Arale Norimaki

Arale Norimaki
Dr. Slump & Dragon Ball character
Arale from the 1981 Dr. Slump anime
First appearance	Dr. Slump chapter #1 Dr. Slump: Arale-chan episode #1
Created by	Akira Toriyama
Voiced by	Mami Koyama (first anime) Taeko Kawata (second anime) Cheryl Chase (Harmony Gold Dub) Meredith McCoy (FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball) Brina Palencia (Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3)
Profile
Notable relatives	Senbei Norimaki (creator/surrogate brother) Gatchans (adopted niece) Midori Norimaki (sister-in-law) Turbo Norimaki (nephew) Obotchaman (future husband) Unnamed Future Child (created by Senbei) Nitro Norimaki (niece)

Arale Norimaki from the 1997 anime version of Dr. Slump.

Arale Norimaki (則巻アラレ, Norimaki Arare^?) is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the anime and manga series Dr. Slump created by Akira Toriyama. She is voiced by Mami Koyama in the first anime and Taeko Kawata in the second. In the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball, she is played by Meredith McCoy for her cameo in the movie and her appearances in the DB TV Series, and by Brina Palencia as a playable character in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Cheryl Chase voiced her in the Harmony Gold USA dub of Episode 1 of Dr. Slump.

Arale is a robot built by Senbei Norimaki that looks like a little girl. She is known for her naivety, energetic personality, lack of common sense, and amazingly unbelievable strength. Among her strength she can use abilities that range from the terrain splitting Earth Breaker (in Japan, Chikyūwari (地球割り^?, Earth Chop)) to the beam-like N'cha Cannon (Japanese: Nchahō (んちゃ砲^?)). She is nearsighted and needs to wear glasses.^[1] This is probably a play on how perfectly human she is meant to be. Senbei Norimaki's mission is to convince the other citizens of Penguin Village that she is just a normal human girl. It seems to work, despite her superhuman athletic ability.

She has long, bluish-purple hair in the original manga and anime series, but has dark-brown hair in the 1997 Dr. Slump anime.

Like the name of the other major character (senbei), Arale is a pun on the name for a bite-sized rice cracker (arare) and with the family name ("Norimaki Arare") it refers to a sort of arare wrapped with nori seaweed.

Fictional character biography

Arale is the creation of Senbei Norimaki. Arale poses as Senbei's sister or daughter, depending on who Senbei is talking to. The Norimaki family only grows from there when Arale and Senbei discover an egg when traveling to the past. The egg hatches into a small winged creature that they named "Gadzilla" or "Gatchan" for short. Then Senbei marries the girl of his dreams (Midori Yamabuki) and they have a baby named Turbo. As if the house was not full enough, Gatchan inexplicably splits into two separate entities (the Gatchan-tachi, who love to eat metal objects).

Dr. Slump

The Dr. Slump series is a self-proclaimed gag manga with an ongoing plot. The entire series is about Arale's humorous exploration of the dynamics of life and the adventures Senbei and his inventions send them on. It is also about Senbei's romantic advances that usually end in failure (that is, until he finally gets married to Ms. Yamabuki in Volume 9.)

Appearances in Dragon Ball

She shows up in the series when Goku chases General Blue all the way to Penguin Village, she then defeats Blue with one kick and two headbutts after he paralyzes Goku. She was also able to ride on the Kinto'un (Flying Nimbus in the U.S. anime), which indicates her as being pure of heart. She appears in both anime and manga versions. She also appears in the Mystical Adventure film of the original Dragon Ball series, and appears on a poster in Gohan's bedroom in Dragon Ball Z and her face was shown on the 8th movie of the Dragon Ball Z series, titled Broly: the Legendary Super Saiyan. She also appears in Episode 2 of the original Dragon Ball, in a picture on the wall of the capsule house Bulma creates.

In other media

Video games

She is also a playable character in the Japanese video games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars, both for the Nintendo DS. Recently, she appeared as a playable character in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo and Dragon Ball: Origins 2. Yuko Hara voiced her in the radio drama in 1981.

In Popular Culture

In the episode "Bogus Booty" of Samurai Champloo has a scene where Mugen impersonates Arale by doing her signature run by sticking his arms out and making the sound "Kiin".

Japanese comedian Hōsei Yamasaki dressed up as Arale, doing her signature "Kiin" and "N'cha" for Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! Cosplay Bus Tour series. Because of failing to complete his task (getting spaghetti for the entire cast) he then had to fly to Italy to get Spaghetti for the entire cast and crew, dressed as Arale all the way.

In "My Lucky Stars" Jackie Chan's character appears in an Arale costume while working undercover in a theme park.

References