Manmaru the Ninja Penguin at PopRot
Manmaru the Ninja Penguin quick guide
Manmaru the Ninja Penguin, released in Japan as Ninpen Manmaru, is a comedy-family anime about a polite penguin drafted into ninja training among animal clans. The original manga was created by Mikio Igarashi and ran in Monthly Shonen Gangan; the anime adaptation was produced by Shin-Ei Animation and aired on TV Asahi in 1997–1998.
- Japanese title: 忍ペンまん丸 / Ninpen Manmaru
- Format: TV anime comedy for children and family audiences
- Studio: Shin-Ei Animation
- Director: Tetsuo Yasumi
- Broadcast: July 5, 1997 to March 28, 1998
- Episode count: 48 broadcast episodes are listed by encyclopedia sources; TV Asahi’s international program catalog currently packages the title as approximately 24 minutes × 30 episodes.
- Opening: “Bokutte Manmaru” by Yumi Adachi
- Ending: “Kagayakeru Hoshi” by Miho Komatsu
What it is about
Jiya brings Manmaru, a modest penguin with dreams of becoming a soccer player, into a mountain conflict involving rival ninja clans. Manmaru’s politeness and odd priorities frustrate the fox Tsunejiro and the hotheaded raccoon Tanutaro, but the mismatch is the point: the series turns ninja training into slapstick, teamwork lessons, and animal-character comedy.
Best PopRot paths
- Character guide — Meet Manmaru, Tanutaro, Tsunejiro, and Jiya.
- Episode guide — Use the source-limited viewing guide before deeper episode records are verified.
- Story roadmap — Track the 300-year clan conflict and training-comedy setup.
- Powers guide — Understand the show’s light ninja-skill vocabulary.
Source note: PopRot researched this guide from TV Asahi’s program guide, Anime News Network encyclopedia data, and the English Wikipedia/Wikidata summary of Ninpen Manmaru. No anime-specific Fandom wiki was found for this property during this run, and AniList/Kitsu access was unavailable or incomplete, so episode-level scene recaps are intentionally source-limited rather than invented.
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