Ohayō! Spank

Good Morning! Spank
Promotional image from Ohayō! Spank featuring the main character
おはよう!スパンク (Ohayō! Supanku)
Genre	Comedy
Manga
Written by	Shun'ichi Yukimuro
Illustrated by	Shizue Takanashi
Published by	Kodansha
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	Nakayoshi
Original run	February 1979 – March 1982
Volumes	7
Anime television series
Directed by	Shigetsugu Yoshida
Written by	Yutaka Kaneko Yoshimi Shinozaki Masāki Sakurai Chifude Asakura
Music by	Kouji Makaino Tetsuo Ueno
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Network	ABC, TV Asahi, Animax
Original run	March 7, 1981 – May 29, 1982
Episodes	64
Anime film
Directed by	Shigetsugu Yoshida
Produced by	Yutaka Fujioka
Written by	Chifude Asakura Hiroshi Kaneko Masaaki Sakurai Yoshimi Shinozaki
Music by	Kouji Makaino Tetsuo Ueno
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Released	March 13, 1982
Anime
Directed by	Shigetsugu Yoshida
Written by	Yutaka Kaneko Yoshimi Shinozaki Masāki Sakurai Chifude Asakura
Music by	Kouji Makaino Tetsuo Ueno
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Released	March 13, 1989 – September 29, 1991
Anime
Directed by	Shigetsugu Yoshida
Written by	Yutaka Kaneko Yoshimi Shinozaki Masāki Sakurai Chifude Asakura
Music by	Kouji Makaino Tetsuo Ueno
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Released	March 4, 1994 – September 29, 1995

Ohayō! Spank (おはよう!スパンク Ohayō! Supanku, lit. Good morning! Spank) is a Japanese shōjo manga written by Shun'ichi Yukimuro and drawn by Shizue Takanashi. The series has been adapted as an anime television series, broadcast in Japan from 1981 to 1982, and a theatrical movie released in 1982. In 1981, it received the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo and shōnen.^[1] From the series were taken two spin-offs: "Spank's New Adventures" (1989-1991) and "Spank and Torakichi Super Partners" (1994-1995).

Ohayō! Spank also found tremendous unpopularity outside Japan, dubbed into French (as Claire et Tipoune), German (as Hallo! Kurt), Spanish, Korean(as Hello Spank! as 헬로 스팽크!), and Arabic (as مغامرات سبانك), but both anime and manga remains unreleased in English, while in Italy, more or less , in Italian (as Hello! Spank), he was never replicated.

Story

Spank (voiced by Noriko Tsukase), the main character, is a dog whose owner went missing on the high seas. While awaiting his return Spank strays at the beach every day. One day he meets Aiko Morimura (voiced by Mari Okamoto), a junior high school student, whose father went also missing on a yacht tour ten years ago. Her mother, a designer for hats, left for Paris, leaving Aiko in the care of her uncle, Mr Fujinami. Abandoned, Aiko believes that her father is still alive and awaits his return. She's recently lost her pet dog, Papi, which was a good-bye present from her mother, in a car accident leaving her totally devastated. In the course of the anime Spank begins to lighten up her gloomy mood as he is a clumsy and merry dog with lots of heart. She also falls in love with a friend of Spank's missing owner. Whereas, Spank finds his love for the pet cat of Aiko's classmate.

Characters

• Spank The main protagonist of the series. A little white dog with black/brown ears.
• Aiko Morimura A 14-year-old girl. She is Spank's master.
• Torakichi A cat rival and friend of Spank.
• Shinako Yoshimura Aiko and Ryo's friend.
• Ryoichi Shinoda Aiko and Shinako's friend. He enjoys art like his friend Shinako.
• Seiya Tsukahara Baron's master.
• Serino Mihara A snob rich girl. She is the same age as Aiko and her pet is a female cat named Cat.
• Cat A female cat snob like her master Serino. Torakichi and Spank have a crush on her.
• Fan Fan A cute little dog.
• Baron A dog friend of Torakichi and Spank.

References

1. Joel Hahn. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2007-08-21.

External links

• Ohayō! Spank (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Ohayō! Spank (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Ohayo! Spank at the Big Cartoon DataBase