Manga / Magical Taruruto-kun

In a magical, fantastic, world.. where takoyaki is an addiction.

"♫ Itsudemo ore Taruruto
datte tomodachi nandarou
Rakuchin ore Taruruto
kitto nandemo dekiru
Dakedo honto no mahō wa
Omae sagase!
Sonde ore to shiawasede
Ikou asobo ♫"

— Part of the opening theme sung by TARAKO

Honmaru Edojo is a pitiful loser who often finds his way into trouble at his elementary school, often because his absurdly strict teacher is scolding him or for simply being a target for the school's bully, Jabao Jaba. He's also smitten with the very pretty Iyona Kawai, who's as kindhearted as she is beautiful. Between craving her attention and having to put up with Jabao, token tsundere Rui Ijigawa, and a bunch of other bullies and rivals, he realizes that his life's not going to get any better any time soon. Enter the adorably small magician, Taruruto, who was summoned by accident from the Great Magic Encyclopedia that just so happened to be lying around his father's office. The two quickly decide to become best friends, leading to an unbelievable amount of chaos for everyone involved.

Magical Taruruto-Kun (まじかる☆タルるートくん Majikaru Tarurūto-kun), or simply Magical Taruruto, is a bizarre shōnen Gag Series by Tatsuya Egawa, better known as the creator of Golden Boy. The series centers around the daily life and misadventures of Honmaru Edojo and his new magical houseguest and surrogate little brother, Taruruto. Shueisha serialized the manga for its Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1988 to 1992, spanning for 21 volumes. Toei Animation would produce an 87-episode anime television series for TV Asahi from 1990 to 1992, airing every Sunday from 8:30 to 9:00 (JST). As of 2024, it holds the record for the highest number of episodes and the longest run of an anime series on the weekly timeslot (Assuming you don't count the individual Pretty Cure shows as one whole series), beating out Ghost Sweeper Mikami, as well as popular Shueisha successors such as Marmalade Boy, Neighborhood Story and Boys over Flowers. It even proved popular enough to warrant three 45-minute films based around it in less than a year. The series as a whole was intended to serve as the antithesis of Doraemon, but it can be best described as a mashup of that series, The Fairly OddParents!, Ned's Newt, and Everybody Hates Chris with a slight touch of both Dragon Ball and, for better or worse, Golden Boy's "magic" thrown in.

The series even had an entire slew of video games based on the anime during its run, with most of them being developed by TOSE and published by Bandai. The most well-known game is arguably the Platform Game released for the Sega Mega Drive, which was one of the earliest games developed by Game Freak, better known for their later Mega Drive game, Pulseman (which presumably runs on the same engine) and more famously, the Pokémon series. Said game was also one of the few games, let alone licensed titles, to be rereleased on the Mega Drive Mini 2.

While most of the series has unfortunately been locked within its region of origin, the manga series was finally exposed to Western viewers with an official English release by Manga Planet, which ran from 2020 to 2022.

Films

• Magical Tarurūto-kun (1991): A teacher from the magical kindergarten comes to the human world to take Taruruto back to the magic world. Meanwhile, Honmaru's mother, Chizuru, comes down with an unexplained high fever. The illness can only be cured by the fruit of life, found only on a tree in the magical world which bears its fruit only once in a million years. Taking advantage of the situation, the teacher forces Taru to promise to return to the magic world in exchange for saving Chizuru, but an invincible robot named Golem appears, and the only way to defeat him is to use the Fruit of Life. Can Honmaru and Taru save Chizuru and the entire world?
• Magical Tarurūto-kun: Moero! Yūjō no Mahō Taisen (1991): Honmaru and Harako have yet another competition over Iyona, this time being a martial arts showdown. As you'd expect, Harako loses and Honmaru takes the victory. While Harako starts to show more respect towards Honmaru, that all changes when he learns that Honmaru won using Taru's magic. Enraged, he collects books on magic from all over the world in order to use magic for himself and take down Honamru once and for all.
• Magical Tarurūto-kun: Sukisuki Takoyaki (1992): As usual, Taru eats his favorite takoyaki which is the kind made by Matsugoro at his takoyaki stand. Out of frustration, Rivar thinks that Mimora, who hates takoyaki, would be pleased if Matsugoro couldn't make takoyaki, and steals Matsugoro's "takoyaki soul". Honmaru and Taru learn of this and challenge Rivar to a magical battle, but by mistake, Matsugoro's takoyaki soul merges with that of a rat, and the heroes now have to face "Chuugoro" in a magical showdown.

