomori's older sister Yoshie are also seen as characters in the plot, along with Ishinomori's father depicted destroying his son's manga at the start.

## Characters

### Those belonging to works of Shotaro Ishinomori

#### Cyborg 009

* Cyborg 001 (seen pushed in a stroller by Bon Bon)- *speaking role*
* Cyborg 003 (on Ishinomori's manuscript, and later a movie poster)
* Cyborg 009 (on Ishinomori's manuscript, and seen at the end fighting against Skull)- *speaking role*
* Cyborg 005 (sketch on manuscript)
* Cyborg 006 (as a ramen stand owner)- *speaking role*
* Skull (seen at the end fighting 009)- *speaking role*

#### Sabu and Ichi's Detective Tales

* Sabu (throws a rope to try to save Chobin from falling)- *speaking role*
* Ichi (slashes a manuscript paper in two, to unveil Chobin)- *speaking role*

#### Others

* Bon Bon (pushing 001 in stroller)
* Teresuke, aka "Tere-chan" (*TV Kid*, walking by Tokiwa-so to deliver newspapers)
* Saburo Kazeta (*Mutant Sabu*, seen on a manuscript)
* Etsuko Sarutobi (*Sarutobi Ecchan*, at library pranking Esper Mami by levitating her book back up)- *speaking role*
* Kamen Rider (seen performing his "Rider Kick" at end)- *speaking role*
* Chobin (*Star Child Chobin*, at end)- *speaking role*

### Those belonging to works of Fujio Akatsuka

#### Nama-chan

* Nama (seen on an early manuscript Akatsuka is illustrating, and then towards the end as his published series)
* Kantaro (seen on the first manuscript with Nama)

#### Osomatsu-kun

* The Sextuplets (seen playing a game of battledore outside Tokiwa-so in the winter)- *speaking roles*
* Dekapan (rejoicing over the season changing to summer, and seen dancing in Akatsuka's imagination. Later seen in the oden sequence and final ending shots)- *speaking role*
* Totoko (cleaning the streets in summer)
* Chibita (dancing in Akatsuka's imagination, and chasing after Hatabo at the end)
* Dayon (as a mailman)- *speaking role*
* Hatabo (seen running with oden)- *speaking role*
* Iyami (seen stealing Hatabo's oden)- *speaking role*

#### The Genius Bakabon

* The Police Officer with the Connected Eyes (directs Ishinomori and Akatsuka to Tokiwa-so, and later seen trying not to laugh from an editor's contagious amusement)- *speaking role*
* Unagi-Inu (in the winter, and in summer. Also seen running among the group of Akatsuka characters wanting oden)- *speaking role*
* Bakabon (playing with fireworks outside, later seen in the oden scuffle)- *speaking role*
* Hajime (playing fireworks with his brother)- *speaking role*
* Bakabon's Papa (as a customer at the ramen stand, and involved in the oden sequence)- *speaking role*
* Rerere (asks the other Akatsuka characters "Are you going out?")- *speaking role*

#### Extraordinary Ataro

* Boss Kokoro (being escorted drunk down the street, later bumped into by Nyarome during the fight for oden)- *speaking role*
* Kopun A (escorting Kokoro down the street, and later on TV)- *speaking role*
* Kemunpas (in the winter, and in summer season passage sequences)- *speaking role*
* Beshi (in season passage sequences, and dancing in Akatsuka's imagination. Pops out of his manuscript towards the end to encourage him)- *speaking role*
* Nyarome (gets into Akatsuka's spilled ink and makes a mess, later steals a stick of oden from Iyami)- *speaking role*

#### Let's La Gon

* Chawanmushi (seen as a scene transition gag, between Akatsuka's nightmare and him being sick)
* Beramatcha (dancing in Akatsuka's imagination, and as a customer at a bar)
* Maseri (seen as a scene-changing transition)

#### Others

* Noriko and Michiko (*White Angel*, seen in Akatsuka's hallucinations as they float off of a manuscript)
* Atsuko Kagami (*Akko-chan's Got a Secret!*, seen among shojo manga heroines haunting Akatsuka, and then shown taking care of him while sick)

### Those belonging to works of Fujiko F Fujio

#### Doraemon

* Doraemon (seen flying and landing on the Tokiwa-so sign, and later scared by a mouse in the apartment. F crumples up a drawing of him in the climax, which is saved by Q-taro, and he then flies with the other Fujiko Fujio characters)- *speaking role*
* Nobita Nobi (seen at a library, in Tsunoda's imagination)
* Shizuka Minamoto (seen at the library with Nobita)
* Takeshi "Gian" Goda (in an adult form, as the library clerk)

#### Q-taro the Ghost

* Q-taro (F's face morphs into him when stabbed with a fountain pen, but the ghost is then seen observing F crumple a paper at the end. He then flies off with other Fujiko Fujio creations)- *speaking role*
* Doronpa (emerges and searches Doraemon's pocket for a telescope, so they can watch what A is up to)
* O-jiro (among all the characters and creators at the end)

#### Perman

* Perman 2 (scared by Kaibutsu-kun in ending sequence)- *speaking role*
* Perman 1 (saves a falling Kaibutsu-kun, and the two shake hands)- *speaking role*
* Perman 3 (ending shot with all the creators and their various characters)

