| Forza! Hidemaru | |
 | |
| フォルツァ!ひでまる (Forutsa! Hidemaru) | |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Hidemaru the Soccer Boy | |
| Written by | Makoto Mizobuchi |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| Magazine | CoroCoro Comic |
| Demographic | Children |
| Original run | 2002 – 2003 |
| Volumes | 2 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Yoshihiro Takamoto |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by | Hideo Takayashiki |
| Music by |
|
| Studio | Studio Gallop |
| Original network | TV Tokyo |
| Original run | April 6, 2002 – September 28, 2002 |
| Episodes | 26 |
Forza! Hidemaru (Japanese: フォルツァ!ひでまる, Hepburn: Forutsa! Hidemaru) is a Japanese anime television series. It was produced by NAS and aired on TV Tokyo for twenty-six episodes. Enoki Films licensed the series as Forza! Mario,[1] and NAS refers to the series by that name on its English website.[2] The series, about a boy who wants to play soccer, aired in 2002, the year of the FIFA World Cup in Japan and Korea.
Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, the authors of The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, wrote that the series "seems far out of its time in the early 21st century" but "the very young audience sees" the sports tropes "with fresh eyes."[3] A manga adaptation, Hidemaru The Soccer Boy by Makoto Mizobuchi, was serialized in Shogakukan's Corocoro Comic.[3]
Hidemaru appeared on the website nakata.net, Hidetoshi Nakata's official website.[4]
- ^ "Forza! Mario." Enoki Films. Retrieved on March 23, 2014.
- ^ "TV programs(by genre) Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine" (Archive). NAS. Retrieved on April 4, 2014.
- ^ a b Clements, Jonathan and Helen McCarthy. The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917. Stone Bridge Press, November 6, 2012. ISBN 1611725151, 9781611725155. page unstated (Google Books PT 291)
- ^ "Feature: The game of life" (Archive) Metropolis. Retrieved on March 24, 2014. "The phenomenon continues to grow with nakata.net TV, a weekly soccer program on SkyPerfecTV; nakata.net Mobile, a mobile phone service that transmits voice and text messages from Nakata; nakata.net kids, the online home of soccer-playing cartoon dog Hidemaru; and club.nakata.net, a members-only site for Japanese fans with about 8,000 subscribers."