Video Games

Main Series

• Magical Tarurūto-kun: Fantastic World!! (Family Computer, 1991): The first game in the series, a Super Mario Bros. 3-esque platformer (minus a run button and Goomba Stomping while having a Yoshi tongue in their place) that retells different episodes of the anime in 8 separate chapters. This game is infamous for an easter egg involving Iyona in a swimsuit early in the game.
• Magical Tarurūto-kun (Game Boy, 1991): A short platformer starring Honmaru, with Taru as a helper character/walking hit point that follows you around. He can allow Honmaru to play a few special training mini-games to increase his strength and help out by attacking enemies and obstacles with an assortment of magic items.
• Magical Tarurūto-kun (Game Gear, 1991): A Cute 'em Up that, outside of Taru being playable, Mimora appearing as a flying shopkeeper, and appearances from Rivar, Honmaru, and Iyona in the ending pretty much represents this series In Name Only. Ironically, it's one of the only games that features a rendition of the anime's opening.
• Magical Tarurūto-kun: Magic Adventure (Super Famicom, 1992): A 16-bit take on Fantastic World!!'s gameplay with its level design upgraded to have vertical scrolling and includes several new types of mini-games.
• Magical Tarurūto-kun (Mega Drive, 1992): A unique game that has Taru using his magic pen and several objects he can mark with it as weapons instead of his tongue. It has an original story that throws in several Call-Backs and also includes a rendition of the opening theme, though in a different pitch.
• Magical Tarurūto-kun 2: Mahō Daibouken^*Great Magic Adventure (Family Computer, 1992) The direct sequel to Fantastic World!!, follows the introduction of Neizo and later on, the journey through the magic world. Honmaru and Mimora become playable alongside Taru, and all characters can increase strength through a level-up system. It was released over a month after the anime ended.
• Magical Tarurūto-kun 2: Rivar Zone Panic!! (Game Boy, 1992): The sequel to the first Game Boy game and the final game in the series, released two months after the anime's conclusion and two months before the manga's ending. Taru replaces Honmaru as the playable character, and while the overworld features a puzzle element that requires moving around to reach the stages, the main gameplay itself plays similarly to the Famicom games and Magic Adventure except that the enemies can now be stunned and used as platforms before killing them.

Crossovers

• Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin^*The Strongest Seven (Family Computer, 1991): A Shonen Jump-based action RPG where Taru is featured alongside Goku, Jotaro Kujo, Kankichi Ryotsu, Maeda Taison, Tsurugi Momotaro and Tar-Chan as playable characters. Features appearances from Honmaru, Matsugoro, and Ria.
• Cult Jump (Game Boy, 1993): An RPG/Quiz game where progress literally relies on knowledge of several Shonen Jump series. Though not playable, the game features cameos from most of the same main characters from Famicom Jump II (though Tar-Chan is replaced by Keiji Maeda from Hana no Keiji). Taru of course makes a cameo appearance alongside Honmaru, Iyona, Niruru, Mimora, Rivar, and Neizo. Ultimately became the last video game to reference or feature characters from the series.

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The series provides examples of:

