Kiteretsu Daihyakka (キテレツ大百科; "Kiteretsu Large Encyclopedia"; commonly shortened to Kiteretsu) is a Japanese manga series by Fujiko F. Fujio, which ran in the children's magazine Kodomo no Hikari from April 1974 to July 1977. The manga was later made into an animated anthology television special which aired in 1987 on Fuji Television and its affiliates and a 331-episode anime television series that ran on the same channel from March 27, 1988, to June 9, 1996.
Contents
Plot
The series is the story of a scientific inventor boy genius named Eiichi Kite, a descendant of an inventor named Kiteretsu Saisama, who has built a companion robot named Korosuke. His friends are Miyoko, a girl in his neighborhood who has a crush on him, Buta Gorira (Kumada Kaoru), a local bully, and Tongari, a rich boy. They all attend the same school and are in the same grade. Eiichi goes on frequent adventures with his friends and Korosuke in the time machine which he built.
Characters
Eiichi Kite (木手英一, Kite Eiichi) (a.k.a., Kiteretsu (キテレツ))
An 11-year-old 5th grader who lives in Tokyo. He is a child prodigy with a strong mechanical and inventive attitude, but the only thing he is weak at is sports. He can repair normal machines and invent variations of the Daihyakka gadgets. Voiced by: Toshiko Fujita.
Korosuke (コロ助)
Kiteretsu's lazy robot assistant who usually ends his sentences with nari (ナリ). He usually wears an artificial samurai sword. He is an invention in the encyclopedia. He was made by Kiteretsu himself. Voiced by: Mami Koyama and later by Kazuko Sugiyama.
Miyoko Nonohana (野々花みよ子, Nonoha Miyoko) (a.k.a., Miyo-chan (みよちゃん)))
A very intelligent girl who is one of Kiteretsu's best friends, and Kiteretsu's love interest. She is shown to be Kiteretsu's future wife in several time-travel episodes. She resembles Michiko Sawada from Perman. Voiced by: Yuriko Yamamoto, followed by Mayumi Shō and Chieko Honda.
Kaoru Kumada (熊田薫, Kumada Kaoru) (a.k.a., Butagorira (ブタゴリラ))
One of Kiteretsu's friends who is the son of a green grocer who loves vegetables. He is a typical bully, but is mostly comic relief. Voiced by: Hiroshi Ōtake and later by Naoki Tatsuta.
Kōji Tongari (尖浩二, Tongari Kōji) (a.k.a., Tongari (トンガリ))
A rich boy and one of Kiteretsu's friends. He is easily frightened, and a best friend of Butagorira, though is quite often bullied by him. Voiced by: Ryū Manatsu and later by Yūji Mitsuya.
Benzō Karino
A friend and mentor of Kiteretsu and his friends, as well as a university student. He owns a car. Voiced by: Kaneta Kimotsuki.
Media
Manga
Kiteretsu Daihyakka vol. 1–3 (Tentōmushi Comics, Shogakukan, 1977)
Kiteretsu Daihyakka vol. 1–4 (Fujiko F. Fujio Land, Chūō Kōron Shinsha, 1984)
Kiteretsu Daihyakka vol. 1–2 (Shogakukan Koro r Bunko, Shogakukan, 1984)
My First BIG Kiteretsu vol. 1–2 (Shogakukan, 2003)
Anime
The manga was later adapted into an anime series, which aired on Fuji TV between March 27, 1988, and June 9, 1996.
Planning: Taihei Ishikawa→Kenji Shimizu (Fuji TV), Yoshirō Kataoka (Asatsu)
Producers:
Kenji Shimizu→Minoru Wada→Yoshihiro Suzuki (Fuji TV)
Yoshio Kataoka→Kazuhiko Ishikawa→Tateshi Yamazaki→Yutaka Sugiyama (Asatsu)
Akio Wakana (Gallop)
Tetsuo Kanno (Staff 21)
Script: Shun'ichi Yukimuro, Takashi Yamada, Toshiyuki Aoshima, Satoshi Namiki, Tadaaki Yamazaki
General Animation Directors: Tsukasa Tannai, Kazuyuki Kobayashi, Hajime Watanabe, Nobuyuki Tokinaga, Shōjurō Yamauchi
Art director: Shichirō Kobayashi→Satoshi Shibata
Backgrounds: Kobayashi Production, Studio Kanon
Director of photography: Shigeo Sugimura (credited as Yasuhiro Shimizu for part of it)→Hiroaki Edamitsu
Music director: Nobuhiro Komatsu
Music: Shunsuke Kikuchi
Director: Hiro Katsuoka→Keiji Hayakawa
Executive Producer: Mikio Wakana
Sound Producer: Yōsuke Kuroda
Listing includes the song title followed by the episodes and the singer in parentheses.
Games
On February 23, 1990, Epoch released an action game for the Famicom.
On July 15, 1994, another action game, Kiteretsu Daihyakka: Bouken Ouedo Juraki, was released by Video System for the Game Boy.
A board game titled Kiteretsu Daihyakka: Chōjikū Sugoroku was released on January 27, 1995, by Video System for the Super Famicom.
Another game was made for the Sega Pico.
Television drama
A 1 hour-15 minute one-shot live action drama adaptation aired on NHK Educational TV on January 1, 2002. The adaptation featured a CGI Korosuke voiced by Mami Koyama.
Reception
The anime was ranked 31st on a list published by TV Asahi in 2005 of the top 100 anime. The series was said to be "little more than a respray of the creators' earlier and far more successful Doraemon". The Review Geek indeed noted that, "In some instances, Kiteretsu Encyclopedia feels like a Doraemon clone. This series not only shares the same creator as Doraemon; it follows a similar episodic premise involving a robot and a human. This show includes a cartoon-like art style and is an enjoyable series to watch when you feel stressed or worn out".
The same media wrote that the series "relie[d] on its charming family dynamics and varied humor to keep the audience entertained".