Furious Ataro (1990 anime)

Be Strong, Geomdong

There's a Ghost Around

**Furious Ataro** (もーれつア太郎, *Moretsu Ataro*) is the second, 1990 adaptation of Fujio Akatsuka's manga.

It was produced by Toei Animation and ran on TV Asahi from April 21 to December 22, 1990 for a total of 34 episodes.

## Overview

This new adaptation, directed by Junichi Sato, would feature an updated take on the story and concepts. The first 21 episodes were single full-length stories, while the remainder of the series would feature two stories an episode.

Dekoppachi, Nyarome, Kemunpas, and Beshi would be integrated into the show right from the first episode, and others would show up earlier as well. A new character named **Momoko** would be introduced, to serve as an added female character and crush of Ataro. She was visually modeled after Totoko, but depicted as shorter like Ataro and Dekoppachi. The octopus-faced couple of **Sudako** and **Chutaro** were also created as minor characters for the series.

Due to the rights of The Genius Bakabon and Osomatsu-kun being held by Studio Pierrot and Fuji TV while this anime was running, any cameos of their characters were removed or altered which included a replacement character being used for The Police Officer with the Connected Eyes. An episode with the Akko-chan's Got a Secret! characters of Kankichi and Moko also featured replacements, likely to let the series stand on its own (the *Akko* anime rights were also owned by Toei).

A tie-in manga ran in Kodansha's *Comic BomBom* and *TV Magazine* during this time, featuring shorter stories that were either based off the anime plots or were otherwise new. Momoko also appeared in a few, though bearing a design and personality more like that of Totoko. The manga would cease running a month after the end of this adaptation.

As an in-joke to this anime, Junichi Sato's following adaptation of Neko Nekobe's ***Goldfish Warning!*** included cameos of Ataro, Momoko, and Dekoppachi as background characters in an episode, while Batsugoro's design was re-used as a ghost in another.

## Staff

### Voice Cast

* Ataro- Tomoko Maruo
* Batsugoro- Sanji Hase
* Dekoppachi- Kyoko Tongu
* Nyarome- Akira Kamiya
* Kemunpas- Keiichi Nanba
* Beshi- Kozo Shioya
* Butamatsu- Yo Yoshimura
* Boss Kokoro- Joji Yanami
* Henchman A- Toshio Kobayashi
* Henchman B-Shinobu Satochi
* God- Isamu Tanonaka
* Disciple- Teiyū Ichiryūsai
* Kumagoro- Masaharo Sato
* Kumagoro's Wife- Noriko Uemura
* Momoko, Piyoko- Aya Hisakawa
* Fukuwarai Clinic Doctor, Police Officer- Kazumi Tanaka
* Matsuyo- Mika Kanai
* Additional Voices by- Megumi Urawa, Tetsuo Mizutori, Takuzo Kamiyama, Fushigi Yamada, Takeshi Aono, Hiroko Maruyama, Kumiko Nishihara, Ryo Horikawa, Yuka Ohno, Chie Sato, Naoki Tatsuta, Hiromi Tsuru, Chika Sakamoto, Masato Hirano, Tomie Kataoka, Masaya Onosaka, Daisuke Gouri, Koji Yada, Minami Takayama, Michitaka Kobayashi, Sanae Takagi, Michie Tomizawa

## Theme Song

### Opening theme

(がってん承知ノ介)

Lyrics- Nobara Yamaguchi/Composition, Arrangement- Gouji Tsuno/Singers- Shinsuke and the Bus Gas Explosion Orchestra

### Ending theme

**"Nyarome's ROCK"**
(ニャロメのROCK)

Lyrics- Kazunori Sonobe/Composition, Arrangement- Gouji Tsuno/Singers- Shinsuke and the Bus Gas Explosion Orchestra

## Episode List

1. 桜吹雪に舞う赤い風船だ、ニャロメ！
2. 少年よ恋をすべし！
3. 神様の八百屋でやんす
4. ボスのシッポはニャーガイぞ！
5. 義理と人情のデコッ八でやんす
6. お見合をぶっつぶせ、ニャロメ！
7. ココロの花はウーツクシイのココロ
8. それはヒミツ！ニャロメの誕生日だべし
9. 泣く子も笑う！ブタ松一家でやんす
10. 恋の花咲くジャズダンスだべし
11. ねてる間にポッカンのココロ
12. 犯人はあいつだニャロメ！
13. ココロのボスにラブレターでやんす
14. マイホームだ ニャロメ！
15. 禁じられたゲンコツだべし！
16. ブタ松！男涙の里帰りでやんす
17. 暑くて暑くてやつあたりニャロメ！
18. 王子と玉子どっちがえらいのココロ!?
19. べしはうまいかしょっぱいキャ？
20. 天高くニャロメ恋する秋だべし
21. ネズミをかったデコッ八のココロ
22. ふた子のデコッ八/ア太郎はおぼっちゃま
23. おしかけ母ちゃん/ひきょうな親分は許せない！
24. 借金とりを追いかえせ/ニャロメ涙の子守り歌
25. 黒いニャロメ現る！/決戦! 金持ちVSア太郎一家
26. 走れ友よ！ちかいのマラソン/恐怖の宝さがし
27. ア太郎一家最悪の日/ブタだって恋をしたい
28. カレー屋助っ人大作戦/ア太郎を遊ばせろ！
29. 人間は信じニャイ！/ロボット・ミーナの純愛
30. 10万円でおぼっちゃま追跡！/ニャロメとダイヤ
31. いたずらピヨコちゃん登場/べしの初恋物語
32. モモコのカレは誰だ!?/父ちゃんロボットになる
33. ナマケモノは食うべからず/思い出のゲンコツ
34. とびっきりXマス/男を咲かせ！ア太郎一座

## Overseas Broadcast and Adaptations

### Hong Kong (Cantonese)

A Cantonese dub aired on TVB in 1991, under the title of **There's a Ghost Around** (隔離左右有隻鬼). Character names were localized, and the opening was swapped out with a short instrumental featuring scenes from the show.

### South Korea

A Korean dub of this series appeared on JEI Talent TV in 2011, under the new title of **Be Strong, Geomdong** (굳세어라금동아). As with many other Korean dubs, it was entirely localized, with text being altered to be Hangul and the characters receiving new names; Ataro was the titular Geomdong.

The opening and ending themes were dubbed, but due to Toei not providing textless footage (or it no longer existing), Korean subs of the new lyrics are overlaid where the Japanese ones were.

#### Voice Cast

*Actor names listed in Western ordering*

* Geomdong (Ataro)- Ju-hee Lee
* Cheongil (Batsugoro)- Yeong-do Gi
* Imappak (Dekoppachi)- Hyun-seo Ahn
* Nyalong (Nyarome)- See-woong Yoon
* Boss (Boss Kokoro)- Seong-joon Bang
* Ttalgi (Momoko)- So-yeon Park
* God -Yoon-sang Kwak
* Larva (Kemunpas)- Sung-tae Park
* Frog (Beshi)- Byeong-jo Oh

## External Links

* Toei Animation USA licensing catalog, Ataro under "Comedy" (English)
* 1990 anime, Toei Animation official site (Japanese)