is a Japanese

children's manga and refer to manga and anime directed towards children. These series are usually moralistic, often educating children about staying in the right path in life. Each chapter is usually a self-contained story History Manga aimed at children st ...

series created by , serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

's ''

Comic BomBom was a monthly Japanese children's manga magazine published by Kodansha and aimed at elementary school boys. It was first published on October 15, 1981, and ceased publication in 2007. A web version of the magazine has been published on Pixiv Com ...

'' magazine. The series would debut its first chapter in September 1997, later releasing eleven volumes of manga compilations between 1998 and 2002 with each manga covering a particular story arch from the ''Comic Bombom'' series. It centers on the titular character, a housecat who is kidnapped and modified by a mad scientist to be a part of a cyborg army bent on world domination. Kuro breaks his control chip, escapes and becomes a

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

. Kuro has many allies, who help him out during instances such as urban destruction, parallel universes, outer space, and battles between other cats and cyborgs. ''Cyborg Kuro-chan'' was adapted into an anime series produced by Studio Bogey for

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.its affiliates from 2 October 1999 to 6 January 2001 for 66 episodes. The manga and anime have been exported to several countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa. An English dub aired on

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX in all caps, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. Launched on July 1, 1998, Animax is the first 24-hour network in the world dedicated to anime.The Anime Biz' - ...

and the first 14 episodes of the dub were released on VCD. A large number of merchandise has been made based on the manga and anime, and two additional volumes, entitled ''Cyborg Kuro-chan: Extra Battle'', were published. Reviews for the series note the simplistic and cartoonish art style, and a thin storyline which is mainly centered on gags and comedic violence.

Story

Kuro is a housecat for an old couple who cannot defend themselves and are in frequent danger. They rely on him to keep burglars from invading their house, at which he is skilled. Despite his courage, he is in love with the neighborhood dog, Pooly, and he sets out to confess this one day. While heading to see her, he and Pooly are ambushed and injured. Kuro is then kidnapped by Dr. Go, a

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...

, and transformed into a

Characters

Main

- The main character who was kidnapped by Dr. Go and turned into a cyborg cat, along with various features and weapons. Though he has a horrible temper, appears unenthusiastic about helping others, and gets angry and out of control easily, he is good-hearted and cares for others more than he lets on. Despite being the hero, he frequently shows un-heroic behavior such as using Romeo as a weapon or at times dragging others into trouble because he feels like it and likes to rampage for comedic effect. He uses a

Gatling gun The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling of North Carolina. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operatio ...

as a signature weapon. He is usually seen sleeping on the veranda of his owner's house. He was named as a kitten before being adopted by his owners. Kuro is voiced by . - The main antagonist and a major

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

, an eccentric inventor who wishes world domination by creating cyborg cats as weapons of mass destruction. His plan completely backfired when Kuro took away the control chip and through sheer willpower of his own. He later stops from his plans in world domination and decides to live in a more peaceful way of living with Mi and later Kotaro. Although Kuro and his relationship is turbulent and hostile at times, Kuro does respects him as an inventor. His real name is Dr. Go is voiced by . - A

cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

as his standard weapon. With the Devil Chip, he can fuse himself to any weapon and create additional items to them. He is also a great cook. Mi is voiced by ., - A regular tabby cat who wears a red tattered "cloak" and has an eyepatch over his right eye. He was a childhood friend of Kuro, but he declared himself his enemy after a tussle leads to him losing his eye. He has an arsenal of weapons he hides in his cloak with his main weapon being a wooden

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

which he can use to hit targets at great distances or a chainsaw. Though he is serious, he can be quite lazy and gluttonous with little self-control at times and sometimes needs to be forced by Kuro into helping. He is also skilled in craftsmanship and an experienced carpenter. He is the only one to refer to Kuro as Kid. Matatabi is voiced by . - A boy genius dressed in a cat suit who helps Dr. Go and Mi out by assisting in their inventions or building his own. He has an obsession over Kuro, and tries to prove to be as powerful as him. This idea of his was the result of being an outcast. He is experienced in technology, with an IQ of 200. The reviewer for Manga-News describes Kotaro as walling himself into his world of video games, but also regards Kotaro as an

author surrogate As a literary technique, an author surrogate (also called an author avatar) is a fictional character based on the author. The author surrogate may be disguised, with a different name, or the author surrogate may be quite close to the author, with ...

. Kotaro is voiced by . - A female

android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

with a rabbit-like appearance that was created by Kotaro from a table lamp. She develops a love interest in Kuro, who denies her; she accepts his rejection after numerous attempts to win his heart, though it is shown that he does care for her. She is also great at Knitting and often knits a scarf to Kuro. Nana is voiced by .

Supporting

- The elderly couple who treat Kuro as a companion. They are not immune to trouble, never learn much, and are in need of Kuro's rescue frequently. However, they have no idea that Kuro is now a cyborg, though he intends to keep this secret. They are voiced by respectively. - A schoolteacher who also admires Kuro. He is an avid

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, such as anime, manga, video games, computers or other highly enthusiastic hobbies. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. ...

, and often gets himself involved into Kuro's shenanigans. Suzuki is portrayed by

Toshiyuki Morikawa is a Japanese voice actor, narrator and singer who is the head of Axlone, a voice acting company he founded in April 2011. His name is sometimes, although incorrectly, transliterated as Tomoyuki Morikawa. In 2003, he and Fumihiko Tachiki formed ...

. - A female firefighter who is Suzuki's crush. She is a quick thinker in most situations, such as putting out even the least dangerous of fires in her debut appearance in the anime. In the manga, Megumi was portrayed as an otaku like Suzuki but was toned down in the anime. Megumi is portrayed by Sayuri Yoshida. and - A duo of alien robot lovers. They are very optimistic, no matter what happens. They later marry and have a child together. Romeo is voiced by Kosuke Okano, while Juliet is voiced by Sayuri Yoshida. - Kotaro's robot lion friend. He was an ordinary lion, but he was involved in a near-death experience. Dr. Go successfully revived him in his current cyborg form. Later on in the series Dunk gets modified by Kotaro's father who gives him the ability to speak using text boxes appear out of his head. Dunk is quite timid, gentle, and pure. He is voiced by

Isshin Chiba is a Japanese voice actor who appeared in 35 films since he first started acting in 1990 and is best known for doing the voice of Jin Kazama from the ''Tekken'' series. Biography Isshin Chiba was born in Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan. He graduated f ...

. - A girl with a deep hatred for Kuro and very powerful supernatural abilities, including ESP and

telekinesis Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...

. Another notable feature of hers is her voluminous hair. - A boy Chieko met on a camping trip who came from an abusive household. He is a big dreamer, but he is a loser. He boasts a large scar from his abuse. He ends up being temporarily turned into a cyborg after being gravely injured with Cheiko attempting to teach him how to be human again. Goro only appeared in the manga.

Antagonists

known as in the anime who is an American mad scientist who came to Hokkaido to conquer the world but was defeated by Kuro and friends. His face is comically huge but has a very short stature. Like Dr. Go, he specializes in cyborg technology but with dogs which were powerful. He made only one appearance in the anime but made another in the manga as a security warden of a large prison. He also appears as the antagonist of the 2nd game and made a cyborg called BB, which looks just like Kuro. He is voiced by Isshin Chiba - The rival of Doctor Go in the past as students and the guy responsible for the demise of Mi's mother. Unlike Go whose allies are cats and specializes in robot technology, Tendou prefers to use dogs and is proficient in

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

and modified his dog who went around killing cats like Mi's mother on his command. He makes a reappearance in the anime years later where he attempts to use Kotaro's robotic knowledge to get revenge on Doctor Go. He is voiced by

Naoki Tatsuta is a Japanese voice actor affiliated with Aoni Production. He is most known for the roles of Buta Gorilla ( Kiteretsu Daihyakka), Daima Jin ( High School! Kimengumi), Oolong (Dragon Ball), Dr. Escargon ( Kirby: Right Back at Ya!), Ashibe's F ...

. - A squadron of cyborg cats created by Dr. Go. Mi is the first in the line, created by Go from the remains of his pet kitten. There are four other remaining members who used to be strays taken care of by Go in his younger days before being gravely injured by a fire - #2, nicknamed Spyder, who can expand his arms, legs, and neck, #3, who also fights with his own sword and boasts a panda disguise, #4, who also has a bad temper and has a fierce hatred of Kuro for ruining Dr. Go's plans and humiliating him several times, and #5, who is seen with a robot companion, Lassie, and also uses a Gatling gun. #2 is voiced by Yuko Sasamoto, #3 is voiced by Rika Komatsu, #4 is voiced by Sayuri Yoshida and #5 is voiced by Mami Nakajima.

Others

is one of Suzuki's class representative. Despite being a class representative, he skips classes and makes a fool of Suzuki like other students. Along with Satoko, they appear a lot out of the other students and sometimes come along on adventures. He is voiced by Rika Komatsu. is one of Suzuki's class representatives. As a class representative, she is kind and takes her responsibilities serious and kindly guided Chieko who had just transferred, around the town. Like Kazuma, they appear a lot out of the other students and sometimes come along on adventures. She is voiced by Yuko Sasamoto. - A trio of friendly aliens that boast incredibly dangerous weapons. They are often also seen wearing special bracelets that can enlarge or shrink their targets. Their names are , , and ; Yai is the leader. The aliens are anime-original characters. - An alien princess who closely resembles Nana. Malo was supposed to marry her, but she refused and ran away. Despite her ladylike looks, she is actually quite selfish, she only appears in the anime and is voiced by Hiromi Tsunakake. - An alien prince of the YaYaYa group. He bears a striking resemblance to Kuro. Malo is supposed to be courteous and he has the opposite personality from Kuro, but he eats like a vampire, and he also boasts offensive British gas, he only appears in the anime and is voiced by Chika Sakamoto - A caricature of the manga's creator, Naoki Yokouchi. He makes fleeting appearances in some anime episodes. He is depicted wearing a purple trenchcoat with a similarly colored hat. - A stray pink poodle who was Kuro's crush in the beginning of the series. In the anime version, she lived in a house but moved away. She is voiced by

Yuko Sasamoto is a Japanese voice actress. Filmography Anime *'' Cyborg Kuro-chan'' (1999) – Pooly, Nyan Nyan Army No. 2/Spyder, Lily *''Hamtaro'' (2000) – Mimi (Momo Iwata) *'' Gate Keepers'' (2000) – Ayako Isagai *'' Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'' (20 ...

. - Mi's first love. She was abandoned by her owner and lived as a stray for a brief time before being adopted by a girl she had saved from an accident. She is voiced by

. - A stray dog in Kuro's past with a similar appearance to Pooly, but with pointed ears. She had been a surrogate mother to Kuro as a baby for a brief time before he was taken. She is in the manga only.

Media

Manga

The manga was originally released in issues of ''Comic BomBom'' from September 1997 until December 2001 with a total of 56 chapters. The chapters were then released across eleven volumes by

between 1998 and 2002. In Germany,

Egmont Manga & Anime Egmont Manga (EMA, formerly ''Egmont Manga & Anime'') is one of the largest publishers of manga in Germany. It was founded in 2000 as a daughter company of Egmont Ehapa, after the manga boom in Germany became apparent around the turn of the mi ...

published the first three volumes. In France,

Pika Édition Hachette Livre S.A. (; simply known as Hachette) is a French publishing group that was based in Paris. It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif which later became successively L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette ...

published the entire series. It has been published in Indonesia by

M&C Comics m&c! Publishing or better known as m&c! (stands for Magazine & Comics; ) is a publishing company in Indonesia. The company has its roots on Komik Gramedia Majalah in the 1980s, which often published various comics from foreign publishers. In 2003, ...

. A sequel series, was published from 2005 to 2006. Like the original, it has been published in Indonesia by

Anime

''Cyborg Kuro-chan'' was adapted into an anime series produced by Studio Bogey for

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Crayon Shin-chan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshito Usui. ''Crayon Shin-chan'' made its first appearance in 1990 in a Japanese weekly magazine called ''Weekly Manga Action'', which was published by Futabasha. Due to the death of ...

''. Two closing themes were created, those being ''Positive Vibration'' by Sister K, and '' Parapara Kuro-chan'' by Kyuu. The anime has been exported to several countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa. It has been broadcast on such channels including

Spacetoon Spacetoon ( or ) is a pan-Arab free-to-air television channel that specializes in animation and children programs. It began broadcasting on 15 March 2000 in Bahrain TV, and it is currently headquartered in Dubai. The channel targets children ...

and

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

. While the Tagalog Dub aired in the early 2000s had its opening theme performed by the Rap Group Salbakuta. The Italia 1 airing had an Italian opening that was sung by regular contributor

Cristina D'Avena Cristina D'Avena (born 6 July 1964) is an Italian actress, singer and television personality. She has sold nearly 7 million copies of her albums. D'Avena was selected to join the prestigious Institute of Antoniano choir, following her debut, ...

and Giorgio Vanni, titled "Roba da gatti". In India it aired titled Auto Cat.

was the narrator, a caricature of the creator of the manga. In Japan the anime was released on VHS by Media Factory and Public & Basic (PIBI). The first series was of tapes were episodes 1-26. a 2nd series was released but was rental only. only the first 53 episodes were released after Public & Basic shut down. The series was later released in Japan on several video streaming services such as Amazon Video and U-NEXT. No DVDs or Blu-rays have been released in Japan, likely due to licensing issues regarding the defunct production companies. Other countries like Indonesia and China saw the episodes releasing on VCD. Episodes have been uploaded onto

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

worldwide by Mondo World, owned by Grupa BB Media Ltd., Mondo own the distribution rights to the series in Europe and have shared episodes from several dubs they'e licensed. There were also three Cyborg Kuro-chan CDs released, The first one (Guru Guru Kuro-chan) was a CD single released on 25 November 1999, featuring extended versions of the shows opening and ending. The second release (Cyborg Kuro-chan: strongest Uchimakuri Music Encyclopedia TV - Original Soundtrack) was released on 21 June 2000 and contained most of the tracks used in the anime. The third and final release (Cyborg Kuro-chan Gatling mix) was released on 18 November 2000 but unlike the other CD, the content of this CD mainly consists of remixes of tracks from the previous releases

Episodes

Other merchandise

Takara Tomy (trade name, trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as , became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pi ...

made toys based on the characters. In 1999 the company released posable figures of the characters which included bendable limbs and detachable weapons, they also made trading cards and figures of Kuro and Mi with action features. In 2000 the company release 4 vehicle toys based on the Battleborgs from episode 19 of the anime, Matatabi, Kuro, Mi and Cyborg Kuro were released. Tomy also made special boxed figures which contained many accessories including weapons. These were the last Kuro-chan toys released by Tomy.

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

published

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s based on the series. , a

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

, was released for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

on 28 November 2002. Two

Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...

games were also released: on 23 March 2000, and on 19 October 2000. Official game guides were released for the Game Boy Color games. Taiwanese developer Lonaisoft also published a Windows game in 2002 under the title ''Pīlì Kù Yuè Māo'' ('); this was a 2D platform shooter loosely inspired by

Mega Man ''Mega Man'' (known as in Japan) is a video game franchise developed and published by Capcom, featuring the Mega Man (character), protagonist of the same name. The Mega Man (1987 video game), original game was released for the Nintendo Enter ...

