Super Shiro

Shiro, a seemingly ordinary dog, lives with the Nohara family and leads a seemingly ordinary life. With his human family often involved in various adventures, Shiro is frequently left to his own devices, and it is during these times when he is alone that the secret life of this extraordinary dog is revealed. For Shiro is no regular hound - he is Super Shiro, a superhero dog tasked with protecting the Earth from nefarious evil-doers. Whenever he puts on his super hero badge, he transforms into an ultra-cool canine protector of justice (complete with a deep, ultra-cool superhero voice). His mission is to find and secure the "Bobobobobone," a legendary dog bone that, it is said, grants its owner the power to rule the world. But Shiro isn't alone in this quest: the scheming canine scientist Dekapoo is also after the bone and hopes to use its powers to make himself World President. Complicating matters is that neither Shiro nor Dekapoo knows what the legendary bone looks like. They only know it by reputation: that it is supposedly "glorious, elegant, and wild" (attributes which can be determined by smelling the bone). Shiro is aided in his search by Bibo, an alien ally stationed at Super Hero Space Headquarters, a space station distant from Earth. Whenever Shiro finds a bone he thinks might be the one, he must send it via a teleporter to Bibo... but if he's gotten it wrong and the bone isn't the right one, it will cause an explosion and Shiro will be sent back to square one on his quest. Before long, the search attracts other doggy attention, including from Can Can, a stylish lady hound who's just as eager to make the "Bobobobobone" hers. Can Shiro get the mysterious bone before it falls into the wrong paws? ==Characters==

; : Shiro's task is to find the "Bobobobobone" before any ill-meaning miscreants can use it to oppress or destroy the world. Yuasa described Shiro as "a hero who doesn't cooperate, unless he's asked to." ; : :A stylish female dog who has lived a life of privilege: anything she wants, she "can" have. She sets her sights on acquiring the "Bobobobobone" to have even more friends, parties, and luxury. Yuasa identified her as a character he particularly likes. :A mysterious crow always looking to stir up mischief. Yuasa described him as a character with a particularly interesting appearance and manner of speaking. ==Episodes==

Production of Super Shiro arose out of director Masaaki Yuasa's longstanding affiliation with the Crayon Shin-chan series. Yuasa first became involved with the franchise in 1992 while early in his career as an animator, where he took on a variety of creative roles including key animation, storyboarding, set and background design, prop and vehicle design, and contribution of story concepts and ideas. Over the course of the next decade, he specialized in imagining, designing, and animating the inventive visual climaxes of the annual Crayon Shin-chan films. Crayon Shin-chan was not only an important early work in Yuasa's career, but also provided him with the first project he truly enjoyed and felt he had artistic freedom to express his own style; moreover, his creative success while working on the series inspired his desire to become a director. and contributing the production resources of his studio Science SARU to the production of two franchise films, Crayon Shin-chan: Intense Battle! Robo Dad Strikes Back (2014) and Crayon Shin-chan: My Moving Story! Cactus Large Attack! (2015). As such, Yuasa's involvement in the Super Shiro project represented a return to his origins as an animator and creator in the industry. In addition to Yuasa, the Super Shiro series featured the contributions of other Crayon Shin-chan franchise veterans. Chief director and character designer Tomohisa Shimoyama, who made his series directorial debut with Super Shiro after a long career as an animator, had earlier provided animation on two of the Crayon Shin-chan films. Lead screenwriter Kimiko Ueno previously wrote three films in the franchise, Development Yuasa set out to create a short-format, slapstick comedy series in the style of the American cartoon series Tom and Jerry (1940–present), where (unlike in Crayon Shin-chan), the camera and perspective of the narrative is from a "dog's-eye view" of the world. According to Yuasa, Tom and Jerry was an extremely influential inspiration for the series, not only in regards to the comedic approach, but also in terms of the storytelling. The idea to use a narrator (whom the characters would hear and react to) was inspired by Tom and Jerry, with the American sitcom Bewitched (1964–72) serving as an additional inspiration. Casting According to Shimoyama, Yuasa initially pitched the idea for Super Shiro as a dog superhero voiced by Akio Ōtsuka. As such, Ōtsuka was always envisioned in the lead role. Business Development Super Shiro was a joint production between TV Asahi (the longtime broadcaster of Crayon Shin-chan) and Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, with Turner securing broadcast rights for the series across the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China) in exchange for a significant financial investment. The collaboration represented the first regional deal between TV Asahi and Turner. ==Music==

The series theme song, "Super Shiro Gymnastics" (スーパーシロ体操), was performed by singer-songwriter . ==Release==

Super Shiro was originally released in Japan on October 14, 2019, on the streaming platforms AbemaTV and Telasa. The release continued with one episode per week and concluded on September 7, 2020. ==Reception==

The series was nominated in the category of Best 2D Animated Program at the 2020 Asian Television Awards. ==Related media==

Crayon Shin-chan crossover Following the conclusion of Super Shiro, Science SARU and main Crayon Shin-chan production studio Shin-Ei Animation collaborated on a special crossover episode of Crayon Shin-chan. The special, which aired in Japan on TV Asahi on October 10, 2020, consisted of three short mini-episodes which featured the Super Shiro characters interacting with the main series characters. Manga adaptation A manga version of the series, written and illustrated by Kenta Aiba and published by Futabasha in Monthly Manga Town magazine, was released in conjunction with the anime. The first compiled volume of the manga was published in Japan on May 12, 2021. Sanrio crossover In October 2020, character goods company Sanrio entered into a collaboration with the Super Shiro series, featuring Shiro and the Sanrio characters Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, and Pochacco grouped together on assorted merchandise. Additionally, Sanrio's indoor theme park Sanrio Puroland hosted an online Halloween music festival on October 30, 2020, in which Shiro and series theme song artist Mewhan performed alongside the Sanrio characters. Game In Japan, the content sharing website GIFMAGAZINE posted a Shiro Bobobobobone Catching Game on March 29, 2020, which could be played via a web browser. ==References==