Salaryman Kintarō

Salaryman Kintarō
サラリーマン金太郎 (Sarariiman Kintarō)
Genre	Comedy-drama
Manga
Written by	Hiroshi Motomiya
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Weekly Young Jump
Original run	1994 – 2002
Volumes	30
Live-action film
Directed by	Takashi Miike
Studio	Toho
Released	November 13, 1999
Runtime	110 minutes
TV drama
Network	TBS
Original run	1999 – 2004
Episodes	44 (+ 1 special)
TV anime
Directed by	Tomoharu Katsumata
Network	BS-i
Original run	February 18, 2001 – March 18, 2001
Episodes	20
Anime and Manga Portal

Salaryman Kintaro (サラリーマン金太郎, Sararīman Kintarō^?) is a manga series by Hiroshi Motomiya. It has been serialized in Weekly Young Jump since 1994, but has gone through many periods of inactivity.

The manga follows Kintarō Yajima, a former Bōsōzoku leader who, as a promise to his late wife, has become a salaryman. In 2005, Kintarō went from working as a salaryman to working for a foreign bank.

In 2005, Salaryman Kintaro began appearing as an online comic and eventually returned to Young Jump.

Characters

Kintarō Yajima (矢島金太郎,, Yajima Kintarou^?)

The protagonist of the series, a high school dropout and former Bōsōzoku who retired to become a fisherman, but after he saved Morinosuke Yamato he was offered a job at Yamato Construction in the sales department.

Misuzu Yajima (矢島美鈴,, Yajima Misuzu^?)

Née Suenaga (末永^?). A high class woman who once had an affair with the late politician Seishirō Kuroda (黒田征四郎,, Kuroda Seishirou^?). She still has strong political and financial connections and later becomes Kintarō's wife.

Ryōta Yajima (矢島竜太,, Yajima Ryouta^?)

The son of Kintarō and his late wife Akemi.

Mimi Suenaga (末永美々,, Suenaga Mimi^?)

The daughter of Misuzu from her affair with Kuroda.

Akemi Yajima (矢島明美,, Yajima Akemi^?)

Kintarō's first wife, a kind blind woman who dies giving birth to Ryōta.

Morinosuke Yamato (大和守之助,, Yamato Morinosuke^?)

One of the many men that Kintarō saves. Chairman of Yamato Construction. He believes in Kintarō all the way.

Genzō Ōshima (大島源造,, Genzou Ooshima^?)

Yūsaku Kurokawa (黒川優作,, Kurokawa Yuusaku^?)

Ryūzō Igō (伊郷龍蔵,, Igou Ryuuzou^?)

Media

Live-action film

Staff

• Director: Takashi Miike
• Producers: Morihiro Kodama, Mitsunori Morita, Kazuya Hamana
• Screenplay: Kenji Nakazono, Naoko Harada
• Music: Kouji Endou
• Cinematography: Hideo Yamamoto
• Editing: Yasushi Shimamura
• Assistant Director: Bunmei Katō

Cast

• Kintaro Yajima: Katsunori Takahashi
• Misuzu Suenaga: Yoko Saito
• Mimi Suenaga: Kanako Enomoto
• Ryota Yajima: Chinosuke Shimada
• Ryunosuke Yamato: Masahiko Tsugawa
• Genzo Oshima: Shuichiro Moriyama
• Yusaku Kurokawa: Taisaku Akino
• Yozo Igo: Tsutomu Yamazaki
• Kayo Nakamura: Yoko Nogiwa
• Masumi Nakamura: Michiko Hada
• Ichiro Maeda: Toshiaki Megumi
• Hitomi Aihara: Miki Mizuno
• Masakazu Tanaka: Masanobu Katsumura
• Takatsukasa: Naoki Hosaka
• Seishiro Tanioka: Shingo Yamashiro
• Fumihiko Handa: Hiromasa Taguchi
• Tadashi Shiina: Satoshi Uzaki

Theme Song

• In My Dream (TUBE)

Live-action TV series

Seasons

• January 10~March 21, 1999: Salaryman Kintarō (11 Episodes, Average Rating: 19.0%)((cn))
• October 3, 1999: Salaryman Kintarō Special
• April 9~July 2, 2000: Salaryman Kintarō 2 (12 Episodes, Average Rating: 16.3%)((cn))
• January 6~March 17, 2002: Salaryman Kintarō 3 (11 Episodes, Average Rating: 15.5%)((cn))
• January 15~March 18, 2004: Salaryman Kintarō 4 (10 Episodes, Average Rating: 11.2%)((cn))

Cast

The main cast from the film version returned for the television series.

Theme Songs

• Season 1: Kibou no Kane ga Naru Asa ni (希望の鐘が鳴る朝に,, The Bell of Hope is Ringing in the Morning^?) (The Alfee)
• Season 2: Kizuna (キズナ,, Bonds^?) (Tetsurō Oda)
• Season 3: Atsuku Nare! (熱くなれ!, A Hot Time!^?) (Katsunori Takahashi)
• Season 4: Kibou no Hashi (希望の橋,, Bridge of Hope^?) (The Alfee)

Anime TV series

Cast

• Kintaro Yajima: Taisei Miyamoto
• Misuzu Suenaga: Atsuko Tanaka
• Mimi Suenaga: Ryōka Yuzuki
• Morinosuke Yamato: Kiyoshi Kawakuba
• Genzo Oshima: Takeshi Watabe
• Yusaku Kurokawa: Nachi Nozawa
• Ryuzo Igo: Kōsei Tomita
• Kayo Nakamura: Seiko Tomoe
• Ichiro Maeda: Kōichi Nagano
• Masakazu Tanaka: Tomoyuki Kōno
• Hiroshi Kaminaga: Katsuhisa Hōki
• Takashi Shiina: Kunihiko Yasui
• Mamoru Mizuki: Nobuaki Sekine
• Kyoko Sakurai: Masako Katsuki

Theme Songs

• Opening Theme: Jikuu ~Toki no Sora~ (時空～ときのそら～, A Space of Time^?) (Yumi Matsuzawa)
• Ending Theme: Heaven ~Boku no Naka no Tengoku~ (Heaven～僕の中の天国～, We're in Heaven^?) (Norishige Takahashi)

External links

• Salaryman Kintarou (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Salaryman Kintarou at the Internet Movie Database
• Salaryman Kintarou 2
• Salaryman Kintarou 3
• Salaryman Kintarou 4
• Salaryman Kintarou（TBS Drama Archive）
• Salaryman Kintarou 2（TBS Drama Archive）