Little Ghost Q-Taro

Little Ghost Q-Taro[1][2] (オバケのQ太郎, Obake no Kyutarō), by Fujiko Fujio, is a Japanese manga about an obake, Q-Taro who lives with the Ōhara family. Q-Taro, also known as Q-chan or Oba-Q, is a mischief-maker who likes to fly around scaring people and stealing food, though he is deathly afraid of dogs.

Little Ghost Q-Taro
Little Ghost Q-Taro on the cover of Bessatsu Shōnen Sunday
オバケのQ太郎
(Obake no Q-Tarō)
GenreComedy
Manga
Written byFujiko Fujio
Published byShogakukan
Shueisha
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Sunday
Shōnen Book
CoroCoro Comic
Bessatsu Shōnen Sunday
DemographicShōnen, children
Original run1964 – 1973
Volumes6
Manga
Shin Q-Tarō
Written byFujiko Fujio
Published byShogakukan
MagazineCoroCoro Comic
DemographicChildren
Original run1976 – ?
Volumes4
Anime television series
Directed byMasaaki Osumi
Music byHiroshi Tsutsui
StudioTokyo Movie
Original networkTBS
Original run 29 August 1965 – 28 June 1967
Episodes96
Anime television series
Shin Obake no Q-Tarō
Directed byTadao Nagahama
Produced byHarutoshi Kawaguchi
Kensuke Fujii (Nippon TV)
Music byNaozumi Yamamoto
StudioTokyo Movie
Original networkNippon TV
Original run 1 September 1971 – 27 December 1972
Episodes70 (140 segments)
Anime television series
Shin Obake no Q-Tarō
Directed byMasuji Harada
Hiroshi Sasagawa (Chief director)
Produced byJunichi Kimura
Yoshiaki Koizumi (TV Asahi)
Yoshio Katō
Seitarō Kodama (Shin-Ei Animation)
(Asatsu-DK)
Music byShunsuke Kikuchi
StudioShin-Ei Animation
Original networkTV Asahi
Original run 1 April 1985 – 29 March 1987
Episodes510
Game
Chubby Cherub
DeveloperTOSE
PublisherBandai
GenreAction
PlatformNintendo Entertainment System
Released1985
Anime film
Obake no Q-Tarō: Tobidase! Bake Bake Daisakusen
Directed byHiroshi Sasagawa
Music byShunsuke Kikuchi
StudioShin-Ei Animation
ReleasedMarch 15, 1986
Runtime120 minutes
Anime film
Obake no Q-Tarō: Susume! 1/100 Daisakusen
Directed byHiroshi Sasagawa
Music byShunsuke Kikuchi
StudioShin-Ei Animation
ReleasedMarch 14, 1987
Runtime15 minutes

The story is usually focused on the antics of Q-Taro and his friends. The manga was drawn in 1964–1966 by Fujiko Fujio (Fujiko F. Fujio and Fujiko Fujio A) and in 1971–1974 by Fujiko F. Fujio. An English manga volume was published in Japan as Q the Spook.[3][4]

There are three anime series of Q-Taro. The first anime adaptation of Little Ghost Q-Taro was shown on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) in black & white, and ran from 1965–1968. Machiko Soga was the voice of Q-Taro. The series was especially popular preceding Doraemon. It also ran outside Japan, in Hong Kong under the name Q-tailong. The second series ran from 1971–1972 on Nippon TV, this time in color. The third series ran from 1985–1987 on TV Asahi. This adaptation is the only one of the three Obake no Q-taro anime to have a home video release.

