[Meeting…] Pyonkichi (Raponchi)

One of the most typical ideas of Japanese children's manga is to have a child find a supernatural being to help him with his daily problems. It is then relatively easy to find animes where a child is helped by a robot cat from the future (Doraemon) a ninja (Hattori the Ninja) or even a genius (Hakushon daimaô, known around here as Bottled Bob).

But what would happen if the appearance of that supernatural being was more of a nuisance than a help? That is what we are going to see in today's article, where we will meet Pyonkichi, better known in Spanish as Raponchi, protagonist of the manga Dokonjo Gaeru (known in the west as The Gutsy Frog either Raponchi the Brave Frog)

The accident that changed two lives

Hiroshi is a high school student like any other, he goes to class without much enthusiasm and prefers to spend time playing, doing pranks and having fun with his friend Goro rather than listening to the teacher. Despite being a determined and brave boy, Hiroshi is stunned when he sees the girl he likes (Kyoko) and sometimes his feelings for her cause him to have problems with the bully on duty (Imotaro Gorira, also called Gorilla).

Hiroshi has a good time in his imperfect but typical life as a student in a working-class neighborhood, but one day his life changed completely when he accidentally crushed a frog by falling on him.

In some way that could hardly be explained, The frog disappeared as such and stuck to his shirt, turning into a drawing on it.. From that moment Hiroshi saw how the animal was still conscious and alive in the shirt, in fact it could even talk, eat, drink and relieve itself.

Raponchi the brave frog

So the frog Raponchi (or Pyonkichi) was fused with Hiroshi's shirt but That did not affect his capabilities, but rather enhanced them to incredible limits. (for example, on one occasion Hiroshi tied his shirt to a tree to keep Raponchi still and she managed to tear off and drag the tree to chase him).

If we take into account that Raponchi has a lot of temper and a certain weakness for biting anything that comes close to him., we will understand that one of the first ideas Hiroshi had was to get rid of the shirt, only to see that there was no way he could get the frog off. The only possible solution was to burn the shirt, but that did not give the expected result either. Furthermore, Hiroshi couldn't destroy it, since it is the only shirt he has (which serves as an excuse for him to wear the shirt but also reminds us that the majority of characters in this series are lower-middle class workers).

After several failed attempts to get rid of Raponchi and seeing that the girls in his class like the frog on the shirt, Hiroshi decides to stay with her, but not before trying to impose some rules on her, such as not speaking without being told and not going around biting people. Obviously the frog will ignore any attempt to control her by Hiroshi and not only will he do whatever he wants, but he will also get Hiroshi into a lot of trouble for saying things that shouldn't be said or simply for dragging him into situations where the boy wouldn't want to be. Raponchi acts with total freedom without worrying about the consequences and paradoxically, it is Hiroshi who ends up forced to do things because of his shirt, which will cause countless arguments between both characters.

Despite these confrontations, Raponchi ended up earning the affection of Hiroshi and, as time went by, also that of the rest of his friends and classmates (yes, many know that the frog is alive) so that despite being a t-shirt, Raponchi is treated as just another character.

 Conclusion and Recommendations

Raponchi (or rather, Pyonkichi) It is a very brave frog and sometimes tremendously aggressive and reckless., which forces Hiroshi into trouble that he did not cause himself. On some occasions this character will take pity on the boy and help him in his own way when he sees that Hiroshi is not capable of doing something for himself (such as asking Kyoko on a date).

As I said in the introduction, a high school boy finding an unusual character and having him help him in his daily life is relatively common in the world of manga and anime. But it is not so common that this character, instead of being helpful and patient, is autonomous and has a strong personality and I think that is what makes the relationship between Hiroshi and Raponchi is much more credible and interesting than that of characters like Nobita and Doraemon.  These characters argue and make fun of each other, but in bad times one always tries to help the other (even if it is abrupt).

Puede que esta serie no sea tan famosa como Doraemon, pero aun así no queda duda que ha dejado huella, como demuestra el hecho de que hayan hecho una serie nueva en 2015 (como comentaré más adelante) o  que hayan parodias y homenajes a ella en otros medios (como el personaje May Lee de king of fighters, que lleva las gafas de Hiroshi y una camiseta con una rana parecida a Raponchi ).

Para seguir las aventuras de Raponchi lo primero sería ojear el manga original Dokonjo Gaeru, que consta de 27 tomos y que lamentablemente no se ha publicado en español.

Afortunadamente existen varias series de animación, una de ellas de los años 70 (con más de 100 episodios) y otra en los años 80 (con 30 episodios) y una serie de imagen real de tan solo 10 episodios emitida en 2015.

Algunos de los episodios de primera serie de animación se emitieron en España y algunos países de Latinoamérica (como Chile) bajo el nombre Raponchi the brave frog, siendo el único material oficial doblado al español. Esa serie fue recopilada en DVD, aunque desconozco si se incluyó el lenguaje español o si existen subtítulos para disfrutarla. Respecto a la serie de imagen real, pese a que no ha sido doblada (ni creo que lo hagan) se puede encontrar subtitulada buscando un poco por internet.