Arale Norimaki

Arale Norimaki (則巻アラレ Norimaki Arare) is the main protagonist of the Dr. Slump series. She is an android built by Senbei Norimaki. She is known for her innocent, energetic personality, lack of common sense, and unbelievably superhuman strength. Ironically, she is highly nearsighted and needs to wear glasses. Senbei's goal in creating her was to build the perfect humanoid robot and challenged her to keep her true nature a secret. Despite her incredible strength and constant removal of her own head, the rest of Penguin Village seems to accept as just a very strange, very strong girl.

Creation and Conception[]

Akira Toriyama was asked to include a robot by his editor Kazuhiko Torishima when Toriyama mentioned that he wanted to make a manga about a doctor. Initially, Toriyama planned on making the robot big but decided that it would end up being too big to fit in the panels and decided to make it small. Torishima did not like the idea and so Toriyama created the robot girl called Arale since Torishima liked girls a lot.^[2]

Appearance[]

Arale appears as a little girl with long purple hair and glasses. However, her hair color was changed to brown in the 1997 remake. Senbei claims her age to be 13 after creating her. However, her youthful appearance and immature behavior immediately made him regret not saying she was younger.

Over the years of the series run, Toriyama tended to end up drawing Arale shorter and cuter, making her look a lot younger than she had at the beginning of the series. He later retconned this quirk into Arale having multiple bodies in a range of sizes.

Personality[]

Despite her super strength and being intelligent enough to perform an appendectomy on a frog and solve advanced mathematical equations, Arale has the personality of a goofy and naive child. She is quite caring and loves her family, friends, and animals. However, she can be very dangerous because of her strength. Luckily, her naivete and strength tend to prevent her from understanding that she is in danger, or that people want to do her harm. However, her unfamiliarity with humanity and their regular functions contribute greatly to her quirks. Most notably, Arale has a fascination with poop and enjoys poking it with sticks, to such an extent that Dr. Mashirito considers her one weakness to be her inability to resist doing so. Arale is a fan of Japanese superheroes like Ultraman and Astro Boy, as well as monster movies like Godzilla and Gamera, much like Toriyama himself.

History[]

The Birth of Arale[]

Arale Norimaki was created by Senbei Norimaki at the beginning of The Birth of Arale!  in the laboratory of his house. After failing an eye-sight test, she was given glasses to be able to see, her only physical flaw. When first time brought her outside through the town of Penguin Village, she was introduced to Aoi who works at a café called the Coffee Pot. There, Arale was given the identity of being Senbei's younger sister to hide the fact that she is an android.

The next day in Here Comes Arale!, after meeting with the headmaster, Arale gets enrolled in Penguin Village Middle School to fit in with the other kids. Her teacher was Midori Yamabuki who is Senbei's dream girl. In the class, she sat next to Akane Kimidori, the rebellious younger sister of Aoi. Arale shocked everybody at the school on her first day with her intelligence during class, and strength during P.E. At the end of the day, she followed Akane, who was meeting up with Taro Soramame, and his younger brother Peasuke. Not knowing Arale's power, Taro tries to intimidate her by crushing a soda can, Arale easily destroys a tree, scaring them, and making them respect her as a friend.

In Something's Missing!, Arale tells Senbei that she is missing a body part that all the other girls have and he invents the See-Thru Glasses to see a nude woman around town for reference so he can make the supposed missing part for her, but later she tells him it was a belly button after he already got injured from being hit by Midori's scooter.

In Dr. Monster, she gets kidnapped by Dr. Monster in an attempt to get ransom money for a giant monster encyclopedia. At his hideout King Gidora Mansion, Arale ends up bonding with the criminal over giant monsters and becoming friends. Later, she stopped working, freaking Dr. Monster out and even puzzling him who came by. Senbei ends up finding her thanks to the K-9 Robot and fuels her back up with Robovita-A.

In Which Will It Be?, Arale became popular enough at Penguin Village Middle School to the point that every club in the school wanted her, but she ended up being too good for all of them. She eventually joined Akane's club, the Sukeban Deka Fan Club.

Arale frees a Mr. Bear that was being held captive by a cruel owner and replaces it with a stuffed bear she made herself in Bearly Friends!. She along with Senbei help train the bear to get him physically fit to return to the wild. After returning him to the wild, the bear gets shot by a hunter, this made Arale angry and throws the hunter and his assistant far away. Arale sacrifices her body so Senbei can save the bear's life by turning him into a cyborg and makes a new body for her after returning home.

In Arale is Akane!?, Arale and Akane decide to dress up as each other for a day and Arale ends up scaring and easily beating Big Boss thinking she was Akane.

In The Big-Small Gun!, Arale grabs Senbei's Big-Small Ray Gun and transforms herself into a giant, and enlarges the Moon.

In 1980: Living For Tomorrow!, Arale goes around with Senbei's Future Camera around Penguin Village to see what her friends will look like in 10 years and when she finds out that she will still look the same, she tries to convince Senbei to make her an adult body in the future.

