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Igano Kabamaru (伊賀野カバ丸) is a Japanese manga series written & illustrated by Yū Azuki. The eponymous protagonist is a naive young ninja from the Iga province called Kagemaru (absolute shadow), nicknamed Kabamaru (hippo's mouth) for his insatiable appetite. After the death of his strict grandfather & ninja sensei, Kabamaru moves to Tokyo with one of his grandfather's acquaintances. The plot deals mainly with Kabamaru adjusting to an urban lifestyle after spending a childhood in the mountains, him developing feelings for his guardian's granddaughter, & how he finds himself caught up in the rivalry between two private schools.
Igano Kabamaru has been adapted to an anime series & a live-action film.
Kabamaru was orphaned at a young age & raised by his grandfather Saizō Igano, who trained Kabamaru & another young orphan, Hayate Kirino in the ninja arts. Kabamaru is in his adolescence when his grandfather dies. At his funeral, he meets an elderly lady called Ran Ookubo. Saizō was Ran's first love & he had asked her in a letter to take care of his grandson when he died. Kabamaru follows Ran back to Tokyo, where he is to stay in her house & attend Kin'gyoku (Golden Rules) School, of which Ran is the headmistress.
On arriving, Kabamaru meets Mai Ookubo, Ran's granddaughter, who has lived with her ever since the death of her parents. Kabamaru takes a liking to Mai, but she finds his coarse manners & endless appetite embarrassing & repulsive.
Kin'gyoku School & Ōgyoku School have been bitter rivals for almost half a century, largely due to the rivalry between the wealthy & influential families of Shuu Maejima, head of the Ōgyoku student council & Shizune Mejiro, a student council member at Kin'gyoku. Kabamaru becomes an unwitting pawn of the student council members in their various machinations.
Complicating matters is the return of Kabamaru's onetime friend, now rival, Hayate. Hayate reveals to Kabamaru that he used him in order to escape from Saizō & leave his past in the mountains behind. He urges Kabamaru to forget their friendship & stay in the mountains.
Maejima extends his control over the student councils of other schools, forming secret "assault squads" there & enlisting members of criminal gangs to do his dirty work. Shizune enlists Kabamaru to help him in the fight against Ōgyoku. Mai visits Ōgyoku School to personally talk to Maejima & ask him to stop, but Maejima's goons mistake her as Shizune's accomplice & capture her. News of Mai's kidnapping & Shirakawa's injury reach Shizune, along with a one-on-one challenge from Maejima at the docks. This time, both cheat by bringing their gangs with them & an all-out confrontation between the students & staff of the two schools ensues. This is cut short when Hayate challenges Kabamaru, revealing himself as Mai's kidnapper.
Kabamaru's rage temporarily overcomes him & they begin fighting. During the fight, Kabamaru strikes Hayate in the shoulder & causes him to fall in the water. Just as everyone thinks Hayate has drowned, he emerges from the water, along with grandfather Saizō, who faked his death to introduce Kabamaru to the second stage of ninja training & the responsibilities of an adult. Hayate & Kabamaru, now reconciled, decide to return with Saizō to the mountains to continue their training, but not before Mai expresses her newfound feelings to Kabamaru & they promise to meet again.
Characters
Kabamaru Igano: Ryūsei Nakao
Young Kabamaru: Masako Nozawa
Mai Ookubo: Mai Tachihara
Hayate Kirino: Hideyuki Tanaka
Young Hayate: Eiko Yamada
Shizune Mejiro: Akira Kamiya
Saizō Igano: Kenichi Ogata
Young Saizō: Ryūsei Nakao
Ran Ookubo: Eiko Yamada
Suu Matsuno: Masako Nozawa
Vice Principal: Yūsaku Yara
Kaoru Nonogusa: Youko Asagami
Shirakawa: Daisuke Gōri
Shū Maejima: Akio Nojima
Futaba Mejiro: Kenjirō Ishimaru
Kaname Mejiro: Shigeru Chiba
The Igano Kabamaru manga was serialized in Bessatsu Margaret from 1979 to 1981, with total 12 volumes of books released.
In 2015 a new manga sequel of Igano Kabamaru was released, titled "Igano Kabamaru Sorikara" serialized in "Monthly YOU" magazine.
The anime series was produced by Group TAC & Toho. The 24 episodes were broadcast in Japan by Nippon Television between October 20, 1983 & March 29, 1984.
Despite that in Japan there was low popularity, it acquired immense popularity in Greece. One main reason for this was the low quality of English-based dubbing often called "so bad that it's actually good", but it nevertheless impacted the growth of anime in the country.
A live action film based on the plot of the manga & the anime was released on August 6, 1983, directed by Norifumi Suzuki. It starred Hikaru Kurosaki as Kabamaru, Kumiko Takeda as Mai, Sanada Hiroyuki as Shizune & Sonny Chiba as Saizō.
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