Trivia / Doctor Slump

• Breakthrough Hit:
  • The series earned Akira Toriyama fame as one of the most popular manga-ka in Japan, and he would later get more recognition from the Dragon Ball franchise both there and throughout the rest of the world.
  • It was also something of a breakthrough hit for broadcaster Fuji Television after the station's 1981 reformatting from a family-friendly channel to a new emphasis on comedy programming, thus helping pave the way for Urusei Yatsura and many other iconic anime series of the 1980s.
• Channel Hop: After the series concluded its run on Fuji TV, reruns aired on Animax from 2018 to 2019.
• Creator Couple: In the 1990s remake, Yumi Touma voiced minor roles and her husband Tatsuya Yoshida was one of the show's planners.
• Completely Different Title: In Hong Kong, the series is known as IQ博士 (Doctor IQ / IQ Professor).
• Executive Meddling:
  • If Toriyama is to be believed, this is how Arale came to be. Originally the comic was just about Senbei and his inventions. But Torishima insisted that Toriyama create a female lead instead. Toriyama did so intend on just making her a supporting character, but she ironically ended up taking over the whole manga anyway.
  • Then there was the incident when Torishima asked Toriyama to create a villain for the series. After Toriyama sent his initial design to Torishima, only to be rejected and then told to "think of the person he hated the most", Toriyama, already annoyed with him, came up with basing his next villainous design off of Torishima instead. Enter Dr. Mashirito.
  • Toriyama, by his own admission, isn't the type who Thinks Like a Romance Novel, whereas Torishima is. Most of the characters' pairings and their being Happily Married in the future only end up this way because Torishima made the suggestions.
• Follow the Leader: "Cybot Robotchi", another show where a wacky inventor living in a weird village builds a robot with great powers but the mindset of a child.
• Late Export for You: The first anime adaptation premiered in Japan in 1981. 40 years later, in 2021, it was announced that Tubi TV would add the TV anime, sub-only, in North America and it turned out to be the 1990s remake.
• Market-Based Title: When the first anime series aired in China, it was known as 天才博士和他的机器娃娃 (Genius Professor and his Robot Doll).
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": In the USA and English speaking countries, Arale is more well known for her appearance in Dragon Ball, and is generally accepted by fans of the latter as a Dragon Ball character more so than a Dr. Slump character.
• Milestone Celebration: The Tubi TV release coincided with the 40th anniversary of the anime, and the 35th anniversary of its ending.
• Missing Episode: 15 episodes of the original anime series were skipped when the anime first aired in Hong Kong due to their sexual and risque contents. Those episodes would aired there almost three decades later, but only in the late night time slot, and with a different dubbing cast.
• No Export for You: While the entirety of the manga has been translated and released in English, only the first episode of the first adaptation was dubbed into English by Harmony Gold, and this episode was lost for decades before finally resurfacing in 2017. It has however been dubbed in Germany, and part of the first adaptation has been dubbed in French as well.
  • Both the original series and the remake were broadcasted in Mexico and Latin America.
  • The original series has two different dubs in Italy, the first of which was never completed and the second one coming out alongside the remake's dub, sharing much of the same cast.
  • Some of the original series's episodes have also received a Cantonese dub, albeit much harder to find.
  • Despite the original airing in Malaysia, the remake hasn't.
  • Whereas the remake is streamed on Tubi, all of the original anime that came over to America (not counting Harmony Gold's attempted dub) were the first five movies (sub-only, of course).
  • The Playstation video game is also Japanese exclusive, but has a Fan Translation.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: There was once a rumor floating around that the Canadian company Nelvana dubbed the anime for Canadian distribution, but was never released and fell into obscurity. There were also various Wikipedia pages of some of the The Ocean Group actors that mentioned "Dr. Slump" on their filmography, which might've meant that the supposed Nelvana dub might've had a voice cast from Vancouver, just like Nelvana's dub of Cardcaptors. It is unknown if this dub rumor is true or not.
• Referenced by...:
  • As revealed on the back cover, the main character of the series appears alongside the Doraemon and Kinnikuman characters in the 1989 doujinshi novel The Sun Fell in Penguin Village (ペンギン村に陽は落ちて).
  • The series' massive popularity on Japan meant it was quite influential on video games of the era:
    • In Super Mario Bros. 3, Mario runs with his arms stretched out,similar to Arale. Mario's Tanooki suit in that game also a ringer for the one Arale wears in the show's intro, complete with a striped tail (which real Tanuki do not have).
    • The title screens of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, with Sonic inside of a ring lined with stars and a banner at the bottom, are an homage to the iconic ''Dr. Slump'' logo. Fittingly, as Arale is also known for her Super-Speed.
• Throw It In!: As detailed in Executive Meddling above, most of the pairings of the main characters are the results of Torishima's suggestions because Toriyama isn't an expert at romance. The only exception, by Toriyama's own admission, happened because Toriyama couldn't come up with any material one day and thought that it would be fun to pair two of them together. He didn't want to get into a drawn-out romantic plot, however, and so had those two characters become accidentally married due to a Wacky Marriage Proposal.
• What Could Have Been: Harmony Gold was planning to release an English dub of Doctor Slump. Which had almost every character save Arale's first name changed, and some scenes like Senbei crossdressing was cut. But the only episode they did dub was the first episode as it was not picked up. It can be viewed here.
  • Also the series in whole was intended to focus around Senbei and his inventions. However Toriyama's editor suggested acting a female protagonist, thus he created Arale.
• Write Who You Know: Dr. Mashirito is based off Toriyama's editor at the time, Kazuhiko Torishima. Ironically said editor inspired the character not only from his looks, but telling Toriyama to "Think of the the person he hated the most" when trying to make him come up with a villain for the series. Considering Toriyama was annoyed with most of his demands, Torishima kinda walked into that one. Though initially annoyed when he found out, Torishama was a good sport about it in following years.
  • Author Akira Sakuma, who collaborated with Toriyama on the “Shoddy Manga Laboratory” series, also shows up from time to time as “Makusa”, a street vendor.

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