In The Time Slipper, Senbei finishes working on a time machine named Mr. Time, he shows it to Arale who accidentally gets transported through time. After spending some time in the past, she transports back to the present proving Mr. Time to be a success and gives Senbei a box that she got from Urashima Tarō.

After the Time Slipper was successfully tested, Arale goes on a journey with Senbei and Peasuke to the prehistoric ages to capture a dinosaur in The Mysterious Egg. When Senbei fails to capture the dinosaur that Arale wrestles, Peasuke's prehistoric ancestor gives them a mysterious egg in exchange for Senbei's lighter. When they return to the present, a strange baby with wings hatched instead of a dinosaur.

Arale named the baby Gadzilla, Gatchan for short, after convincing Senbei to keep Gatchan during Is It a Girl? Is It a Boy!?. The next day, Arale and Senbei decide to find out how they are going to deal with raising Gatchan, and Arale found out that Gatchan eats anything but rubber. When Arale playfully threw Gatchan really high on accident, Gatchan fell to the ground revealing that Gatchan could survive even that. Later that night in the bath, Arale and Senbei discover that Gatchan has wings.

Arale on the Loose[]

In Arale Flies the Skies!, Arale asks Senbei to make her able to fly and since he doesn't want people to know she is a robot, he makes a Cola Plane instead, so she can fly. Joined by Taro, she flies the plane into the sky landing on the clouds of Goronbo, and gets thrown off after they mess with the weather.

In Arale on the Loose: Part 1, Arale starts 8th grade and ate some of Akane's lunch along with having some alcohol that Akane smuggled into school. In Arale on the Loose: Part 2, they both got spanked after Midori caught them drinking, and on the way home, Arale runs with Akane on roller skates while holding a rope tied to Arale but then crashes when Arale discovered some Poop on the ground and picked it up. At night Arale tells Senbei that she has a stomachache and the reason being was that she ate an actual lunch.

In The Invader from Space, Bubibinman arrives on Earth and challenges Arale to a contest of weightlifting and sumo, and Arale easily wins at both and then introduces him to poop which he thinks is food and enjoys.

In The Reality Machine, Arale and Akane ended up using Senbei's new invention the Reality Machine when Senbei leaves it unattended, Arale and Akane ended up putting a picture of the universe and the manga page in the machine, making Senbei's lab become a copy of the universe with three copies of Arale, Akane and Gatchan floating.

In Kidnapped!?, She came across a bank robber while she was out playing with Gatchan, who was running away from the police when he accidentally robbed the police station instead of the bank. The bank robber thought Arale and Gatchan were just innocent kids and decided to take them as hostages and hide in an abandoned hut. While there Arale tries to play Ultraman with the robber and accidentally shoots herself in the face with his gun, scared the bank robber into thinking she killed herself but didn't, actually affecting only her glasses instead. The robber then chose to distract Arale by blindfolding her, giving her a kendo stick, laying perfectly still, and hoping she'd be distracted. His plan backfires. However, when she ends up using it to destroy the entire hut, while playfully trying to find him. The robber then tried to threaten Arale afterward by holding his gun to Gatchan's head but when Gatchan ate it, he ran away while been scared, trying to find the police as he would prefer to be arrested then dealing with them.

In Teacher's Coming!, Arale arrives home from school after riding a pig and tells Senbei that her teacher is coming causing Senbei panicking, he tells Arale to dress nicely but she chooses to wear a Godzilla costume instead but then changes to a dress afterward. The teacher was the headmaster who Arale was referring to, making Senbei expecting was gonna be Midori.

In The Ponpoko Morph Gun, Senbei briefly turns Arale into a TV using his Ponpoko Morph Gun. Arale grabs the gun and turns a cockroach into Senbei and then turns Senbei into a frog and later a giant dinosaur.

In A Far and Distant Seashore, Arale takes Mr. Time from the lab and goes to the past with Akane, Peasuke, and Taro to go swimming at the beach there. Taro ends up making Peasuke give her his swimsuit because she brought Senbei's trunks which don't fit her. When a volcano starts to erupt they use Mr. Time again and escape but Arale ends up in the time period of Momotaro while the rest of them are transported to a war era.

Four weeks later in Barbershop Panic: Part 1, while studying with Peasuke and Akane at the Soramame Barber Shop, the bank robber returns and tried to take Senbei and Kurikinton as hostages after suffering humiliation from his last appearance to prove he is not a joke. When the police arrive, the kids came into the front area to see what is going on. The bank robber sees that Arale and Gatchan are among the group and decides to run out and turn himself to them and Gyaosu yells at him for being a coward and forces him to go back into the barbershop and continue what he started.

In Barbershop Panic: Part 2, Arale continues to playfully mess around with the bank robber as one of the hostages in the barbershop. Kenta Kuraaku of the PCB TV shows up to interview the bank robber but mistakenly ends up interviewing the "hostage" instead until he is amazed when Gatchan eats the microphone, which Akane tells him it's nothing compared to Arale who can break the Moon with a rock. As night approaches, Kenta continues his news broadcast and focuses on Arale instead, who takes a rock and throws it directly at the moon, splitting it in half. During the excitement, with the crowd watching what Arale is capable of, the robber walks away saying that he will never rob again.

