Norakuro
| Norakuro | |
English version of a 1937 Norakuro strip as published in the sixth Kramer's Ergot comics anthology.
|
|
| のらくろ | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Suihō Tagawa |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| Magazine | Shōnen Kurabu |
| English magazine | |
| Original run | 1931 – 1981 |
| Anime film | |
| Private 2nd Class Nora-Kuro: Drill Chapter | |
| Directed by | Yasuji Murata |
| Written by | Chuzo Aochi Suihō Tagawa |
| Studio | Yokohama Cinema Company |
| Released | June 14, 1933 |
| Runtime | 1 film reel |
| Anime film | |
| Corporal Nora-Kuro | |
| Directed by | Yasuji Murata |
| Written by | Chuzo Aochi Suihō Tagawa |
| Music by | Ryozo Sugita |
| Studio | Yokohama Cinema Company |
| Released | March 9, 1934 |
| Runtime | 11 minutes |
| Anime film | |
| Private 1st Class Nora-Kuro | |
| Directed by | Mitsuyo Seo |
| Written by | Suihō Tagawa |
| Music by | Asahiko Ochiai |
| Studio | Seo Talkie Manga Labs |
| Released | 1935 |
| Runtime | 1 film reel |
| Anime film | |
| Private 2nd Class Nora-Kuro | |
| Directed by | Mitsuyo Seo |
| Written by | Suihō Tagawa |
| Music by | Asahiko Ochiai |
| Studio | Seo Talkie Manga Labs |
| Released | 1935 |
| Runtime | 2 film reels |
| Anime film | |
| Nora-Kuro's Tiger Hunt | |
| Directed by | Mitsuyo Seo |
| Written by | Suihō Tagawa |
| Studio | Geijutsu Eiga Sha |
| Released | 1938 |
| Runtime | 10 minutes |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Toru Murayama |
| Music by | Hidehiko Arashino |
| Studio | Eiken |
| Original network | Fuji TV |
| Original run | 5 October 1970 – 29 March 1971 |
| Episodes | 26 |
| Anime television series | |
| Norakuro-kun | |
| Directed by | Masami Anno |
| Studio | Pierrot |
| Original network | Fuji TV |
| Original run | 4 October 1987 – 2 October 1988 |
| Episodes | 50 |
Norakuro (のらくろ?) is a Japanese manga series created by Suihō Tagawa and published by Kodansha in Shōnen Kurabu. The titular protagonist, Norakuro, or Norakuro-kun, is an anthropomorphic black and white dog. The name Norakuro is an abbreviation of norainu (野良犬?, stray dog) and Kurokichi (黒吉?, the name of the dog, literally meaning "black lucky").
Norakuro strongly influenced Machiko Hasegawa, the author of Sazae-san, who apprenticed with its author Suihō Tagawa, as well as Fullmetal Alchemist author Hiromu Arakawa.
There is an excerpt that appears in the sixth Kramer's Ergot comics anthology which is the only example of Tagawa's work published in English.
In the original story, the central character Norakuro was a soldier serving in an army of dogs called the "fierce dogs regiment" (猛犬連隊 mōkenrentai?). The strip's publication began in Kodansha's Shōnen Kurabu in 1931, and was based on the Imperial Japanese Army of the time; the manga artist, Suihō Tagawa, had served in the Imperial Army from 1919 to 1922. Norakuro was gradually promoted from private to captain in the stories, which began as humorous episodes, but eventually developed into propaganda tales of military exploits against the "pigs army" on the "continent" - a thinly-veiled reference to the Second Sino-Japanese War.
...
Wikipedia