Haré+Guu

Haré+Guu
ジャングルはいつもハレのちグゥ
(Janguru wa Itsumo Hare nochi Gū)
Genre Comedy, Parody
Manga
Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu
Written by Renjuro Kindaichi
Published by Enix→Square Enix
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan
Original run March 1997 – December 2002
Volumes 10
TV anime
Directed by Tsutomu Mizushima
Studio Shin-Ei Animation
Licensed by AN Entertainment & Bang Zoom! Entertainment(Producer)
FUNimation Entertainment
(Licensor)
Network TV Tokyo
English network FUNimation Channel
Original run 3 April 2001 – 25 September 2001
Episodes 26
Original video animation
Haré+Guu DELUXE
Directed by Tsutomu Mizushima
Studio Shin-Ei Animation
Licensed by AN Entertainment & Bang Zoom! Entertainment(Producer)
FUNimation Entertainment
(Licensor)
Released August 2002 – January 2003
Episodes 6
Original video animation
Haré+Guu FINAL
Directed by Tsutomu Mizushima
Studio Shin-Ei Animation
Released December 2003 – June 2004
Episodes 7
Manga
Hareguu
Written by Renjuro Kindaichi
Published by Square-Enix
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan
Original run January 2003 – September 12, 2009
Volumes 10
Anime and Manga Portal

Haré+Guu (ジャングルはいつもハレのちグゥ Janguru wa Itsumo Hare nochi Gū?, lit. The Jungle Was Always Nice, Then Came Guu) is a Japanese anime, based on an original manga which ran in Monthly Shōnen Gangan Twenty-six TV episodes were made, followed by two OVA sequels: Haré+Guu DELUXE and Haré+Guu FINAL.

The surreal, comical and occasionally serious series focuses on the story of a 10 year-old jungle boy named Haré and his misadventures with Guu, a liminal being who usually presents herself as a young girl. The jungle where Haré lives is somewhere in Malaysia according to VOL.8 of Hareguu.

Contents

Characters

Many characters in the series have names relating to weather (including, most obviously 'We-da'). The show's title has a double meaning, sounding like a weather forecast (Mostly fair skies, but then Guu) and a normal title (The Jungle was Nice, then came Guu). Many fans avoid translating the title, some simply referring to it as Hare Nochi Guu or (as the show does) HareGuu. Some fans of the show simply just refer to the show as Guu, being that Guu is a unique character.