In The Great Strawberry Panties Caper: Part 1, Arale tells Senbei that Ms. Yamabuki was wearing strawberry panties which inspired him to set up a series of events that would result in Midori's dress to be blown up to reveal her panties. Arale is given the task by Senbei of gathering up a group of animals to help make this plan go through. After failing the first time, in The Great Strawberry Panties Caper: Part 2, Arale tells Senbei that Midori was wearing Godzilla panties that day and witnesses the whole chain reaction of Senbei's plan, but it ultimately fails again when the farmer gets in the way and his shirt gets pushed up instead.

Earth S.O.S.![]

In The Story of Donbe, Arale meets the shape-shifting fox Donbe who tries to scare her. After he fails to do so through various transformations, Arale ends up helping him when he gets stuck in a bear trap and takes him to Senbei to fix his wound and they became friends afterward.

In Kids Gone Wild, Arale and Gatchan meet a preschooler named Kinoko Sarada while playing moles and rising from the ground surprising her. After Taro shows up and the four of them play house together, Kinoko takes Arale and Gatchan to her house and gives them a hip makeover which ends up freaking Senbei out when they got home.

In Ladycop Terror, Arale is seen talking with Akane and Peasuke when Senbei who was invisible goes up and stretches Akane and Arale's faces but then Arale notices Senbei's underpants since he kept them on, and they all throw rocks at him. After Senbei got hit and injured, Arale is seen pointing at the fully wrapped Senbei not recognizing him because he looked like a mummy.

In Earth S.O.S.!: Part 1, Arale and Gatchan were playing very late at night, a giant dice landed in the front yard of the Norimaki's house, and they went in front to check it out. When they went up to it, it turned into a flypaper trap and they were taken aboard in King Nikochan's spaceship by King Nikochan's servant when he was asked to bring some Earthlings. While on the ship, Arale met King Nikochan, the evil king of an alien race called the Niko. Arale made fun of King Nikochan because of his funny looks and did not take anything seriously what the king said. After they destroyed Mars to try to get her attention, she was too busy messing around with Gatchan. When the Niko's were preparing the laser to destroy Earth next, the ship got eaten by Gatchan, which saved the planet.

In Earth S.O.S.!: Part 2, Arale told the Niko's that Senbei can build them a new ship and decided to save the Niko's by having Gatchan bring them to Earth's atmosphere. On the way to her house, Arale introduced the Niko's the stuff on Earth such as mountains and poop. After introducing the Niko's to Senbei to let him build them some new transportation, she took them to the Coffee Pot and introduced her friends to the Niko's, later doing all the goofy stuff they were capable of doing. When they were done, Senbei finally builds a new vehicle for them, Arale surprises Senbei telling him that they were aliens and accidentally built them a car instead of a spaceship, leaving the Niko's stranded on Earth.

In Arale's Big Change, a Mole Cricket jumps into her mouth, thinking it is a giant hole. While he is inside her body, Mole Cricket causes Arale to malfunction, making her act like a normal little girl. While the whole village is confused and saddened over Arale losing her personality, the cricket eventually leaves her body and Arale's personality comes back. The village held a festival afterward to celebrate Arale returning to normal.

One hot morning in Hello! Wonder Island, while wearing winter clothing, Arale was burning some of Senbei's old stuff in the Furnace outside, when Senbei freaks out and yells at Arale for doing something stupid like that, he discovers an old tape from his father telling him how to make the Fall-Go-Boom Love Potion. Senbei then insisted on Arale and Gatchan joining his adventure to Wonder Island, to obtain a tear from Ogre-king Gyaska, a necessary ingredient in the potion because it would be dangerous otherwise. Upon arriving on Wonder Island via Super Mecha "Ping-Pong", Arale already starts messing around with all the strange creatures on the island. As Senbei is trying to ask the vampire woman directions to find Gyaska, Arale bugs her by poking her and then bites her butt as she was attempting to suck Senbei's blood. After Senbei gives the vampire an Emergency Insta-Blood to drink, they are pointed in the direction of Gyaska which is at a point called "Loch Out" where Arale ends up fighting a dragon that comes out when they attempt to plant the morning glory seeds to reach the top.

In The Ogre-King Gyaska, they celebrate and plant the seeds, growing a beanstalk that takes them into the skies where the Ogre-King resides. When they arrive in the presence of Gyaska's castle, they are greeted by Gyaska's Guards who inform them that they have no business being in his country. Arale befriends their dinosaur that pulls their chariot which causes him to abandon them and throw their chariot in the wall in favor of Arale's admiration for him.^[3] When they confront the ogre king himself afterward, he gets angry and tries to attack them, but Arale ends up running out of Robovita-A causing her to suddenly shutdown. Gatchan ends up having to defeat Gyaska instead and Arale gets refueled on their way back after obtaining the tear. When they arrive back in Penguin Village, and Senbei successfully creates the potion, Arale decides to go show it to her friends while Senbei tries to invite Midori over, with the intention of her drinking it. Unfortunately, Arale ends up tripping and the potion falls onto the tree in their yard, causing it to come to life and fall in love with Senbei instead, making the whole trip ended up being a waste.

