I finally pulled the first Tora-san box set, released by AnimEigo, from my pile of unseen DVD discs. What a great series, from the opening dialogue of the first film (1969) to the ending of the fourth I found myself wanting to see the next film. Atsumi Kiyoshi's portrayal of Kuruma Torajiro, aka Tora-san, is a delight. The bighearted fast talking Tora-san is enough of an idiot to get himself into all sorts of situations, usually complicated by his good intentions. Tora-san always manages to work his way through the mess he got himself into and in doing so drags others into it to our amusement.
If you are looking for a classic series of highly entertaining films I recommend these. You will see why they were popular enough to become a 48 film series.
One of the places I plan to visit in my next trip to Tokyo is the Tora-san Museum in Shibamata, the neighborhood much of the stories take place in. I even intend to take the Yagiri Ferry to Chiba and walk the banks of the Edogawa river just like Tora-san does in the movies.
I have now added two new entries to my Anime Companion Supplement. These are:
Atsumi Kiyoshi 渥美清
Otoko wa Tsurai Yo (It's Tough Being a Man, aka: The Tora-san movies) 男はつらいよ
Monday, April 18, 2011
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3 comments:
Another anime example: In Cosplay Complex Gorou Yorozuyo is briefly shown cosplaying as Tora-san, I believe in the opening credits. (There was a Tora-san anime special.)
Hum, I'll just have to buy a copy of Cosplay Complex now.
I have heard the Tora-san anime was based on the manga.
I checked, and the appearance of the Tora-san cosplay is in episode 1 at c. 17:25 (AKA ch. 4, c. 2:25) in the ADV release.
As for a manga, I have no idea—my sources are the same as your first two, and it's been a while since I read those entries.
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