• Adaptation Distillation: There's a lot of it between the manga and the anime.
  • The anime's first episode combines that plot of chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5. The very first chapter was a one-off that featured Honmaru, Iyona, and Jabao as second graders while having a similar plot to the next chapter and the anime's first episode. While he meets Taruruto right from the start of both continuities, instead of Honmaru starting the series as a second grader and meeting both Iyona for the first time, the anime skips to the beginning of the second chapter, which already puts him into the fifth grade and has known Iyona for quite some time.
  • The second episode is a mix between the fourth and the ninth chapters.
  • Ijigawa wasn't introduced until the manga's second volume but is established as a regular from the start of the anime.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Taru can make inanimate objects come to life using his magic whiteboard marker. Most of these objects then don cute, smiling faces and act as wacky as Taru.
• Anime Theme Song: Ore Taruruto (I'm Taruruto) sung by Taru's voice actress TARAKO. The lyrics were co-written by Dai Sato and the original author, Tatsuya Egawa, and the music was composed by Yukihide Takekawa.
• Art Evolution: As the anime progresses towards the end (including the movies), the characters are slightly redesigned to be more angular, stylized, and exaggerated, slowly looking more and more like a typical kids' shonen series at the time. Notably, Taru, like several mascot characters after him, becomes a lot slimmer and Honmaru's hair reaches Wataru Ikusabe levels of fluff by becoming slightly longer and bushier.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Honmaru and Ijigawa have shown time and time that despite usually acting like they hate each other, they do care for one another. During many contests, Ijigawa openly roots for Honmaru, while Honmaru has saved her life a few times. It helps that Ijigawa has a hidden crush on Honmaru ever since they were little, who himself is slightly attracted by her when she's being provocative.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy:
  • Shockingly averted with Taru, who appears fully naked with a visible penis and testicles several times, including in the opening sequence. Honmaru even has a couple of scenes in episode 44 where the same can be said. But the most infamous moment is in the preview for episode 41, where all of the school's girls are shown with lightly detailed breasts. It was so bad that they had to be censored in the actual episode. Not hard to see why this series didn't make it over to the states.
  • In the "nude Iyona" Easter Egg in the Famicom game Fantastic World!!, the areas previously covered by her bikini are completely blank.
• Baseball Episode: Episode 8, Magic Ball Baseball!!, has Honmaru's class being divided into two for a baseball game after it's revealed that it's Miss Oaya's "favorite" sport, putting it lightly.
• Betty and Veronica: Iyona is the sweet Betty, and Ijigawa is the sour Veronica, with Honmaru being their Archie. The translation of their full names practically gives it away.
• Book Dumb: Both Honmaru and Jabao are at the bottom of their class in terms of academic performance.
• But Not Too Foreign: Though the nationality in question is unknown, Shogunosuke's mother was a quarter foreign, giving him and Honmaru at least a tad bit of foreign descent.
• Calling Your Attacks: Just as a reminder that this is actually a Shōnen series, the characters will often call out any punches, kicks, or any other attacks once they get into physical altercations. Jabao's are notably named after serveral Japanese prefectures.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Subverted several times, during plots relating to the magic world, Shougunnosuke's storybooks, and Honmaru competing in various competitions, the stakes are risen and Taru, Honmaru, and the state of the real world are all put into great danger with Honmaru actually dying at one point. By the end of those arcs, even with the introductions of Rivar, Count Racul, the Great King Dowaha, and Neizo Zakenja, the series usually goes back to the goofy grade school shenanigans as if nothing ever happened.
• Character Tics: Whenever Taru is confused or realizes he screwed up, he'll make a pose where he'll lift his leg in a curling position, point at his head with the other hand gaping, his tongue sticking out, and his eye wide and dizzy. He does this so often that it eventually rubs off on Honmaru (Who eventually does it just as often) and Mimora.
• Christmas Episode: Episode 16, known as Takoyaki Christmas.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • It doesn't matter what gender you are, Mimora will initially spite anyone Taru pays more attention to.
  • Even Iyona of all people shows mild jealousy when Honmaru first meets and starts to hang out with Ria.
  • Ijigawa averts this, despite liking Honmaru deep down, she usually doesn't make a big deal about the fact that he's in love with Iyona, though she does go out of her way to tease him about it and sabotage any hopes he has of being with her.
• Crystal Ball: Taru wears a living crystal ball around his neck, which goes by the name of Tamamie, or "Tama-chan". She gives words of wisdom to both Honmaru and Taru. She can't stand cowards and perverts, but she's a sucker for flattery and will instantly forgive anyone who praises her.
• Elite Four: Under Great King Dowaha are four of his strongest and most noteworthy minions; Eland, Count Racul, Gabeira, and Patulous.
• Ending Theme:
  • "Kimi to Sekai Seifuku!?" (Conquering the World with You!?) was the first closing for the series, appearing to be told through Iyona's perspective. It was performed by Midori Akiyama, while the music was composed by early Dragon Ball Z theme composer, Chiho Kiyooka, and the lyrics were created by Dai Sato.
  • Taruru Kataburaruru would then follow starting from episode 54 onwards, performed by TARAKO, who, unlike in the opening, is singing as Taru. An pitched-shifted version is used as the staff roll sequence for the Mega Drive game.
• Foreign Language Title: The series goes from Magical Taruruto-kun to "Talulu le magicien" for its French release.
• Gender Bender: The magical drink Hormone-ga induces this, Honmaru uses it on several different occasions to turn into a girl for several different reasons like wanting to play volleyball with the girls or to trick a genie. He goes by the name Marue when doing this. He also gives it to Ijigawa at least once turning her into a boy too.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: At least a third of the main cast (Jabao, Harako, Shougunnosuke, Mari, and Mimora) are extremely irritable and prone to violent outbursts.
  • When he's not directly bullying Honmaru, Jabao usually takes his anger out on him anyway, usually by him doing something stupid or just by being at the right place at the wrong time. This is a trait that Jabao gets from his abusive mother.