In The Fairy Tale Machine, Arale and Gatchan play pro-wrestling in Senbei's lab before he introduces them to his invention the Fairy Tale Machine. Arale uses it to transport herself into Momotaro The Peach Boy, ruining his story and then bringing him into the real world after they were all quickly brought out of the book before Senbei came back.

In Scoundrel in a Skirt!, Arale helps Akane disguise herself as Ms. Yamabuki and trick Senbei into getting them alcohol and making him dress as Gamera and attempt to fly. When Senbei finds out that she wasn't really her, he chases Akane, Arale, and Gatchan in rage. Afterward, Arale and Gatchan try to dress up as Ms. Yamabuki and they both got spanked after Senbei caught them.

In Citizen Arale, Arale learns in Ms. Yamabuki's class that returning lost items to the police is an act of good. Arale ends up taking this too far by crashing through the Penguin Village Police Station and eventually giving almost everything in Penguin Village to them including buildings.

In Our Hero, Suppaman, Suppaman attempts to strike fear in Arale and Gatchan for drawing on his face by showing them his strength but Arale counters by splitting the Earth in half. Suppaman then challenges her in a contest of using an abacus, but Arale immediately solves it before he does. After he loses an eating contest against Gatchan, he tries to impress her by touching a pile of poop with his finger but Arale touches all of it. The only thing Arale loses at is a game of rock paper scissors which he then leaves satisfied continuing his belief that he is the strongest.

In Arale Goes on an Errand, Arale is sent to go buy some ramen for Senbei and decides to wake Akane up to join her. Arale learns what a bra is when she sees Akane put one on and runs through town asking if she can get a bra until Taro escorts her to Briefers where she then gets a bra and returns to Senbei to show it, completely forgetting that she was supposed to buy ramen.

The Happy Doctor[]

In Bye-Bye Super Power!, Senbei gets tired of Arale's super strength and tries to do modification on her body to lower her strength but during the meantime, Arale's head gets put on a little car and later, a little plane.

In The Lovely Trio, Arale gives Senbei a forged letter by Akane of Midori telling him to be at school dressed as cute as possible.

In Penguin Village S.O.S.: Part 1, Arale and Gatchan show up when Dodongadon is terrorizing Penguin Village, then both playfully beats him up. In Penguin Village S.O.S.: Part 2, Arale throws a rock at Koita Ojo's ship after Dodongadon missed it with a missile, and Dodongadon leaves because of Arale, right before the Koita falls right on top of his head.

In Gatchan Goes for a Walk, Gatchan tries to wake Arale up but when her head falls off while she's still sleeping, Gatchan puts it back on the bottom of her body instead. When Midori brings Gatchan back to the Norimaki's, Arale is seen alongside Senbei when answering the door with her head still on her upside-down body.

In Yay Yay Wildland, Arale goes on a tour through Wild Land with her friends and encounters a tiger who is the King of the Zoo after the touring van crashes. Arale challenges the tiger and defeats him making her the new king of the zoo and brings all of her new animal friends home with her.

In The Happy Doctor, Senbei refuses to allow Arale and Gatchan to tag along on his space date with Midori but then allows them to join when Midori says it's ok. In Zippity-Doo Doctor, Arale ends up opening the window to the Senbei's car during the space date and gets yelled at. After making an emergency landing on a planet, Midori gets captured by a monster and Senbei asks Arale to save her but she gets distracted by a flying octopus and she follows it while Senbei is left having to take care of the monster himself with the Ponpoko Morph Gun. In The Dumbfounded Doctor, Arale is with Senbei and Midori when they get pranked by Taro, Akane, and Peasuke by believing they are in the future and end up using the Time Slipper to go further back into the past.

In A Bittersweet Ho-yo-yo Date Special!, The Kanariya High Gang Leader confesses his love to Arale and asks her on a date. Arale accepts and they go to the Penguin Village Movie Theater with the gang leader's follower and Akane tagging along as well, Arale chooses to see an erotic film. After the movie, Senbei who's also watching the film as well joins them and Arale has the gang leader buy everyone lunch while just playing around with a cockroach that she throws in the gang leader's mouth.

In Parzan, King of the Jungle!, Arale meets Parzan while she is out running around with poop on a stick. They have a snowball fight and easily overwhelms him until he surrenders once she makes a giant snowball which she throws at a mountain that ends up destroying it. Arale reunites with Mr. Bear who shows up just as Parzan attempts to leave after giving up his title as king of the jungle.

In Sad, Sad Santa, Arale is present at the Christmas party being held at the Penguin Village Community Center. Later at night, Senbei dressed as Santa Claus puts a copy of his autograph in Arale's room while she is sleeping but wakes up and kicks him out thinking that he is an invader from Planet Walrus. The next morning, Arale is calling Senbei a pervert when Midori is mad at him for sneaking into her apartment while she is sleeping to give his autograph.

