is a Japanese children's book series created by

Yutaka Hara is a Japanese writer and illustrator of children's literature. He was born in Kumamoto in 1953, and is the winner of the 1974 KFS Contest Kodansha Children's Literature Award (KFSコンテスト・講談社児童図書部門賞受賞).

and published by Poplar Publishing. The original books were also made into an

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

, animated feature-length films,

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

, and comics.

Synopsis

Set in a parallel world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals (in their Earth's version of Japan), the story follows the protagonist, a fox named Zorori and his twin boar bandit apprentices Ishishi and Noshishi as they travel from place to place. The series debuted in 1987 with its first issue: and has published about two issues per year, totaling 70 issues as of December 2021. It was adapted into an anime series from February 1, 2004 to January 28, 2007. A Hong Kong produced English dubbed version by Red Angel Media aired on

Cartoon Network Philippines Cartoon Network is a Filipino pay television channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery under its International division, which primarily shows animated programming. The Philippine version is a branch of Cartoon Network Asia and broadcasts exc ...

on January 4, 2010. Zorori was originally a villain for the series written by Shiho Mitsushima, and when Hōrensō Man ended, Shiho Mitsushima understood the need to give it an independent spin-off. What both series shared in common was that the end of (depicts Zorori leaving on a journey to get a castle) ties in with the beginning of Kaiketsu Zorori no Doragon Taiji and Zorori's aspiration, "Zorori Castle Part 2" is established (It appears Part 1 came from the Zorori Castle in Hōrensō Man no Yūreijō). Another part is the reoccurring characters (Zorori Mama and Yōkai Gakkō no Sensei, and to some degree the debut of Sumire and Bokushi Robo) that were not given anything past trivial appearances. However, knowing the background story of the Hōrensō Man series is not needed to be able to enjoy the Zorori series. Using clear patterns and lines, the characters would speak using speech bubbles more similar to comics than to picture books. The text and words would not use any difficult

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

or any

furigana is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana or syllabic characters printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also kn ...

, instead using lower grade level words so that it can be read alone without needing any help. It also features excessive puns and it is because of this that puns saw a boom in use in elementary school students. In spite of it being called a well read elementary school "children's book", it has an array of farting, belching, and vulgar words that sometimes parents and guardians in the PTA demanded apologies for it. Whenever Zorori is in a desperate situation and it appears he'll reach his demise, a fake notice is posted advising to skip the next page due to gruesome violence (Of course this is all a joke. The next page just has him finding a way out of his predicament). At the time of publication, and (a play on Pokémon) were very popular comedies, especially among Japanese comedians for its use of Japanese jokes. Furthermore, the Spanish word for fox is "zorro", and the author intended for Kaiketsu Zorori to resemble

Zorro Zorro ( Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante w ...

List of volumes

The first Zorori book was released in November 1987 and has seen two releases per year ever since. The first 39 volumes have been used as source material for the anime, while volumes 40 and beyond are book only, due to being printed after the anime's cancellation.

Anime

Manga

BunBun Comics published 10 volumes of a manga series featuring Kaiketsu Zorori in famous fairy tales and folk tales. It was written by Yutaka Hara and illustrated by Hiroki Kimura.

Theme Songs

Kaiketsu Zorori

;Opening Theme * by Kōichi Yamadera ;Ending Themes * by Satō-san and Suzuki-kun ( Little by Little) (ep. 1~13) * by Yukie 6 & Nobita Robert (ep. 14~31) * by Satō-san and Suzuki-kun (Little by Little) (ep. 32~46) * by Sayuri Anzu (ep. 47~52)

Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori

;Opening Themes * by Kōichi Yamadera, Rikako Aikawa, and

Motoko Kumai is a Japanese voice actress employed by 81 Produce. She played Takao Kinomiya in ''Beyblade'' and Syaoran Li in ''Cardcaptor Sakura''. From December 21, 2006 to October 2007, she had a hiatus from her career due to an illness requiring medical tr ...

(ep. 1~50) * by Kōichi Yamadera (ep. 51~97) ;Ending Themes * by

Sakiko Tamagawa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer from Tokyo. She is affiliated with Sigma Seven. She voices Rei Kuki in '' Genji Tsuushin Agedama'', Natsumi Tsujimoto in '' You're Under Arrest'', Kazama's mother in '' Crayon Shin-chan'', and Toy ...

(ep. 1~27) * by

Junko Iwao is a Japanese voice actress and singer. Her most notable role is in ''Cardcaptor Sakura'', providing the voice to Sakura's best friend and cousin, Tomoyo Daidōji. She also voiced lead character Mima Kirigoe in '' Perfect Blue'', Ceres in ''Cer ...

(ep. 28~50) * by Rikako Aikawa and Motoko Kumai (ep. 51~74) * by Kōichi Yamadera (ep. 75~97)

Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori

;Opening Theme * Motto! Motto! Kaiketsu Zorori by Kōichi Yamadera (ep. 1~50) * by Kōichi Yamadera (ep. 51~?) ;Ending Themes * Shalalala by ONEPIXCEL (ep. 1~25) * ZORORI ROCK!!! by Yabai T-Shirts Yasan (ep. 26~?)

References

External links

Manga official site

Anime official Site
* {{Amber Film Works 1987 manga 2004 anime television series debuts 2005 anime television series debuts Ajia-do Animation Works Animated films about foxes Animated television series about foxes Animax original programming Bandai Namco franchises Bandai Namco Pictures Children's manga NHK original programming Shōnen manga Sunrise (company) TMS Entertainment