Characters
  • Q-Taro (Q太郎)
Voiced by: Machiko Soga (1965), Junko Hori (1971), Fusako Amachi (1985)
The protagonist of the manga, Q-Taro has a fear of dogs and cannot transform although he is an obake.
  • Shōta Ōhara (大原 正太, Ōhara Shōta)
Voiced by: Kazue Tagami (1965), Yoshiko Ōta (1971), Katsue Miwa (1985)
A human friend of Q-tarō, Shōta Ōhara is a grade school boy. Q-Taro calls him "Shō-chan" (正ちゃん) and Shota calls Q-Taro "Q-chan" (Qちゃん).
  • Shin'ichi Ōhara (大原 伸一, Ōhara Shin'ichi)
Voiced by: Masako Nozawa (1965), Sumiko Shirakawa (1971), Yū Mizushima (1985)
Shota's older brother.
  • U-ko (U子)
Voiced by: Eiko Masuyama (1965), Hiroko Maruyama (1971), Eiko Masuyama (1985)
U-ko, a judoka, is Q-Taro's girlfriend obake.
  • Doronpa (ドロンパ)
Voiced by: Misae Kita (1965), Yoshiko Yamamoto (1971), Fuyumi Shiraishi (1985)
Doronpa is an American obake. Q-tarō tend to have a rivalry towards him due to the fact that U-ko idolizes Doronpa's intelligence and he likes to annoy Q-tarō.
  • P-ko (P子)
Voiced by: Yōko Mizugaki (1965), Kazuko Sawada (1971), Yūko Mita (1985)
P-ko is Q-Taro's younger sister.
  • O-jirō (O次郎)
Voiced by: Makoto Kōsaka→Reiko Katsura (1971), Keiko Yokozawa (1985)
O-jirō is Q-Taro's younger brother. Although he can understand others' speech, he can only say "bakeratta." Only Q-tarō understands what O-jirō says.
  • X-zō (X蔵)
Father of Q-Taro, P-ko, and O-jirō.
  • O-zetto (おZ)
Mother of Q-Taro, P-ko, and O-jirō.
  • Tsuyoshi Saigō (西郷 強, Saigō Tsuyoshi)
Voiced by: Kaneta Kimotsuki (1965/1971), Hiroshi Takemura (1985)
Nickname: Godzilla. A bully in Shota's class and neighborhood.
  • Hakase (ハカセ, "Professor")
Voiced by: Unknown (1965), Sumiko Shirakawa (1971), Kaneta Kimotsuki (1985), Naoki Tatsuta (1985, stand-in)
Shota's smart classmate.
  • Kizao Kiza (木佐 キザオ, Kiza Kizao)
Voiced by: Unknown (1965), Kazuko Sawada (1971), Naoki Tatsuta (1985)
Shota's rich classmate who kisses up to Godzilla.
  • Yoshiko Koizumi (小泉 美子, Koizumi Yoshiko)
Voiced by: Mariko Tsukai (1965), Michiko Nomura (1971), Sanae Miyuki (1985)
Shota's female classmate, always referred to as "Yotchan" (よっちゃん).

Reception and impact

Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani cites the series as inspiration for the character design in the Pac-Man video game series.[5]

History
Start of the serialization of the manga

A publisher had a idea for a manga about a ghost called "Keba otoko-kun (Fluffy Guy)" after a kid (Which later, became Tsutomu Oyamada) who was inside the editorial department of "Weekly Shonen Sunday" suggested to make a manga about ghosts, and after hearing that Fujiko F fujio liked stories about ghosts, asked for a manga featuring a ghost.

Fujiko F and Fujiko A came up with the title "Odakyu" which later became "Obakyu" and then "Obake no Kyutaro" while showing the idea to the anime studio "Studio Zero". First, when the title "Obake no Kyutaro" was decided, Fujiko A was looking for a letter from the Roman alphabet to be put in the Kyu part. While flipping through the Roman alphabet, the letter Q caught his eye and Kyutaro became Q-taro, the letter Q was used because it was a letter of respect. The letter was also chosed because of Lu Xun's book "The True Story of Ah Q"

The setting of kids being pretending to be Ninjas was chosed for the first chapter after seeing kids pretending being Ninjas from Studio's Zero's office.

With the title decided, they started publishing Q-taro on 1964 in the "Weekly Shonen Sunday" magazine with the help of members belonging to the studio, starting from issue 6 in 1964, on January 22. Because there was no reaction from the readers at all, the serialization ended after 9 chapters. At the end of the series, readers flooded Studio Zero with letters requesting it to be back, and the series was back three months later. After the come back, Fujiko F was be in charge of all the story, and the other zero members would cooperate in the drawing section. This system continued until the end of 1966, then manga was only drawn by Fujiko Fujio.

Initially, Fujiko F drew Q Taro, Fujiko A drew Shota, Kenichi Kitami the backgrounds and Shotaro Ishinomori and Tsudojiro drew other characters. This is why the characters of the works by Ishinomori and Akatsuka often appeared in the Obake no Q-Taro manga.