In Kick the Can, Arale participates in the Kick the Can, and both Arale and Gatchan hide in space and end up being the only ones that Senbei doesn't end up finding. They win the game and ask Toriyama to turn them into adults but Toriyama erases their speech bubble and replaces it with wanting a lollipop and gives them lollipops instead.

Monsters' Night[]

Arale is a police officer in Untouchable Arale and recklessly shoots with her gun from the police car while patrolling with Taro. Gala and Pagos who are dressed as Arale try to get revenge for crashing their police car all the time, but they end up just getting hurt instead. At the crime scene of Suppaman robbing the Penguin Village Bank, Arale helps Peasuke get an autograph of the robber and runs into the bank after Suppaman, but he is intimidated that bullets aren't working on her and runs to his car which she ends up crashing it and capturing him and earning pats on her head. Arale discovers that crashing cars is fun and decides to crash a school bus passing by.

In Affairs of the Heart!, Arale prepares for a health check-up at school and demands Senbei that so she can be able to poop but instead, he gives her his own poop to give them. Senbei also puts a tape recorder in Arale's stomach that he recorded his heartbeat and being interrupted by Arale and telling her to stop talking. At the actual checkup, the doctor ends up freaking out when he checks Arale's heartbeat and hears the part of the recording of Senbei yelling at Arale, giving the doctor a heart attack.

In Monsters' Night, Trampire breaks into the Norimaki house while everyone is sleeping and tries to suck Arale's blood. But because she is an android, Trampire isn't able to suck anything, but she does wake Arale briefly, who shoots a N'cha Cannon from her mouth, destorying the wall scaring her out of her room.

In The Great Arale-Eye Caper: Part 1, Senbei puts a camera in her eyes while she is sleeping so he watches through a TV everything that she sees. When she goes to school she lifts up Midori's dress revealing her panties giving Senbei an idea. In The Great Arale-Eye Caper: Part 2, Arale and Gatchan are sent to Anguirus Apartments to take a bath with Midori. During the bath, Arale ends up barely looking at Midori and then takes her glasses off making the image of Midori's naked body appear blurry in her sight which Senbei is seeing. On the way home, Arale encounters Donbe who tries to surprise Arale in a monster form making Senbei faint when Arale came home.

In Kinoko on the Loose, Arale and Gatchan pop out of an egg that Kinoko finds and they start singing and saying they are playing hide and cheep. Kinoko tries to lecture them about what being bad is but they end up ignoring her and then decide to go home since it's getting late.

Dr. Mashirito's Ambition[]

Arale becomes a target for Dr. Mashirito when he finds out that she is the strongest robot around. Mashirito goes to Penguin Village to fight Arale with his robot, Caramel Man 001, but Arale easily defeats him.

Penguin Grand Prix[]

Arale's second encounter with Dr. Mashirito is during the Penguin Village Grand Prix which is held by Tori-Bot. During the race, Arale has no problem, even with several distractions setting her back. When it comes down to the last three racers, which are Arale, Senbei, and Dr. Mashirito using his Caramel Man 002, the winner is Arale but by technicality, Tori-Bot declares himself the winner.

Shortly after assembling a team with Suppaman, Gatchan and Oinkety Oink called the Global Defense Force, Mashirito returns with his new invention, Caramel Man 003, and his new team, the Mashirito Army, consisting of him, King Nikochan and his servant. Mashirito's new plan for handling Arale is using a Poop-bot to distract her while he shoots her with a powerful laser, with Gatchan captured in a rubber claw to prevent him from eating the rest of the robot. While Arale is distracted by the Poop-bot, Mr. Pig pops one of Caramel Man 003's tires, causing Arale to pay attention to the fight again, where she headbutts the robot to free Gatchan and so can eat the robot, leaving Mashirito defeated again.

I am Obotchaman[]

Mashirito's next conflict with Arale is when he creates his fourth Caramel Man which is known as Obotchaman. Instead of trying to destroy Arale, Obotchaman becomes good and falls in love with her.

Gallery[]

Arale's Ho-yo-yo Resume ID card. Remake Arale Arale's description on Toei Animation's website

Other Media[]

Dragon Ball series[]

In the Dragon Ball Timeline, Arale's birth is on May 3rd, Age 745.

Minor Cameos[]

• Other than her major appearance in the General Blue Saga, Arale makes many minor background cameos in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.
• In The Emperor's Quest, Arale appears on a poster in Bulma's Capsule House.
• In The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi, a different poster of Arale is seen in the same spot in Bulma's Capsule House.
• In Find That Stone!, Arale can be briefly seen for a second on the TV that Master Roshi is watching.
• In Global Training, a poster with Arale on it is seen inside of Launch's Capsule House.
• Arale appears on a poster in Gohan's room in Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug.

• An extremely drunk Master Roshi made a facial impression of Arale's face in Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan.
• Arale appears on a cake with a Tori-Bot when Goten imagines what his wish from Shenlong was going to be in Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming.
• In the episode Granddaughter Pan, a book with Arale's name on the right can be seen on a bookshelf in Gohan's house.

