Papuwa

Papuwa

Cover of DVD 1: Wild Things
パプワ
Genre Comedy
Manga
Nangoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun
Written by Ami Shibata
Published by Square Enix
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan
Original run April 1991June 1995
Volumes 7
TV anime
Nangoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun
Directed by Jun Takagi
Written by Nobuyuki Fujimoto
Music by Nobuyuki Nakamura
Studio Nippon Animation
Network TV Tokyo
English network Anime Network
Original run 10 October 19922 October 1993
Episodes 42 (List of episodes)
Manga
Written by Ami Shibata
Published by Square Enix
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan
Original run April 2002April 2008
Volumes 14
TV anime
Directed by Kenichi Nishida
Studio Nippon Animation
Network TV Tokyo
English network Anime Network
Original run 30 September 200330 March 2004
Episodes 26 (List of episodes)
Anime and Manga Portal

Nangoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun (南国少年パプワくん?, lit. Southern Boy Papuwa) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ami Shibata and serialized in Square Enix's manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan from April 1991 to June 1995. The series follows Kotaro who is stranded on an uncharted island inhabited by strange talking animals hand has memory of his past. The series was adapted into an 42-episode anime television series which aired on TV Tokyo from 10 October 1992 to June 1995. Both the manga and anime series were followed by a sequel Papuwa (パプワ?).

Contents

Story

Once, on an unknown southern island, a battle was waged over two mysterious stones, one red and one blue. The blue stone controls desire, and its power created the blue clan. And the red clan that inherited the power of the red stone was filled with the light of hope. Finally, the battle came to an end, and the young one who possessed the power of the blue stone fell into a deep sleep. The one with the power of the red stone flew off far across the sky. Desire and hope... until the day these two powers meet each other again...

Characters

Main characters

The Ganma Army (ガンマ団)

The Ganma army is run by the Ganma family, who possess the power of the stone of desire. This power come in the form of what is called secret stone eyes (hisekigan, 秘石眼). The army itself works as a group of mercenaries, originally ruthless and seemingly taking control of the world, but since Shintaro's takeover the group now fights for "justice" (basically only assassinating people they believe are bad).

Tiramisu is voiced by Masao Harada in Japanese and Paul Oddo in English. and Chocolate Romance is voiced by Kota Nemoto in Japanese and K.C. Jones in English. both for Papuwa TV series.

Special Battle Unit

The Shinsengumi

(心戦組) The Shinsengumi is a mercenary group (based the real life historical group) that consists of multiple branches, two of which are known; the "Main" group and the "True" group.

Main Shinsengumi

(Shinsengumi Hontai, 心戦組本隊)

Isami Kondō (近藤イサミ) Voiced by: Hidenari Ugaki (Japanese), George Manley (English) for Papuwa TV series.
Toshizō Hijikata (土方トシゾー) Voiced by: Toru Okawa (Japanese), Mike MacFarland (English) for Papuwa TV series. The straight-man of the team.
Sōji Okita (沖田ソージ) Voiced by: Showtaro Morikubo (Japanese), Brandon Scott Peters (English) for Papuwa TV series. a smiling silver-haired man. He unfortunately has Kondo's affections, and returns them by repeatedly stabbing Kondo with his sword.
Umako Harada (原田ウマ子) Voiced by: Kōji Ishii (Japanese), Joanne Bonasso (English) for Papuwa TV series. The most most masculine character and ironically, the only major female character. She is tall, muscular, battle-scarred, and eventually develops a beard due to a potion. She falls in love with Liquid to his Horror. She is Koji's younger sister.

True Shinsengumi

(Shin Shinsengumi, 真心戦組) <Manga only>

Yamanami Keisuke (山南ケースケ)
Yamazaki Susumu (山崎ススム)
Itou Kashitaro (伊東カシタロー)
Saitou Hajime (斎藤ハジメ)
Nagakura Shinpachi (永倉シンパチ)

The Namamonos

(ナマモノ) "Namamono" is the term used to describe the strange talking animal type creatures that live on Papuwa Island. There are countless namamonos that appear throughout the series.

Other Miscellaneous Characters

Media

Manga

Anime

Nangoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun was adapted into a 42-episode anime television series in 1992. Produced by Nippon Animation under the direction of Jun Takagi, the series began its broadcast run on TV Tokyo from 10 October 1992 to June 1995. Three pieces of theme music were used for the opening and closing of each episode. The opening them is "Npapa Rap Song" (んばば・ラブソング?) performed by Tome. The closing themes are "Shikasutto Nonsense" (しかすっとナンセンス?) performed by Daiji Man Brothers Band for the for the first 24 episodes and "Kibun wa Papuwa Hare" (気分はパプワ晴れ?) performed by Kouji Tsuno and Pythagoras for the remaining episodes.

The second manga series was also adapted into an anime television series by Nippon Animation. Directed by Kenichi Nishida, the second series began its broadcast run on TV Tokyo from 30 September 2003 to 30 March 2004. Two pieces of theme music are used, one opening and one closing. The opening theme is "Tabibito" (旅人?) performed by Loosely, and the closing them is "Yurari Yurari (ゆらりゆらり?) performed by Masashi Iino (いいのまさし Iino Masashi?).

Video games

Two video games entitled Nankoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun (南国少年パプワくん?) were released on March 25, 1994 by Enix for the Nintendo's Game Boy and Super Famicom.

Episode List

Nangoku Shonen Papuwa-kun

Papuwa

Notes

Reception

References

External links