Norakuro

is a Japanese manga series created by Suihō Tagawa, originally published by Kodansha in Shōnen Kurabu from 1931 to 1981, and one of the first series' to be reprinted in tankōbon format. The series started publication where the story is based on the author's time during his enlistment in the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1922. Serialization of Norakuro stopped in 1941 for wartime austerity reasons, but was revived after the war where the titular character returned in various guises, including a sumo wrestler and a botanist.

Norakuro strongly influenced future mangaka, such as the author's apprentice, Machiko Hasegawa, the author of Sazae-san, as well as Fullmetal Alchemist author Hiromu Arakawa.

Pre-war animated films based on the military Norakuro, and two post-war animated series of Norakuro, in 1970 and 1987, have also been produced for Fuji TV broadcast. During the 1980s and early 1990s Norakuro was the mascot of the Physical Training School (Tai-Iku Gakko) of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

Plot
The stories of Norakuro, an anthropomorphic black and white dog soldier serving in an army of dogs called the "fierce dogs regiment" (猛犬連隊, mōkenrentai). Norakuro was gradually promoted from private to captain in the stories, which began as humorous episodes, but eventually developed into war propaganda tales of military exploits against the "pigs army" on the "continent" - a thinly-veiled reference to the Second Sino-Japanese War.