Red Ribbon Army Saga[]

Arale appears during the General Blue Saga in Dragon Ball. She and the Gatchan were able to ride the Flying Nimbus, indicating that they are pure of heart, when befriending Son Goku who came to Penguin Village chasing General Blue of the Red Ribbon Army to retrieve his stolen Dragon Balls. While General Blue is shown to be a challenge for Goku, Arale easily defeats Blue, proving to Goku that there are still lots of stronger people out there and he even tells Arale that she should enter the next World Martial Arts Tournament, though she did not attend for unknown reasons.

Mystical Adventure[]

Arale appears in the 1988 film Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure when she spontaneously appears with the Gatchan's and launches a boulder at Taopaipai, who is riding a pillar in pursuit of Goku. She later pokes him with a stick, after he faces plants into the ground.

Dragon Ball Super[]

While in Penguin Village, Arale is poking poop when Goku unintentionally shows up with the use of his Instant Transmission. Arale greets Goku, but he immediately uses his Instant Transmission to attempt in reaching King Kai's planet.

Arale shows up in Goku vs. Arale! An Off-the-Wall Battle Spells the End of the Earth?. She has taken a dose of Playtime X fed to her by the ghost Dr. Mashirito. Vegeta agrees to play with her but she clearly outclasses him and Vegeta admits to never wanting to fight a gag character ever again. After Arale recognizing Goku, they do a beam battle while Goku as Super Saiyan Blue which ends in a draw. Arale wants to do it again but 100x stronger. Bulma is able to summon Lord Beerus who destroys ghost Dr. Mashirito and then faces Arale, who remains completely unfazed, despite her head coming off again. Just as he is about to attack her, he is incapacitated by all the delicious food he had just eaten. The Playtime X then wears off, and Senbei apologizes, while Goku and Arale hope to fight again.

Rocky[]

In the 1989 spin-off manga Rocky, Arale meets Rocky, a man who is constantly committing speeding. He tries to lose her, but the girl manages to catch him and puts a poop on his head.

Doctor Slump[]

Arale was originally going to be a pretty, blonde teenage housemaid, but lightning hit Senbei's house causing his machines to malfunction which ends up creating her as a cute, nearsighted little girl with superpowers instead. Arale's hair is changed to brown instead of purple. While Senbei went out to get clothes for her Arale, she ran around Penguin Village destroying several buildings. Also, in this remake, Arale is revealed to wear poufy white panties with a violet-colored hue on top and bottom.

Video Games[]

Arale first appears in a 1982 handheld game Dr. Slump Arale Part I: Hoyoyo Bomber. She later appears in Dr. Slump for Arcadia 2001, released in 1983, Dr. Slump for PlayStation based on the remake in 1999, and Dr. Slump: Arale-Chan for Nintendo DS in 2008.

Arale appears in Dragon Ball video games as well, including Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu, Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen, and Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden where she is the final special boss. She also appears in Dragon Ball Z: W Bakuretsu Impact, Dragon Ball Heroes, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Battlers, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo, Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle, and Dragon Ball: Origins 2.

Arale is a playable character in several Jump series, including Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden, Jump Super Stars, Jump Ultimate Stars, and J-Stars Victory Vs. She is also a playable character in Dr. Slump: Arale-Chan.

Live-action Commercial[]

In 2016, Ayami Nakajo plays as Arale in a Dr. Slump themed commercial for G.U. the fashion retail. In the commercial, she holds a poop on a stick while standing in front of Taro, Peasuke, Akane, Kinoko, and Gatchan and then poofs with an outfit sold at the G.U. stores and then transforms back saying "Bye'cha".

Relationships[]

Romance[]

• Obotchaman: Obotchaman is in love with Arale, and as the series progresses it becomes more apparent. He blushes whenever Arale takes him by the hand, and sometimes even the simple act of having her around makes him happy. Arale, meanwhile, doesn't seem to be aware of his crush on her but she adores Obotchaman as a friend. On occasion, Arale admits that Obotchaman is the guy she likes the most implying that she returns his affection deep down, but she is still too childish and naïve to understand the concept of love and romantic feelings. In the future, they are shown to be together and have a robot child, built by Senbei.
• The Kanariya High Gang Leader: The gang leader falls in love with Arale at first sight and convinces her to go on a date with him, although she doesn't know what a date is. So, everything was a disaster, he still shows a romantic interest in her but Arale doesn't return his feelings. In an episode "Arale-san! Marry Me", he returns to marry Arale but fails.
• Prince Monster: Prince Monster came to Trampire's Castle requesting Trampire and her servants to find him a human girl from Penguin Village. The minions bring back Arale, whom Prince Monster ends up liking a lot. However, Arale did not follow the qualities of an ideal human girl such as beautiful singing. He ends up liking her even though Arale destroyed the castle with her N'cha Cannon. Prince Monster ends up leaving but gives Arale his autograph for Peasuke.
• Karute Karte: Another prominent suitor is Karute who is first introduced in the manga, Dr. Slump Returns, But only For a Little While. He is a brilliant student, a champion soccer player, and the eldest son of a wealthy family of doctors, but Arale immediately proves to be smarter, stronger, and more athletic than him. Being impressed with her many abilities, he starts developing feelings for Arale. They quickly become friends, but it's unknown if Arale was aware of his romantic feelings for her.

