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Perman

Perman (パーマン) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio about a clumsy boy, Mitsuo Suwa, who is chosen to become a powerful superhero to save the world along with other superheroes. The manga series was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 1967. The first anime series was first produced in black-and-white in 1967. The second anime series was made in color in 1983 with short films releasing in 1983, 2003 and 2004.

The original manga which started serialization in 1966 was a joint work. Perman 2 (Booby), Kabao, Sabu, and Birdman (Superman) were drawn by Abiko.[2]

The continuation of the series serialized in 1983, was solely written by Fujimoto.

Plot

Mitsuo Suwa, a normal elementary-aged boy, meets an alien superhero named Birdman, who is part of a super-powered group of individuals called Permans that maintain peace across the universe. Birdman recruits Mitsuo to become a Perman, and he accepts. Mitsuo is given three items:

Birdman instructs Mitsuo that if a Perman's identity becomes known to others, he would be turned into an animal. To help keep Mitsuo's secret identity, Birdman gave Mitsuo a doppelgänger robot called a copy-robot (similarly to another Fujiko Fujio series, Bakeru-kun), who takes Mitsuo's place when he is Perman. During his duty as Perman, Mitsuo meets other Permans; Booby, Perko, and Peryan, and they soon become best friends. The series then later revolves around the bonding between the Permans, their secret identities staying secret, and their adventures averting crime and disaster.

Characters

Main characters

Mitsuo Suwa (須羽満夫) / Perman #1 (パーマン 1号)
Mitsuo/Perman is the protagonist of the series. He is an 11-and-a-half-year-old young boy who's chosen as the first Earth Perman by Birdman. Of the five known Earth Permans, he has had the closest calls to having his secret identity revealed. He is not very good at studying, but he can do well if he tries hard enough. He has a crush on Michiko, a girl from his class, as well as being a big fan of the idol Sumire Hoshino (whom he doesn't know is Perko), to the point of wanting to marry her.

Mitsuo is often lazy and dumps his work on his copy robot, leading to the robot occasionally resenting him, but works hard when things get serious. As Perman, he is willing to do anything to please others, which sometimes lands him in trouble. At the end of the series, all of his achievements as Perman were acknowledged by Birdman and he travels to Bird Planet for training to become Birdman's successor.
There is a manga chapter titled "Perman Returns" (omitted from regular volumes), where he returns to Earth only for 2 hours on a vacation before having to go back.

Mitsuo is voiced by Katsue Miwa in both the 1967 and 1983 TV series.[3]

Booby (ブービー) / Perman #2 (パーマン 2号)
Booby is a monkey referred to as "Perman #2". In the original setting, he lived in a zoo and had to sneak out at night to work but was retconned. In the new setting he is a pet chimp who lived with an old couple, so that he could work more easily as a superhero. The reason why he is chosen as one of the Permans is that, according to Birdman, there should be no discrimination between humans and animals. He is highly intelligent but cannot speak human language, though his speech can be understood by the Permans. He often uses objects and gestures to get his point across. Booby typically helps his colleagues with human affairs, although there are instances where, in stories where he is the main focus, he can communicate with animals in an understood language.

Booby is voiced by Hiroshi Ōtake in both the 1967 and 1983 anime series.[3]

Sumire Hoshino (星野スミレ) / Perman #3 (パーマン3号) / Perko (パー子) / Pergirl
Although a girl, she is officially addressed as "Perman #3", but is nicknamed "Perko". Her secret identity, which she doesn't reveal even to her teammates, is Sumire Hoshino, a famous child actress. Sumire enjoys being Perko due to her freedom and anonymity, explaining that as a child actress, she is always treated as a celebrity everywhere she goes. She has a dual personality; In her superhero guise, she is quite tomboyish, bossy, brave, bold, hot-headed, and headstrong, quarreling with Mitsuo and sometimes with Michiko (for Perman) while as Sumire, she is very kind and mild, only getting mad when heavily provoked.

