Tonbo!

Tonbo! (オーイ! とんぼ, Ōi! Tonbo, "Hey! Tonbo") is a Japanese manga series written by Ken Kawasaki and illustrated by Yū Furusawa. It has been serialized in Golf Digest's golfing magazine Weekly Golf Digest since August 2014. An anime television series adaptation produced by OLM aired from April to June 2024. A second season is set to premiere in Q4 of the same year.

Plot

The series is set in the fictional Hinoshima Island in the Tokara Islands (based on Nakanoshima), where Kazuyoshi Igarashi heads to for unknown reasons. He meets with Tonbo Ōi, a girl with a talent for golf.

Characters

Tonbo Ōi (大井 とんぼ, Ōi Tonbo)

Voiced by: Rika Hayashi

Kazuyoshi Igarashi (五十嵐 一賀, Igarashi Kazuyoshi)

Voiced by: Hiroki Tōchi

Grandpa Gon (ゴンじい, Gonjī)

Voiced by: Shin Aomori

Setsuba (セツばあ)

Voiced by: Mizuka Arima

Bunpei (ブンペイ)

Voiced by: Junya Enoki

Yōko Adaniya (安谷屋洋子, Adaniya Yōko)

Voiced by: Mimi Maihane

Kanchō (館長)

Voiced by: Kenji Yamauchi

Chūzai (駐在)

Voiced by: Kentaro Takano

Wataru (ワタル)

Voiced by: Arisa Sekine

Yūma (ユウマ)

Voiced by: Satomi Kobashi

Media

Manga

Written by Ken Kawasaki and illustrated by Yū Furusawa, Tonbo! started in Golf Digest's golfing magazine Weekly Golf Digest on August 4, 2014. Golf Digest has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first two volumes were released on May 30, 2016. As of May 1, 2024, 50 volumes have been released.

Anime

In May 2023, an anime television series adaptation was announced. The series is animated by OLM (with CG provided by SMDE) and directed by Jin Gu Oh, with Mitsutaka Hirota writing series scripts, Akira Takeuchi designing the characters, Keita Hattori directing the 3DCG, and Nobuko Toda composing the music. It aired from April 6 to June 29, 2024, on TV Tokyo. The opening theme song is "Habatake" (羽ばたけ, "Spread Your Wings"), performed by Sacra e sole, while the ending theme song is "Let's Swing", performed by Tokyo Groove Jyoshi.

After the airing of the final episode of the first season, it was announced that the series will receive a second season, which is set to premiere in Q4 of the same year.

Remow licensed the series and is releasing it on their It's Anime YouTube channel. The company also streams the series on Amazon Prime Video with an English dub, releasing simultaneously as it airs in Japan.

Episodes

Other media

In 2023, Miki City, known as the "City of Golf" due to its large number of golf courses, in collaboration with the manga, offered golf balls with Tonbo design printed on them as tax return gifts, to promote the sport in the city and to contribute to its financial reconstruction.

Reception

As of June 2023, the manga had over 1.55 million copies in circulation (including digital copies). The manga placed third in Rakuten Kobo's second E-book Award in the "Long Seller Comic" category in 2024.

Notes

References

External links

• Official website at Golf Digest (in Japanese)
• Official anime website (in Japanese)
• Tonbo! (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia