is the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

of an eponymous series of children's

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

s written by . Books from the series have been translated into French and Chinese and adapted into an

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series in 1992 (where his voice was provided by

Chiaki Fujimoto , full name , is a Japanese tarento whose career ranges from singing, designing baby clothes, voice acting, and other similar pursuits in the entertainment industry. Biography Chiaki was born in Maizuru, Kyoto, on October 26, as the daughter ...

and

Ayaka Saitō is a Japanese actress, voice actress, and comedienne formerly employed by Vocal before transferring to remax. She is best known for voicing Momiji Sohma in ''Fruits Basket'', Tomoka Rana Jude in ''Girls Bravo'', Mitsukuni Haninozuka in ''Ou ...

). As of December 2020, over 33.6 million copies of the ''Nontan'' books have been sold. In the series, Nontan is a mischievous male

kitten A kitten is a Juvenile (organism), juvenile cat. After being born, kittens display primary altriciality and are fully dependent on their mothers for #Establishing immunity, survival. They normally do not open their eyes for seven to ten days. A ...

who likes to play and learn about the world around him. Other characters include Buta-san, the rabbit triplets, Tanuki-san, Kuma-san, Hachi-san, and Nontan's little sister Tartan. When the series first appeared, it was criticized for lacking clear lessons, with some fearing it would promote bad behaviour thus leading the character being a poor role model to children, According to the psychologist , this is due to the fact that Nontan had some bad traits and occasionally failed that children were able to feel close to him. The series has been used to prepare children for surgery, and analyzed in academic articles. Kiyono died of a brain tumor on 19 June 2008 at age 60, but her death was not announced until December of that year.

History

The series debuted in August 1976 with . Since then, it has gained popularity not only for their picture books, but also for

CDs CDS, CDs, Cds, etc. may refer to: Finance * Canadian Depository for Securities, Canadian post-trade financial services company * Certificate of deposit (CDs) * Counterfeit Deterrence System, developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence ...

, CGI animation, and its licensed products. Originally, Kiyono and Yasuomi Ōtomo wanted the book to star a

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

, and the book would be titled , with a white fox as its character. After that, the character was changed to a cat and the book was renamed to . However, the word "Dora-kun" was difficult for children to pronounce, so the character was renamed to Nontan, which was the name of Kiyono's daughter."MOE" (in Japanese) May 1995, Page 86-87. The first published Nontan books are ''Nontan Buranko no Sete'', and . Due to the situation of picture books in 1976, the author feared that the mischievous act of ''Akanbe Nontan'' would be rejected by mothers who purchased picture books."MOE" (in Japanese) May 1995、Page 86。 In 2002, French versions of 4 ''Nontan'' books have been published by Nathan, with the character being renamed to Miouki.

Characters

Almost every character except Nontan and Tartan are unnamed because according to its creator, they "didn't feel the need". The names of the characters are based on the original picture book version. Some characters have different names in ''Nontan to Issho''.

Nontan

Nontan is a mischievous male kitten who likes to play and learn about the world around him. He lives alone in a house with a flag on the roof, but since Tartan appeared, he has lived with Tartan. His age varies from work to work and is not constant. He was 4 years old in .

Buta-san

Buta-san is a piglet. His favorite food are

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Rabbit

There are 3 pink rabbits in the book. One is a boy and two are girls, but they are indistinguishable by their appearance. One ear break is a boy. Gentle, far-right and scared. All of them are six years old. In the CGI anime, individual voice actors were in charge.

Tanuki-san

Tanuki-san is a tanuki, aged 3. He likes to look at the sky and the sea. He likes singing, but he's pretty tone deaf.

Kuma-san

Kuma-san is a bear, aged 8. He is a leader who helps everyone when they are in trouble, but he is usually very busy. He likes

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

nap A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to Somnolence, drowsiness during waking hours or as a means to supplement before ...

s, and

fishes A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fins and a hard skull, but lacking limbs with digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal jawless fish and the more common jawed ...

Tartan

Tartan is Nontan's sister with a blue ribbon. She loves

mischief Mischief (or malicious mischief) is the name for a class of criminal offenses that are defined differently in different legal jurisdictions. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism, there can be a lega ...

s and

oni An ( ) is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like th ...

s. In 2001, she first appeared in . The name comes from the name of Kiyono's son's sister. The inverse of the vertical relationship between the actual picture book and the picture book was because Kiyono has mistaken his son for being older . She appeared only in the 2002 animated series.

Hachi-san

A bee that flies around like watching over Nontan . He cannot speak, but he seems to be able to communicate.

Dr. Bear

A bear doctor who always treats Nontan when they get sick or injured.

Anime

An anime series, titled ran from 1992 to 1994 on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

's children's program ''Ugōgorūga''. A total of 265 episodes have been produced, two of which have not been broadcast. Chiaki was in charge of the theme song and Nontan's voice actress. The narration is written by Hirano. According to

Pierrot Pierrot ( , ; ), a stock character of pantomime and commedia dell'arte, has his origins in the late 17th-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a hypocorism, diminutive of ''Pierr ...

's homepage, which was in charge of animation production, this work is planned as a "musical-style animation", and comical sound effects and music are effectively used. There is also a whole story like a music clip. In addition, despite being for young children, there are

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

episodes such as "Gorufujō". The anime was also dubbed into Arabic, and was aired on

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 ...

. Another anime made in CGI animation also aired on

Kids Station Kids Station ( Japanese: キッズステーション, ''Kizzu Sutēshon'') is a Japanese cable and satellite television channel that launched on April 12, 1993. It primarily airs anime and other animation-related content aimed at children during ...

in 2002.

Video games

Character products

Character products have been temporarily released, such as at the time of ''Nontan to Issho'''s broadcast. In March 2000, ITOCHU developed character products using the characters from the ''Nontan'' and ''Tom Tom ☆ Boo'' series as part of the ''Mama Nontan World Series''. Mama Nontan is the nickname given to the book's author Sachiko Kiyono."白猫ノンタン、子供服や自転車に──伊藤忠、キャラクター展開" (In Japanese) "

Nihon Keizai Shimbun ''The Nikkei'', also known as , is the flagship publication of Nikkei, Inc. (based in Tokyo) and the world's largest financial newspaper, with a daily circulation exceeding 1.73 million copies. The Nikkei 225, a stock market index for the Tokyo ...

" February 16, 2000, page 16。

Notes

References

{{Polygon Pictures Anime series Japanese computer-animated television series Characters in children's literature Series of children's books