The usually patient and sweet-natured Haré (whose name means 'fair weather') is usually troubled by Guu's joy in creating chaos and he is prone to anxious rants or tantrums whenever Guu does something unnatural. This is accompanied by a sudden downpour of rain. Haré is used by his mother, Weda, to do household chores and he is teased by Guu for having an Oedipus complex, exhibited in his competitive nature trying to keep Dr. Clive away from Weda. He gets worried about any other male character trying to win over Weda, such as Asio, coming to a boil in an episode where he throws himself into a competition over rights to her for a year, with Dr. Clive, Mari, and Uigher. Haré tends to think about things too much, and Guu takes advantage of that by psychoanalyzing Haré at every opportunity, and playfully taking advantage of Haré's neurosis. Hare is also seen reading the Hare+Guu manga. At the end of the manga, six years after Guu suddenly disappeared, Hare has become a teacher at the village school and marries Marie, who gives birth to his daughter. Upon seeing his face, the child gives him Guu's trademark smirk, which comically alarms Hare and prompts him to name her "Guu". In the omake, it appears the baby also has Guu's snarky attitude and generally demeaning behavior towards Hare, and she likes to act spoiled to annoy Hare.
Guu's stomach is a world filled with buildings, hundred legged cats, and a nice young couple of lovers that have been trapped there for ages (but apparently don't mind their predicament). Other than Haré, no character seems to be aware of Guu's strange nature (or for that matter the bizarre circumstances surrounding everything else in the series). The weird events that occur because of her are only ever acknowledged by Haré. Everyone who is eaten by Guu, only to be spat out later (excluding Haré) dismisses what happened as "sleeping" (occasionally, dreaming about Guu's Stomach world). Haré even dismisses his first time in Guu's Stomach but is quickly proved wrong. There are other strange things Guu can do, which defy the laws of physics, logic, and reality, such as (but not limited to) superhuman strength, elongate her body parts, breathe underwater, teleport, time travel, cause people to switch bodies, read minds, cause disco music to play suddenly, switch her face (from a cute face to a completely plain face), transform into a giant kaiju monster version of herself, and incite mental breakdowns in Haré, though the latter is more of a talent than an actual power. She apparently has more than one stomach and cares enough about the people and creatures she swallows to keep dangerous things away from the area she keeps her 'guests'. Despite all this, Guu actually cares for some of Hare's personal problems, and often gives him advice with profound sayings- a lot of her powers are used to make Hare learn a lesson. At the end of the manga, Guu leads Hare to her birthplace in a dream (and refuses to let him go further, saying it would be an one-way trip for him), and it's strongly implied that Guu's birthplace is somewhere between life and death, and that she's some kind of physical god. Guu disappears the next morning, releasing the people in her stomach (who turn up in a TV shows about missing people suddenly reappear) and erasing everybody's memories of her, except Hare's. Six years later, Hare spots Guu's smirk on his newborn daughter's face, and realizes she might be a reincarnation of Guu.
A resident living inside Guu who is separate from Guu and can take over whenever she feels like it, she's a grown-up version of Guu and is very beautiful. Fortunately for Guu and the rest of the residents inside her stomach, she cares about them and their wants and desires, going so far as to steal Ame from Hare. She's also the one responsible for ripping off the village elder's chest hair, making him permanently traumatized of Guu. She also appeared one time to act as the school doctor after Clive tried unsuccessfully to give Guu a physical, causing Guu to tie-up Clive. Big Guu becomes a frequent visitor to the outside world when they are all in the city.
Weda is Haré's mother. She is carefree and inclined to binge drinking. Because of her laziness, Haré looks after her and does most of the "housewifely" things. She left life in a rich home at the age of 14 when her father disowned her for becoming pregnant and refusing to divulge the father's name (out of fear that her father would destroy Clive's life). She raised Hare in the jungle by herself which, due to her chronic irresponsibility, is quite difficult to fathom. She may have survived on the fact that she's a brilliant hunter, second only to the Elder.
Despite her flakiness, Weda does love her son very much and sometimes tries to give him advice and cook lunches for him; unfortunately she is a terrible cook and usually injures herself badly when she tries to cook anything but shrimp au gratin. She is extremely maternal despite her sometime immaturity, since she enjoys mothering Marie and Guu, is delighted to discover her second pregnancy, and tells Hare that if he vanished she would follow him anywhere.
Weda's relationship with Dr. Clive is an odd one, since she seems to be very fond of him and bears him no ill will, but inexplicably seems to regard any romantic overtures as jokes. She seems to be unaware that Asio and Uighur are in love with her, and she regards the Stupid Couple with contempt and irritation. In the OAVs, she becomes pregnant with her second baby with Clive, and later marries Clive. After the marriage, she appears much less tolerant of Clive's skirt-chasing.
Hare's baby brother. Born in the OVA, Haré+Guu Deluxe, but has barely any significance in the story. His name comes from "Megumi no Ame" (Rain of Blessing), When Haré goes back in time, and met up with the past Weda, he claimed that his name was Ame rather than Haré, and when he got back in the present, Weda remembered the boy from the past while naming her 2nd child.
A student of the school that Haré and Guu attend and Reiji-sensei's younger sister. Mari is friendly towards Haré (Later turning into a crush), and imagines herself as a tragic, shōjo manga-esque character. She really loves Weda because she never had the chance to have a mother, and pictures Dr. Clive (father figure) as a part of her family as well. She gets extremely jealous of Hare whenever he goes to the city, always imagining Hare hooking up with various women. Her love for Hare has become very aggressive. At the end of the series, she marries Hare.
