Zenmai Zamurai

Zenmai Zamurai
ぜんまいざむらい
Anime television series
Directed by Tetsuo Yasumi
Kazumi Nonaka (chief)
Written by Hiroshi Ōnogi
Tetsuo Yasumi
Ryōta Yamaguchi
Studio A-1 Pictures, Noside
Network NHK E
Original run April 3, 2006 March 26, 2010
Episodes 175

Zenmai Zamurai (ぜんまいざむらい) was a short subject children's cartoon created by Momoko Maruyama and Ryōtarō Kuwamoto (m&k). It aired daily in the mornings and afternoons on NHK Educational TV in Japan. Two short features were shown in the mornings and afternoons both five minutes long. Its exclusion from the 2010-11 NHK programming schedule signifies the end of its run on the station, but will still be shown in reruns on their Hi-Vision BS premium channel.[1]

Story

200 years ago, Zenmai Zamurai (Zennosuke at that time) was a thief by profession (albeit not a very skilled one). While stealing from a house one night, he fell down a well and died. He was then resurrected by Daifukunokami (The god of Bounty:大福の神) and a wind-up key (zenmai:ぜんまい) was placed on his head. If the key winds down, Zennosuke dies. The only way the key can be wound is by Zennosuke doing good deeds and if he does enough of them, he will be released from his servitude to the god. In order to achieve this end, he is given the Dango-ken, which is a sword with Japanese Dumplings skewered onto it. Whenever Zenmai Zamurai sees people doing injustice or generally being out of control, he uses his sword to shoot the dumplings into their mouths. When people eat the dumplings, they suddenly become happy and realize the error of their ways. He helps out the people of his village in many ways, big and small. Whenever he does well, a rainbow comes out of the sky to wind his key. His name and the theme of the show is based on a short Japanese proverb, "Ichinichi Ichizen" (一日一膳), which means "Do a good deed daily".

Characters

References

  1. NHK programming schedule (Japanese)

External links

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