Massugu ni Ikou.

Synopsis:

Episodes:

• Episode 1: Let's Go to School! (Aired: 08/18/2003)
• Episode 2: Let's Go to the Convenience Store! (Aired: 08/19/2003)
• Episode 3: Let's Go to the Riverbank! (Aired: 08/20/2003)
• Episode 4: Let's Be Honest! (Aired: 08/21/2003)

Characters:

• Mametarou (Main) - Voice Actors: Yoshino, Hiroyuki, Jeong, Myeong Jun
• Wakatsuki, Ikuko (Main) - Voice Actors: Orikasa, Fumiko
• Akiyoshi, Junichi (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Nojima, Kenji
• Hanako (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kojima, Sachiko
• Hashibuto-san (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Oohama, Naoki
• Ijuuin, Takeshi (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Suzumura, Kenichi
• Kazu (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Hidaka, Noriko
• Saotome, Nao (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Shitaya, Noriko
• Sebastian (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Suzuki, Masami
• Sora (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Hanba, Tomoe
• Watabe, Kyousuke (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Morikawa, Toshiyuki

Staff:

• Saitou, Tomoyuki (Producer, Planning)
• Isako, Kiyotaka (Director, Episode Director, Storyboard)
• Iwanami, Yoshikazu (Sound Director)
• Itami, Aki (Script)
• Shimada, Masanori (Theme Song Arrangement)
• aiko (Theme Song Performance)
• Ario, Yukiko (Color Design)
• Katou, Youichi (Series Composition)
• Kira (Original Creator)
• Matsuzaki, Nobuya (Director of Photography)
• Nakatake, Manabu (Key Animation)
• Oshima, Michiru (Music)
• Sakamoto, Nobuto (Art Director)
• Tsunaki, Aki (Character Design, Chief Animation Director)

Reviews:

• User ninetailedfoxie (Score: 10/10):
  I just had to write a review for this little show, it is amazing. :D So before this little review, have in mind that this is a short anime made for children, but if you're looking for something short and cute to watch then this is for you too :D also if you love dogs :D Story 10/10 So the story follows a cross-breed dog Mametaro and his friends in their little adventures. Each episode has an adventure of it's own and tells a good life lesson to children. I found every story really beautiful and easy to follow and I was really shocked at how good everyepisode ends and wraps everything up. nnArt 8/10nnAs far as the art is concerned, in my personal opinion it could have been better, considering this is not a really old anime, as it aired in 2000. But then again, the animation kinda fits with the general feeling of this anime and with the characters, hence 8/10nnSound 8/10nnThe opening isn't really much to my liking, but it is not horrid. The ending was fine and I liked it. nnCharacter 10/10nnCharacters in this anime are the best. :D It is amazing how an anime of just 4 episodes can make the mc - our cross-breed Mametaro develop, especially when I think of many many animes that had a lot of episodes, but no character development at all. With each episode Mame learns something new, but tho this is a children orienteered anime, the messages conveyed can be really deep and at the same time really easily presented for children to understand.nnEnjoyment 10/10nnI had so much fun watching this :D I love animals in general and like shows that are centered around them. I really didn't find a second of this show boring. And it really warmed my heart as it is so beautiful and cute :3nnOverall 10/10nnThis is an anime I would want my future child to watch. It teaches us important life lessons and teaches us to love animals unconditionally as they love as.
• User catsighs (Score: 6/10):
  massugu ni ikou is a tiny little series from many years ago that I stumbled across while looking for cute, relaxing things to watch, I wanted a short series to fill the time between doing other things, and at 4 episodes of only 20 minutes each, this anime totally fit that description. STORY (6/10) the series did have some sort of loose plot, but mostly ambled along at a pleasantly slow pace, focusing on the lighthearted adventures of the main character, a mixed-breed dog named Mametarou and his friends! each episode fits a pretty standard pattern: Mame and friends are curious about something, they end uphaving to somehow resolve a problem, usually do so with the help of one of their human friends and a lesson is learned at the end. sort of like mini aesops! throughout the series Mame is worried about his mixed-breed heritage, and how to break this news to his girlfriend, a purebred Kishu, but it's not explored consistently, rather it features as a character quirk before finally being addressed in the last episode.nnall in all, it's a sweet little story that's simple enough for children to follow, or for an adult to watch whilst multitasking, nothing special on its own!nnnnART (6/10)nnso I personally would've liked to rate this a lot higher because it's the sort of late 90's-early 00's elegant shoujo art style I really love, but objectively, it's definitely not the best out there. I feel like the colours of the characters were supposed to be 'muted and pastel', but especially for the humans they ended up a little muddy in the end. the dogs were pretty consistently rendered in a very charming and bright way, which is a plus! many animators on shows like this actually struggle drawing dogs, but all of the characters were stylised nicely, and apart from the abundant chibi scenes, were rendered in loving detail (even the nails and pads on each dog were drawn semi-realistically, as well as detailed leashes and collars!), which was super important in this case because so much of this anime is still scenes or scenes with very very limited animation. where massugu ni ikou really shines, in my eyes, is how its scenery is handled. everything is rendered in vibrant watercolour, and it's an absolute joy to watch.nnnnSOUND (5/10)nnin terms of incidental music, there was nothing that really stood out to me, bad or good. the opening theme was a little lacking, with no real catchy or consistent melody, but the ending theme is a lovely, slightly jazzy tune that really fits the pace of the series. the final episode also had an insert song, which was nice for such a short show.nnnnCHARACTER (7/10)nnthe characters' roles were pretty simple: provide cute and lighthearted entertainment, and to this end, most characters were simple archetypes applied to dogs. despite this, Mame was still an endearing protagonist, Hanako and her love of melonpan were very sweet, and I found myself genuinely wanting to know more about…

Forum Topics:

• Massugu ni Ikou Episode 4 Discussion
• Massugu ni Ikou Episode 3 Discussion
• Massugu ni Ikou Episode 2 Discussion
• Massugu ni Ikou Episode 1 Discussion

External Links:

• Official Site
• AniDB
• ANN
• Wikipedia

Related Anime/Manga:

• Massugu ni Ikou. 2nd Season (anime - Sequel)
• Massugu ni Ikou. (manga - Adaptation)