The doctor of the school, Clive is apathetic towards everyone in the jungle, unless they happen to be female. He came in from the city shortly after the series began, and had a 'relationship' with Weda while she was 14 years old, which, as Weda admits, resulted in Haré's birth. The anime and manga state that Dr. Clive is Haré's biological father but despite this, he engages in violent arguments with Haré (most of the time the center of it being Weda). Highly perverted, he uses every opportunity to "reignite his old relationship" with Weda, which usually end in failures until he chases after Weda when she leaves for the city. Later she becomes pregnant with their second child, prompting the doctor to propose marriage at last. He has white hair when the series begins, but eventually Hare dyes it black so Dama will stop stalking him. In the anime it is shown that Dr. Clive was an abused child, with a highly perverted mom that hated him, which may explain his promiscuity and his antipathy towards young boys. He is fond of Marie in a paternal manner, even wearing clothes she makes for him and telling her that her food is delicious. His body language and high-strung nature (as well as his awareness of Guu's weirdness) are very similar to Hare's.
Reiji is the teacher of the students of the school and Marie's older brother. He's taken care of Marie since she was a child after their parents passed away, and once was very close to Weda when she first came to the Jungle with a newborn Hare. However, he was soon put off by her after taking care of her when she was drunk. He likes to stay up all night watching anime, so he falls asleep during the day. The school does not have many students so they all are in Reiji's class. Unfortunately Reiji would much rather rest than teach. In fact, the only "lesson" he seems to want to teach is "mid-morningsiestas." Later in the manga, Rebecca is captured by her pokute family and Lazy rescues her, convincing the pokutes that Lazy is the right love for her, despite his trying to convince them otherwise, and in a sudden twist, becomes the pokute's leader (a position usually reserved for pokutes only).
Chourou is an old man with a lot of chest hair, which he feels is a sign of his strength and manliness. Adult Guu steals it and this is used as a plot device. (As a result of this he has taken to calling her "Lord Guu" and keeping a safe distance.) As the village elder, he leads the pokute (recurring and common creatures in the jungle) hunts, and has dozens of recipes in which pokutes are used. He falls in love with a cat that looks almost like him which he ends up giving to Hare (much to Hare's chagrin) and even disappears for a while when his chest hair growth goes out of control. By the ends, he's merely a furball with a head. His chest hair later becomes a warp zone between his hair and a fuzball in a closet in the city, in which Hare uses.
Toposte is the grandchild of Chourou and like him, does not wear a shirt. He initially does not have chest hair like his grandfather, though he fears it is genetic. He attends at the school. When he does ends up growing chest hair, he accepts it happily after learning that the chest hair is how Chourou got girls attracted to him back when he was young. In the city, he is mind controlled by his chest hair and takes over his new class, becoming an idol because of his chest hair. But he is saved by Hare and Guu when the chest hair is removed. When everyone returns to the jungle he is still being sought out by Yumi-sensei, but he eventually returns her feelings.
Weda's drinking friend who was raised by pokutes that take care of her, even after she started living in the village. They have been revealed as the source of her "magically cleaning" house (of which she has no knowledge). She is used as a female stock character, filling out various roles as Weda's friend. Later, her pokute family tries to take her away, but because of Hare, Guu, and Lazy, she is saved.
One of the older students, the lack of influence he has on the storyline is occasionally used as a gag. He is madly in love with Weda, but never gets to prove his love, usually resulting in a comedic attempt to hang himself. Even after Weda gets married to Clive, he still fantasizes and pursues Weda. After they all decide to return from the jungle, he ends up staying in the city and six years later, became an assistant professor at the university.
Another upperclassman in the school, he is fairly impulsive but not particularly mature. Starts off with long blonde hair, gets it cut short and blackened when Dama first appears, then it grows back out to a brown color later. In the manga, it frequently shown that he is in love with Ravenna. In the manga, Guu swaps everyone's genders to teach Hare a lesson and later turns everyone back to normal, but makes no change to Gupta's gender, making everyone (except Hare) believe that Gupta is a girl since birth. He spends the rest of the series genderswapped and continues to pursue his interest in Lavenna (who has become a boy), and their relationship works out so much better that Hare is convinced he would rather let them stay that way. At the end of the series, when Guu disappears, he gets his original gender back, and becomes a teacher in the village school six years later.
An obnoxious student who always laughs when he talks, and tries to encourage Guu to do the same, to questionable results. He is sometimes found weeping in the forest for unknown reasons. Some theorize it is because his father beats him. At the end of the series, he finds work in the city.
The oldest female student in the school. She is a bit air-headed and unsure of herself. Completely lost in her own world as she fails to pay attention or care about events going on around her when she runs errands for her mom. She is in a relationship with Gupta, but when he went to the city and Guu made him a woman, it is still unsure whether or not Guu made her a man so the relationship stays the same. At the end of the series, she becomes a nurse.
Creatures abundant in the jungle, often seen in people's houses. They look like armless rabbits with human faces. Pokute were supposedly sent from the heavens as protectors, although the villagers use them as a food source. No matter where they go in the world, the cast will always find pokute.
One of three people living inside Guu's stomach world. A kind and friendly office lady, she does not seem to mind living inside of Guu. Seiichi and her are good friends and are even possibly a couple. She takes care of Haré's pet bird Hee after Guu eats him.
One of three people living inside Guu's stomach world. Like Tomoyo, he is a friendly high school boy who doesn't seem to mind living inside of Guu. He is good friends with Tomoyo and is even possibly her boyfriend.