  • Harako is prone to dealing or at the very least threatening Disproportionate Retribution. One infamous example includes becoming so enraged that he was left out of a conversation about a TV anime that Honmaru and the others watched that he went out of his way to have the power cut off from the Edojo family's house.
  • Mimora's is mostly fueled by someone (usually Rivar) targeting Taru, him unintentionally ignoring her while paying attention to someone else, and the fact that she hates takoyaki while Taru's addicted to it.
  • Miss Oaya, being a strict teacher during school hours, often responds to her students mischief by spanking them, usually Honmaru and Jabao. Ijigawa and Harako are put on the literal receiving end at some points in the story, and once she summons Rivar, he, despite being a super-powered being, gets the absolute worst of it.
• Happily Adopted: In the anime, Taru is accepted into the Edojo household after a few days of hiding out from Honmaru's parents.
• Hot Teacher: Miss Mari Oaya, Honmaru's 23-year-old teacher, is without question, the sexiest character in the series and a certified Dude Magnet, capturing the hearts of both Matsugoro and Waseda. She's only tied with..
• Hot Witch: Ria Kinakamo, Taru's sexy and mature older sister. In contrast to her baby brother, her magic lasts for 10 days.
• Impossibly Delicious Food: Takoyaki is initially presented this way each time a new variant is introduced.
  • Matsugoro's famous Osakan takoyaki, which is fueled by his passion (which can be boosted by Miss Oaya's presence), was regarded as the best that both Taru and Honmaru had ever eaten and was instantly deemed their favorite. It was so good that Hornmaru "exploded" with delight.
  • One day, when Honmaru's allowance was low, he and Taru decided to make their own takoyaki via magic. It turns out to be so much better than Matsugoro's, but it overflows throughout the entire city for 10 minutes. Once those 10 minutes are up, they're then greeted by two winged sentient pieces of takoyaki that are literally begging to be eaten and their reaction to eating them has them moaning, giggling, and rolling on the floor in sheer ecstasy. The downside to that is that they've turned into takoyaki themselves.
• Inconsistent Spelling: It's all over the place with this series.
  • It appears that Taru's full name was intended to be romanized as "Taluluto", as shown by a single frame in the anime, occasional promotional material released during the series' heyday that used the Roman alphabet, and the staff roll of the Mega Drive game (backed up by the fact that the other characters and TARAKO aren't affected by the R to L switch.), but due to the series not being localized in English for decades, a proper spelling couldn't be determined. In recent years, modern apparel found in Japan such as T-shirts and bags◊ decided to stick with the original Japanese pronunciation of Taruruto. Once Manga Planet got ahold of the manga, they also used the original pronunciation, while dropping the "-kun" suffix.
  • In the anime, Miss Oaya wears a shirt that spells her name as Mari Ohaya, something that's also found in the Mega Drive game. Meanwhile, Manga Planet goes spells her family name as Ooaya, and Bandai's Zokkon Collection figure lists it as Ōaya◊.
  • Unofficial name translations on English websites often list Ijigawa and Rivar's names inconsistently, using Ijikawa, Ichigawa, Raiba, and Raivar among others. The anime itself incorrectly list Ijigawa's family name as Izigawa, despite other sources always using "Ijigawa".
  • A few other sources, including the aforementioned Zokkon Collection◊ set of figures labels Mimora and Rivar as "Mimolla" and "Ryver". On a related note, Taru's pet Niruru was often romanized as Nilulu.
  • In the staff roll of the Mega Drive game, Harako's given name goes from Tsutomu to Tutomu, presumably due to an oversight and not because of space issues.
• Ms. Fanservice: All of the major female characters are subject to this in one way or another. Iyona, Miss Oaya, and Ijigawa are frequently the most exploited within the cast, as they are either shown in provocative swimsuits (in Iyona's case, it's actually from the insistence from her mother) or they are shown in their panties and bras (often the result of Honmaru using Taru's see-through goggles).
• New Transfer Student:
  • In the manga, the very first page shows Iyona as a second grader, presented as a new student who instantly wins the hearts of the boys in her classroom.
  • Harako transfers to the cast's class a few days after meeting him at the Harako Conglomerate Parade.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The girls on Honmaru's class can be categorized this way. Iyona's unquestionably nice, being a sweet and caring girl who hates violence. Ijigawa, often secretly-caring and tolerable at best, is such a rude and mean-spirited troll that it's literally in her name. Then along comes the brash, irritable and troubled delinquent Neyo who makes Ijigawa look like an angel in comparison.
• Older Than They Look: Implied with the magic users. While Taru and Mimora appear to be toddlers, their actual ages are unknown, and it has been suggested in episodes 1 and 2 that Taru may actually be older than Honmaru because he's not human.
• Potty Emergency: In the first half of the Baseball Episode, to ensure a victory during the class' baseball game, Harako puts laxatives in Taru and Honmaru's lunches, and are later hit with stomach aches that have them in need of a toilet. While Taru goes off the excuse himself, Honmaru is left in pain forced to tough it out during the game, while struggling to hold it in puts him at a disadvantage. With the relieved Taru's magic allowing him to strike out Harako and the other batters, Honmaru dashes off to the nearest restroom.
• Potty Failure:
  • When Honmaru was little, he tried taking on Jabao in a sumo match that ended with him peeing himself, with Ijigawa witnessing and being part of the reason why she calls him a bed-wetter. When the word gets out to his present-day class, Taru reveals that he's also had his share of accidents to comfort him and even reveals to have a spell that can make everyone wet themselves.
  • In the very next episode, upon taking on an enlarged Harako to a sumo match and losing to him, karma catches up to Jabao and he soils his own pants after the match.
  • Implied with Ijigawa upon turning back into a female, as her male persona was using a urinal at the worst possible time.
  • In episode 80, Mimora wets her bed and Ijigawa teases her for it. She retaliates by putting a sleep spell on Ijigawa, and follows that up with a spell that has the urine switched over to Ijigawa's bed. Honmaru and Taru then take photos of the incident for the school's newspaper the next day.
  • Towards the end of that same episode, Honmaru finds himself face to face with a mugger holding a woman hostage who then threatens Honmaru with a gun. Taru arrives at the scene and after annoying him, the mugger decides to shoot Taru instead. Honmaru has to push him out of the way and nearly takes the bullet before Taru uses an invisibility spell on him. Though he runs off unscathed, it turns out that Honmaru peed himself out of fear, photos get taken of his misfortune and now he's the one being subjected to the public humiliation of the school's newspaper.
