is a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for

Sanwa Bank was a major Japanese bank headquartered in Osaka, which operated from 1933 to 2002. It merged with Tokai Bank to form UFJ Bank (now part of MUFG Bank). In the 1990s, it was the most profitable bank in the world, and second-largest in terms of ass ...

designed by Osamu Tezuka. It was later turned into a manga series by Tezuka and an anime series from 1973. The hero of Wansa-kun was Wansa, a puppy who is sold for a pittance, then escapes, and spends much of the rest of the series looking for his mother. Tezuka never completed the manga version of the series. In 1973 an animated series based on the manga was made, produced by

Yoshinobu Nishizaki was a Japanese film producer best known as one of the two co-creators of the anime series ''Space Battleship Yamato''. He was sometimes credited as ''Yoshinori Nishizaki''. He was born in 1934 and graduated from the Nihon University Art Departm ...

and broadcast by

Kansai Telecasting Corporation JODX-DTV, virtual channel 8 (UHF digital channel 17), branded as or , is the Kansai region key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and Fuji Network System (FNS), operated by the . Kansai TV is a company affiliated in Hankyu Hanshin Holdings ...

. As with the earlier '' Triton of the Sea'', Tezuka had little-to-no involvement in this series and ''Wansa-kun'' ultimately ended up being the last series produced by the original Mushi Production before its bankruptcy. The anime series lasted 26 episodes. The first 21 episodes were very comedic in nature, but the final five episodes took a more dramatic turn, when Wansa began his search for his mother. Unlike the manga version, which was never completed, he succeeded in the final episode of the anime series. After the series finished production, Nishizaki and many of his production team on this series went to work on ''

Space Battleship Yamato is a Japanese science fiction anime series produced and written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki, directed by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, and produced by Academy Productions. The series aired in Yomiuri TV from October 6, 1974 to March 30, 1975 ...

''. In 2016 between 18th till 28 August Osamu Tezuka's "Little Wansa" stage play adaptation was announced.

Cast

Noriko Ohara , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese actress and voice actress. She was previously represented by Aoni Production, then Production Baobab, but is now freelance. Her son is Sunrise animator . She is best known for the roles of Nob ...

as Wansa * Ichirô Nagai as Megane *

Jouji Yanami Joji (じょうじ, 丈二, or 譲二, 城二, 譲治 multiple variants) is a Japanese masculine given name. It is also the Japanese pronunciation of the Western name "George" (ジョージ). It commonly refers to: * Jōji, an era in Japanese histo ...

as Lupin *

Kaneta Kimotsuki was a Japanese actor and voice actor who was most known for the roles of Takeshi Goda before Suneo Honekawa in Fujiko F. Fujio's Doraemon. Career During his life he had been attached to TBS broadcast theater company and then Aoni Production ...

as Gamble * Kei Tomiyama as Kuma *

Masako Nozawa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator. Throughout her life, she has been affiliated with Production Baobab, 81 Produce and self-owned Office Nozawa; she is also affiliated with Aoni Production. Her late husband, Masaaki Tsukada, wa ...

as Kouta

References

External links

* 1971 manga 1973 anime television series debuts Fuji TV original programming Osamu Tezuka anime Osamu Tezuka characters Osamu Tezuka manga Dog mascots Television mascots Child characters in television Child characters in advertising Mascots introduced in 1971 {{mascot-stub