Line #30 Manga/IganoKabamaru


1	[[quoteright:392:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iga.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:392:Left to right, above: Mai, Hayate, Kabamaru and Maejiro]]
3	''Igano Kabamaru (伊賀野カバ丸)'' is a 1979 manga series written by by Yū Azuki. It ran for two years, from 1979 to 1981 in the {{shojo}} magazine ''Bassetsu Margaret'' published by Shuesha. It is a ninja-themed comedic anime.
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5	Two years after the manga ended, it received an anime adaptation, directed by Tameo Kohanowa. The anime ran from 20 October, 1983 to 29 March, 1984 and spanned 24 episodes.
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7	Kabamaru Igano was orphaned at a young age. He was raised by his grandfather, Saizo Igano, to be a skilled ninja, alongside another orphan named Hayate Kirino. On the day of his grandfather's funeral, Kabamaru learns that one of the guests, Ran Ookumo, knew his grandfather and he asked that she care for him should he ever die. It turns out that Ookumo is the headmistress of Kin'gyoku, an elite school, and Kabamaru is to enroll there. He doesn't know it, but Kin'gyoku is actually at odds with the rival school Ōgyoku - the heads of their student councils (Shizune Meijiro and Shuu Meijima, respectively) have been feuding for a long time, and Meijiro can't wait to use Kabamaru as a pawn for it...
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9	Complicating matters further is that Kirino now rejects Kabamaru as a brother and tells him that they actually had no such bond. Kirino, now working with Ōgyoku, has resigned himself to the mountains, aloof from everyone's presence. Kabamaru wants to do his best for Kin'gyoku, but also cares for his once-best friend, and feels at a loss. His other struggles include adjusting to the urban lifestyle as a raggedy CountryMouse.
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11	Reading the synopsis, you may think this manga is a prototype to ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. You'd be right, but {{ninja}} stories of this kind are actually very common in Japan. That doesn't change the fact that there are some quite uncanny parallels, like the main character fighting against his friend-turned-foe, believing he can bring him back to the side of good, his AbhorrentAdmirer status to the girl he likes, and the complicated politics of the system around him. Many who grew up with it describe it as "''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' meets ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', but [[DenserAndWackier STUPID]]".[[note]]Yes, this is said with the knowledge that ''Naruto'' itself can be pretty zany at times[[/note]]
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13	In 1983, ''Igano Kabamaru'' received a LiveActionAdaptation directed by Suzuki Norifumi. The lead, Kabamaru, was played by Teru Kurosaki with Junya Takagi (Hayate), Hiroyuki Sanada (Shizune), Kumiko Takeda (Mai), Naomi Morinaga (Kaoru) in supporting roles. It was directed by Shinishi Chiba and grossed $1.4 Billion Japanese yen.
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15	After 32 years, Yū Azuki broke her silence about the series and announced she was drawing a sequel manga, titled ''Igano Kabamaru★Sorikara''.
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17	Not to be confused with the similarly named ''Iga No Kagemaru'' by Mitsuteru Yokoyama.
18	!!Has examples of:
19	* The60s: You can clearly tell this anime takes place in the 60s-early 70s Japan because of the pop culture references (Tono, for example, calls Shigeo Nagashima one of his favourite baseball players) and the cars.
20	* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Meijima is the Student Council head and his family is an absurdly large conglomerate with business ties all over the country; Meijima himself lives in a BigFancyHouse and has many servants and valets.
21	* AdaptationalBadass: Futaba Meijiro (Shizune's older sister) uses nunchucks in the anime adaptation, whereas in the manga she wasn't inclined to any weapon.
22	* AdaptationDeviation:
23	** [[spoiler: In the manga, Kirino had no problem fighting Kabamaru for Ōgyoku. In the anime, Suu makes him do it.]]
24	** In the original manga, Mai's glasses-wearing best friend had a crush on Kabamaru, whereas in the anime [[spoiler: she sees Mai's crush on Kabamaru and supports him.]]
25	* AdaptedOut:
26	** Luxurious Banquet was adapted out of the anime version, but appeared in the live-action version.
27	** Many of Kabamaru's childhood friends in the manga are adapted out of the anime series.
28	* AdolfHitlarious: ''Adolf Hitler'' makes an appearance during the baseball tournament between schools, where he arrives through a Zeppelin and serves as the batter to Kabamaru's pitcher. He fails to hit it, and cries "Heil Hitler" as he loses.
29	* AlternateCharacterReading: Kabamaru misreads Kaoru Nonogusa's name as "sniff" (because of the kanji).
30	* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: ''Igano Kabamaru'' has an Arabic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLLVnVKJNJI opening]] and a Greek [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf5rxWa0DuY opening]].
31	* CanonForeigner: Mikizura (the old man at the yakisoba shop) wasn't in the manga.
32	* CartoonPhysics: Anytime Kabamaru is around food, he turns into a full-on {{gonk}}, his mouth turns as wide as a plate, and he tosses the food-mid air as it lands in his mouth...regardless of how hard he throws it.
