Papuwa (stylized as PAPUWA) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ami Shibata and adapted into a 26-episode anime television series. The series follows Kotaro who is stranded on an uncharted island inhabited by strange talking animals and has no memory of his past. Papuwa is the sequel to Shibata's 1991 series Nangoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun (南国少年パプワくん), serialized in Enix's manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 1991 to 1995. That series was adapted into a 42-episode anime television series which aired on TV Asahi from October 1992 to June 1995.

Story

Once, on an unknown southern island, a battle was waged over two mysterious stones, one red and one blue. The blue stone controls desire, and its power created the blue clan. And the red clan that inherited the power of the red stone was filled with the light of hope. Finally, the battle came to an end, and the young one who possessed the power of the blue stone fell into a deep sleep. The one with the power of the red stone flew off far across the sky. Desire and hope... until the day these two powers meet each other again...

Characters

Main characters

The Guardians

The Ganma Army (ガンマ団)

The Ganma Army is run by the Ganma family, who possess the power of the stone of desire. This power come in the form of what is called secret stone eyes (hisekigan, 秘石眼). The army itself works as a group of mercenaries, originally ruthless and seemingly taking control of the world, but since Shintaro's takeover the group now fights for "justice" (basically only assassinating people they believe are bad).

Special Battle Unit

The Shinsengumi

(心戦組) The Shinsengumi is a mercenary group (based the real life historical group) that consists of multiple branches, two of which are known; the "Main" group and the "True" group.

Main Shinsengumi

(Shinsengumi Hontai, 心戦組本隊)

True Shinsengumi

(Shin Shinsengumi, 真心戦組) <Manga only>

The Namamonos

A namamono (ナマモノ) is a strange talking animal-type creature that lives on Papuwa Island. There are countless namamonos that appear throughout the series.

Other Miscellaneous Characters

Video Game-Exclusive Characters

Media

Manga

Anime

Nangoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun was adapted into a 42-episode anime television series in 1992. Produced by Nippon Animation under the direction of Jun Takagi, the series began its broadcast run on TV Asahi from 10 October 1992 to 2 October 1993. Three pieces of theme music were used for the opening and closing of each episode. The opening theme is "Npapa Love Song" (んばば・ラブソング) performed by Tome. The closing themes are "Shikasutto Nonsense" (しかすっとナンセンス) performed by Daiji Man Brothers Band for the first 24 episodes and "Kibun wa Papuwa Hare" (気分はパプワ晴れ) performed by Kouji Tsuno and Pythagoras for the remaining episodes. The second manga series was also adapted into an anime television series by Nippon Animation. Directed by Kenichi Nishida, the second series began its broadcast run on TV Tokyo from 30 September 2003 to 30 March 2004. Two pieces of theme music are used, one opening and one closing. The opening theme is "Tabibito" (旅人) performed by Loosely, and the closing them is "Yurari Yurari (ゆらりゆらり) performed by Masashi Iino (いいのまさし).

Video games

Two video games entitled Nankoku Shōnen Papuwa-kun (南国少年パプワくん) were released on March 25, 1994 by Enix for the Nintendo's Game Boy and Super Famicom.

Episode list

Nangoku Shonen Papuwa-kun

Papuwa