Obake no Q-tarō

Obake no Q-tarō
File:Obake.jpg Obake no Q-tarō on the cover of Bessatsu Shōnen Sunday
オバケのQ太郎 (Q-tarō, the ghost)
Genre	Comedy
Manga
Written by	Fujiko Fujio
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Sunday, Shōnen Book, CoroCoro Comic, Bessatsu Shōnen Sunday
Original run	1964 – 1973
Volumes	6
Manga
Shin Q-tarō
Written by	Fujiko Fujio
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	CoroCoro Comic
Volumes	4
Anime television series
Directed by	Masaaki Osumi
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Network	TBS
Original run	29 August 1965 – 28 June 1967
Episodes	96
Anime television series
Shin Obake no Q-tarō
Directed by	Tadao Nagahama
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Network	Nippon Television
Original run	1 September 1971 – 27 December 1972
Episodes	135
Anime television series
Shin Obake no Q-tarō
Studio	Shin-ei Animation
Network	TV Asahi
Original run	1 April 1985 – 29 March 1987
Episodes	510
Game
Chubby Cherub
Developer	TOSE
Publisher	Bandai
Genre	Action
Platform	Nintendo Entertainment System
Released	1985

Obake no Q-tarō (オバケのQ(キュー)太郎, Obake no Kyū-tarō), by Fujiko Fujio, is a Japanese manga about an obake, Qtarō (Sometimes also spelled as Q-tarō) who lives with the Ōhara family. Qtarō, also known as Q-chan or Oba-Q, is a mischief-maker who likes to fly around scaring people and stealing food, though he is deathly afraid of dogs.

The story is usually focused on the antics of Qtarō and his friends. The manga was drawn in 1964–1966 by Fujiko Fujio (Fujiko F. Fujio and Fujiko Fujio A) and in 1971–1974 by Fujiko F. Fujio.

There are three anime series of Qtaro. The first anime adaptation of Obake no Qtarō was shown on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) in black & white, and ran from 1965–1968. Machiko Soga was the voice of Qtarō. The series was especially popular preceding Doraemon. It also ran outside Japan, in Hong Kong under the name Q-tailong. The second series ran from 1971–1972 on Nihon TV, this time in color. The third series ran from 1985–1987 on TV Asahi. This adaptation is the only one of the three Obake no Q-taro anime to have a home video release.

Characters

• Q-tarō (Q太郎)

Voiced by: Machiko Soga (1965), Junko Hori (1971), Fusako Amachi (1985)

The protagonist of the manga, Q-tarō has a fear of dogs and cannot transform although he is an obake.

• Shōta Ōhara (大原 正太, Ōhara Shōta)

Voiced by: Kazue Tagami (1965), Yoshiko Ōta (1971), Katsue Miwa (1985)

A human friend of Q-tarō, Shōta Ōhara is a grade school boy. Q-tarō calls him "Shō-chan" (正ちゃん) and Shota calls Q-tarō "Q-chan" (Qちゃん).

• Shin'ichi Ōhara (大原 伸一, Ōhara Shin'ichi)

Voiced by: Masako Nozawa (1965), Sumiko Shirakawa (1971), Yū Mizushima (1985)

Shota's older brother.

• U-ko (U子)

Voiced by: Unknown (1965), Hiroko Maruyama (1971), Eiko Masuyama (1985)

U-ko, a judoka, is Q-tarō's girlfriend obake.

• Doronpa (ドロンパ)

Voiced by: Misae Kita (1965), Yoshiko Yamamoto (1971), Fuyumi Shiraishi (1985)

Doronpa is an American obake. Q-tarō tend to have a rivalry towards him due to the fact that U-ko idolizes Doronpa's intelligence and he likes to annoy Q-tarō.

• P-ko (P子)

Voiced by: Yōko Mizugaki (1965), Kazuko Sawada (1971), Yūko Mita (1985)

P-ko is Q-tarō's younger sister.

• O-jirō (O次郎)

Voiced by: Makoto Kōsaka→Reiko Katsura (1971), Keiko Yokozawa (1985)

O-jirō is Q-tarō's younger brother. Although he can understand others' speech, he can only say "bakeratta." Only Q-tarō understands what O-jirō says.

• X-zō (X蔵)

Father of Q-tarō, P-ko, and O-jirō.

• O-zetto (おZ)

Mother of Q-tarō, P-ko, and O-jirō.

• Tsuyoshi Saigō (西郷 強, Saigō Tsuyoshi)

Voiced by: Kaneta Kimotsuki (1965/1971), Hiroshi Takemura (1985)

Nickname: Godzilla. A bully in Shota's class and neighborhood.

• Hakase (ハカセ, "Professor")

Voiced by: Unknown (1965), Sumiko Shirakawa (1971), Kaneta Kimotsuki (1985), Naoki Tatsuta (1985, stand-in)

Shota's smart classmate.

• Kizao Kiza (木佐 キザオ, Kiza Kizao)

Voiced by: Unknown (1965), Kazuko Sawada (1971), Naoki Tatsuta (1985)

Shota's rich classmate who kisses up to Godzilla.

• Yoshiko Koizumi (小泉 美子, Koizumi Yoshiko)

Voiced by: Mariko Tsukai (1965), Michiko Nomura (1971), Sanae Miyuki (1985)

Shota's female classmate, always referred to as "Yotchan" (よっちゃん).

Reception and impact

Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani cites the series as inspiration for the character design in the Pac-Man video game series.

External links

• 60s Obake no Q-tarō (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• 70s Obake no Q-tarō (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• 80s Obake no Q-tarō (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia