Baby and Me
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Baby and Me | |
|---|---|
| 赤ちゃんと僕 (Aka-chan to Boku) |
|
| Genre | Manga |
| Manga | |
| Authored by | Marimo Ragawa |
| Publisher |  Hakusensha |
| Serialized in | Hana to Yume |
| Original run | 1991 – 1997 |
| No. of volumes | 18 |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Takahiro Omori |
| Studio | Studio Pierrot |
| Network | TV Tokyo |
| Original run | 11 July 1996 – 26 March 1997 |
| No. of episodes | 35 |
Baby and Me (赤ちゃんと僕 Aka-chan to Boku?) is one of the representative manga cartoons of Marimo Ragawa. Baby and Me was published in Japan by Hakusensha, and was published in English by VIZ Media in the magazine Shojo Beat.
The detailed lifestyle of an elementary child is highly praised in many aspects. The feelings of people are observed very closely, and the realistic descriptions of Takuya's life are one of the praised points in Marimo Ragawa's comics. Not only the story's plots and details, but the stable, clean drawings of her comics is also one of the attractive points. Baby and Me was honored with the 40th Shogakukan Comic Award (第４０回小学館漫画賞) in 1995 and also, it was animated in 1996.
[edit] Story
Takuya Enoki (榎木拓也 Enoki Takuya) loses his mother, Yukako Enoki (榎木 由加子 Enoki Yukako) when she dies in a car accident. Takuya now lives with his father, Harumi Enoki (榎木春美 Enoki Harumi), and his baby brother, Minoru Enoki (榎木実 Enoki Minoru). Takuya's baby brother is only two years old and requires much care. Although Takuya is only a fifth grader, he cooks, cleans, sews, scolds, and does everything that is normally a mother's job. Between his housework and looking after his baby brother, Takuya begins to feel a helpless gap between his friends who have fun everyday after school. Neighbors blame him for Minoru's constant crying. His stress gradually builds up and bursts at a point. Because of a mistake Minoru made, Takuya reacts violently. He cannot help feeling upset over Minoru, who is stressing him and taking up all his time.
One day, when Takuya picks Minoru up from preschool, he starts to walk faster imagining what it would be like to leave his little brother behind him. But soon, Takuya realizes what he has done and runs back. He finds Minoru with his eyes full of tears and a brutal dog is blocking Minoru's way. Takuya dashes in full speed and saves his little brother. After coming home and seeing Minoru sobbing, Takuya realizes that Minoru cries because he is just lonely and becomes ashamed of himself. From then on, Takuya learns to love his little brother as family and his long life story of being a mother and a brother at once begins.
As time pass by, Takuya Enoki gradually adapts to his role in the family. Some of his friends in school like Akihiro Fujii (藤井昭広 Fuji'i Akihiro) and Tadashi Gotoh (後藤正 Gotō Tadashi), have little brothers and sisters that go to Minoru's preschool, and are Minoru's friends.