One of three people living inside Guu's stomach world who first appears in episode 8 of the TV series. She is a 22 year old who attempted suicide by throwing herself into the ocean and was rescued by Guu, who swallowed her while fishing (and while bringing in a massive haul of various sea life, she technically didn't catch any fish). Unlike Seiichi and Tomoyo, Hiroko is mentally unstable and bipolar, making her dangerous and unpredictable. In fact, she tried to kill herself in an elaborate plot to take revenge on her cheating husband by dying, going through hell, and coming back as an evil spirit to haunt him for the rest of his life. She now spends most of her time in Guu's stomach world drinking alone on a hill, where most of the other inhabitants have now learned to avoid. Became fast-friends with Yumi-sensei when Guu had swallowed Yumi for a short time.
A servant at Weda's parent's estate, he has very scary eyes (though it wasn't always the case, was stated to have beautiful eyes when he was younger). Loves Weda, but she thinks of him as a brother. He is often the one who goes to pick up Weda after nights where she had been drinking specifically heavily (revealed to be quite frequent due to Weda's habits). Often coming up with ideas that seem not to be possible, Haré is put off by him from their first meeting.
Another servant, she is prone to gigantic nosebleeds when thinking of Weda as a child (this implies she has a perverted obsession with Weda). She and Asio have often been used to fill in the story of Weda's past. Though Weda is quite happy the two of them returned, their odd tendencies often frighten Haré, who is quite easily unbalanced by their (and Guu's) acts that seem to defy the laws of physics. Hates Clive with a passion. In the manga, Bell is a heterosexual drag queen. His clothes are chosen to draw attention away from his height, broad shoulders, & flat chest. When Weda was younger, he had shorter hair & dressed like a normal man.
A reticent boy. Along with Rāya, he seems to be part of a running gag in the series as both of them never talk, or are always interrupted when they are about to. (Like having a video interview with everyone, where when their turn came the camera switched to the next person immediately when they open their mouths.)
A reticent girl. Along with Sagin, she seems to be part of a running gag in the series as both of them never talk, or are always interrupted when they are about to. (Like when Haré asks for an answer from everyone, and the camera pans over everyone, skipping past Sagin and Rāya when he looked at them.) She only speaks two phrases in the entire course of the anime series and OVAs- "The Crotch" and "Briefs".
Weda's trigger-happy bodyguard after she, Hare, and Guu go to the city. After graduating high school, he arrived in the city and was beat up one night, and was later found by Bel. It's because of her that he got his job. At first he doesn't get along well with Weda, saying that she wasn't worthy of Bel's love, but that changes after they foil a bank robbery. He may or may not have feelings for Bel (as episode 23 implies). In addition to being trigger-happy, he is a paranoid lunatic and once tried to kill a boy who bullied Hare causing him to ironically protect his own abuser from Robert. After Guu switched everyone's genders, it took her a while to change him back.
A substitute teacher that took over for Lazy while he was sick. Ironic since she absolutely hates children, and has never had a boyfriend. Extremely short fuse. She exhibited a 1-way attraction to Hare after Hare was so nice and understanding towards her plight, and eventually breaks it off in the end to be with Toposte. In the end, her and Toposte end up becoming a couple.
Hairdresser from a close by village that became obsessed with her long-lost white-haired husband, and unfortunately she mistakes Dr. Clive for her dead husband and even spins an elaborate fantasy life explaining why he doesn't know her. After spending most of the series stalking Clive, she is eventually told to live for new love, and starts training her body to be in top shape. Meets, fights, and marries the bank robber, only to get seduced by an assassin later. After realizing she was only being used by the assassin, she resumes her happily married life with the bank robber. She is found by Hare in Guu's stomach on their most recent trip to the city. Dama's sister is Tama, whom she used to get along with but now they fight. The two merged once while fighting and Hare and Guu had to stop her. She was able to separate from the merged self and stop her sister. They now get along once again and work as a pair of singer and pianist at the bar her husband runs. Dama has a habit of acting and thinking (her thoughts are often narrated to Hare, as a common break-the-4th-wall comedy trick) very girlishly (usually seductively), which is strongly inappropriate for her old age and often exasperates Hare.
Dama's twin sister who looks exactly like Dama but with white skin. The two were best friends as children but as they grew, Dama became more popular, especially with their teacher as the two were teenagers. Tama and Dama were eaten by Guu and spent some time within her stomach in the RPG simulated world she created. In one story in the manga, the two sisters meet up, argue, and merge into a giant Dama/Tama monster that fights Hare, Guu, and Hare and Guu from a short time in the future. She plays piano as her sister sings in the bar. Like her sister, Tama also exhibits very inappropriately (to Hare, sickeningly) girlish behaviors (and it's shown she thinks like one, as well), and harbors feelings for her brother-in-law, although her feelings is resolved after a talk with her sister. Hare eventually finds himself unable to stand their presences, and soon quits his part-time job at their bar.
Complete video game nerd who gets along with Hare due to their mutual love of video games. They'd be friends if he wasn't constantly taking Hare as a hostage. Eventually marries Dama after being bested by her in battle. He now runs a bar in the jungle.
A self-centered girl around Hare's age that attends school in the city, who only cares about herself, and pleases others to not make enemies so she can get ahead in life. Hare ends up becoming her first true friend. She seems to eventually grow a serious love for Hare.
