How Adorable! The Lovely Middle-aged Trio (かわゆい! ラブリーおっさんトリオ Kawayui! Raburī ossan torio) is the 29th episode of Dr. Slump Arale-chan.
Synopsis[]
Feeling mischievous? One day, Akane and Arale trick their dad's into coming to school in women's clothing...
Plot[]
Senbei hears a ruckus in the Norimaki Residence in the morning and checks it out. It turns out Arale, Gatchan, Akane, Taro, and Peasuke are playing war in a room filled with forest scenery.
Akane and Taro shooting at each other.
Taro and Akane shoot at each other with appropriate war outfits. Taro manages to shoot down Akane and Arale comes out to avenge her. Gatchan reveals themselves and they and Arale go into a little fencing match while they wear matching ninja-esque costumes.
Senbei watches the chaos ensue and intervenes grumpily. Peasuke is revealed as an Indian portrayal spinning an axe which he throws right into Senbei's mouth.
Kurikinton in his war-game attire
He scolds the children for their noisy play and asks them where they think they are. Suddenly from some bushes emerges Kurikinton with a snazzy outfit and pistol. Senbei asks what he was doing there and Kurikinton tells him sometimes it's fun to play war games with the children. He loads his gun with Senbei's strawberries, to which Senbei angrily urges him to give back. Kurikinton obliges and shoots every single strawberry out of his gun into Senbei's mouth.
He swallows, enjoying the taste of the strawberries. Arale asks if he was good now and Senbei initially replies in agreement before shifting his opinion. He breaks the fourth wall about kids at home imitating their games.
Kurikinton confidently asks if he was a cool guy playing the "lone wolf" and everyone agrees. Senbei suddenly becomes envious and storms out to change his outfit so he can also be perceived as cool.
He returns donning a new look to everyone's impressions. Kurikinton realizes that Senbei's outfit looked familiar and took out a pair of hair cutting scissors to cut his hair. He makes Senbei have a resemblance to Joe Dunn and they have a brief flashback of Arale is Kidnapped!. Everyone laughs at Senbei for the coincidental resemblance.
Kon makes his debut.
Senbei madly retaliates with Arale's blade and he goes into a fencing match with Kurikinton. Suddenly the men are hit with a smoke-bomb and Kon reveals himself, also with appropriate war-game attire. Akane introduces her father to them and Kon boasts his heroic role in their game.
Kurikinton blows off Kon's glasses to have Gatchan grab and eat them. Kon tells them they'll pay for that and grabs Akane's gun, beginning to start a shooting spree. All three dads begin shooting at each other with bullets and strawberries. The kids are overwhelmed by their old men's game antics, so they leave outside.
The kids ponder what they can do while their dads are warring with each other. Taro glances at Gatchan and suddenly gets the idea to ride in the sky on a kite pulled by Arale due to her rocket speed. Arale ties a string around her waist attached to a sizable kite with an octopus on it (in Japan octopus and kite mean the same thing). She begins running and Taro, Peasuke, and Akane hitch a ride of it high in the sky.
Taro, Peasuke, and Akane being dragged on their broken kite.
Senbei, Kurikinton, and Kon look out the Norimaki Resident's window to see the kite approach. They assume the kite is new attackers in their little game and they work together to shoot down the kite. The kids end up hurling down to the ground to Arale's obliviousness as she continued running around.
Arale stops and apologizes. Akane reassures her that it wasn't her fault and they think of a way to get back at their dad's for that. Akane gets a devious idea suddenly and asks Peasuke for his pen and paper. She writes down "school information".
