A list of characters that appears in both the manga as well as the anime of Jungle King Tar-chan, grouped by arcs.
Tar-Chan
- Voiced By: Gorō Kishitani
Tar-chan is the main protagonist of his titular series, a affectionate parody of Tarzan. Unlike that guy though, Tar-chan is also a immense pervert, but nonetheless he loves the jungles of Africa with all his might, devoting the majority of his time fighting off hunters and poachers. This in turn, led to Tar-chan and the animals developing an immense bond, and he frequently calls on his bond with the animals whenever he is in mortal danger, which always manages to save him. Tar-chan would later meet Jane when the latter was a famous model, having traveled to Africa for a photo shoot. After he saves her from lions, she falls in love and later starts living with Tar-chan.
Though Tar-chan is a idiot, he was raised from infancy to adulthood by Etikichi and trained in fighting by Gori, who helps him fight hunters. Tar-chan isn't actually trained in formal combat at all and deprives many of his techniques from animals. Due to his upbringing, he is both faster and stronger than many of the other fighters he meets in the series, being able to both dodge AND withstand bullets.
In the Corgan family arc, it is revealed that Tar-chan is the illegitimate child of Alexander Corgan (a high-ranking Arabian general) and the Queen of Arabia. While the King was away, the queen invited Alexander to have sex, which resulted in her getting pregnant. When the king found out, he ordered Alexander to be jailed and eventually executed, while the queen was forced to abandon the infant Tar-chan in Africa (leading to Etikichi and his father finding and raising Tar-chan). Eventually, Alexander fled from Arabia to America, where he then birthed five more children; Rot, Nit, Michael, Matt and Lisa.
Much of the series' humor comes from Tar-chan, either from his lack of common sense, weird antics or his complete willingness to do everything Jane asks. Tar-chan is so accustomed to doing chores around his house that he actually gets homesick when traveling to other places, once having scrubbed down his entire hotel room in Las Vegas.
- All-Loving Hero: Tar-chan is this, courtesy of having lived with the animals of the jungle all his life.
- Berserk Button: Don't harm the forest, the animals, Anabebe, his proteges, Michael, Matt, or Jane. Actually, don't harm any life in front of him in general.
- Covert Pervert
- Tar-chan is stated to enjoy collecting pornos left behind by tourists, and an episode in the Corgan arc shows three separate instances of Jane catching him reading them.
- Tar-chan also states that wanting to look at porn is every man's inner desire, but the only true woman for him is Jane. Keep in mind that Tar-chan still has a poster of pre-obese Jane hanging in his house, apparently the only poster he owns that Jane allows him to hang.
- Dumb Blond: A rare male example. He might know a lot about animals due to having been around them his entire life, but has little knowledge regarding anything else, social skills that are practically non-existent, and a complete lack of common sense, and even putting all of that aside, he's a total Cloud Cuckoolander.
- Unskilled, but Strong: He has no actual martial arts training aside from imitating animals, but he can crush rocks by punching, kicking, headbutting, and even bear-hugging them.
Jane
- Voiced By: Miki Narahashi
Jane is a former New York model who decided to leave her old life behind and life with Tar-chan after the latter saved her from lions. While living with Tar-chan, she got so comfortable that she eventually became obese and lazy, though she still loves Tar-chan unconditionally. She is also shown to be a huge money lover, particularly evident in the Corgan arc where she is seen betting gigantic sums of money on Tar-chan and Pedro. Despite all of this, Jane also shows herself to be the brains of the family and is shown to be quite cunning as well, faking Michael's death in the Corgan arc to motivate Tar-chan into fighting.
She is revealed in one episode to have a ex-boyfriend named Nicholas, who is a expert golfer. Despite Jane having turned him down on marriage prior to meeting Tar-chan, they still have a friendly relationship with each other, Nicholas even visiting on a holiday in one episode.
She is practically the polar opposite of Tar-chan, which results in a lot of the humor in the series. Jane is also quite assertive to practically everyone she meets, as she often forces Tar-chan, Pedro, Ryo-Shihan and sometimes even Anabebe into washing her toilets.
At the end of the series, she and Tar-chan gets married officially, and later she gives birth to 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: She's probably the smartest person in the main cast of protagonists, but would rather bum around all day long and make others do her chores.
- Formerly Fit: She used to be slim before she decided to live with Tar-Chan, as her new way of life caused her to let herself go.
- Gonk: She has really really weird proportions, and a tendency for goofy faces.
- Mrs. Vice Gal: She's greedy and lazy and gluttonous, but she's a good-woman nonetheless.
- Stout Strength: Tar-chan mentions that she can bench press 98 kilograms, wrist-roll 60 kilograms, and high clean 90 kilograms, which translate to 216 pounds, 132 pounds, and 198 pounds respectively, and even though it's for the sake of Rule of Funny, she can still casually swing a Hippopotamus over her head like it's a hammer to hit Tar-Chan with.
- Women Are Wiser: Despite her greed, laziness, and appetite, she's a lot more intelligent than Tar-Chan is, and plays the role of the Straight Woman to him.