Dubbed the "stupid couple" by the village, they're a couple that have been madly in love with each other for the past few years. Chet claims to have come from England on a research trip, only to stay in the jungle when he laid eyes on Addie. A running joke later in the series is that whenever Chet and Addie are together on screen, they're usually doing something that needs to be blurred out. While Hare and friends are in the city, Guu sometimes pulls the couple out of nowhere when they are needed. It is unsure whether or not this is because she currently holds them in her stomach. The true story behind them is that Chet, ever since he was a child, wanted to go to the jungle. He got good grades in school and excelled all for the sake of being able to go there. When he got there, he was given a guide so he could find his way around. The guide was Addie. After touring around for a bit, she got very mad at him for hitting on her so much and she yelled at him and said she doesn't like him that way. But later, to be nice, Chet goes to find his way in the jungle without help, where he gets sick and lost. Addie goes to find him and does, where seeing how far he would go for her happiness, she returned his feelings.
A student that went to school with Haré and Guu in the city. He is secretly in love with Rita and usually beats up Hare for being so close to her. At first he is fat but when the group returns to the city later he lost a lot of weight. By the time Hare and everyone leaves the city, he has accepted Rita and Hare's "love."
Weda's older brother whom she believes to have sent hitmen to kill her in order to take her out of the family will. Later, it's revealed that the hitmen were sent by Bartholomew's son Alva, who was upset with his grandfather's will that left Weda a big portion of the family fortune, while Bartholomew is shown to be as loving as Weda remembers him, and is actually happy that his father has forgiven Weda and written her into the family's will.
Weda's older sister whom Weda believes to conspire with Bartholomew to send hitmen after her and Hare. The hitmen, however, were actually sent by Donna's nephew Alva, while Donna herself is happy with Weda's return to the family.
A very large, musculer bald man who everyone met on an island when their plane crashed on their way to the city. His name is meant to be very ironic. He first protected the gang when they were trapped on the island but he sometimes appears in the city when Guu pulls him out of nowhere. He and Robert have become rivals but later became friends. QP has a wife named Sera, with whom he has two daughters. He has five younger brothers and sisters: Sam, Simon, Sandora, and Sean, Samuel. They all look too alike that annoys Haré. He is currently a woman because of Guu and he/she works as a maid for Hare's grandmother's mansion. He's likely changed back after Guu disappears.
A black haired man who shows no emotion. He is actually a human form of a cockroach, changed into human form by Guu to get Hare to stop being afraid of bugs.
The sister of the black haired man. Neither show any emotion or compassion for anything, except for their home.
The family's pilot, who was bribed by Alva to crash Weda's plane and kill everyone. However, due to Alex's absent-mindedness, he forgets to plan his own escape route from said crashed plane, and has to befriends the Jungle clients to work their way to the main family (it's hinted that Alex earns his share by acting in gay porn movies). He is very childish and is never serious. He is sometimes referred to as a yankee because of the way he stands. Despite his carefree attitude, Alex is an unfortunate man who divorced thrice, was stripped from the right to see his two children. The two ex-wives sabotaged his last marriage by accusing him being gay.
Alex's friend who helped him with his assassination attempt. She is very shy and only ever opens up when it comes to Alex. It was because of her that Robert decided not to shoot the two when captured.
Bartholomew's son and Hare's cousin, and the true mastermind behind the assassination plots aimed at Weda, since he loved his father and was upset to see Bartholomew's share in the will being reduced due to Weda's presence. He ends up going with everyone back to the jungle. He is usually getting lost, causing him to be returned to home by a rather oversized pokute. At the end of the series, he succeeds his father's business, and sends Hare gifts when his daughter is born.
Alva's mother and a famous actress; however, he denies that he has one. The reason for this is clear when Angela first appears in Hare's village after Alva goes there and claims she would like him back with her to help her rehearse for a new role, and denies that she ever care for her son at all. However, a conversation with Weda has revealed that Angela is actually a tsundere and loves her son very much, despite always acting the opposite. She later returns to check on Alva and hires Hare as her guide, but stays in disguise through much of the visit as she doesn't want people to think she's there for her son. She has an assistant who is frequently seen by her side, and usually interprets her true feelings to people whenever her tsundere side makes her unable to say it.
Robert's acquaintance, the de facto leader of a famous group of female assassins. She's in charge of the intelligence, and uses her hacking ability to aid her comrades during missions. It's also shown that she has a photographic memory, and is able to recite the number of pi for as long as three to four days. Robert and Hare hires her group to rescue Robert's friend from an enemy assassination group. Afterwards, Margaret and her friends are revealed to have become romantically interested in Hare.
An assassin of Margaret's group. She has the best fighting ability among them, and is deadly with knives.
An assassin of Margaret's group. She is the physically strongest, and is able to burst a volleyball with her bare hand. She specializes in close-range combat.
An assassin of Margaret's group, she appears to be still in school. She's a very proficient sniper.
An assassin of Margaret's group, she appears to be in kindergarten. She has vast chemical knowledge, and is good at making bombs and chemicals.
One of Wiggle's roommates in college. Being the top grader of his year, grandson of the college's principal, heir of a doctor family-line, he is very snobby and is always taking his girlfriend out and buying her expensive gifts.
Another one of Wiggle's roommates. She is of the typical snobby teen girl type.
Another one of Wiggle's roommates. She seems peppy and excited all the time, but she is actually very sad. She once kidnapped Hare in an attempt to gain a large sum of money from his grandmother to pay for her family's debt. But she is stopped and thanks to Hare is still excepted by everyone.
Wiggle's last roommate. He is very quiet but nice. People usually avoid him though because he has a scary face.

