Senbei Norimaki (則巻千兵衛; also spelled as 則巻センベエ Norimaki Senbē), also known as Dr. Slump, is the deuteragonist of the Dr. Slump series. He is Penguin Village's goofy and lecherous genius inventor and creator of Arale. Even though the series is named after him, he has often pushed aside in favor of the stories revolving more around his android creation Arale instead.
Creation and Conception[]
Senbei Norimaki is based on Akira Toriyama himself and was originally planned to be the main character of the series. However, his editor Kazuhiko Torishima didn't like the idea and wanted Arale as the main character instead, because Torishima favoring cute female characters and thinking that Senbei was not interesting enough by himself.[1]
Senbei was originally going to be a cool and handsome man but because Toriyama didn't want Senbei to be cooler than himself, he made Senbei have an idiotic personality instead so he can seem cool in comparison.[2]
Appearance[]
Senbei is on the portly side and has bushy black hair and a mustache. He is seen wearing a large number of outfits throughout the series most famously his white lab coat. Sometimes he wears a blue shirt and pants with a cap that has the name "Slump" on it.
Though Akira Toriyama often draws most of the characters short and chubby, especially Senbei Norimaki, there are times Senbei Norimaki becomes more "realistic", becoming quite tall and rugged-looking.
Personality[]
Senbei's serious look.
While Senbei is one of the most genius minds in the world, he lacks common sense with how goofy he makes his inventions. He's a highly eccentric and strange individual. Senbei also likes to eat ramen and smoke cigarettes.
Since Senbei is a huge lecher, it will give him the drive to quickly create an invention if it will allow him to see panties, a naked woman, or get a date. When he is feeling confident and trying to impress, he transforms into a more handsome, taller version of himself for a very brief period of time.
History[]
Early Life[]
Senbei when he was a child.
When Senbei was young, his parents passed away. Senbei also mentions that when he was young, he began hating dogs when one told him that he was stupid. He went to Penguin Village Middle School and his teacher was his first love. When he became an inventor, some of his early inventions were a talking Alarm Clock and the Future Camera which can show take a picture of what something or someone will look like in the future.
The Birth of Arale[]
Main article: Volume 1: The Birth of Arale
Senbei creating Arale.
Senbei's life changed forever in The Birth of Arale! when he created an android who he adopted as his surrogate daughter. Senbei had to go on a trip to The Store to get clothes for her, but when it came to buying Panties for her, he chose to cross-dress as a school girl so he wouldn't seem like a pervert buying them. Once he took his android around the town to see if she was a convincing girl, he gave her the name Arale and identified her as his younger sister when introducing her to his friend Aoi Kimidori at the Coffee Pot.
Senbei meeting Midori.
The next day in Here Comes Arale!, he introduces Arale to one of his long time friends, the Penguin Village Junior High Principal, and enrolled Arale in the middle school. When meeting Arale's teacher Midori Yamabuki, he fell in love with her. Later during the day, he went to the Penguin Village Movie Theater to see Nekotoraman vs. Nekotora-7 with Aoi. At night, it was very late when he kept waited for Arale to return home from school, Senbei received a call from the Penguin Village Police Station to pick up Arale who got into trouble for injuring Gala and Pagos while hanging out with her new friends Akane Kimidori, Taro, and Peasuke Soramame.
Senbei using the See-Thru Glasses.
In Something's Missing!, Arale returns home to Senbei saying that she is missing something the other girls have "down there" while they were changing, which Senbei immediately assumes is the female genital. Never actually seeing it in his life, he decides to build the See-Thru Glasses so he can go out around Penguin Village to see women nude to "study" them for reference in making Arale a more complete girl. When he sees Midori is riding on her scooter, he tries to get a closer look. As a result, he accidentally gets hit by her scooter, breaking the glasses. Arale later tells Senbei that the missing part was her belly button, that she was actually referring to.
Senbei using the K-9 Robot to track Arale.
In Dr. Monster, Senbei sends Arale to go buy some cigarettes for him after disapproving of the new robotic head resembling Midori she made for herself. After getting kidnapped by Dr. Monster, Arale escapes and returns back to Senbei with the cigarettes. Senbei receives a call from Dr. Monster who was trying to hold ransom on her but Senbei gives Arale the phone surprising Dr. Monster that she had been escaped. As Senbei was about to give Arale Robovita-A to recharge her, she ran off away, thus making Senbei build the K-9 Robot to track down Arale from her scent from her panties. When Senbei finds his way to Arale who was at King Gidora Mansion, he gives her the Robovita-A while a doctor was by to try to see what was wrong with her.
In Which Will It Be?, Senbei gives himself an obvious cameo while many of the clubs at Penguin Village Junior High are attempting to get Arale to join them.