Anabebe
- Voiced By: Kouji Ishii
Anabebe is the self-proclaimed Strongest Warrior in Africa, and also the self-proclaimed rival of Tar-chan. They first met when Anabebe got a peek at Jane bathing in a lake. Wanting her to be his wife, he attempted to approach, only for Tar-chan to appear. At the sight of Jane hugging Tar-chan, Anabebe was enraged and challenged Tar-chan to a duel, which resulted in a draw. Determined, he left to train so that he could one day defeat Tar-chan and claim Jane.
Anabebe reappeared a few years later to challenge Tar-chan and nearly won until he saw the now obese Jane, leading him to forfeit the match out of fear. A few episodes later, Anabebe joined Tar-chan, Helen, Jane to search for diamonds on a nearby mountain. When hunters came and detonated a bomb, Anabebe was seemingly killed, until he came to his own funeral and revealed that he fell in a crevice during the explosion, coming across a entire wall of diamond, which he sold to become rich.
Anabebe usually tags along with the gang whenever a new arc takes them elsewhere, though Anabebe typically ends up useless either due to cowardice or being weak. Despite this, Anabebe is still honorable and has plenty of brave moments, such as when he rushed back to the Western Clan tournament in a moment of guilt after ditching the previous night.
Later, near the end of the series, Anabebe lost his wealth and would then return to being a poor warrior. Ironically, the code of his clan states that he must commit suicide if he is ever defeated, even though Anabebe has been defeated more than a dozen times in the past, showcasing his cowardice.
- Big Damn Heroes
- During the fight between Nit and Michael disguised as Red Bandit, Nit launches Michael and prepares to fatally bash his head onto the ring pole. Anabebe jumps from the audience stand and breaks off the pole, using his own back to cushion Michael's fall.
- Earlier in the 32 Clans arc, Anabebe ditches the group after witnessing Black Dragon's power. When he is approached by Black Dragon's associates with an offer to cripple the White side for money, Anabebe decks both of the jerks and rushes back to warn Jane and Ryo-shihan of the plot.
- What the Hell, Hero?: After Anabebe ditches the group in the 32 Clans arc, Jane starts cussing him out, as Pedro had to take on his fights in his stead. Anabebe himself is shamed, opting to return once he learns of Black Dragon's plans.
Pedro Kazmaier
- Voiced By: Nobuyuki Hiyama
Pedro is a french karate champion, who traveled to Africa specifically to become Tar-chan's apprentice. While early on in the series he is on equal footing with most of Tar-chan's enemies, he starts falling behind in the Corgan arc, until he temporarily becomes a vampire in the Vampire arc and receives a permanent strength boost.
Pedro unfortunately suffers the same fate as Dragon Ball's Yamcha, as both are just there to allow the arc villain to beat them up, allowing the heroes to see the extent of the villain's powers. Thankfully, Pedro doesn't suffer from it to the same extent as Yamcha.
In one episode, it is revealed that Pedro is actually adopted. Helen also falls in love with him shortly after meeting, and even gets married to Pedro at the end of the anime (she married Chikō in the manga).
- Badass Normal: Pedro is probably the most normal of the four main fighters. Tar-chan was trained by animals, Anabebe is immensely rich and Ryo-shihan can fight with ki.
- Covert Pervert: Tar-chan found a porno magazine in his sack while Pedro was setting up a tent. He quickly tries to deny owning it, only for Tar-chan to keep it for himself.
- Knight of Cerebus: Sort of. While he isn't a serious or dangerous and hypercompetent villain, his appearance does mark the manga going from a comedy series to an action-dramady.
Ryo-shihan
- Voiced By: Kiyoyuki Yanada
Ryo-shihan is the strongest fighter in White Crane and is also the one who won the 50th clan tournament, which happened 10 prior to the series. During the final round, Ryo-shihan suffered a scar on his face, one on his chest, another on his abdomen and a final one on his buttocks (which was relentlessly mocked by Tar-chan).
Ryo-shihan primarily fights with a mixture of Chinese martial arts as well as ki attacks, putting him somewhere around Tar-chan in terms of strength. He was engaged to Renhou until the assassination of the latter's siblings required her to ascend to leader status, which nullified their engagement. The other fighters representing White Crane other than Zhou were also assassinated, requiring Zhou to search for replacement fighters. When Zhou brought Tar-chan, Anabebe and Pedro, Ryo-shihan was less than impressed. Eventually though, they gained his respect.
After the tournament ended, he joined the non-existent "Tar-chan's clan" in order to marry Renhou, which the senile elders approved. However, Jane ended up dragging Ryo-shihan to Africa in order to become Tar-chan's protege alongside Pedro. While initially dejected, he took advantage of the situation to make a vow that he wouldn't return until he was stronger than Tar-chan.
After the series ended, Ryo returned to China and wed Renhou, who later birthed a son.
Renhou/Lianhua
Leader of the Western Cranes as well as leader of the 32 Clans, she rose to her position after Black Dragon assassinated her older brothers, which barred her from marriage to Ryo-shihan since clan leaders can't marry someone of the same clan. She was the one who sent Zhou to search for 3 warriors to replace the ones assassinated.
At the end of the series, Renhou and Ryo-shihan gets married, due to a loophole (Ryo-shihan tricked the elders by joined Tar-chan's clan, even though Tar-chan doesn't actually have a clan, allowing Ryo-shihan to get married since he technically wasn't a White Crane anymore.