Plot

Unlike the manga, which was more focused on the romantic affairs of Weda (mother of Haré), the anime plot emphasises comedy and the "special" relationship between Haré and Guu. The OVAs are mostly a continuation of the TV series, expanding upon it with several new characters, a bigger focus on Weda, and answering unanswered questions.

Plot synopsis
Arc Synopsis Characters introduced
Intro It opens with a young pregnant Weda leaving her home in the city... only to flash forward to the present where Hare starts off playing a Phantasy Star knockoff, and is a typical boy living in the jungle with his lazy mother who has him go fetch bananas for her. On his way back from his errand, a dark large being overtakes him. Scared, he runs back to the house where his mom's decided to have a new guest live out the house, a cute normal girl named Guu. The next morning, Hare wakes up to find Guu a completely different person who's no longer cute, social, or energetic. No one seems to notice the change. Guu mostly remains quiet and ignorant of things while Hare has to show her around and explain things to her, and Hare notices Guu likes to eat things. She ends up swallowing Hare where instead of resulting in death, he's taking to a whole other world existing in Guu's stomach where he meets Seiichi and Tomoyo, a couple who has accepted their fate in Guu's stomach. After Guu spits Hare back into the real world, she accompanies Hare to school where she meets all of Hare's schoolmates (who she swallows and spits back out) and the village elder (whose chest-hair she rips out). Mostly meant to establish Guu, and from there-on, the adventure begins.
  • Hare
  • Weda
  • Guu
  • Rebecca
  • Village Elder
  • Lazy
  • Gupta
  • Ravenna
  • Marie
  • Wiggle
  • Wadi
  • Toposte
  • Seiichi
  • Tomoyo
  • Sagin
  • Raya
  • Chet
  • Addie
Clive The school gets a new doctor that came from the city, and turns out to be Hare's long-lost dad! Most of the other characters start developing personalities and eccentricities of their own (i.e. Wiggle's hardcore in love with Weda and constantly challenges the school doctor to fights), and Guu goes from being silent to being extremely cynical and sarcastic towards Hare, the others, and the situations she'll cause to amuse herself. Starts being more antagonistic towards Hare. Guu starts causing shenanigans around the jungle that are meant to keep her amused (like holding a contest for Weda, the winner getting her company for a year). Guu also adds another resident to her stomach world, Miss Hiroko Yamada, as well as showing an adult form transformation that she uses to defend Hare against a bear attack. Dama also comes around who's a barber from the next village over, obsessing over her long lost husband with white hair who she mistakes Dr. Clive for.
  • Dr. Clive
  • Hiroko Yamada
  • Black Kumo (bear)
  • Adult Guu
  • Dama
Bel/Asio Bel and Asio, two servants who have worked for Weda in Weda's past life, visit the jungle, claiming they're on vacation, and wanted to see their old master. They relieve Hare of his chores around the house, and Hare enjoys having to do less work around the house. Guu causes more disasters around the jungle like creating a blizzard storm, changing people's personalities, and bringing down the wrath of Dama upon Clive. Clive finally dyes his hair black to have Dama leave him alone. Hare meanwhile finds out from Asio the circumstances behind Weda leaving behind her past life, and why the currently live in they jungle. Weda eventually gets it out of Bel and Asio that the REAL reason they came to the jungle, was to in fact, bring Weda and Hare back to the city since her father had recently died. Weda refuses at first, but eventually relents, much to Hare's chagrin.
  • Bel
  • Asio
  • White Kumo
City Hare, Weda, Guu, Bel, and Asio make it to the city where they are met by Robert, a personal body guard hired to protect Hare and Weda. Robert initially dislikes Weda, but when Hare and Guu are held hostage by a bank robber obsessed with games, Weda and Robert team up to proficiently take out the bank robber, getting the safe return of Hare and Guu. Hare easily adjusts to luxurious life in the mansion while Weda remains bored. Eventually Clive comes to the city, where he finally is able to convey to Weda his feelings for her, ensuring them to be a couple whenever Weda returns. Guu causes more hijinks by swallowing up all the servants in a game of tag. While Hare is running away, he runs into his long lost grandmother, Sharon, where he then plots to have Weda and Sharon make up. Try as he might, all seemed lost as Weda was finally bored enough to want to return back to the jungle (much to Bel and Asio's chagrin) when finally Hare manages to knock some sense into her. Just as Weda was about to run off to visit her mom, Sharon rides up to the house Weda was staying at, and the two make up.
  • Robert
  • Sharon (Weda's Mom)
  • Bank Robber