Appearances[]
Characters[]
| Character Name | Voice Actor |
|---|---|
| Senbei Norimaki | Kenji Utsumi |
| Kurikinton Soramame | Kouji Totani |
| Kon Kimidori (Debut) | Banjou Ginga |
| Mr. Pig | TBA |
| Ultra Jiro-kun | TBA |
| The Sun | Toshio Furukawa |
| Godzilla | TBA |
| Gamera | TBA |
| Kenta Kuraaku | Tesshō Genda |
| Alarm Clock | TBA |
| Taro Soramame | Toshio Furukawa |
| Akane Kimidori | Kazuko Sugiyama |
| Arale Norimaki | Mami Koyama |
| Gatchan | Seiko Nakano |
| Peasuke Soramame | Naomi Jinbo |
| Joe Dunn | Shozo Iizuka |
| Akira Toriyama (Tori) | Isamu Tanonaka |
| The Earth | TBA |
| Delivery Rooster | TBA |
| Midori Yamabuki | Mariko Mukai |
| Bubibinman | None |
| Gala | Isamu Tanonaka |
| Pagos | Masaharu Satō |
| Unnamed Hippo Villager | TBA |
| Unnamed Rhino Villager | TBA |
| Old Woman Spring | TBA |
Locations[]
- Penguin Village
- Soramame Barber Shop
- Norimaki Residence
- Bank Robber's Hut (Flashback)
- Penguin Village Bank
- Penguin Village Shoe House
- Penguin Village Middle School
Objects[]
- Dynamite
- Kite
- UFO
- Police Car
Continuity Impact[]
- Kon Kimidori debuts.
Inconsistencies[]
Differences from the Manga[]
The first half is anime exclusive, while the other half covers the manga chapter. It plays out the same from the manga, except:
- Kenta and Joe Dunn makes a brief appearance while in the manga they don't appear.
- Kon is introduced earlier in the episode before the manga adapted half.
- Arale falls from the airborne UFO to make an impact on the police car below her. In the manga, the UFO lands, and Arale proceeds to get out and wrecks the car from there.
- When Kurikinton and Senbei show their cute costumes to each other, at first they pretend that they adore one another. In reality, they both believe each other's costumes are shameful and ugly. In the manga, they both bluntly show their disgust of each other's costumes.
- Midori is simply shocked when the middle-aged trio approaches her. In the manga, she falls over.
Gallery[]
 War game Arale  War game Gatchan  War game Peasuke  War game Senbei  Inflated Senbei  Arale and Gatchan laughing  Senbei in his "handsome" form  Senbei in his "cute" costume  Senbei, Arale and Gatchan in their UFO  Bubibinman's cameo  Arale waving  Gala and Pagos with their broken police car  Kurikinton in fly costume  Senbei and Kurikinton staring each other down  Senbei and Kurikinton laughing at each other  Akane waving  Kon Kimidori in costume  The Lovely Middle-aged Trio  The trio see Ms. Yamabuki  The trio greeting Midori  Midori terrified of the trio  "Cute" Senbei asking which of the trio is the cutest  The trio all get called ugly and ridiculous  Midori lecturing  The trio anticipating being called upon by the teacher  The trio trying to get Midori's attention  Peasuke, Akane and Arale laughing  Arale laughing |
[]
| Dr. Slump Volume 4: The Happy Doctor | ||
| Manga | Bye-Bye Super Power! · The Lovely Trio · Penguin Village S.O.S.: Part 1 · Penguin Village S.O.S.: Part 2 · Gatchan Goes for a Walk · Yay Yay Wildland · The Happy Doctor · Zippity-Doo Doctor · The Dumbfounded Doctor · A Bittersweet Ho-yo-yo Date Special! · Parzan, King of the Jungle! · Sad, Sad Santa · Kick the Can | |
| Dr. Slump Arale-chan | Bye-Bye Super Power • How Adorable! The Lovely Middle-aged Trio • Penguin Village SOS!! • Gatchan the Courier • Yay Yay Wildland (episode) • The Great Space Date Adventure • Dumbfounded Senbei • Arale's Hoyoyo Date • Parzan, King of the Jungle • Sad Sad Santa • Thankies! The Kick The Can Celebration Party | |
| 1997 Anime | ||