• Powerup Food: The appropriately-named Power-Upple Juice is a magic type of apple juice that will either revitalize a person or give them large muscles and increase their strength tenfold.
• Punny Name: All of the characters' names are puns on Japanese phrases, many of which double as Meaningful Names; for example:
  • Iyona Kawai's name is derived from "Kawaii yo na ("So cute")".
  • Rui Ijigawa's name is taken from "Iji ga warui", which means mean-spirited, something that even she's aware of.
  • The Zekenja twins Neyo and Neizo's names are based on "Zakenja ne yo!" and "Zakenja ne zo!", both meaning "Don't mess with me!".
• Puppy Love:
  • Honmaru is in a love triangle with both Iyona and Ijigawa, all of whom are at least 10 years old.
  • Subverted in a way with Mimora and Taru, while it's obvious the Mimora is in love with Taru, it's ambiguous whether or not he reciprocates.
• Rescue Romance: Parodied with Mimora. She hates takoyaki (as well as carrots in the anime), and depending on the continuity, it's what the students were served at magical kindergarten. Taru stole and ate her food when the teacher wasn't looking, but she mistakenly believes that he was helping her and has been smitten with Taru ever since.
• The Rival:
  • Harako is extremely competitive and will take on anyone, Honmaru in particular, in any challenge he sees necessary, including boxing, snowball fights, and sumo wrestling.
  • Rivar is this to Taru, but that's mostly fueled by his love for Mimora, who herself is head over heels for Taru.
• Running Gag: Taru's magic usually lasts for only 10 minutes, yet Honmaru always forgets, and shenanigans ensue as a result.
• Secondary Character Title: Though Taru is the title character, the Series Mascot, and plays a major part in all of the appearances he makes, Honmaru is the actual main protagonist. Taru is there to help him out with magic and serve as a surrogate little brother.
• Shout-Out:
  • The main cast's school, Minamino Elementary School is named after Japanese singer and actress Yoko Minamino, who Tasuya Egawa was once a fan of. This may or may not apply to the town they all live in as well.
  • Jabao's name and overall character is one big homage to Star Wars antagonist, Jabba the Hutt.
  • Ria Kinakamo's name is based on pop singer, Akina Nakamori.
  • Matsugoro Naniwa is a homage to Supreme Chef Umesaburo Sagawa from Dokonjou Gaeru.
  • The entirety of the picture book world is a parody of the early Dragon Quest games, specifically Dragon Quest II.
  • The pleasure seeker who steals Miss Oaya's panties gets a hard punch to the helmet and once he gets up, she mentions that his helmet is already dead, before shattering to pieces, revealing his face. This is a reference to the infamous "You're already dead" scene in fellow Jump series, Fist of the North Star.
  • Episode 41 has a scene where one of the things that Shougunnosuke buys for Honmaru is a PC Engine with a CD-ROM² add-on. Ironically enough the one console the series never had a game released on.
• Smoking Is Cool:
  • The calm and sexy Ria is occasionally shown smoking cigarettes throughout the series, including in her first appearance.
  • As does Neyo Zakenja, who causes a stir with the other students on the first day in her new classroom by smoking in class.
• Tickertape Parade: Used in the anime for the Harako Conglomerate parade during Harako's introduction.
• Time Stands Still: In episode 2, Taru freezes time to help Honmaru give a love letter to Iyona without anyone noticing and teasing him for it. This causes Honmaru to do some very despicable actions, such as having Jabao lift (and later pull down) Miss Oaya's skirt, rushing over to the girl's locker room, and is eventually driven to so much insanity from the isolation that he tries to slip off Iyona's bra. Karma bites him when time unfreezes itself, and the little pervert gets hammered by most of the girls. What Taru forgot to mention was that the spell lasts only 10 minutes. Whoops..
• Token Mini-Moe: Taru and Mimora are magical kindergartners who are much more adorable than the rest of the main cast, which comprises of fifth and sixth graders. Ironically, their magic makes them far more formidable than the others.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Ijigawa fills the role of the tomboy, wearing more active clothing (the pink hairbow, notwithstanding) and being rough around the edges personality-wise. Meanwhile, Iyona is undoubtedly the girly girl, often wearing skirts and dresses and often presenting herself as well-mannered.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Taru loves Takoyaki, a type of round, octopus-filled treat considered a staple in Japan. In the manga, he would eat the takoyaki that was served for school lunch during his magical kindergarten days, so it seems that takoyaki was already his favorite food at this point. In the anime, he eats takoyaki for the first time when it was bought from a takoyaki shop in a park, and it instantly becomes his favorite food. Honmaru is also quite the fan of takoyaki, although obviously not as big as Taru.
• Treasure Hunt Episode: Honmaru and Taru go on an adventure to discover a hidden treasure buried somewhere far off into the town's underground cavern. The treasure is guarded by a mysterious woman who initally unwilling to give up said treasure. After Taru kisses her, she has a change of heart allows them to take the treasure (or a consolation prize in the anime), which happens to be a literal money tree. Harako proceeds to steal the treasure from the duo, but soon realizes that the treasure only grows heavy ancient coins from centuries ago. This plotpoint later shows us as the first stage of the first Game Boy game, with the treasure guardian serving as the first boss.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: By the very last volume of manga, Honmaru and Iyona remain great friends, but no longer attend the same school together as after their graduation, Iyona went to a private school instead of going to Banno Middle School with Honmaru, Jabao, and Ijigawa, straining the chance of a potential Relationship Upgrade. A month after he begins middle school, Honmaru meets an older girl named Shoko Hayasaka and is almost just as smitten, especially after she randomly kisses him, though he panics at the fact that it happened while being in love with Iyona. Meanwhile, the final chapter of the series has Honmaru and Iyona reunite, along with their other friends, and while they're still only friends at this point, it's made clear that he's still in love with and deeply values Iyona, as he kept his promise about not fighting while in middle school.
• Valentine's Day Episode: Episode 23, Valentine Declaration, complete with a sweet anti-Valentine's Day opening tune.
• World of Technicolor Hair: Half of the characters, humans and wizards alike, all have some unnatural hair color.