Deluxe Hare, Weda, and Guu are back in the jungle with Clive now living permanently with Hare. Hare ends up meeting the new teacher while Lazy was sick, Miss Yumi, who's temperament has prevented her from ever getting a boyfriend. She ends up falling for Hare, and harassing him for the next two arcs, despite the age differences. Meanwhile, the village elder's chest-hair gets so out of control he ends up being swallowed by it, and disappears for the rest of the arc, while Weda announces she's pregnant, and Clive decides after impregnating her once again that it's time to tie the knot with marriage. After getting married, Hare starts hating the idea of another sibling based on the fact he'd be the one to take care of the child due to his parents' laziness. Guu takes him back to the past where he inadverdantly ran into Weda. It turns out she's lazy in the present due to the advice he gave her in the past to be more honest with herself. He also makes up a fake name in the past while meeting Weda, which Weda uses in the present to call her 2nd child. Lastly, the bank robber returns to exact his revenge on Weda for foiling him in the previous arc. When it looks like he was about to win, Dama shows up at the last minute on the side of good to fight against the bank robber. Dama ends up winning, and the two eventually get married.
  • Yumi
  • Ame
Final Bel misses Weda once again and sends out a video letter to the jungle. Weda agrees to come back to the city for a while to visit Bel and her mom, and drags Hare and Guu back with her. Hare is bored while he's up there, so Weda enrolls him in school where he meets and instantly falls in love with a new girl, Rita. Unfortunately, it works against Hare because the school bullies get jealous of the new friendship he's formed with Rita, and they end up bullying him. Hare also finds out that he's nothing special to Rita because she explained to him she likes to feel superior by being nice to everyone and not making any enemies. She's basically only looking out for her own self interests. Eventually, Rita sees Hare for the friend he is, and learns to care more than about herself. Weda resolves things at home which allows Hare and Guu to return to the jungle. The village elder is found who's basically a hairball now while Hare gets help with Ame thanks to Adult Guu and the three residents inside Guu's stomach. Just as life seems to go back to normal for Hare (well, normal for having Guu around), assassins that were hired by Weda's siblings show up to kill her because of a new discovery that Weda was included a later version of her father's will, entitling her to a part of the family fortune. Dama ends up returning yet again as one of the assassins hired to kill Weda, but Robert manages to talk her into going back to life with her husband, the Bank Robber. After seven attempts on Weda's life, the series ends with Weda resolving to go to the city to bring the fight to her siblings.
  • Rita
  • Weda's siblings
Everyone in the city! Here is where the manga begins to take place after what happens in the anime. Weda has decided to go to the city to settle things once and for all, and she ends up bringing all the kids from the jungle with her. They first run into trouble when two more assassins, Alex and Shirly, cause their plane to crash on an island. The two end up begging for their lives in front of Robert. On the island they meet a muscle man named QP who ends up becoming a rival to Robert and a bodyguard for Weda. When they get off the island they return to Weda's family's mansion where everyone makes plans to go to school. When returning to school, Hare reunites with Rita who has matured very much, and so has Yohan who still has anger and hatred towards Hare. Toposte ends up taking over his class and become almost a god to the other students. He was just being controlled by his chest hair and ends up being saved when Hare removes it. Later, Guu gets a stomach ache and Hare goes into her stomach to find the problem. He finds himself back in the RPG world where he discovers Guu has eaten the Baka Couple and Grandma Dama. She also ate Dama's sister Tama who tells them the whole story behind her and her sister. Upon returning, Hare meets his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. Weda ends up making up with her siblings but Hare and his couin, Alva, still fight. Later, Guu is kidnapped by Hare and Guu from a half year in the future who came to find Dama and her sister. Hare, Guu, and their future counterparts find the two, but it was too late. They had already merged and become a giant monster, seeking to destroy the world. Hare and Guu are able to stop the monster and Dama makes up with her sister. The story arc ends with everyone returning to the jungle. But this time, Wigle stays in the city and Alva goes with everyone.
  • Alva
  • Bartholomew
  • Donna
  • Yohan
  • QP
  • Tama
  • Alex
  • Shirly
  • Big Guu
Back to the Jungle! Weda decide to return everyone to the jungle after she reunites with her siblings. But this time, they are bringing Hare's cousin Alva with them. After some heartfelt goodebyes with their classmates, the kids of the jungle return home, except for Wigle who stayed so that he could attend college. At first returning, Yumi-sensei is there waiting to have a passionate reunion with Toposte, who hides from her. It gets to the point where Toposte is no longer safe anywhere so he fakes an illness to keep her away. But, because Yumi-sensei offered her life for his safety, Toposte realized how she cared for him and accepted and returned her love. Alva isn't very used to the Jungle so he sometimes gets lost and has to be returned by a very large pokute. Later, Hare and Guu decide to find where pokutes come from, learning that they reside in a dark cave deep in the jungle where they are also able to talk. They also learn of pokutes relation with humans. At this point, Gupta really wants to reveal his love for Ravenna but he can't get up the courage, so Guu goes with him for a practice date. This of course doesn't help at all. Then, with the urge to try to get Hare to love her, Mari takes him around to find how love really is, where they learn the true story behind the baka couple.

