Animal Yokochō

Animal Yokocho (アニマル横町) (rough English translation: Animal Alley) is a manga and anime series aimed at a juvenile audience about a little girl who has a doorway to another world in her room, from which three bizarre and frequently-annoying stuffed animal-like creatures emerge to make her life "interesting". The manga was created by Ryo Maekawa and is serialized in Ribon Magazine, Ribon original and Ribon Bikkuri. This manga's characters originally appeared in Ribon Original as quiz column's characters.

Characters

Ami is a four-year-old preschool student who has just moved into a new home and neighborhood with her family. She is intelligent and imaginative, but grounded and a bit easily flustered. The revelation that a gate to AniYoko is in her room, and the increasingly bizarre actions of her three visitors, frequently drive her to the brink of total distraction, yet she seems to have gotten used to their presence.

Iyo is one of the three creatures from AniYoko known as "the Happy AniYoko Trio" who frequently visit Ami through the door in her floor. She looks like a stuffed rabbit, and can use a sort of energy discharged through the space between her ears for all kinds of effects. She can also store objects and liquids in her ears, to be dispensed as needed. Although she always tries to act cheerful and cute, she is frequently selfish and vain. She also has the habit of dying when abused or neglected, only to return to life when a suitable apology is made.

Kenta has the appearance of a stuffed bear. He is brusque, frequently rude, and sometimes picks up odd obsessions. He has a sort of love-hate dynamic with Iyo, with whom he is always arguing or fighting but still seems to be close to her. His attempts to assert his species identity frequently end in disaster. He is always seen wearing a muffler, and it is usually a sign that something is very wrong if he is without it.

Issa is a creature that looks like a stuffed panda. He refers to himself as "the empathic one" of the trio, puts the most effort into trying to be nice to Ami, and makes many unsuccessful efforts to make peace between Iyo and Kenta.

Yamanami-san, a horse-like creature, apparently is the leader of AniYoko. He frequently appears to make a small contribution to the scene or some demand on the cast, and then departs. Issa has said that all the creatures of AniYoko must obey "Commander Yamanami" or face an unspecified but terrible punishment. It is implied that there are numerous Yamanamis, occupying different roles in AniYoko society.

Ami's Parents are occasionally heard but never seen. There is no indication that they are aware of the existence of AniYoko or any of the strange events surrounding Ami's life, although they do sometimes notice the effects when something Ami or the three creatures do affects their real-world activities.

Ku-chan is a Ami's close friend.

Catherine Maekawa is Ami's favorite mangaka. She is currently engaged in a shoujo series about sumo wrestling. Iyo has been to her house, after stowing away in a fan letter written by Ami, but she did not appear to notice.

The Gate to AniYoko

AniYoko itself (the name is a contraction of "Animal Yokocho" and the subject of innumerable puns) is an alternative world inhabited by stuffed-animal-like creatures. The only way to go between AniYoko and our world is through a door mounted in the floor of Ami's bedroom. The "Trio" has given many conflicting and spurious explanations for how the door got there, but the real answer may never be revealed. Still, nothing overly sinister appears to be involved. As Kenta has said, "That's the setting for the story, so don't worry about it."

The door is two-way. It is most often used by the "Trio" to enter our world and interact with Ami, who they seem to find strangely fascinating. Ami could go through the door herself and enter AniYoko, but due to the insistent Trio and their strange, often frightening stories, has yet to do so.

The presence of the door and the Trio seems to have had some effect on Ami's room itself. Ami and the Trio frequently find that they can go to many other places, such as a jungle, a forest, a baseball stadium (complete with crowd) and an RPG-style dungeon, without actually leaving the room.

Themes and Elements

Much of the comedy in Animal Yokocho involved the Trio using and sometimes misinterpreting elements of popular Japanese culture, such as television quiz shows. There are also numerous jokes about Japanese cuisine, including the preparation of dishes such as cake and Hot Pot.

Although there are many elements of juvenile fantasy in the series, it seems that the action is actually occurring and not taking place in Ami's imagination.

Some Western viewers have made comparisons between the Trio's behaviors, abilities and personalities with those of the Warner Brothers, the protagonists of the American animation anthology Animaniacs. Iyo has many personality traits in common with Dot Warner, and the Trio frequently behave like squabbling siblings.

Despite appearing to be stuffed animals, the Trio and the other inhabitants of AniYoko appear to be living beings, and there are references to suggest that they can die, including the running gag of Iyo's frequent deaths and revivals. The "spirit rabbit" that appears when Iyo dies and returns to her body when she revives is reminiscent of the portrayal of the spirits of the dead in Shinto Mythology.

There is no connection between this series and the Animal Crossing series of video games, although the title "Animal Crossing" was mistakenly used for this series in early English-language reports.

Broadcasters

• Japan:TV Tokyo(Broadcast:October 2005)
• Korea:SBS (korea)(hangul:두근두근 비밀친구, Broadcast:December 2005)
  • more than same broadcasted Animal Yokocho from Korea and Japan in December 2005.

External links and Reference

• SBS Homepage - Korea's Broadcasted by Animal Yokocho
• TV Tokyo Animal Yokocho Homepage - Japan's Broadcasted by Animal Yokocho
• Animal Yokocho Character Homepage
• s-manga.net Animal Yokocho Homepage