• Guys down the street: In the manga, Dr. Slump Returns, But only For a Little While, Turbo, Senbei's son built Arale a watch that can transform her body into an adult woman, and while jogging through the town with her new body, two men come and instantaneously fall in love with her beautiful figure. They show mostly a physical attraction to Arale, but when Arale goes back to normal, the two guys disappear and we never see them again for the rest of the manga.
• Tsukutsun Tsun: In the manga, Dr. Slump Returns, But only For a Little While, Arale with his new adult body flirts with Tsukutsun, he seems to feel a little attracted to her which causes Akane's jealousy.
• Sparrow: In "Happy Date in Mystery Land", Sparrow accepts to have a date with Arale. However, both seem to see it as a game instead of a real date, but they have a lot of fun with each other.

Family[]

• Senbei Norimaki: Arale is often portrayed as Senbei's troublesome sidekick during many of his schemes, with things usually getting out of hand due to her goofiness. Senbei is often impatient and exasperated by Arale's antics that put him through a lot of trouble, but he still genuinely cares for her and acts as her father-figure. Although he introduces Arale as his little sister to other people, they have more of a father-daughter relationship.
• Gatchan: After hatching out of the egg, Gatchan immediately becomes Arale's adoptive little sister, making her happy. They have a very close relationship, being both very playful, silly, and fun-loving. They play all the time together, always get along, and help each other when needed. Gatchan follows Arale everywhere and is like Arale's closest friend.
• Midori Norimaki: At the beginning of the series, the relationship between Arale and Midori does not seem to go beyond a student-teacher relationship. When she marries Senbei, their relationship goes from a student-teacher relationship to a mother-daughter relationship. Midori becomes a surrogate mother for Arale, being affectionate with her, caring for her, along with other things.
• Turbo Norimaki: Arale is an older sister to Turbo. He occasionally plays with her and the Gatchan's and they get along very well. Turbo also regards Arale as his "Onee-San'' (オネエ さん older sister). Turbo is one of the few characters in the series along with Senbei, Dr. Mashirito, Obotchaman, and Gatchan who know that Arale is a robot, as seen in the manga Dr. Slump Returns, But only For a Little While.

Friends[]

• Akane Kimidori: Akane is Arale's best friend since they met at school and they often get into mischief together. Akane is able to take advantage of Arale's naive nature and easily convinces her friend to prank people and get into trouble with her. Although this does not seem to bother Arale and on the other hand, she finds it fun.
• Taro Soramame: Like Akane and Peasuke, Taro is often surprised by Arale's abilities. Despite this, they are shown to be good friends, even though Arale sometimes causes trouble for Taro, such as when she went to buy a bra with him.
• Peasuke Soramame: Peasuke does not seem to have problems with Arale, and they usually get along. They are both the shortest students at school, although earlier in the series, Arale was even taller than Peasuke. They are often seen hanging out with Akane and Taro. In the episode "What's with the Egg?!" and manga "The Mysterious Egg", Peasuke was the only Arale's friends who time-traveled since Taro had a soccer game and Akane had fallen asleep or probably because Peasuke was the only one interested. Arale is also willing to help Peasuke, such as when Peasuke is concerned about the height difference between him and Hiyoko, a girl he has a crush on.
• Tsukutsun Tsun: Arale and Tsukutsun are good friends, and he is one of the few people who tolerate and accepts Arale's childish behavior. Being a robot, Arale is the only girl in Penguin Village who can touch Tsukutsun without him turning into a tiger. In "Heart Pounding Tonight", Arale invites Tsukutsun to stay overnight at Obotchaman's house with them, causing Obotchaman's jealousy. However, this is resolved when Tsukutsun tells Obotchaman that he's not romantically interested in Arale and he likes another girl. However, in the manga Dr. Slump Returns, But Only For a Little While, when Tsukutsun sees Arale with her new adult body, he blushes and shows some attraction to her, making Akane jealous.
• Tsururin Tsun: Arale and Tsururin are good friends, although they don't interact much with each other. Like her brother, Tsururin appears to be friendly and tolerant of Arale's behavior.
• Kinoko Sarada: Arale considers Kinoko a "friend", but Kinoko does not feel the same way. She finds Arale annoying, and she's jealous because Arale has more friends.
• Chivil: Chivil initially was aimed at killing Arale, which she understood without regard. But as the episodes progress, Chivil will be captivated by the kindness of Arale and, because of this, he ends up preferring to play with children instead of killing, Arale also usually nicknames him Tivil. He genuinely likes Arale and they have a good friendship.
• Son Goku: Arale meets Goku when he falls off of the Flying Nimbus in front of her. They become good friends, and Arale helped Goku to fight against General Blue, as well as Taopaipai, and Sergeant Major Purple. They have very similar personalities and get along very well. In the remake, they are seen playing together, and Arale has even revealed to him that she is a robot. They meet again in Dragon Ball Super, but Goku did not initially recognize her until their second meeting, where he identified her by the headbutt she used against Vegeta.