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Meanwhile, the video games provide examples of:

• 100% Completion: A very interesting and subtle case involving some of the NPC characters in the Mega Drive game, in which certain characters (Ijigawa, Ria, Shougunnosuke, Niruru, and Miss Oaya) are all physically left out of the credits sequence while their names still appear. The only way to add them back in is to find them in hidden rooms within the game's stages. While Honmaru and Iyona are always guaranteed on a normal playthrough, using the level select code and skipping over their appearance causes them to disappear from the staff roll as well.
• 1-Up:
  • In Fantastic World!!: Finding a hidden 1-Up takoyaki piece (many of which can be found as one of the takoyaki pieces at a stage's end goal) will grant you an extra life, as well as succeeding at any of the bonus games.
  • In the first Game Boy game and Mahou Daibouken, Ikifuki Frogs have been repurposed to grant your character an extra life instead of an extra hit point.
• Action Girl: Mimora joins Taru and Honmaru as a playable character in Mahou Daibouken. She's also able to be called in an unlockable part of Taru's magic arsenal in the Mega Drive game.
• Adaptational Badass: In her sole appearance, the treasure guardian shows up and threatens the heroes, but Taru just kisses her before she has a chance to attack. In the Game Boy game, she's shown to be capable of shooting out energy beams that ricochet between the walls and the ground.
• Adaptational Wimp: All of the picture book villains suffer from this no matter what game they appear in, and what's worse is that they are all legitimately frightening in the original manga and anime.
  • In Fantastic World!!, all of them, with the possible exception of Great King Dowaha, can easily be defeated with a set of well-timed patterns, and aren't anywhere near as tough as Jabao, the game's first boss.
  • The same applies to Dowaha and Count Racul in the Mega Drive game, and if that weren't enough, Eland and Patulous are reduced to being a common enemies and Gabeira is nothing more than a platform.
• Adapted Out:
  • Korekiyo Ryoguchiya, Jabao's diminutive sidekick, is often left out of the video game adaptations, only appearing in the character index in Fantastic World!!.
  • Though he appears in the commercial for the Mega Drive game, Matsugoro doesn't appear in that version at all.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Fantastic World!! includes an entire set of magic powerups that can be obtained within the world map or through bonus games. The most useful ones are the wings powerup, which allows Taru to use his wings to fly throughout the level, eliminating the need to make extremely narrow jumps, and the Tele-potato, which automatically sends Taru breezing through the stage and straight to the goal. The catch is that neither of these items are available through Mimora's shop and have to be earned through the scratch-off tickets.
• Art Evolution: Mahou Daibouken is a notable bump in visual quality compared to Fantastic World!!, including Taru's sprite being larger, having a larger tongue sprite based on the one in Magic Adventure, more reallistic sprites for the human bosses, and the improved shading of stage environments and character portraits.
• Auto-Scrolling Level:
  • The Mega Drive game has two, both of which are easily the most difficult levels in the game. The first is a Level in the Clouds that requires a litany of jumps on the moving clouds while avoiding numerous obstacles. The other one is a city chase where Harako returns with his helicopter to eliminate Taru.
  • Grabbing spicy curry in certain stages in Mahou Daibouken will turn a stage into this for about 10 seconds.
• Bee Afraid: Bee-like enemies will fly straight across the screen before attempting to hone in on Taru a few stages in Fantastic World!!.
• Big Boo's Haunt: The 6th world of Fantastic World!!, which takes place in a cemetery at night, with path-blocking skeletons.
• Bonus Stage: In the Game Boy game, there are a few hidden rooms where hoards of takoyaki can be found, two of which spell out the kanji of Honmaru's given name.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In the Mega Drive game, both Jabao and Harako are possessed by Rivar's influence, which is what's been driving them to hunt down Taru.
• Brutal Bonus Level: The takoyaki spaces in Mahou Daibouken are just single-room bonus levels that allow the player to nab free takoyaki or pudding. The problem with that is that there are obstacles everywhere, you have to stay in that room until the timer runs out, and getting hit in these stages still cost and extra life (which also depletes your takoyaki by half).
• Cap: The amount of lives and items reach their maximum at 99 in Fantastic World!!, while the amount of takoyaki collected caps out at 500.
• Character Level:
  • An optional level up system is put into the first Game Boy game. Honmaru starts off at level 1 and can level up by asking Taru for training in a series of mini games. Through beating these mini games, Honmaru can level up all the way to level 8, where his speed and punch attack will be significantly increased and bosses will go down easily, but meeting up with Ijigawa will reduce your total by one level.
  • Mahou Daibouken incoporates this for each character, all of whom level up at different rates.
• Compressed Adaptation: Fantastic World!!'s story is divided into eight seperate tales based on several of the anime's earliest episodes, covering Honmaru being at war with Jabao and meeting Taru for the first time, the ski resort trip, the picture book adventure, the boxing match with Harako, and Iyona's birthday party.
• Continuity Nod: Fantastic World!! and the Mega Drive game showcase a hodgepodge of references to the the anime series, with the former being based around seperate episodes, and the latter using elements for a large overarching original story.
• Darker and Edgier: As Mahou Daibouken takes place during the series' last major arcs, including the battle between Honmaru and Neizo and Honmaru's death following his Heroric RROD, most of the first half of the game is shown to be a bit more serious, story-focused, and melancholic in contrast to the other games, especially its goofy, cheery yet disjointed predecessor, Fantastic World!!. It's only when the characters reach the Magic World does the plot takes a lighter turn.
