Cyborg Kuro-chan

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by . It was serialized in Kodansha's children's manga magazine Comic BomBom from September 1997 to December 2001, with its chapters collected in 11 tankōbon volumes. The series centers on the title character, a housecat who is kidnapped and transformed into a cyborg by the mad scientist Dr. Go. Kuro-chan breaks his control chip, escapes and becomes a vigilante.

An anime television series adaptation produced by its aired on TV Aichi, TV Tokyo and their affiliates from 2 October 1999 to 30 December 2000 for 66 episodes. The manga and anime have been exported to several countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa. An English dub aired on Animax and the first 14 episodes of the dub were released on VCD. A large number of merchandise has been made based on the manga and anime, and two additional volumes, entitled Cyborg Kuro-chan: Extra Battle, were published. Reviews for the series note the simplistic and cartoonish art style, and a thin storyline which is mainly centered on gags and comedic violence.

Story Kuro is a housecat for an old couple who cannot defend themselves and are in frequent danger. They rely on him to keep burglars from invading their house, at which he is skilled. Despite his courage, he is in love with the neighborhood dog, Pooly, and he sets out to confess this one day. While heading to see her, he and Pooly are ambushed and injured. Kuro is then kidnapped by Dr. Go, a mad scientist, and transformed into a cyborg with invincible steel frames and unlimited strength, the latest in a line of robot cats used for world domination, called the "Nyan-Nyan Army". He somehow, though, breaks a chip supposedly used to control him, and he escapes Go's laboratory as well as destroying it, while he now realizes that he is now bipedal and can speak human language. He comes to terms with his predicament, while maintaining his lifestyle as an average housecat. However, Go feels that Kuro is ungrateful to him, and he and the Nyan-Nyan Army, including the most well-known Mi, set out to find and kill him, though they eventually surrender and decide to live a more peaceful life.

Often, Kuro will save his owners and the city from trouble. He has multiple adversaries, including Go's Nyan-Nyan Army. Dr. Go and Mi help Kuro out in the toughest situations. Throughout the course of the series, there are phantasmal and extraordinary predicaments that Kuro and his friends must solve.

Characters

Main

- The main character who was kidnapped by Dr. Go and turned into a cyborg cat, along with various features and weapons. Though he has a horrible temper, appears unenthusiastic about helping others, and gets angry and out of control easily, he is good-hearted and cares for others more than he lets on. Despite being the hero, he frequently shows un-heroic behavior such as using Romeo as a weapon or at times dragging others into trouble because he feels like it and likes to rampage for comedic effect. He uses a Gatling gun as a signature weapon. He is usually seen sleeping on the veranda of his owner's house. He was named as a kitten before being adopted by his owners. .

- The main antagonist and a major antihero, an eccentric inventor who wishes world domination by creating cyborg cats as weapons of mass destruction. His plan completely backfired when Kuro took away the control chip and through sheer willpower of his own. He later stops from his plans in world domination and decides to live in a more peaceful way of living with Mi and later Kotaro. Although Kuro and his relationship is turbulent and hostile at times, Kuro does respects him as an inventor. His real name is .

- A cyborg cat created by Dr. Go to at first save his life and later aid him in dominating the world. He appears as a frequent "goon" of his but is in fact kind-hearted and noble. At a later part of the story where Go accepts defeat and turns down on his conquest to world domination, he is now often seen helping him and in times helping Kuro too. Though they are more friendly rivals now, Mi and Kuro will often get into fights which are sometimes instigated by Mi himself. Although he is usually kind he, like Kuro, has a fierce temper when pushed. Opposite to Kuro, Mi prefers a sword as his standard weapon. With the Devil Chip, he can fuse himself to any weapon and create additional items to them. He is also a great cook. .,

- A regular tabby cat who wears a red tattered "cloak" and has an eyepatch over his right eye. He was a childhood friend of Kuro, but he declared himself his enemy after a tussle leads to him losing his eye. He has an arsenal of weapons he hides in his cloak with his main weapon being a wooden boomerang which he can use to hit targets at great distances or a chainsaw. Though he is serious, he can be quite lazy and gluttonous with little self-control at times and sometimes needs to be forced by Kuro into helping. He is also skilled in craftsmanship and an experienced carpenter. He is the only one to refer to Kuro as Kid. .

- A boy genius dressed in a cat suit who helps Dr. Go and Mi out by assisting in their inventions or building his own. He has an obsession over Kuro, and tries to prove to be as powerful as him. This idea of his was the result of being an outcast. He is experienced in technology, with an IQ of 200. The reviewer for Manga-News describes Kotaro as walling himself into his world of video games, but also regards Kotaro as an author surrogate. .

- A female android with a rabbit-like appearance that was created by Kotaro from a table lamp. She develops a love interest in Kuro, who denies her; she accepts his rejection after numerous attempts to win his heart, though it is shown that he does care for her. She is also great at Knitting and often knits a scarf to Kuro. .

Supporting - The elderly couple who treat Kuro as a companion. They are not immune to trouble, never learn much, and are in need of Kuro's rescue frequently. However, they have no idea that Kuro is now a cyborg, though he intends to keep this secret. respectively.