Senbei turning a bear into a cyborg.
In Bearly Friends!, Senbei helps Arale train a captive bear, she frees to get him fit to live in the wild again. When the bear got returned to the wild and got shot by a Hunter, Senbei managed to save the bear's life by turning him into a powerful cyborg bear using the parts from Arale's body and builds Arale a new body once they got back home.
In Arale is Akane!?, Akane fools Senbei into thinking she is Arale and he finds it strange that Arale is asking where the bathroom is and telling him she is hungry since Akane is unaware that Arale is an android.
In The Big-Small Gun!, Senbei invents the Big-Small Ray Gun which can make objects grow or shrink in size. While going out to get some groceries to enlarge, he ends up taking a hairdryer instead and returns home to find that Arale messes around with the gun and turned herself huge.
In 1980: Living For Tomorrow!, Senbei is eating ramen when Arale discovers his old invention, the Future Camera. Arale took a picture of him showing that he will be balding in 15 years. Later on, Arale complains to Senbei that she won't get older in the future and Senbei finally tells Arale that he will make her older in a few years.
In The Time Slipper, Senbei stays up all night to finish his time machine known as the Time Slipper and wakes Arale up to show her. When Arale ends up using the time machine, Senbei gets worried since she goes missing all day. When Arale finally returns back at night, Senbei opens up a box that she brought him and the box ended up being from Urashima Tarō, so it turns him old.
After finding a way to return sometime after, Senbei starts a time travel adventure in The Mysterious Egg with Arale and Peasuke to the prehistoric ages to capture a dinosaur. When they discover a dinosaur, Senbei shoots it with his Numb Ray Gun but it ends up having no effect. When they meet Peasuke's ancestor, Senbei gives him a lighter because the ancestor was having trouble starting a fire and Senbei receives an egg in exchange. After returning back to the present, Senbei kept the egg incubated in his lab assuming it was a dinosaur egg but it instead hatched a baby.
Senbei was surprised to see Gatchan's wings.
In Is It a Girl? Is It a Boy!?, Senbei is seen now taking care of the baby as a new member of the Norimaki family. Needing to feed it, he called Aoi to ask if she could breast-feed it and got yelled at. After being surprised that it can eat almost anything, Senbei begins to play with the baby and throw the baby up lightly just before Arale throws the baby extremely high and surprised when the baby survived. While taking the baby into the bath with him and Arale, they discover that the baby has wings and can fly. After the bath, Senbei decides they should name the baby and gets annoyed when Arale keeps deciding monster names but then just lets her and they name it Gadzilla or Gatchan for short.
The Happy Doctor[]
Main article: Volume 4: The Happy Doctor
Senbei actually gets a date with Midori and go into space together. On their way back, Arale's friends play a prank on them for leaving them behind. They dress up like old people and claim that the year is 2030 (the year in the manga being 1981.)
The Crazy Honeymoon[]
Main article: Volume 9: The Crazy Honeymoon
Senbei finally marries Midori when he accidentally proposes to her while she was on the toilet.
Happy Birthday, Turbo![]
Main article: Volume 15: Happy Birthday, Turbo!
Midori learns she is pregnant with Senbei's child after she goes to the doctor. Senbei excitedly tells the people around Penguin Village that he will be a father, to varied reactions. After the baby was born, Senbei and Midori name him Turbo Norimaki.
Other Media[]
Dragon Ball series[]
Senbei with his family in Dragon Ball.
When Goku was chasing General Blue in the skies of Penguin Village, Senbei constantly made peace signs in front of the screen since it has been a while since he had been in Shonen Jump (or on TV, in the anime), Akane yells at him for being stupid. Goku and Arale later show up at Senbei's house and ask if Senbei could fix the Dragon Radar so Goku can find General Blue. Senbei was confused about its very advanced technology and was even more put down when Goku mentions a girl made it. Turbo secretly saved Senbei from looking like an idiot by fixing it behind his back using his powers. General Blue shows up at his house and attempts to kill Goku and steal Senbei's plane, but Arale easily defeats him. While General Blue got away with the radar, Senbei lets Turbo take his airplane's parts apart to make Goku a new radar.
In Dragon Ball Super, he attends the "World Invention Award" for creating the Reality Machine #2. He wins the award for the invention and gives a little speech.
Doctor Slump[]
Senbei in Doctor Slump.
In the 1997 remake, Senbei's face and hair were changed a bit. His intentions for creating Arale were changed as well. He originally intended to create an attractive maid for himself, but it went wrong with Arale ending up being an accident. When Goku shows up in the remake, Senbei is forced to spend several days trying to fix the radar (Turbo wasn't born yet in the remake to fix it for him).
