Manga Dr. Slump (by Akira Toriyama)

I remember seeing two episodes on tv when I was a child (during a free preview of the NGN channel). Arare (Arale) was a lil girl with glasses with great strength, and lived with a proffessor. They and their friends did all kinds of funky adventures, and I remember it being sooooo exotic cuz they were so different from American cartoons. That was probably my first exposure to anime.

Over a dozen years later, I remembered it, and decided to search for it online. Not knowing anything except the main character's name, I had a pretty intense but rewarding investigation. Turns out the show was called "Dr. Slump," and happened to be Akira Toriyama's (!) very first hit series, both in manga and anime. I found the series for sale online, but they weren't subtitled nor dubbed in English.

Then I found ToriyamaWorld.com, where you can download page scans of the German-to-English translated versions of book one and two! OH yeah! (Yeah, they were the German-language versions, but have been translated to English.)

This series is so cute, and funny, and silly! It's amazing how something so old (over one and a half decades ago) impresses me more than most of the modern manga these days! Also, some characters from Dragon Ball roughly resemble those in Dr. Slump.

 

I would love to see it in the US but sadly is is not here only on ep. of Dragon Ball with some of the Characters from Dr.Slump I wish funimation would but(You heard me FUNimation) they could make a big deal out of it saying something like "From the Creator of Dragon Ball"

 

I have a channel from argentina i think, "magic kids", that show has been on that channel for as long as i remember :sweat: never really liked it tho

 

Akira Toriyama has said that Dr. Slump is his favourite series he's ever worked on. Also, is it my imagination or does Dr. Slump look like Toriyama?

 

Yeah, I can see why. Each chapter is sort of a mini story in itself, so the entire series can go on forever. Plus it's all pretty zany, so almost anything can happen.

I noticed that in the first few chapters, Arale is quit slim. After that, her body turns out to be fatter and more stout. I liked Arale's proud smile when she found a turd, picked it up, and showed it off.

 

There was a whole interview with Toriyama in which he talked a lot about Dr. Slump in Shonen Jump a few issues back.