- A schoolteacher who also admires Kuro. He is an avid otaku, and often gets himself involved into Kuro's shenanigans. Suzuki is portrayed by Toshiyuki Morikawa.

- A female firefighter who is Suzuki's crush. She is a quick thinker in most situations, such as putting out even the least dangerous of fires in her debut appearance in the anime. In the manga, Megumi was portrayed as an otaku like Suzuki but was toned down in the anime. Megumi is portrayed by Sayuri Yoshida.

and - A duo of alien robot lovers. They are very optimistic, no matter what happens. They later marry and have a child together. Romeo is voiced by Kosuke Okano, while Juliet is voiced by Sayuri Yoshida.

- Kotaro's cyborg lion friend. He was an ordinary lion, but he was involved in a near-death experience. Dr. Go successfully revived him in his current cyborg form. Later on in the series Dunk gets modified by Kotaro's father who gives him the ability to speak using text boxes appear out of his head. Dunk is quite timid, gentle, and pure. He is voiced by Isshin Chiba.

- A girl with a deep hatred for Kuro and very powerful supernatural abilities, including ESP and telekinesis. Another notable feature of hers is her voluminous hair.

- A boy Chieko met on a camping trip who came from an abusive household. He is a big dreamer, but he is a loser. He boasts a large scar from his abuse. He ends up being temporarily turned into a cyborg after being gravely injured with Cheiko attempting to teach him how to be human again. Goro only appeared in the manga.

Antagonists known as in the anime who is an American mad scientist who came to Hokkaido to conquer the world but was defeated by Kuro and friends. His face is comically huge but has a very short stature. Like Dr. Go, he specializes in cyborg technology but with dogs which were powerful. He made only one appearance in the anime but made another in the manga as a security warden of a large prison. He also appears as the antagonist of the 2nd game and made a cyborg called BB, which looks just like Kuro. He is voiced by Isshin Chiba

- The rival of Doctor Go in the past as students and the guy responsible for the demise of Mi's mother. Unlike Go whose allies are cats and specializes in robot technology, Tendou prefers to use dogs and is proficient in genetic engineering and modified his dog who went around killing cats like Mi's mother on his command. He makes a reappearance in the anime years later where he attempts to use Kotaro's robotic knowledge to get revenge on Doctor Go. He is voiced by Naoki Tatsuta.

- A squadron of cyborg cats created by Dr. Go. Mi is the first in the line, created by Go from the remains of his pet kitten. There are four other remaining members who used to be strays taken care of by Go in his younger days before being gravely injured by a fire - #2, nicknamed Spyder, who can expand his arms, legs, and neck, #3, who also fights with his own sword and boasts a panda disguise, #4, who also has a bad temper and has a fierce hatred of Kuro for ruining Dr. Go's plans and humiliating him several times, and #5, who is seen with a robot companion, Lassie, and also uses a Gatling gun. #2 is voiced by Yuko Sasamoto, #3 is voiced by Rika Komatsu, #4 is voiced by Sayuri Yoshida and #5 is voiced by Mami Nakajima.

Others is one of Suzuki's class representative. Despite being a class representative, he skips classes and makes a fool of Suzuki like other students. Along with Satoko, they appear a lot out of the other students and sometimes come along on adventures. He is voiced by Rika Komatsu.

is one of Suzuki's class representatives. As a class representative, she is kind and takes her responsibilities serious and kindly guided Chieko who had just transferred, around the town. Like Kazuma, they appear a lot out of the other students and sometimes come along on adventures. She is voiced by Yuko Sasamoto.

- A trio of friendly aliens that boast incredibly dangerous weapons. They are often also seen wearing special bracelets that can enlarge or shrink their targets. Their names are , , and ; Yai is the leader. The aliens are anime-original characters.

- An alien princess who closely resembles Nana. Malo was supposed to marry her, but she refused and ran away. Despite her ladylike looks, she is actually quite selfish, she only appears in the anime and is voiced by Hiromi Tsunakake.

- An alien prince of the YaYaYa group. He bears a striking resemblance to Kuro. Malo is supposed to be courteous and he has the opposite personality from Kuro, but he eats like a vampire, and he also boasts offensive British gas, he only appears in the anime and is voiced by Chika Sakamoto

- A caricature of the manga's creator, Naoki Yokouchi. He makes fleeting appearances in some anime episodes. He is depicted wearing a purple trenchcoat with a similarly colored hat.

- A stray pink poodle who was Kuro's crush in the beginning of the series. In the anime version, she lived in a house but moved away. She is voiced by Yuko Sasamoto.

- Mi's first love. She was abandoned by her owner and lived as a stray for a brief time before being adopted by a girl she had saved from an accident. She is voiced by Yuko Sasamoto.

- A stray dog in Kuro's past with a similar appearance to Pooly, but with pointed ears. She had been a surrogate mother to Kuro as a baby for a brief time before he was taken. She is in the manga only.

Media

Manga The manga was originally released in issues of Comic BomBom from September 1997 until December 2001 with a total of 56 chapters. The chapters were then released across eleven volumes by Kodansha between 1998 and 2002. In Germany, Egmont Manga & Anime published the first three volumes. In France, Pika Édition published the entire series. It has been published in Indonesia by M&C Comics.