[Meeting…] Dash Kappei (Chicho Terremoto)

I am not a big fan of sports manga or anime, although it is true that I have a certain nostalgia for some of them.

One of the sports anime that I enjoyed as a child is Dash Kappei, renamed outside Japan with names as different as Chicho Earthquake either Gigi the Trottola. Unfortunately the change of names was a constant in this series, so I will try to add the names of the characters I mention in parentheses to avoid confusion.

The main peculiarity of this sports manga is that many people do not even remember it as such, since its development is slightly different than expected, mainly because sport was in the background due to the curious personality of the main protagonist and because sports competitions do not focus on a single sport.

Earthquake!

Kappei is a stubborn student, small in size (he looks like a small child next to his classmates) but with unusual energy and motivation. The latter would be good, if it weren't for the fact that one of the things that motivates him the most is lift the girls' skirts to see what color panties they are wearing, this is important for Kappei since according to his own theory, the color of the underwear defines the person. Kappei's main fetish is white panties, like the ones his beloved Akane Aki (renamed Rosita or Ana) usually wears.

Although Akane is very sweet and understanding of Kappei, the stubborn protagonist will not have an easy time conquering her, as there are many who will be interested in the beautiful and sweet girl. Curiously, the worst duel in this dispute for Akane's love will be between her dog Seiichiro (also known as Bobby and Salomone) and Kappei himself, who in turn seems to be the only one capable of understanding the dog when he speaks. The rivalry between the two will only stop when a third candidate appears or when they do some trick that indirectly harms poor Akane.

Kappei is an extroverted and extravagant person, he loves to be paid attention to and He doesn't hesitate to make a fool of himself or cause chaos in order to get the attention he thinks he deserves., that is why his nickname “Earthquake” fits him like a glove, because it is difficult to have this little boy around without a catastrophe happening.

Kappei's attention-seeking is his main flaw and at the same time his best virtue, as it leads him to surpass himself and do things that would initially seem impossible for a boy of his height, such as becoming the star of his high school's basketball team in order to impress Akane.

While it is true that the members of the team are not particularly good at playing, it is still surprising that the shortest and most stubborn players end up leading them to victory based on extravagant throws in which they will surprise everyone.

One sport after another

Most sports sleeves They focus on a single sport and they take it to the extreme, but in Dash Kappei that doesn't happen. Although it is undeniable that the longest and most popular stage of the series is that of the basketball team, Kappei also participates in sports as diverse as golf, ping pong, hockey or wrestling.

Although it is true that some of these sports have an anecdotal presence and in fact some of them only appear in anime, it is very nice to see so much variety in a manga of this type. Obviously the story of how this character ends up participating in each sport is usually similar, since in most cases he will do it just to impress Akane or to teach a lesson to some guy who has belittled him for his appearance.

In the same way, there are many moments in which the manga stops focusing on the sport and simply tells us some funny story where we will see the characters suffer some type of misfortune that will be caused or solved by Kappei himself.

 Conclusion and Recommendations

I have to admit that I have never really liked Chicho Terremoto as a character, but I have very good memories of the series and the other characters, especially the basketball team and its coach. It was very funny to see how they tried to take everything seriously and were just a bunch of idiots beaten up by their rivals and how when Chicho joined the team, they began to improve but in return they did not win due to upsets, accidents and unpleasant surprises in their daily lives.

So although Chicho does not seem like an overly interesting character to me, the characters that surround him and the situations that happen around him make it seem very necessary for me to write this article to remember and recommend this fun work.

Read or watch Dash Kappei in Spanish it is not as difficult as it seems, since both the manga and the anime have been published in Spanish (at least in Spain) under the name Chicho Earthquake. It is also a relatively short series (the manga is 6 volumes and the series is less than 70 episodes) so those who have never seen Kappei in action have an easy time doing so.