Additional information

Episode list

Illusions Title Original airdate
01 "Beginning • Beginning"   April 3, 2001
 
02 "Siesta Guu Guu"   April 10, 2001
 
03 "Go with Chest Hair!"   April 17, 2001
 
04 "Morning Smooch"   April 24, 2001
 
05 "The Doctor in the Nurse’s Office"   May 1, 2001
 
06 "Viva Non-Non"   May 8, 2001
 
07 "Fantasy Jungle"   May 15, 2001
 
08 "But, Ms. Yamada?"   May 22, 2001
 
09 "A Black, Big, Hard, Shiny, Smelly, Noise-Making Creature"   May 29, 2001
 
10 "Love, Love Grandpa"   June 5, 2001
 
11 "In Short, Sea-Pic"   June 12, 2001
 
12 "Festival Boom Boom"   June 19, 2001
 
13 "A Big Box"   June 26, 2001
 
14 "Boo!"   July 3, 2001
 
15 "Pokute Legend"   July 10, 2001
 
16 "Sleeping Side-by-Side"   July 17, 2001
 
17 "Wendy, Age 17"   July 24, 2001
 
18 "Love, Love Grandpa DELUXE"   July 31, 2001
 
19 "Sha-Lan-La"   August 7, 2001
 
20 "All White"   August 14, 2001
 
21 "Airport 21: Japanese Food & Western Food"   August 21, 2001
 
22 "Robert-san"   August 28, 2001
 
23 "Pachimon"   September 4, 2001
 
24 "Rest Stop"   September 11, 2001
 
25 "Terror! Humane Game of Tag"   September 18, 2001
 
26 "Over…It’s All Over"   September 25, 2001
 

Voice cast

Character Japanese voice actor English voice actor
Haré Rikako Aikawa Alex Simon
Guu Naoko Watanabe Jennifer Sekiguchi
Weda Kaoru Morota Wendee Lee
Rebecca Naoko Nakamura Tina Dixon
Lazy Kazuhiko Inoue Ron Allen
Chōrō the Village Elder Tesshō Genda Michael McConnohie
Doctor Clive Mitsuaki Madono
Makiko Ōmoto (childhood)		 Liam O'Brien
Ame Yuri Shiratori N/A
Chet Takahiro Yoshimizu Kevin Hatcher
Addy Emi Uwagawa Michelle Ruff
Dama Chie Kōjiro
Mami Koyama(Final Ep.13-14)		 Jessica Gee George
Yumi Junko Minagawa Kate Higgins
Bank Robber Tom Keiji Fujiwara Patrick Seitz
Are Takahiro Sakurai (Older brother)
Akiko Yajima (Younger sister)		 Steve Cannon (Older brother)
Shawna Smith (Younger sister)
Marie Yuki Matsuoka Sandy Fox
Toposte Konomi Maeda Duncan McNeill
Gupta Sōichirō Hoshi Ralph Gibson
Uighur Tetsuya Iwanaga Anthony Robert ep. 2 - 7
Dave Lelyveld ep. 8 - 25
Ravenna Yuri Shiratori Mia Bradly
Wadji Daisuke Kishio Yuri Lowenthal
Sagin Shizuka Ishikawa Tony Oliver
Laya Masayo Kurata Shawna Smith
Robert Showtaro Morikubo David Keefir ep. 21 - 22
Keith Silverstein ep. 23 - 26
Bell Mari Yokoo Melodee M. Spevack
Ashio Ryōtarō Okiayu Sam Riegel
Sharon Kaori Asoh Barbara Goodson
Rita Naoko Takano N/A
Mary Kumiko Nishihara N/A
Chucky Masaya Onosaka N/A
Lucy Kaori Shimizu N/A
Johnny Tōko Aoyama N/A
Yohan Yasuhiro Takano N/A
Jake Kentarō Itō N/A
Dinah Kōki Miyata N/A
Seiichi Tachibana Akira Ishida Steve Cannon
Tomoyo Mamou Kyōko Hikami Shawna Smith
Hiroko Yamada Ayumi Furuyama Julie Ann Taylor

References

External links