Special Abilities[]

• Arale Kick: She uses this attack on Senbei in the Dr. Slump chapter Sad, Sad Santa and on General Blue in Dragon Ball. She runs after the target and does a running dropkick.
• Earth-Splitter: Arale punches the ground, splitting the planet in half.

• Headbutt: Not just an average headbutt. If her target is airborne, she jumps up very high and headbutts the target in the torso with great force. It usually sends an average person flying hundreds of miles.
• Kiiiiiiiiin: A technique that Arale uses to go very, very fast (about 500 miles per hour max). She basically leaps very far. There is another technique in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 resembling "Kiiiiiiiiin", called "Ping!", and is also one of 2 battle cries she does when she does the dash.
• N'cha Cannon: Arale's secret weapon, yet a very powerful beam fired from her mouth. To use it, all Arale has to do is spin her head (sometimes), breathe in, and yell "N'cha" very loudly. First seen in the chapter Monsters' Night after she was awakened, and later in the chapter The Biggest Bye'cha of All: Part One to destroy an alien flying camera.

• Transformation: A technique that Arale uses to transform into her alter-ego, Ultraman. She demonstrates this ability by taking out a flashlight, turning it on, and saying "Ultra-Man! Schwaaa!" Then changing her clothes into a spandex superhero jumpsuit and then saying "Schwaaa!" again. Seen in The Story of Donbe.
• Watermelon/Pumpkin Cannon: A technique that Arale uses several times on Senbei as a prank. She loads a cannon with a pumpkin or a watermelon and shoots it at the target. She usually wears a kunoichi outfit when performing this attack. First used at the end of Arale's Big Change.
• Woohoo!: Arale picks up a large boulder and throws it at her target. This is one of her moves in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
• Playing Pro-Wrestling: A combination of the Arale Kick and Headbutt, followed by a beam from the Gatchan's. This is her most powerful move in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
• Feminine Allure: Described under her talents in the Dr. Slump Ho-yo-yo Resume extra. She comically refers to having it occasionally.

Voice Actors[]

• 1980s series and Dragon Ball: Mami Koyama
• 1980s series Indonesian dub: Herra Nur Indah
• 1990s series: Taeko Kawata
• 1990s series Indonesian dub: Wiwiek Supadmi
• Dragon Ball (Indonesian dub Global TV Version): Wan Leony Mutiarza
• FUNimation dub: Meredith McCoy
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3: Brina Palencia
• Dragon Ball (First Latin dub): Rossy Aguirre
• Dragon Ball (The most known Latin dub): Vanessa Garcel
• Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure (Latin dub): Gaby Ugarte
• 1980s series (Latin dub): Monica Estrada (First 160 episodes) and Claudia Motta Zepeda (The rest of the episodes)
• 1990s Series (Latin dub): Claudia Motta Zepeda
• Dragon Ball (Castilian dub): Ana Fernández
• Movies 4 and 6 (Castilian dub): Ana Pallejà
• 1980s series (Castilian dub): Mònica Padrós
• Dragon Ball Super (Castilian dub): Gema Abad
• 1980s Series and Dragon Ball (Greek dub): Matina Karra
• Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure (Greek dub): Maria Zisi
• (Brazilian dub): Jussara Marques
• Dragon Ball Super (Portuguese dub): Cristina Cavalinhos
• 1980s series (First Italian dub): Francesca Rossiello
• Dragon Ball (Italian dub): Irene Scalzo
• Movies (Italian dub): Perla Liberatori
• 1980s series and Mystical Adventure (redub) and Dragon Ball Super (Italian dub): Patrizia Scianca
• Dragon Ball Super (Polish dub): Dagmara Niemiec
• New Dr. Slump (German dub): Marie-Luise Schramm

Trivia[]

• Arale's name is a pun on arare (あられ), a kind of small mixed rice cracker. With the family name (Norimaki Arare), it refers to a sort of arare wrapped with nori seaweed.
• Toriyama reused Arale's character design for the character Lucca Ashtear in the video game Chrono Trigger.
• Actor, stuntman and martial artist, Jackie Chan, portrayed and acted as Arale in the film My Lucky Stars in 1985. Arale's original voice actress voices the costumed Jackie Chan, until he removes the mascot head in the Japanese dub. In the Chinese original audio, her Chinese voice actress preforms her. In the American dub, the man dubbing for Jackie Chan just uses a falsetto voice.
  • This is technically the only time 'Arale' has killed someone, as Jackie Chan stabbed a thug with a dagger and then shot someone.
• Arale appears in one episode of Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura.

References[]

External Links[]

• Arale Norimaki on the Dragon Ball Wiki

Norimaki Family
Members	Arale Norimaki • Arale and Obotchaman's child • Gatchan • Jubei Norimaki • Midori's Mother • Midori Norimaki • Nitro Norimaki • Prehistoric Norimaki Ancestor • Ryota • Senbei Norimaki • Senbei Taromonosuke Norimaki • Senbei's Father • Turbo Norimaki • Senbei and Midori's third child
Related articles	Norimaki Residence • Mr. Time • Reality Machine • Alarm Clock • Fairy Tale Machine • Barberman • The Announcer