Bearly Friends!

Bearly Friends!
Chapter Details
Chapter #	6
Volume	1
Kanji title	熊さん友だち!
Rōmaji title	Kuma-San Tomodachi!
Translated title	Friends with Mr. Bear!
Release date	March 10, 1980
English release	May 10th, 2005
Anime counterpart	5a. My Friend, Mr. Bear!!
Remake counterpart	4b. Bear in the Cage
Chapter Chronology
Previous	Which Will It Be?
Next	Arale is Akane!?

Bearly Friends! (熊さん友だち!, Kuma-San Tomodachi!, lit. "Friends with Mr. Bear!") is the sixth chapter of the Dr. Slump manga series.

Cover

The chapter cover features the art of Arale dressed as a waitress holding a spray gun, aiming at a small Senbei dressed as a fly.

Summary

One winter, while "Kiiin"-ing her way around town, Arale Norimaki is stopped by Aoi Kimidori, who asks why Arale is not playing with Akane. Arale informs her that Akane had been caught drinking sake by the principal, and was unable to play. Despite this, Aoi invites Arale to look over a wall to see a caged Bear. Arale initially mistakes it for a giant caterpillar before Aoi informs her that it had been raised from a cub in captivity before they are told to move on by a police officer. Arale promptly runs home and begins to sew together a stuffed bear. Seeing this, Senbei becomes excited at this display of "normal girlhood", and mistakes it for a stuffed monkey, while the Bear's Owner remarks privately that soon the bear will be ready for taxidermy.

That night, Arale sneaks into the bear's cage, much to its confusion, and breaks it out, carrying it home, where Senbei mistakes it for a giant dog. In the morning, the owner finds Arale's stuffed bear in the real bear's place and believes it shrank because he did not feed it enough. Concerned for the bear's health after they release it, Senbei takes it upon himself to be the bear's personal trainer over the next several days to get it back in shape.

They let the bear free on a mountain where Senbei says bears will soon be waking up for spring. Together they play for a short time, but just as the Norimaki's prepare to leave their friend in his new home, they hear gunshots, and Arale runs to investigate.

The cyborg bear

She discovers the bear has been shot and killed by a hunter. Arale, filled with anger, throws him and his photographer all the way to Africa, while Senbei determines that he may be able to save the bear's life by using one of Arale's parts to make him into a Cyborg. It is then revealed that it took all of Arale's body to repair the damage, and the Cyborg bear discovers his newfound incredible strength.

Appearances

Characters

• Arale Norimaki
• Senbei Norimaki
• Aoi Kimidori
• Bear (debut)
• Bear's Owner (debut)
• Hunter (debut)

Locations

• Penguin Village
  • Norimaki Residence

Gallery

Senbei and Arale play with the bear

Bear as a cyborg

Trivia

• In this chapter, Akane is in trouble for drinking Sake, a Japanese wine. However, in the official English localization, this was censored into a nondescript beverage called "Super Punch".