33	* ChristmasEpisode: One episode is set during Christmas Eve, and focuses on Ran's love life.
34	* ComingOfAgeStory: The manga begins with Kabamaru leaving his old home behind, and becoming an unwitting pawn in the schemes of Shizune Meijiro, while coping with the loss of the man he grew up with as a brother.
35	* DrivenToSuicide: Hoshiko Wakabayashi always dreamed of being a painter, but when she found out that, due to a series of differing circumstances, that she could never become one, she attempted suicide, only for Igano to rescue her. [[spoiler: Eleven years later, we see Hoshiko after the TimeSkip - she's fulfilled her dream.]]
36	* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: In the anime, Ran, Saizo and Suu went to the same school as children.
37	* {{Fanboy}}: The Kendo club team captain is so obsessed with the sport that he practices special techniques based on the kendo manga he reads.
38	* FictionalCountry: In the manga, there's Lovalde, a nation where minor character Khalil is from.
39	* FlowersOfRomance: When Kabamaru sees Mai for the first time, he's struck with her beauty and then has an ImagineSpot of her surrounded by flying pink and white roses.
40	-->'''Kabamaru:''' ''"My-my face is getting hot! My heart's beating so fast! [[WhatIsThisFeeling Why? Why?]]"''
41	* {{Gonk}}: Many a commoner in the village Kabamaru grew up in are fat, short and utterly cartoonish. When Ran enters for the first time, her and Kabamaru look like they're of NonstandardCharacterDesign compared to them.
42	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: For all his BookDumb tendencies, Kabamaru can read the Chinese inscriptions on his grandfather's tablets.
43	* GratuitousPrincess: [[spoiler: Remember Khalil, the messenger for the Meijiro family? He's actually the Prince of [[FictionalCountry Lovalde]].]]
44	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Two utterly bizarre cases in the baseball episode, where Adolf Hitler and Geronimo appear, and no one bats an eye at them competing against regular high schoolers.
45	* HongKongDub: When the series was dubbed in Greek, the frequent mouth flaps posed a problem to the Greek dubbing team, so they tried to fill this in with the repetition of phrases, as well as swearing. Part of why Greek audiences remember it for it's [[SoBadItsGood charm]].
46	* IncestSubtext: Ran states on the day that she brings Kabamaru home that him and Mai are to be siblings. Though Kabamaru has a crush on her, Mai is so disgusted that she runs out of the room crying. [[spoiler: Kabamaru continues to have feelings for her despite being told that she's his sister, and eventually, in the end, Mai admits that she reciprocates his feelings.]]
47	* LegFocus: The cheerleaders at Kin'gyoku wear very skimpy, skintight outfits and their routines involve showing off their right legs.
48	* LiveActionAdaptation: The manga received one in 1983. It amassed over a billion yen which is quite impressive for a film of it's kind.
49	* LoveTriangle:
50	** Kabamaru, Shuu Meijima and Derek have feelings for Mai Ookumo, Principal Ookumo's granddaughter.
51	** Even Saizo Igano was quite the ladies man. In his youth, he captured the hearts of Ran Ookumo and Suu Matsuno; [[spoiler: they eventually stopped being friends over their rivalry for him.]]
52	* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler: It takes a lot of arguing, thumping and complicated situations....but eventually, Kabamaru/Mai.]]
53	* OrphanageOfLove: While Ran Ookumo doesn't run an orphanage, she takes in Mai and Igano, who are both children who have lost their parents, and enrolls them in her school while making sure all their needs are met.
54	* PhenotypeStereotype: With a few exceptions, most of the characters have pale to olive-brown skin, and dark, thin, black hair.
55	* SceneryPorn: The backgrounds of this anime are very beautifully drawn. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9_150.jpg See here]].
56	* SensualSpandex: The cheerleader uniforms are skimpy, orange, skin-tight suits that cover the upper chest/torso but nothing of the legs, and have frilly armbands.
57	* {{Shojo}}: Yes, believe it or not, this proto-''Naruto'' series about two ninja boys is a shojo. It ran in a shojo magazine and the large number of cast {{Pretty Boy}}s is possibly to appeal to a female audience. The OnlySaneWoman is Mai (who's likely meant to be a stand-in for female readers) and her romance with the title character is a key part of the story.
58	* ShoutOut: The school's baseball captain names Shigeo Nagashima and Sadaharu Oh as his favourite players (two RealLife Japanese baseballers who are affiliated with the Giants).
59	* TokenWhite:
60	** While most of the students look phenotypically Japanese (even Mai, who's a redhead - Japanese redheads are rare, but actually do exist), Kaoru Nonogusa has long, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, but nothing is said of her origins.
61	** The Gladforce family, who are British. There's Anthony, who's distantly related to Kabamaru[[note]]Their grandfathers were cousins[[/note]] (and a dead ringer for him) and Derek.
62	* WomenAreWiser: Averted and played straight - Ran and Suu are just as dumb as their male counterparts, whereas Mai and Kaoru are surprised by the stupidity of everyone around them. .

Context Manga / IganoKabamaru