Inventions[]
Main article: Senbei's inventions
- Arale Norimaki – The first known perfect android created by Senbei, although a flaw is that she is nearsighted and needs to wear glasses.
- See-Thru Glasses – Pair of glasses that can see through anything non-organic. Senbei tries to use it to see girls naked, but was destroyed when Midori accidentally hits him with her scooter.
- Cyborg Bear – He transformed a bear that was shot by a hunter into a cyborg in order to save his life.
- Big-Small Ray Gun – A gun that can shrink or enlarge anything.
- Future Camera – A camera that takes a picture and shows what the taken picture will look like in the future. A dial changes for the future timeline settings that will show in the picture.
Senbei's inventions in Doctor Slump.
- Time Slipper – A flat board that travels through time when Mr. Time, a talking clock slips on it. If there is no board, then any flat, smooth surface can substitute it.
- Numb Ray Gun – A ray gun that freezes anything in place. It failed when Senbei used it against a dinosaur.
- K-9 Robot – Built to quickly track Arale when she was lost, it has an extremely acute sense of smell. It is apparently rather realistic, as it thinks freely and urinates at some points.
- Cola Plane – A round airplane powered by the fizz from a giant can of cola. It runs out of fuel rather quickly.
- Reality Machine – A talking rice cooker that generates a real copy of whatever is on a picture which is put inside of it.
- Barberman – A robotic hairdresser. It has an odd style of humor, a love for singing, and a self-destruct mechanism. It actually cannot cut hair very well.
- Ponpoko Morph Gun – A transformation ray gun, modeled after tanuki of Japanese mythology. The user points at the target they wish to transform, then say what the user wants the target to become using a microphone at the back, and a ray shoots and transforms the target. To transform the target back, the user must say "turn back!". Senbei says this invention is "Sold in manga only!"
- Car – He built a car for King Nikochan and his servant instead of a spaceship to get them back home because Senbei did not know they were aliens.
Video game appearances[]
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Senbei with Turbo and Midori in Dragon Ball: Origins 2.
- Dr. Slump Arale Part I: Hoyoyo Bomber
- Dr. Slump Arale Part III: Ncha! Bycha
- Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu
- Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden
- Dr. Slump
- Jump Super Stars
- Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (voice)
- Jump Ultimate Stars
- Dr. Slump: Arale-Chan
- Dragon Ball: Origins 2
Voice actors[]
- 1980s series and Dragon Ball: Kenji Utsumi
- 1990s series: Yūsaku Yara
- Indonesian dub 1980s series: M. Nur (Bonar)
- Indonesian dub 1990s series: Ach. Sonny
- Indonesian dub of Dragon Ball Global TV version: Adith Siddik Permana
- Funimation dub of Dragon Ball: Brice Armstrong
- Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Super: R. Bruce Elliot
- KingMation: Alex Williams
- Lost Animax/Cartoon Network Asia dub: Michael C. Pizzuto
- Blue Water dub of Dragon Ball: Adam Hunter
- Greek dub of 1980s series: Yiorgos Mazis (1st voice), Yiannis Papaioannou (2nd voice), Themis Psihogios (ep. 14)
- Greek dub of Dragon Ball: Yiorgos Mazis (ep. 55), Yiannis Papaioannou (ep. 56-57)
- Castilian dub of Dragon Ball: Antonio Villar
- Castilian dub 1980s series and movies 4 and 6: Alfonso Vallés
- Castilian dub of Dragon Ball Super: Carlos José Pérez Longas
- Latin dub 1980s series: Ismael Larumbe
- Latin dub of Dragon Ball: Mario Sauret
- Latin dub 1990s series: Rafael Rivera
- Brazilian dub of Dragon Ball: Fábio Moura
- Brazilian dub of Dragon Ball Super: Rogério Cesar
- Portuguese dub of Dragon Ball Super: João Loy
- Polish dub of Dragon Ball Super: Sebastian Skoczeń
- German dub of New Dr. Slump: Olaf Reichmann
Trivia[]
- Senbei Norimaki's name is from Senbei Norimaki (a kind of Japanese rice cracker), whereas Arale Norimaki's name is from Arale, a different kind of rice cracker. Norimaki means "wrapped", and it refers to a specific type of each respective kind of rice cracker.
- People can see "realistic" Senbei since Goku asks him how he did it.
- In the Harmony Gold English Dub, his real name is never uttered by any of the characters and is only referred to by his nickname Dr. Slump.
- In many episodes, he invents something and Arale Norimaki calls him Doraemon. Doraemon is an anime about a blue robot cat that was at the same time as Dr. Slump.
- "Realistic" Senbei strongly resembles Tony Stark. The billionaire and inventor of Iron Man.
Gallery[]
References[]
| 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 | |