is a

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series created by Yasunari Nagatoshi. In 2000, the manga received the Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

is the licensor of the series in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The series has not had a release in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. The series' protagonist is , a fifth grader at "Anytown" Elementary School. A transfer student named enters Takashi's class. Taro Tanaka turns out to be a

space alien Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

. Takashi becomes obsessed with trying to figure out the origins of Taro.

Summary

Takashi is just a regular fifth grader when a new student, Taro Tanaka, appears. Later Takashi realizes that Taro is an alien and tries to find out more about him. He has many adventures with Taro. Takashi soon gets into much trouble and starts to have a bad reputation because of Taro such as giving his childhood friend Kyoko an explosive bomb for her birthday (which Taro had switched with a Taro doll Takashi had meant to give Kyoko). Taro also constantly makes Takashi annoyed, like one time Taro invited Takashi to his birthday party, but Taro made Takashi walk to the end of a long hallway to go to his room (at the end of the hall was a sign that said turn around). When they went back to the beginning of the hall, Takashi finds that Taro's room was hidden near the entrance of Taro's house. Taro also makes Takashi really embarrassed like for example, Taro somehow made the entrance to a bathroom of an amusement park turn into a rollercoaster ride where all Takashi's clothes flew off and he was stuck up there the entire day, hanging on for life.

Characters

; :A fifth grade boy that lives in Anytown and loves cute girls (which upsets Kyoko greatly). He starts to have a bad reputation when Taro comes to his school. Kyoko Asada (浅田きょう子 ''Asada Kyoiko)'' :Takashi's childhood friend and love interest. She doesn't like when Takashi cheats off her, using her hammer if he does.

Voice actors

Punch UFO Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

- Taro Tanaka *

Sachi Matsumoto is a Japanese voice actress. She started acting in 1990, and she has been affiliated with Kenyu Office since April 1, 2006, after leaving Arts Vision. She has voiced Link and Aryll in '' The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'', Link in '' The Le ...

- Takashi Horimachi *

Chinami Nishimura is a Japanese voice actress from Chiba Prefecture, and affiliated with 81 Produce. Her major roles include Fake Yuna and Miki Shiratori in ''Galaxy Fraulein Yuna'', Neko Musume in '' GeGeGe no Kitaro'', Junsa (Officer Jenny) in ''Pokémon'', ...

- Kyoko Asada (浅田きょう子 ''Asada Kyōko'')

Staff

* Original Production by Shogakukan Production Co., Ltd. * Created by Yasunari Nagatoshi * Originally Published by

Shogakukan Inc. is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hi ...

* Executive Producer: Masakazu Kubo * Producer: Ryoji Shimizu * Director: Yorifusa Yamaguchi * Scripts by Michihiro Tsuchiya, Koji Ueda * Animation Production: Studio Hibari * Animation Producers: Seji Mitsunobu, Jiro Saito * Character Designer: Masaru Oshiro * Art Director: Yoji Yoshikawa * Music by Cher Watanabe (credited as Cheru Watanabe) * Music Producer: Takashi Yoshida * Sound Recording Production: HALF H·P STUDIO (credited as HALF H · P STUDIO) * Sound Recording Director: Shigeru Chiba

Theme Songs

; Opening Song "Tanaka de Shubiduwa" : Lyrics: Kondoria Mito / Composition/Music Arrangement: Cher Watanabe (credited as Cheru Watanabe) ; Ending Song "Tanaka Taro no Uta" : Lyrics: Kondoria Mito / Composition/Music Arrangement: Cher Watanabe (credited as Cheru Watanabe)

References

External links

Viz Media webpage on ''Taro the Space Alien''
(only for US) * 1998 manga 2000 anime television series debuts Japanese children's animated comedy television series Comedy anime and manga Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Studio Hibari TV Tokyo original programming Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga Extraterrestrials in anime and manga {{Anime-television-series-stub