• Degraded Boss: In Fantastic World!!, all four of Great King Dowaha's minions are bosses of near-equal difficulty alongside the king himself. In the Mega Drive game, Patulous and Eland are demoted to stage-exclusive mooks, and Gabeira is reduced to being a stepping stone that tries to burn Taru.
• Demoted to Extra: Outside of the first Game Boy game and Mahou Daibouken, Honmaru is largely put on the back burner, being around Taru in the world map and cutscenes in most of the other games.
• Didn't Think This Through: With the Attractor magic in Fantastic World!! and Mahou Daibouken, Taru can attract takoyaki on the screen like a magnet. However, abusing the ability can potentially be detrimental, as Taru can't move when the takoyaki is flying over to him, making you vulnerable to enemies, especially the Ojamaru enemies (the only type of enemy character to appear in both games) who are also attracted while using this. Even worse in Fantastic World!!, where you may end up pulling in takoyaki you were supposed to use as a foothold.
• Early-Bird Cameo: A few characters featured in the later arcs like Neizo Zakenja make their only appearance in Fantastic World!!'s character index before appearing in the anime, though many of them had appeared in the manga by that point. His sister, Neyo Zakenja's appearance in the game's 3x3 bingo bonus game is a subversion as she not only appears once in the intro, but she had previously made a cameo a few weeks earlier in a freeze frame in episode 26. In terms of her canon appearance in the anime, the game was released three months before her debut episode.
• Edible Collectible:
  • Pieces of takoyaki, Taru's favorite food, serve as the sole collectible item found throughout most of the Bandai games, and can used as currency in shops, mini-games, and in the case of Mahou Daibouken, saving the game. In the Mega Drive game, they are instead used to regain health points.
  • When playing as Mimora in Mahou Daibouken, all of the takoyaki is replaced by custard pudding (flan), as she hates Takoyaki.
• Elemental Punch: Harako throws wind-based punches in his boss battle in Fantastic World!!.
• Evil Doppelgänger: In the Mega Drive game, Taru is forced to fight an evil version of Mimora, who wears dark clothes similar to Rivar.
• Exposition Fairy: Several characters (mostly Honmaru, Tamamie, and Ria) appear in the Mega Drive game to guide Taru on what's going on and where he needs to go.
• Final Boss: Rivar is usually the final boss and by proxy the main antagonist in most of these games with a few exceptions.
  • Harako's the last boss in Fantastic World!!, but there's still one final world after beating him. Rivar appears as the penultimate boss in the world before the next boss.
  • In the Game Gear game and Rivar Zone Panic!!, Rivar instead sends out other forces to deal with Taru.
  • Maharapa, one of the strongest magicians and a trouble-making womanizer, transforms into a powerful dragon-like creature in Mahou Daibouken.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar:
  • In Fantastic World!!, there's an easter egg where if you leave the game idle for one minute during the first cutscene of the second world, Honmaru and the player will get a view of Iyona in the same skimpy string bikini shown in the anime's opening, in which she calls Honmaru out for it. If that weren't enough, upon pressing the B button on the second controller 147 times, the bikini will be completely stripped off, leaving her naked (though featureless) and screaming. While the bikini part was well known, the nude part was so well hidden that it went undiscovered for about 30 years.
  • While not as risqué, the final boss with Rivar in the Mega Drive game has Iyona tied down as a reference to Rivar's debut episode, with her dress becoming see-through, revealing white panties and a bra.
• Hint System: Tamamie's role in Fantastic World!!, where her hints can be purchased through Mimora's shop. She'll explain the details of a stage and things to watch out for. Depending on the stage (and for that matter, your comprehension of the Japanese language), she might be useless.
• Hit Points: With Honmaru being the sole playable character in the first Game Boy game, Taru is reduced to being an extra hit point that follows Honmaru around and disappears after Honmaru takes a hit. He can also serve as a half-a-second platform that can help Honmaru reach higher platforms and pressing the select button brings up an entire menu where he can help out in various ways, including taking out enemies and objects, freezing them, and allowing Honmaru to increase strength through special training mini games. He can be summoned if you collect a star from a treasure block or collect 20 pieces of takoyaki.
• Hub Level: All of the Bandai-published games except for the first Game Boy game feature several world maps akin to Super Mario Bros. 3, where the main stages and a bunch of bonus stages are accessed.
• Inconsistent Coloring: The NPC characters in the Mega Drive game as well as Harako all use a similar color palette that relies on light shades of blue, pink, white, brown, and black. Honmaru and Ria look fine with these color choices while Ijigawa and Miss Oaya are the most affected by them to the point where they almost look like completely different characters.
• Infinite 1-Ups: In the first Game Boy game, it's easy to accumulate extra lives because you're able to collect one after every 20 pieces of takoyaki while Honmaru already has Taru available, and because every item resets after losing a life, it's possible to continually farm lives. The third stage (the full helicopter stage) keeps Taru regardless and it has a segment that places at least 33 pieces of takoyaki, three large pieces (each total up to 10 pieces), and two Ikifuki Frogs, meaning you could possibly rack up five lives, lose one, and repeat the cycle.
• Invincibility Power-Up:
  • In Fantastic World!!, certain pieces of Takoyaki can potentially make Taru invincible for ten seconds. Taru can also start a stage with invincibility if he has some Power-Upple Juice equipped.
  • In the Mega Drive game, after the first stage, Taru can use a spell to make himself invisible and impervious to damage as long as he has enough pentagram stickers.
• Logo Joke: In tradition for several Sega Genesis and Mega Drive games, the Mega Drive game features a completely voiced Taruruto (with TARAKO reprising her role) doing his own version of the "Seee-Gaaa!" with Niruru at his side.
• Mini-Game:
