Don-Don-Dommel to Ron (どんどんドメルとロン) is a Japanese anime series based on the Belgian comic book Cubitus. It was directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa. It ran from April 1988 to March 1989 on TV Tokyo, ending at 52 episodes. In some other cities, it aired on Fuji TV or NTV affiliates.
The series followed the adventures of the titular character, Dommel, a large anthropomorphic white dog with an enormous appetite who lives with his owner, Professor Ron, an eccentric inventor. Other characters of the series include Blacky, a black and white cat who always causes trouble for Dommel, a nieghbourhood girl Cherry and her younger brother Bob, and Beatrice, a woman who is always rude and condescending to Dommel (and secretly has eyes for the Professor).
Dommel and Ron get into wacky adventures because of the inventions, that are either supported, sabotaged or misused by those around them.
In the US, the series was renamed Wowser. It was distributed by Saban Entertainment in the US and aired on The Family Channel in 1989.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Diversity: Gender example - the anime adds two female characters to the cast and they're in prominent focus for most of the show.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: Has a Polish
alternative theme song and intro. - Amusing Injuries: A Running Gag is Ron's inventions backfiring and crippling him, and every time Dommel gets hurt it's Played for Laughs, since he's the cast's Butt-Monkey.
- Animal Jingoism: Dommel is a dog doesn't get along with Blacky the cat, because Cats Are Mean.
- Animesque: Inverted. It's a Japanese anime, but looks like an American cartoon because it's based on a Belgian comic strip.
- Bilingual Bonus: "Dommel" is a play on the Dutch word for "dumb".
- Birthday Episode: The episode "Slap Happy Birthday" focused on Dommel's birthday, which involves him throwing a party for all of his friends. Unfortunately, thanks to Blacky adding extra spices to the cake that Dommel was making, this results in everyone who's had a taste of the cake to act berserk.
- Canon Foreigner: Beatrice, Officer Whistle, Cherry and Bob weren't present in the original Cubitus comic.
- Cardiovascular Love: When Cherry kisses Dommel on the cheek, his eyes turn into hearts and he's surrounded by many mini-hearts.
- Cartoon Bomb: Blacky uses one of these in the episode "Motor Maze To The Market" on Wowser and Bob. Unfortunately for him, it backfires on him.
- Cartoon Dog Breed: Dommel looks more like a polar bear than he does a dog.
- Diet Episode: The episode "The Weight Loser" focused on Dommel being put on a diet after Professor Ron reprimands him for eating a lot more than he normally does.
- Dub-Induced Plotline Change: In the US dub, Dommel's name is "Wowser" because he says "wow" a lot.
- Enemy Eats Your Lunch: Blacky does this literally in one episode. He greedily devours Dommel's lunchtime sausage while the big dog is testing one of the professor's new inventions.
- Explosive Results: Professor Ron's inventions have a high risk of exploding, either due to construction errors, sabotage or other unforeseen circumstances.
- Fanservice: There's quite a lot of focus on Beatrice's...chest assets. One episode has her wear a skin-tight dress that show off her Hartman Hips.
- Fire-Breathing Diner: Happens to Dommel in the episode "Automatic Eater", as a result of the hot pepper and mustard that Blacky put on his sandwich.
- Growling Gut: Happens to Dommel in the episode "Just An Old Cut-Up".
- Humanlike Foot Anatomy / Humanlike Hand Anatomy: Dommel and Blacky both have no problems walking upright on two legs and they are also capable of using their front paws as hands.
- I Broke a Nail: Beatrice says the name of this trope word for word in the episode "The Weight Loser".
- Kodomomuke: It's a light-hearted series more akin to Tom and Jerry rather than a typical anime.
- Leg Focus: Cherry and the rest of the girls on her cheerleading squad get this amongst their Sensual Spandexes.
- Matryoshka Object: Used in the episode "Slap Happy Birthday" when Wowser finds a birthday present from Ratso on his doorstep, which turns out to be one of these, only for Wowser to find an itty-bitty (explosive) bone after taking all of the boxes out of the other.
- Meaningful Name: English dub-only. Wowser gets his name from the fact that he often exclaims "Wow" a lot, while Ratso's name is taken from the fact that he is naughty and acts like a rat. The meaning behind Professor Dingy's name is obvious.
- Once an Episode: Professor Ron and Dommel invent something, Blacky stages a Zany Scheme to sabotage them, and the surrounding toenspeople are affected.
- Pain-Powered Leap: Happened more than once to Wowser.
- Pun: When Cherry wears a bodysuit that starts overinflating to the point it touches the building walls, Dommel declares "Hold on! Cause we're just about to have an outburst!" before sticking a needle into it.
- Road-Sign Reversal: Used twice in the episode "Motor Maze To The Market" by Blacky, in order to lead Dommel and Bob on a high-speed chase in an underground railroad shaft.
- Running Gag: Like the original comic, Dommel and Blacky are arch enemies that abuse the crap out of one another.
- Shout-Out: One episode is a homage to old American Westerns, and features the cast in deserts and cowboy hats, to boot.
- Stock Sound Effects: For a Japanese anime, this series is notorious for its wide use of Hanna-Barbera sound effects, as well as other sound effects commonly used in other anime series.
- Time Travel Episode: One episode has Professor Ron build a time machine; it doesn't actually work, but both Dommel and the professor think otherwise due to Blacky tampering with a nearby clock while they're inside the machine.
- The Unintelligible: Officer Whistle, a police officer who only communicates by use of a whistle in his mouth.