In most versions, she lives in a big mansion along with her parents, while in the 1983 anime, she lives alone in a condominium, with her parents living in New York City. A woman who seems to be her manager frequently goes in and out of her condominium, potentially having taken on a guardian role. Sumire, despite her situation, is inexperienced at household chores such as cooking and sewing, with her attempts to do so often ending in disaster.

Whenever she is in trouble, she tells Mitsuo first, indicating that he indeed is very close to her. She later reveals her true identity, only to him, as a gift when he is about to leave for Bird Planet where he fully reciprocates her love.

Sumire, as an adult actress, also makes a cameo appearance in Doraemon, telling Doraemon and Nobita about a person she loves who is far away, whose return she is still waiting for, after they chase away an actor claiming to be her lover. She also reveals to Nobita in another chapter that the person she was waiting for was Mitsuo.

Sumire is voiced by Yōko Kuri in the 1967 series and by Eiko Masuyama in the 1983 series.[3]

Hōzen Ōyama (大山法善) / Perman #4 (パーマン 4号) / Peryan (パーやん) / Perboy
Hozen is the oldest of all the other Permans, being a 12-year-old Buddhist monk. He lives at a monastery in Osaka called Konpuku Temple and works various part-time jobs for a living. He is very pragmatic and greedy, which sometimes puts him at odds with the other Permans. His pragmatic attitude saves the Permans from many of their tribulations, along with his sense of responsibility being surprisingly strong with his mental power just as tough.

He often contributes to solving difficult cases by planning out excellent or unusual strategies and excels in the most intelligence and ability among the five Permans (four in the 1983 anime). He also usually solves arguments between Perman and Perko very easily, though his plans occasionally backfire.

His dream is to become the owner of a big company and make a lot of money, seemingly accomplishing such a feat in another one of Fujimoto's works, Middle-Aged Superman Mr. Saenai.

Hōzen is voiced by Yoshihisa Kamo in the 1967 series and by Kaneta Kimotsuki in the 1983 series.

Supporting characters

Birdman (バードマン) / Superman (スーパーマン)
Birdman is the highest ranking Perman seen in the manga. His original name was Superman in the early series but was renamed Birdman in 1983. He is the one who gave the Permen their abilities. He always rides a UFO disk. He has been to various places to find candidates for the next Birdman from Bird Planet, to give a Perman set to make them an apprentice.

While trying to recurit them as an apprentice, he uses a device to check their mind beforehand whether they are qualified to become a Perman. Although he is very strict when it comes to the identity of a Perman, he can also be calm and make sure that they don’t take decisions in hurry such as quitting being Perman.

He can sometimes be very clumsy when it comes to operating his UFO and handling situations in general. He also has a variety of superpowers and gadgets at his disposal. In addition to Mitsuo who was selected as a candidate to go to Bird Planet, many of the Permans were selected from around the world to go to the planet Bird Planet, seemingly showing that he may not be the only one coming from there.

Birdman is voiced by Akira Shimada in the 1967 series and by Yoshito Yasuhara in the 1983 series.

Other characters

Sharoku (社六)
He is another classmate of Mitsuo. As the name implies, he is a kid who loves finding out things and acts like a young detective. He is very smart. He has a suspicion that the identity of Perman 1 is Mitsuo. He tries to grab the evidence many times, but ends up failing each time. In the second work, it is revealed that his father is a detective.

Sharoku is voiced by Sanae Takagi in the 1983 series.

Yamagishi Yuki (山岸ユキ)
She's a transfer student who came to the class next to Mitsuo. She met his copy-robot and became his friend. She has a good relationship the copy robot since then, with Mitsuo's copy robot even dreaming of her being his wife on occasion. Because of this there are often misunderstandings whenever she talks to the actual Mitsuo.

She only appears in the 1983 series and is voiced by Sanae Takagi.

Ichirō Ejison (江地孫一郎)