Reception

Christian Hess, writing for the German site Animepro, noted the "thin storyline" of the manga. Malindy Hetfield, writing for Splashcomics, felt that the artwork was closer to a child's drawing style than a manga style. She felt the parodies in the second volume were very funny, cautioning that one needed to become accustomed to the drawing style, and summed up the third volume as "You want hearty humor, wacky drawings, absolutely crazy characters and the greatest orgy of destruction that can be accommodated in 170 pages? Well then, let's go and buy!" Nicholas Demay compared the series with ''

Samurai Pizza Cats ''Samurai Pizza Cats'' is an animated television show produced by Saban Entertainment. It is an adaptation of the anime series ''Kyatto Ninden Teyandee'' (''Cat Ninja Legend Teyandee''), produced by Tatsunoko Production and Sotsu Agency, w ...

'', and described the drawing style as cartoonish, feeling that it supported the surreal tone of the manga, by reminding the reader that despite the "explosive ambiance" that this is a humorous series, intended for children. He felt that by the fourth volume, it was clear that Yokouchi intended to use simple characterisations (especially in Dr. Go's case), but felt that this was effective and heightened the contrast between the cuteness of the series and its depictions of mass destruction. Demay felt that the fifth volume, taking place in an alternate dimension, was a chance for Yokouchi to renew himself and to have a change of scenery, and noted that the backgrounds in this sequence are more detailed than usual. He felt that the story of Kuro-chan and Nana's true relationship was "cute and funny". Demay found the ninth volume "bleak", and hoped it was not a sign that the series was becoming tired, but was relieved to find that the tenth volume returned to humorous storylines. Demay was more prepared for the final volume's focus on action rather than comedy, but appreciated that the author "sprinkled through" many gags, which Demay felt ''Cyborg Kuro-chan'' would not be the same without, feeling that it was an honorable conclusion to the series. The reviewer for Manga-News felt that the parodies of the early volumes quickly ran thin, and that the author's attempt to revive the series by adding in multiple characters left the reviewer confused. He felt that the later volumes' turn into emotional scenes and tragedy did not suit the series. He noted the ''

Die Hard ''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart (writer), Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, based on the 1979 novel ''Nothing Lasts Forever (Thorp novel), Nothing Lasts Forever'' by Roderick ...

'' parody in the second volume, and felt that the references to Japanese culture in this volume were not adequately explained by Pika in the appendix. Despite this, he felt that it was accessible to a wide audience as most of the gags were visual gags. He described Kuro-chan as "a cross between

Astroboy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 volumes by Akita Shoten. Dark Ho ...

and

Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan (film producer), Pat Sullivan during the silent film era. An anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic young black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, ...

on acid". He felt that the translation sometimes altered jokes when they were clear in the original, for example, removing a reference to

Pikachu Pikachu (; Japanese: , Hepburn: ) is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's ''Pokémon'' media franchise, and the franchise's mascot. First introduced in the video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'', it was created by Atsuko N ...

. The reviewer for Manga-News noted that although the fifth volume concerned a more serious initial scenario and could be read independently of the others, that the storyline was more of the same silly humor and exaggerated violence. He felt that in the sixth volume, a "naive sentimentalism" clashed with the general ambiance of the series. In the seventh volume, there is a fight between Suzuki's students and Kuro in the desert, which the reviewer for Manga-News describes as inappropriate. In the ninth volume, the reviewer for Manga News felt that Chieko and Goro steal the stage from the main characters, and that the tenth volume was unfocused.

References

External links

* {{anime News Network, manga, 4272 1997 manga 1999 anime television series debuts 2005 manga Children's manga Comedy anime and manga Fictional cats Fictional cyborgs Kodansha franchises Konami franchises Game Boy Color games PlayStation (console) games TV Tokyo original programming Anime and manga characters introduced in 1997