Dokkiri Doctor

Dokkiri Doctor (どっきりドクター), also known as Startling Doctor or Dr. Dokkiri, is a manga series by Hosono Fujihiko, serialized from 1981–1982 in Shōnen Sunday. It was later adapted into a 27-episode anime television series by Studio Pierrot, originally broadcast on Fuji TV from 1998–1999 and later translated and broadcast in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South-East Asia, South Asia, and other regions, by the Animax television network.

Story
Dokkiri Doctor chronicles events in the life of Dr. Haruka Nishikikōji, a humorous overweight school doctor who manages his school's clinic and health center, a medieval castle-like complex situated on the school's rooftop, and the crazy and unique inventions he conjures to impress his childhood friend and pretty nurse, Miyuki Koizumi, and to assist his students, but which often lead to an infinite amount of highly embarrassing and funny situations and adventures for the doctor, Miyuki and the students and the teachers of his school.

Characters

 * Dr. Haruka Nishikikōji (錦小路はるか), voiced by Kōichi Yamadera: A humorous, overweight and endearing school doctor who has made it his mission in life to assist his students in any way he can. Secretly in love with his childhood friend and pretty nurse, Miyuki, Dr. Haruka conjures up unique but crazy inventions meant to help his students and impress Miyuki but which often lead to humorous, funny and very embarrassing situations for the doctor, Miyuki and the students and teachers of his school. Managing a medieval castle-like clinic and health center, Dr. Haruka has often tried to express his feelings for Miyuki, but is thwarted by both his shyness and the consequences of his crazy inventions. In episode 10 of the anime series, Dr. Haruka's weight was measured by his saliva detector (an invention which could deduce the height and weight of a person by detecting his saliva, which he created to search the school for a phantom food thief (later found to be a hungry germ) to be 105 kg.


 * Miyuki Koizumi (小泉みゆき), voiced by Hōko Kuwashima: A childhood friend of Dr. Haruka and the pretty nurse of the school's clinic and health center. When the doctor's inventions go wrong, as is often the case, Miyuki often helps Dr. Haruka fix and correct their unsatisfactory consequences. She is highly skilled in martial arts, often winning several competitions.


 * Mayumi Koizumi (小泉真由美), voiced by Ritsuko Kasai: Miyuki's younger sister, and a student at the school.


 * Yukihiro Hongō (本郷ユキヒロ), voiced by Shizuka Ishikawa: A student of the school and Mayumi's classmate, with whom he has a crush.


 * Hajime Mizukoshi (水越一), voiced by Shigeru Chiba: One of the male teachers at the school. A sly person who is often an unwilling victim of Dr. Haruka's inventions, he is a close confidante of the vice principal, with whom he often unites to find ways of getting Dr. Haruka fired from the school.


 * Rokoro Shibuya (渋谷禄郎), voiced by Ken'ichi Ogata: The vice principal of the school and is a collector of ancient antique artifacts, many of which face the brunt of the embarrassing consequences of Dr. Haruka's crazy inventions. His favorite bakers are Nanahoshu, as detailed in episode 10.


 * Tamotsu Abe (阿部保), voiced by Kentarō Itō: A male teacher at the school who isn't afraid of exposing his muscular body.  He often tries unsuccessfully to woo Miyuki.


 * Hideko Ikeda (池田秀子), voiced by Ayako Kawasumi: A female teacher at the school. A delicate person, she often faints when faced with the shocking situations that often occur due to Dr. Haruka's inventions.


 * Kaori Tajima (田島かおり), voiced by Kurumi Mamiya: A little girl who is a student at the school who is often helped by the kind and lovable doctor. She has a crush on her friend Gen.


 * Gen Genda (玄田ゲン), voiced by Makoto Tsumura: A little boy who is a student at the school and a friend of Kaori. He is also quite popular with his female classmates.


 * Yoshiko Shinagawa (品川良子), voiced by Yoshiko Okamoto: The school's principal.


 * Tai (タイ), Shoku (ショク), Kin (キン): The hungry germs, Tai, Shoku and Kin, were a group of germs created by Dr. Haruka.

Staff

 * Original creator: Fujihiko Hosono (serialized in Shougakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine)
 * Planning: Kenji Shimizu (Fuji TV), Ryuuzou Shirakawa (SPE Visual Works), Yuji Nunokawa (Studio Pierrot)
 * Producers: Madoka Takiyama (Fuji TV), Katsunori Naruke (SPE Visual Works), Ken Hagino (Studio Pierrot)
 * Series composition: Satoru Nishizono
 * Screenplay: Satoru Nishizono, Yuhiro Tomita, Yoshiyuki Suga, Aya Matsui, Kenichi Kanemaki, Tsutomu Kaneko
 * Character designs: Mari Kitayama
 * Sub-character designs: Haruo Miyakawa
 * Art director: Shinobu Takahashi (Studio Wyeth)
 * Color designs: Hideo Kamitani
 * Director of photography: Harutoshi Miyakawa (Takahashi Production)
 * Editing: Junichi Uematsu (Falcon)
 * Sound production: Zak Promotion
 * Music production: Sony Music Entertainment, SPE Visual Works, Fuji Pacific Music
 * Director: Kazunori Mizuno
 * Production: Fuji TV, SPE Visual Works, Pierrot

Cast

 * Haruka Nishikikōji: Kōichi Yamadera
 * Miyuki Koizumi: Hōko Kuwashima
 * Mayumi Koizumi: Ritsuko Kasai
 * Yukihiro Hongō: Shizuka Ishikawa
 * Gen Genda: Makoto Tsumura
 * Kaori Tajima: Kurumi Mamiya
 * Rokoro Shibuya: Kenichi Ogata
 * Hajime Mizukoshi: Shigeru Chiba
 * Tamotsu Abe/Kin: Kentarō Itō
 * Hideko Ikeda/Shoku: Ayako Kawasumi
 * Ryouko Shinagawa: Yoshiko Okamoto
 * Tai: Naomi Nagasawa

Theme music
The opening theme for the anime series is Nenai Nenai Nenai (ねない ねない ねない), performed by The Castanets. For the first 19 episodes (episodes 1-19), the ending theme was I Wish by Electric Combat, and the ending theme used for the last ten episodes (episodes 20-26) was Make it Somehow by LUKA.

Official sites

 * Studio Pierrot's official Dokkiri Doctor website
 * Fuji TV's official Dokkiri Doctor website
 * Animax East Asia's Dr. Dokkiri website
 * Animax South Asia's official Dr. Dokkiri website

Profiles

 * ANN's encyclopedia entry for Dokkiri Doctor

우당탕탕 닥터지 Dokkiri Doctor どっきりドクター