The 60's with the first anime and the arrival of a boom

The following year, in 1965, the serialization of the manga spread to other magazines from Shogakukan, and it was also made into a anime, causing a cultural phenomenon called "Oba-Q boom"[6]

During the 60's in japan, audiences were tired of Science fiction heroes anime, which were the mainstream type of anime since "Astro Boy", and audience ratings for majority of those anime were falling. Meanwhile, the anime adaptation of "Obake no Q-taro" appeared. It aired in TBS's "Fujiya time" time slot (During Sundays at 19:30-20:00). It had an audience rating of 30% or higher since the first episode. The record of the theme song of the anime "Obake no Q-taro" was a one million-seller, and won 8th Japan Record Awards's prize for Children's Nursery rhyme in 1966. Also, "Oba Q Ondo" sung by Machiko Soga was a huge hit with 2 million records and 4 million Flexi Discs sold in a campaign held by the sponsor Fujiya.

Regarding the commercialization of the anime, a negative opinion was made by TBS, which is the broadcasting station where the anime aired, it was that "who dosen't have Money cannot earn Money", and other companies had the same opinion. Since there were almost no companies that would commercialize it, it was decided that Shogakukan, which serialized the manga, would do it. However, after about 6 months from the start of broadcasting of the anime, the popularity exploded, and the head office building of Shogakukan built in 1967 became so popular that some called it Oba-Q Building.

The manga on "Weekly Shonen Sunday" ended at the end of 1966, and in March 1967, the manga was transferred to Sunday night. It became a popular program along with "Ultra Q" and "Ultraman" produced by Tsuburaya Productions, and at the time of the time zone change Although it still had a viewer rating of over 30%, one of Q-taro's sponsors, Fujiya said, "The sales of Oba-Q products have reached a peak, we can't expect further sales, so please make a new program". Because of the request, a new program was made and it was "Perman", as the manga from it was from Q-taro's authors. In one of Q-taro's final episodes, "Q-chan's and perman's big success", Perman No. 1 appears to advertise his show. The plot was that Q-Taro and Shota are kidnapped by a gang, and when Q Taro asks for help, Perman comes and saves them. There's a conversation between Q-Taro and Perman and Q-taro says that perman's show only starts next week.

The 70's, Serialization of "Shin Oba-Q" and a new anime

After the end of the previous series, there were many requests from readers of the manga and people who watched the to see Q-taro again. In response to that, a new manga called "Shin Obake no Q-taro" ("Obake no Q-taro" at the time of publication) was serialized in Shogakukan's learning magazine, and it introduced a new character which was O-jiro. At this time, the anime "Shin Obake no Q-taro" was brodcasted.

In 1977, Both Q-taro mangas started to be published in "Korokoro Comic" along with other fujiko Fujio mangas, an manga called "Dora Q. Perman" which included Q-taro was drawn by Hideo Shinoda, and the following year, it was animated into a special episode for "Doraemon".

3rd anime in the 80s

Shin-ei which was in charge of the most recent fujiko animes, because of TMS refusing to rerun the 1971 anime, made a new anime based on Obake no Q-taro. At this time, a request for a new Q-taro manga for fujiko fujio was made, but he refused the offer, saying, “It's difficult to draw a type of gag manga like Oba Q”. Eventually, the previous "Shin Obake no Q-taro" manga was used.

References
  1. https://newspaperarchive.com/oxnard-press-courier-jan-19-1975-p-46/
  2. https://www.newspapers.com/search/#query=little+ghost+q-taro
  3. http://www.keibunsha-books.com/shopdetail/000000016138/
  4. https://www.youzikyouzai.jp/S/Page/GOODSDETAIL-19731
  5. Kohler, Chris. "Q&A: Pac-Man Creator Reflects on 30 Years of Dot-Eating | Game|Life". Wired.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  6. https://books.google.pt/books?id=dyBdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=viewer+ratings+Q-taro&source=bl&ots=G__NG-aFF3&sig=ACfU3U0kDAKkX0c2VlImBEB8ZNGrgtDAmw&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTvdHZof_pAhULAWMBHbRyDXQQ6AEwAXoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=viewer%20ratings%20Q-taro&f=false
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