Bonobono

 is a yonkoma manga series by Mikio Igarashi. From March 1986 to March 1987, the series ran in the Takeshobo manga magazine "Tensai Club" before the magazine was replaced with "Manga Club", where it had been serialized from April 1987 to April 2020. It is also been serialized in "Manga Life" since April 1986. It has been adapted into an anime television series, as well as two anime films and two video games.
While the series is considered a yonkoma manga, most of the "stories" use eight panels. The series follows the main character, a young sea otter after whom the manga is titled, and his daily adventures with his friends from the nearby forest. "Bonobono" combines gag comic and philosophical questions, bringing up comparisons to other manga such as "Azumanga Daioh", and to films such as "Forrest Gump".
In 1988, "Bonobono" won the Kodansha Manga Award in the General category. An anime film was released in theaters on November 13, 1993, and an anime television series was broadcast on TV Tokyo from April 20, 1995 through March 28, 1996. One day after the TV series began, a simulation game was released on the 3DO system. The following June, an adventure game was released on the PlayStation. Several "ehon"—or "picture books"—have been released since the manga series was first introduced over 30 years ago.
Books.
In addition to the original tankōbon releases, the first twenty tankōbon volumes have been rereleased in bunkoban format as 15 volumes. Several stand-alone picture books have been released as well.
For the first film, an "ekonte"—or storyboard—volume and a set of four film comics have been released.
Manga.
Tankōbon.
Takeshobo released all the volumes of manga listed below.
Bunkoban.
Takeshobo released all the volumes of manga listed below.
Film comics.
These books contain scenes from the first "Bonobono" film laid out in comic book format. All were released by Takeshobo.
Storyboards.
This book contains the storyboards for the first "Bonobono" film.
Picture books.
Various "Bonobono" picture books have been released, including the following. Titles are listed chronologically.
Anime.
1993 film.
The first theatrical release, titled "Bonobono", opened in theaters on 1993-11-13. The film has since been broadcast on domestic television in Japan, including on broadcast satellite channels such as NHK BS-2. The film has been released on VHS and DVD in Japan, including in a "no cut" edition.
1995 TV series.
The "Bonobono" anime television series ran from April 20, 1995 through March 28, 1996 as part of the series on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm on TV Tokyo. Each episode was 15 minutes long, and was paired with an episode of "Bit the Cupid" to fill out the 30-minute timeslot. The series has been rebroadcast on several different channels and networks, including Animax and the on-demand internet streaming service GyaO.
The entire TV series was released as two DVD box sets on April 20, 2007.
TV specials.
Following the anime television series, nine specials were aired on TV Tokyo. At the beginning of each special, the next special was also introduced and showed some animation from it. The specials used a lot of animation from the series, and while the content fit the season in which the special was broadcast, the music, scripts, and jokes were changed for each of the specials. The voice actors from the TV series were used for the specials.
2002 film.
 was the second theatrical "Bonobono" movie, released by Amuse Pictures in theaters in Japan on August 10, 2002. It was done completely in 3D.
2016 TV series.
A recent anime television adaption started airing on April 2, 2016. A Planetarium special "Bono Bono - Uchū kara Kita Tomodachi" (Bono Bono - The Friend That Came From Space) was shown at the Gotanda Cultural Center from September 16 to October 9, 2017. Crunchyroll only simulcasted the first three seasons of the series. On December 21, 2019, the series had a crossover with Gachapin. The anime was on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic from May to June 2020. It resumed on June 20, 2020.
Games.
Two games based on the "Bonobono" series have been released. The first was , a simulation game released on 1995-04-21 for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer system by Amuse and Bandai Visual.
The second game was titled , an adventure game released by Amuse for the PlayStation system on 1996-06-07.