News

Frogman's Flash Anime Honors Bakabon Creator Akatsuka

The anime production company DLE has announced on Wednesday that the animator Frogman has created "Tonari no Tensai Vakabon," a new Flash anime short to honor the late manga creator Fujio Akatsuka. Akatsuka entertained generations of manga fans and anime viewers with his gag comedies such as Tensai Bakabon and his early magical girl manga Himitsu no Akko-chan. He passed away on August 2, 2008.

Frogman wrote, directed, and voiced all the characters in "Tonari no Tensai Vakabon" himself. The anime is screening at the "Tsuitō Akatsuka Fujio-Ten ~Gag de Kake Nukeru 72-Nen" (A Fujio Akatsuka Memorial Exhibition: 72 Years of Advancing Through Gags) which runs from August 26 to September 7 at the Matsuya department store's event space in Tokyo's Ginza district. The exhibition features over 250 sketches and other pieces of art. Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball), Takashi Yanase (Anpanman), Momoko Sakura (Chibi Maruko-chan), Fujiko Fujio A (Doraemon, Warau Salesman), Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2), Kenshi Hirokane (Managing Director Kosaku Shima), and Kagami Yoshimizu (Lucky Star) drew their well-known manga characters in the trademark "Sheiii!" pose from Akatsuka's manga. The Manichi Shimbun paper's Mantan Web site posted the tribute sketches online.

Fujiko, Takao Saitō (Golgo 13), Tetsuya Chiba (Ashita no Joe), Yukihide Takekawa (Galaxy Express 999 composer), misono (Inuyasha singer), and Osamu Suzuki (Love*Com the Movie scriptwriter) were among the manga artists, artisans, and cultural figures who came to the exhibition's opening. In keeping with the theme of the event, the guests posed for the cameras in "Sheiii!" pose.

Frogman's other works include The Frogman Show (Japan's first 30-minute Flash-animated television program), three Eagle Talon movies, Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar ~Ima, Fuki ni Yukimasu~, Keihin Kazoku, and Sguy and The Family Stone the Movie.

Sources: Saishin Anime Jōhō, Comic Natalie, Ed Chavez for the link to the tribute sketches