#araiguma rascal

no? okay. so let me explain

So Araiguma Rascal was 1977's entry into Nippon Animation's line of "World Masterpiece Theater" anime. World Masterpiece Theater was a popular timeslot dedicated to an adaptation of a famous novel or short story. Rascal is based on 1963 autographical book by Sterling North. It essentially tells the tale of a boy and him fostering an abandoned raccoon and it becoming his pet.

It should be noted that Japan up until 1977 had close to 0 raccoons in it. It is not a native species to Japan. However, viewers became very charmed by Rascal and wild raccoons started being imported to Japanese homes with the intention of keeping them as pets.

The ending of Araiguma Rascal (the anime anyway, I'm not familiar with the book and how it compares) has Sterling releasing Rascal into the wild. So many Japanese viewers who had buyers remorse with an actual wild animal in their home - did the same. And raccoons in Japan are to this day an invasive species. You can read about it more here

You might be asking "MajoBun what the hell does this have to do with Sonic?" - so even though Araiguma Rascal messed up the ecosystem, Rascal remains an incredibly popular mascot for Nippon Animation and a representative of the "World Masterpiece Theater" brand.

Over the years though they've made him more...hm. Mascot-like

Complete with a new brighter and eyecatching color scheme, the brighter orange and brown palette seems to have started around 2000 from what I could find.

You may have seen some of your favorite anime do collaborations with Rascal actually!

So unless you know a lot about animals or have to deal with the invasive raccoons eating the infrastructure to your home, it's possible that Rascal the mascot raccoon is the only raccoon you know.

Enter Marine the Raccoon, introduced to Sonic Rush Adventure in 2007. And hey, guest what color she is

(hint: she's orange and brown) Of course this is huge speculation on my part because Sega and her designer have never stated their influence to her design. Also, it's sonic. it's built on bright snappy color schemes for it's characters.

But still, whenever I see people think she's a red panda or think she should be more grey or something, I think it's worth noting that if the most popular raccoon in Japanese pop culture is orange, you bet Sega's gonna try to imitate what works.

🦇Today's Merch Is...🦇

Based on the Anime of the same name, Araiguma Rascal: Raccoon Rascal (あらいぐまラスカル) is a Puzzle video game published by J-Force, NCS released on March 25th, 1994 for the SNES.

Life is quiet in Brailsford Junction, Wisconsin for Sterling North. One weekend, cutting away from his usual chores, Sterling, his friend Oscar, and Hauser head off on a fishing trip. On their way to the river, his dog catches a scent at the base of a tree. Unearthing a raccoon's nest, the two boys find an orphaned raccoon. A passing hunter has killed the baby's mother to make a fur hat, leaving Sterling to adopt and care for the orphaned raccoon which he name Rascal.

the original 1977 anime led to a huge rise of importing raccoons as pets in Japan. As the animals grew up they became very problematic for most people and causing many owners to release them into the wild. Unfortunately due to a lack of natural predators in Japan, the raccoons thrived became an invasive species, causing widespread damage and harm to native ecosystems and historic temples.

In this super cute little Super Nintendo game, players guide young Rascal through various side-scrolling platforming and Match 3 style levels. While generally light-hearted, the gameplay often involves tasks like collecting items and navigating obstacles, while staying true to the anime's wholesome tone. Although never officially released outside of Japan, Araiguma Rascal does have english translation available if you're interested in trying out this game!

Title: Racoon Rascal / あらいぐまラスカル

Developer: J-Force

Publisher: NCS Masaya

Release date: 25 March 1994

Catalogue Code: SHVC-R9

Genre: Stacking Puzzle

Araiguma Rascal is a game based upon the late 70’s animation of the same name, which was based upon the 1963 autobiographical novel 'Rascal, A Memoir of a Better Era' by Sterling North. So, there’s quite a bit of history behind this title. So, with all that history they could have made an amazing game but instead, we get another run of the mill puzzle game.

As puzzle games go this isn’t actually all that bad. In fact, it’s quite good.  Rascal is left with the task of sorting out a load of jars filled with various goodies. His job is to put them away in order. Unfortunately for Rascal, his fellow raccoon who is living in the tree next to where he is sorting out the jars seems to be doing a bit of spring cleaning himself as he constantly throws more jars of goodies and junk onto the ground where Rascal is working. So, you know what this means, right? Yep, Rascal now has to work like a madman trying to sort the jars into orders of 3 which will cause them to magically disappear. Anything is possible in fairytale land, I guess. If Rascal doesn’t work fast enough though the jars and assorted junk will pile up too high resulting in a game over.

As far as puzzle game concepts go, Araiguma Rascal offers nothing that you haven’t seen before however the whole execution and style of the game is quite nice and it does make a change from the usual vertical towers that we normally see in this type of game. A nice puzzle game that’s worth picking up.