#### Others

* Mami Sakura (*Esper Mami*, seen at the library attempting to get a book down with her psychic powers)

### Those belonging to works of Fujiko Fujio A

#### Kaibutsu-kun

* Franken (A's face morphs into him when stabbed with a fountain pen, then Kaibutsu-kun morphs his own face into his)- *speaking role*
* Taro (another form that A's face takes, but Taro himself is later shown emerging from A's manuscript at the end)- *speaking role*
* Werewolf (as a customer at the ramen stand)
* Dracula (seen flying amongst other characters of F and A, in the ending)

#### Others

* Kanzo Hattori (*Ninja Hattori-kun*, emerges from A's shadow. Last seen in the ending group shot of creators and characters)

### Those belonging to works of Shinichi Suzuki

* Robin (*Rainbow Sentai Robin,* greets the Fujiko Fujio duo before Suzuki enters)- *speaking role* \*technically a shared character with Ishinomori and other Studio Zero members, as Ishinomori designed the cast\*

### Those belonging to works of Hideko Mizuno

* Honey Honey (*Honey Honey's Great Adventure*, seen leaving a store)
* Aaron Browning and bandmates (*Fire!*, seen laughing at Mizuno in a quick sight gag)

### Those belonging to works of Jiro Tsunoda

#### Black Group

* Osamu Kato (in ending shot amongst Tsunoda's characters)
* Taro (with Kato in ending shot)
* Jiro (with the other two in the same shot)

#### Pyunpyunmaru

* Pyunpyunmaru (seen watching Tsunoda ride his scooter, later shown with other characters in the end)
* Chibimaru (in ending shot of characters and creators)
* Kemeko (with Pyunpyunmaru and watching Tsunoda)
* Sayuri (in ending shot of characters with their creators)

### Those belonging to works of Shunji Sonoyama

* Gonbe (*Ganbare Gonbe*, shown laughing in a cutaway gag after Sonoyama is introduced to the rest of the authors)- *speaking role*
* Mammoths (*First Human Giatrus*, seen walking in the desert background in the same shot as Gonbe)

## Staff

* Producers- Toshio Katsuta, Kazu Adachi
* Screenplay- Masaki Tsuji
* Director- Shinichi Suzuki
* Supervision- Kazuo Koike
* Production- Kazumi Fukushima
* Animation Director- Takao Kozai
* Character Design- Shotaro Ishinomori
* Music- Nozomi Aoki
* Cooperation by- Fujio Akatsuka, Shotaro Ishinomori, Shunji Sonoyama, Jiro Tsunoda, Osamu Tezuka, Hiroo Terada, Kunio Nagatani, Fujiko Fujio, Hideko Mizuno
* Animation Production- Toei

### Voice Cast

* Shotaro Ishinomori- Kei Tomiyama
* Fujiko F Fujio- Hideyuki Tanaka
* Fujiko Fujio A, Sabu- Makio Inoue
* Fujio Akatsuka, Cyborg 009- Katsuji Mori
* Hiroo Terada, Cyborg 006, Bakabon's Papa- Sanji Hase
* Shinichi Suzuki, Robin- Yoku Shioya
* Kunio Nagatani- Toru Furuya
* Jiro Tsunoda- Kaneto Shiozawa
* Hideko Mizuno, Cyborg 001, Ecchan, Hajime, Hatabo, Chobin, The Sextuplets- Kazuko Sugiyama
* Shunji Sonoyama- Koji Yada
* Yoshie Onodera- Yoko Asagami
* Landlord's Wife, Doraemon, Bakabon, The Sextuplets- Keiko Yamamoto
* Landlord, Rerere- Ichiro Nagai
* Editor, Takao Yokoyama, Nyarome, Dayon - Hiroshi Otake
* Narrator, Boss Kokoro- Joji Yanami

The characters representing each creator's works were left uncredited, but were doubled by the actors present in the special.

## Home Video Releases

To date, this special has only been released as part of the Shotaro Ishinomori 70th Anniversary DVD-BOX by Toei Video on July 2, 2008.

## Trivia

* Due to the involvement of Toei in producing this special, a number of characters that were previously animated by the company have the color schemes or adapted designs from the TV series and movies Toei had put out: An Akatsuka character like Akko-chan is depicted in her 1969 Toei anime design, while some characters from *Ataro* have the color schemes that that were used in Toei's adaptation. When it comes to the characters created by Ishinomori, the *Cyborg 009* cast utilize the designs of the recent "Cyborg 009: The Legend of the Super Galaxy" film while Etsuko Sarutobi is in her recognizable pink-and-red color scheme from her own Toei adaptation. Most unusual would be the color scheme of the original Kamen Rider, who does not bear his correct coloration but instead is seemingly given the palette of Kamen Rider Amazon.
* Promotional images for the special depict a few scenes that do not appear anywhere in it and that were likely made to demonstrate its concept; One is of Fujio Akatsuka with Papa and Nyarome, and the other has Shotaro Ishinomori about to race against 009.

## External Links

* Video of the special by YouTuber user Smith John (not to be used as a substitute for an official hi-res rip, but a sampling. Japanese language only)