The Gutsy Frog (ど根性ガエル) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasumi Yoshizawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 1970 to June 1976, with its chapters collected in 27 volumes. A 103-episode anime television series by Tokyo Movie was broadcast on ABC and TBS from October 1972 to September 1974; a second anime television series, titled The Gutsy Frog 2 (known in Japan as New Gutsy Frog), was broadcast on Nippon TV from September 1981 to March 1982. An anime film was released in March 1982. A ten-episode television drama aired on Nippon TV from July to September 2015.

Summary

While frog Pyonkichi is hopping in an empty lot in Nerima, Tokyo's Shakujii Park, middle schooler Hiroshi trips over a rock and squashes him. However, Pyonkichi is reborn as an imprint on the front of Hiroshi's shirt and now gives him advice and commentary on his life.

Characters

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Yasumi Yoshizawa, The Gutsy Frog was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 27, 1970, to June 14, 1976. Shueisha collected its chapters in 27 volumes, released from February 28, 1971, to October 9, 1976.

Anime

A 103-episode anime television series (consisting of two segments of 15 minutes each), produced by A Production, Tokyo Movie, and Asahi Broadcasting, was broadcast on ABC and TBS from October 7, 1972, to September 28, 1974. Another 30-episode anime television series (also consisting of two segments of 15 minutes each), titled The Gutsy Frog 2 or New Gutsy Frog (新・ど根性ガエル), was broadcast on Nippon TV from September 7, 1981, to March 29, 1982. An anime film, titled Shin Dokonjō Gaeru: Dokonjō Yumemakura (新・ど根性ガエル ど根性夢枕), premiered on March 13, 1982. The original anime series aired in the United States on United Television Broadcasting (UTB) in 2014.

Other media

In 2013, an American TV-movie remake of The Gutsy Frog was reported to be in development, presumably as a pilot for a new TV series. The pilot film was to contain both live action and CGI animation and to feature a cast including Frankie Jonas as "Frankie" (Hiroshi) as well as Maxwell Perry Cotton, Mischa Barton, and others, and features both American and Japanese names among the production staff although TMS is not reported to be involved in the remake. A live-action dorama version of the story premiered in Japan in July 2015 on Nippon Television. The series is set in 2015 Japan and features a grown-up Hiroshi and Kyoko and a computer-generated Pyonkichi. The cast included Kenichi Matsuyama as Hiroshi and former AKB48 singer Atsuko Maeda as Kyoko. A sequel manga in collaboration with Sanrio and written and drawn by Yasumi's daughter Yuuko Ootsuki, called Dokonjō!! Kero Kero Keroppi is about the daughter of Hiroshi named Hiroko and Keroppi in a situation similar to Pyonkichi

Reception

In 2005, Japanese television network TV Asahi conducted a "Top 100" nationwide survey; The Gutsy Frog placed 100th. In 2006, TV Asahi conducted an online poll for the top one hundred anime, and The Gutsy Frog placed 56th in the "Celebrity List". In 2013, animator Masaaki Yuasa recommended among other anime, The Gutsy Frog, highlighting episodes 145 and 146.