Jungle King Tar-chan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masaya Tokuhiro. The manga was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from March 1988 to June 1990. Midway through serialization, its name was changed to New Jungle King Tar-chan, and continued until April 1995. The manga was adapted into a fifty-episode animetelevision series by Group TAC broadcast on TV Tokyo between October 1993 and September 1994.
Plot
The series is about Tar-chan, a young man who was raised in the African savanna by the chimpanzee Etekichi, and his adventures protecting his home, his wife Jane, and his animal friends. As the series progresses, the simple episodic gag premise is switched to a fighting premise. Although long battles and emotional development began to unfold, after the end of these battles, the series would return to its gag style, switching back to the fighting style with each new battle. Although the story is called Jungle King Tar-chan, Tar-chan and his friends actually live on a savanna, and a jungle setting is never actually used.
Jungle King Tar-chan is written and illustrated by Masaya Tokuhiro. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from the 1988 15th issue, published on March 21, 1988, until the 1990 26th issue published on June 11, 1990. Midway through its serialization, the name of the series was changed to New Jungle King Tar-chan, and was serialize from the 1990 27th issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, published on June 18, 1990, until the 1995 18th issue, published on April 17, 1995. Jungle King Tar-chan was compiled into ten tankōbon volumes published by Shueisha between October 7, 1988 and January 10, 1991. Jungle King Tar-chan was compiled into twenty tankōbon volumes published between February 8, 1991 and July 4, 1995. Shueisha republished the series in a bunkoban edition. Jungle King Tar-chan was released in three volumes published between October 16 and November 18, 2009, and New Jungle King Tar-chan in twelve volumes published between December 15, 2009 and October 15, 2010.
Anime
A fifty-episode anime television series adaptation produced by Group TAC was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 14, 1993 to September 29, 1994. In December 2014, it was announced that the series would be released on two DVD box sets by TC Entertainment. The first volume was released on March 27, 2015, and the second volume on April 24. TC Entertainment later re-released the series into two BD Discs between October 27 and November 24, 2017. The two opening songs "Shape of the Heart" and "mama I Love You" are performed by B∀G. The first ending "Virgin Land" is performed by Ann Lewis, the second ending "Misty Heartbreak" is performed by access and the third ending "Jingle Jungle Dance" is performed by Ann Lewis.
Episode list
Video games
Jungle King Tar-chan for Game Boy, developed by Bandai, was released on July 29, 1994. Jungle no Ōja Tar-chan: Sekai Manyū Dai Kakutō no Maki for Super Famicom, developed by Bandai, was released on September 18, 1994. In addition, the series has been represented in two separate crossover video games for the magazine it is published in: the RPGFamicom game and the Nintendo DSfighting gameJump Ultimate Stars.
