Fortune Dogs
Fortune Dogs is a manga series by Shuji Kishihara and Yasuharu Tomono serialized in Nakayoshi, about the lives of 48 puppies. An anime television series was produced based on the manga.
The main character's story presents the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies and religions, a theory developed by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Plot
A French Bulldog is adopted from the Happy Kennel by a girl named Ai and is given the name Alex. She tells him stories and reads to him from a book titled The Adventures of Freddy about dog who leaves home to find the Fortune Tree.However, he is separated from Ai when he mistakenly follows a girl wearing the same clothes as Ai on a bus. Adopting the name Freddy, after the hero in Ai's storybook, Alex begins his quest to return to Ai. But before he can return to his owner, Freddy and his new friends must find the Fortune Tree and save it from dying, otherwise all the humans in the world will lose their good will and no longer care about their pets.
Characters
Dogs
- Alex/Freddy - A male French Bulldog. He embarked on a quest to return to Ai when he mistakenly followed a girl wearing the same clothes as Ai into a bus in episode 2. In episode 3, Alex took on the name Freddy, after the hero in Ai's story book titled The Adventures of Freddy, about a dog leaving home to find the Fortune Tree.
- Shibata - Shiba Inu
- Chibiyama - Chihuahua
- Don Corocorone - A Bulldog, his owner is a thief.
- Shina - Shih Tzu
- Cammy - A female Cavalier King Charles Spaniel show dog Freddy met in episode 4. She was raised by humans who rarely let her to go outside. Dach showed affection over her, but left her in the end.
- Pappy - Papillon
- Dach - A male field Dachshund Alex met in episode 3. He was an expert digger, once owned by the human Jack. Dach taught Alex about interacting with humans. Freddy joined Dach's travel quest at the end of episode 3.
- Max - A male Boxer who had come from Happy Kennel, and had met Alex while both were still in the kennel. Although inexperienced as a guard dog, it has a strong sense of food. Its favourite food is milk. It was evicted by its owner in episode 8 after a male robber had broken into the same house twice, and the owner discovered Freddy, Dach, Max were inside the damaged house.
- Lovely - Labrador Retriever
- Yoko - Yorkshire Terrier
- Kowaruski - Weimaraner
- Minich - Miniature Pinscher
- Ryoma - An old male Tosa who had grown up in mountains. Ryoma started to live in the wild when delivery truck that carries Ryoma to its customer crashed. He taught Freddy about being a wild dog, identifying and marking dog scents, circular patrolling. After losing a fight against Freezer, Ryoma told Freddy to leave, but Freddy found Ryoma in episode 6. At the end of episode 6, an old woman was identified to be Ryoma's owner. However, Ryoma felt betrayed by its owner when the owner was sick and could not take care of Ryoma while in hospital. When Ryoma's owner collapsed again in episode 6, Ryoma defeated Freezer on its way to the owner, and reunited with the owner at the end.
- Bruto - Bulldog
- Pochi - Mixed-breed
- Martaff - Doberman Pinscher. A male field dog in episode 4, with Osaka accent.
- Rikyu - Akita Inu. Episode based on real Japanese Akita Hachikō.
- Sanbe - Welsh Corgi Pembroke
- Kinta - Golden Retriever
- Jess - Golden Retriever, Kinta's mother
- Himechin - Japanese Chin
- Daltian - A female Dalmatian from episode 6 with unidentified owner.
- Poron - Pomeranian
- B-chan - Beagle
- Marco - Maltese
- Arnest - A female Afghan Hound Alex met in episode 2 outside bakery.
- Leon - Bloodhound
- Pugbou - Pug, arrested by the police dogs, asks Freddy to help him
- Mook - A male Old English Sheepdog raised by Rogers in episode 9.
- Eiji - Male German Shepherd owned by Happy Kennel that used to work for police as sniffing dog, and always travel with Cammy.
- Bright - Samoyed
- Wang - Chow Chow
- Jackie - Jack Russell Terrier
- Yubi - A robot
- Kosuke - Norwich Terrier, a police dog, pursues Corocorone's owner.
- Zenji - Pekingese
- Cocco - An American Cocker Spaniel.
- Tomiko - Shar Pei
- Noppe - Bull Terrier
- Kitchen - A male Rough Collie/Shetland Sheepdog from episode 6 with a male owner. In episode 7, Kitchen altered its owner for the collapsed Ryoma's owner after hearing Ryoma's call.
- Bernadon - St. Bernard
- Wealthy - West Highland White Terrier
- Freezer - Siberian Husky, male dog that defeated Ryoma in a territorial fight in episode 5, but beaten by Ryoma in episode 7.
- Airi - Irish Setter
- Whity - A female Poodle in episode 9, owned by Rogers.
- Shunaemon - Standard Schnauzer
- Shetlan - Shetland Sheepdog
- Edgar - A Wire Fox Terrier that taught Freddy to get food by begging to sausage vendor in episode 6.
- Mace - Great Dane owned by Happy Kennel that used to work for police as sniffing dog, and always travel with Grace.
- Police Dog - Giant Schnauzer
- Police Dog - English Pointer
- Police Dog - English Pointer
Birds
- Myna - A bird that guarded bakery in episode 3.
Humans
- Alex - Owner of Happy Kennel. In addition to selling dogs, he also visits the owners of the dogs he sold.
- Ai-chan - Freddy's adopter in episode 1.
- Jack - Dooch's former human owner in episode 3. Jack is obsessed on taking any dog he sees to home.
- Rogers - Owner of Whitety, Mook, and Rogers farm, a farm for cows and sheep.
Cast
- Freddy - Yumiko Kobayashi
- Alice - Rie Satou
- Cocco - Chiaki Takashi
- Shibata- Akeno Watanabe
- B-Chan - Chika Sakamoto
- Max - Kouichi Toochika
- Chibiyama - Miwa Matsumoto
- Leon - Dai Matsumoto
- Pochi - Rica Matsumoto
- Bluto - Junichi Endou
- Rikyu - Cho
- Dach - Yuu Mizushima
- Kowalski - Shoto Kashii
Episodes
- 28. Recue in Front of the Station
- 29. Because Sanpei is Here
- 30. We Finally Met
- 31. A New Journey
- 32. Stand up, Freddie!
- 33. A Friend who Gave me Courage
- 34. Corocorone's Determination
- 35. Words of the Elders
- 36. The Secret of the Guardian Stone
- 37. Freddy the Legendary Dog
- 38. Save the Fortune Tree!
- 39. Welcome Back, Freddie