  • Fantastic World!! has a few bonus games where you can win lives, additional items and takoyaki. These include Matsugoro's takoyaki catching challenge found on the takoyaki spaces on the world map, a 3x3 bingo game found on the balloons on the map, and scratch-off tickets provided by purchases at Mimora's shop.
  • The first Game Boy game has a few mini games that allow you to level up Honmaru to maximum strength. These include a soccer goal kick game against Jabao, Honmaru skiing to get 16 flags, and Honmaru fist-fighting with Flame-kun, the living flame from the boxing arc. Playing these eight times each will max out Honmaru's strength, and the main stage's timer never depletes when playing these games.
• Mood Whiplash: The first stage of the Mega Drive game presents itself as cute and fun-loving with Taru chasing down cute monsters and cheery music playing. Then in the fourth part of the stage, Harako comes thundering down outside of the school with a realistic helicopter attempting to shoot down Taru and shooting up the school's walls in the process.
• Motion Parallax: The vividly colorful backgrounds of the Mega Drive game are put in the spotlight thanks to the Mega Drive's parallax scrolling. Not even Magic Adventure on the Super Famicom could compare to this.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: In a couple of the Bandai games, both Taru and Honmaru (and Mimora in Mahou Daibouken) can easily be taken out in one hit. In Fantastic World!!, this can be negated by using Ikifuki Frog, which allows Taru to take an additional hit, but it doesn't save you from Bottomless Pits.
• Platform Game: Every game in the series except for the Game Gear Cute 'em Up and the JUMP crossover games are traditional 2D sidescrollers.
• Poison Mushroom: Mahou Daibouken introduces treasure chests that, outside of takoyaki and Power-Upple Juice, will give you items that will purposefully hinder the players. Spicy curry temporarily turns the level into an Auto-Scrolling Level, and there's also a badge-like item that temporarily inverts your controls.
• Product Placement: At the end of Fantastic World!!, it's shown that both Honmaru and Taru got Iyona a Famicom for her birthday, and in a hilarious case of Leaning on the Fourth Wall, the small post-credits sequence has Honmaru and Iyona watching Taru insert a cartridge and turn on the console, creating a Snowy Screen of Death that loops back to the title screen, averting an Unending End Card.
• Rush Boss: In the Mega Drive game, when you're not carrying a magic item box, Count Racul's mini-boss battle in the third stage can be tricky. His swarm of bats spread throughout the playfield, he can lift Taru to the top of the screen, and apples that fall from the trees can hit Taru. If you do have a magic box on the other hand and throw it at him, Racul goes down in one hit, making him the easiest boss in the game.
• Save-Game Limits: The Famicom games don't allow you to save automatically, instead you have to sacrifice parts of your inventory.
  • Fantastic World!! uses a special item found at Mimora's shop and through the scratch-off tickets. They usually go for around 70 pieces of takoyaki at the shop.
  • Mahou Daibouken simply uses collected takoyaki directly for saving, though it helps that many of the stages can be replayed making it hard to run out.
• Secret Room: In the first Game Boy game, backing into walls may sometimes lead you into either a small bonus room with plenty of takoyaki to collect, or one of Honmaru's friends may appear. Miss Oaya seems to hint at other nearby rooms, while Matsugoro will provide free takoyaki, and Ijigawa will insult you and not only steal whatever takoyaki you already have, but will also knock your overall strength down a level if you've accumulated any. Ria can also appear and give out an Ikifuki Frog (an extra life).
• Shout-Out: Fantastic World!! features takoyaki-blocked underground passages that have a near-identical color palette as many of the underground warp pipes in the original Super Mario Bros., even using its takoyaki placement similar to coins.
• Single-Use Shield: Outside of bottomless pits, the Ikifuki Frog in Fantastic World!! allows Taru to take one hit. He'll still do his hit animation after taking the hit, but he'll become invincible for a short amount of time and continue from there until he takes another hit, falls down a pit, or clears the stage.
• Soft Reset: Like other Game Boy titles, both the first one and Rivar Zone Panic!! allow you to reset to the title screen by pressing select, start, B, and A all at once.
• Sound Test:
  • In the Mega Drive game, simply going to the options screen will allows you to select any of the game's music tracks.
  • The intro for the first Game Boy game has a secret sound test that can be accessed by pressing the select button. Taru will then disappear from the screen and you can use A and B buttons to select a track and press the start button to play it.
• Timed Mission: In all of the Bandai-published games, each stage runs on a time limit.
• Tastes Like Friendship: In Famicom Jump II, Taru will instantly join your party after trying Matsugoro's takoyaki once you've collected all of the ingrdients.
• Under the Sea: The bulk of the stages in Fantastic World!!'s second world take place underwater, where Taru dons swim shorts in place of his standard outfit. These stages play similar to using the wings powerup, except Taru can attack in all directions. There's even a powerup that boosts Taru's swim speed exclusively for these levels.
• Unexpected Shmup Level: In the first Game Boy game, the boss of the second stage turns the game from a simple platformer into a fixed single screen Horizontal Scrolling Shooter that has Honmaru and Taru in a radio-controlled helicopter. The next level keeps the gameplay while auto-scrolling like a normal shmup.
• Wackyland: The fourth world, the magical world in Mahou Daibouken.
• Warmup Boss: Jabao is this in the Mega Drive game. He kicks a series of soccer balls at Taru but occasionally slips up and leaving one for Taru to grab and toss it back at him. It's not that much of a challenge once you've learned his pattern.
• Warp Whistle: The Tele-potato (The french fries-like item) in Fantastic World!!, which allows Taru to skip straight to the goal in any non-boss stage. It's very useful as some of the stages can get pretty difficult later on.
• Weird Currency: In Bandai's home console games, Takoyaki found throughout the levels are used to purchase goods and play minigames.
• You Dirty Rat!: A large rodent character serves as the most common enemy in Fantastic World!!.

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Taruruto: Ahh!