Fortune Dogs

Fortune Dogs (ふぉうちゅんドッグす, Fōchun Doggusu) is a manga series by Shuji Kishihara and Yasuharu Tomono serialized in Nakayosi, about the lives of 48 puppies. An anime television series was produced based on the manga.

The main character's story presents the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies and religions (the Monomyth), a theory developed by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Plot

A French Bulldog is adopted from the Happy Kennel by a girl named Ai and is given the name Alex. She tells him stories and reads to him from a book titled The Adventures of Freddy about dog who leaves home to find the Fortune Tree.

However, he is separated from Ai when he mistakenly follows a girl wearing the same clothes as Ai on a bus. Adopting the name Freddy, after the hero in Ai's storybook, Alex begins his quest to return to Ai. But before he can return to his owner, Freddy and his new friends must find the Fortune Tree and save it from dying, otherwise all the humans in the world will lose their good will and no longer care about their pets.

Characters

Dogs

• Alex/Freddy (フレディー) - A male French Bulldog. He embarked on a quest to return to Ai when he mistakenly followed a girl wearing the same clothes as Ai into a bus in episode 2. In episode 3, Alex took on the name Freddy, after the hero in Ai's story book titled The Adventures of Freddy, about a dog leaving home to find the Fortune Tree.
• Shibata (シバタ) - Shiba Inu
• Chibiyama (チビヤマ) - Chihuahua
• Don Corocorone (ドン・コロコローネ) - A Bulldog, his owner is a thief.
• Shina (シーナ) - Shih Tzu
• Cammy (キャミー) - A female Cavalier King Charles Spaniel show dog Freddy met in episode 4. She was raised by humans who rarely let her to go outside. Dach showed affection over her, but left her in the end.
• Pappy (パピー) - Papillon
• Dach (ドッチ) - A male field Dachshund Alex met in episode 3. He was an expert digger, once owned by the human Jack. Dach taught Alex about interacting with humans. Freddy joined Dach's travel quest at the end of episode 3.
• Max (マックス) - A male Boxer who had come from Happy Kennel, and had met Alex while both were still in the kennel. Although inexperienced as a guard dog, it has a strong sense of food. Its favourite food is milk. It was evicted by its owner in episode 8 after a male robber had broken into the same house twice, and the owner discovered Freddy, Dach, Max were inside the damaged house.
• Lovely (ラブリー) - Labrador Retriever
• Yoko (ヨーコ) - Yorkshire Terrier
• Kowaruski (コワルスキー) - Weimaraner
• Minich - (ミニッチ) Miniature Pinscher
• Ryoma (リョウマ) - An old male Tosa who had grown up in mountains. Ryoma started to live in the wild when delivery truck that carries Ryoma to its customer crashed. He taught Freddy about being a wild dog, identifying and marking dog scents, circular patrolling. After losing a fight against Freezer, Ryoma told Freddy to leave, but Freddy found Ryoma in episode 6. At the end of episode 6, an old woman was identified to be Ryoma's owner. However, Ryoma felt betrayed by its owner when the owner was sick and could not take care of Ryoma while in hospital. When Ryoma's owner collapsed again in episode 6, Ryoma defeated Freezer on its way to the owner, and reunited with the owner at the end.
• Bruto (ブルート) - Bulldog
• Pochi (ポッチ) - Mixed-breed
• Martaff (マータフ) - Doberman Pinscher. A male field dog in episode 4, with Osaka accent.
• Rikyu (リキュー) - Akita Inu. Episode based on real Japanese Akita Hachikō.
• Sanbe (サンペー) - Welsh Corgi Pembroke
• Kinta (キンタ) - Golden Retriever
• Jess (ジャズ) - Golden Retriever, Kinta's mother
• Himechin (ヒメチン) - Japanese Chin
• Daltian (ダルジャン) - A female Dalmatian from episode 6 with unidentified owner.
• Poron - (ポロン) Pomeranian
• B-chan - (ビーチャン) Beagle
• Marco - (マルコ) Maltese
• Arnest (アーネスト) - A female Afghan Hound Alex met in episode 2 outside bakery.
• Leon (レオン) - Bloodhound
• Pugbou (パグボー) - Pug, arrested by the police dogs, asks Freddy to help him
• Mook (ムック) - A male Old English Sheepdog raised by Rogers in episode 9.
• Eiji (エージ) - Male German Shepherd owned by Happy Kennel that used to work for police as sniffing dog, and always travel with Cammy.
• Bright (ブライト) - Samoyed
• Wang (ワン) - Chow Chow
• Jackie (ジャッキー) - Jack Russell Terrier
• Yubi (ユーピー) - A robot
• Kosuke (コースケ) - Norwich Terrier, a police dog, pursues Corocorone's owner.
• Zenji - (ゼンジー) Pekingese
• Cocco (コッコ) - An American Cocker Spaniel.
• Tomiko - (トミコ) Shar Pei
• Noppe - (ノッペ) Bull Terrier
• Kitchen (キッチン) - A male Rough Collie/Shetland Sheepdog from episode 6 with a male owner. In episode 7, Kitchen altered its owner for the collapsed Ryoma's owner after hearing Ryoma's call.
• Bernadon (バーナードン) - St. Bernard
• Wealthy (ウエルシー) - West Highland White Terrier
• Freezer (フリーザー) - Siberian Husky, male dog that defeated Ryoma in a territorial fight in episode 5, but beaten by Ryoma in episode 7.
• Airi (アイリ) - Irish Setter
• Whity (ホワイティ) - A female Poodle in episode 9, owned by Rogers.
• Shunaemon (シュナエモン) - Standard Schnauzer
• Shetlan (シェトラン) - Shetland Sheepdog
• Edgar (エドガー) - A Wire Fox Terrier that taught Freddy to get food by begging to sausage vendor in episode 6.
• Mace (メース) - Great Dane owned by Happy Kennel that used to work for police as sniffing dog, and always travel with Grace.
• Police Dog - Giant Schnauzer
• Police Dog - English Pointer
• Police Dog - English Pointer

Birds

• Myna (九官鳥) - A bird that guarded bakery in episode 3.

Humans

• Alex (アレックス) - Owner of Happy Kennel. In addition to selling dogs, he also visits the owners of the dogs he sold.
• Ai-chan (愛ちゃん) - Freddy's adopter in episode 1.
• Jack (ジャック) - Dooch's former human owner in episode 3. Jack is obsessed on taking any dog he sees to home.
• Rogers (ロジャース) - Owner of Whitety, Mook, and Rogers farm, a farm for cows and sheep.

Cast

• Freddy - Yumiko Kobayashi
• Alice - Rie Satou
• Cocco - Chiaki Takashi
• Shibata- Akeno Watanabe
• B-Chan - Chika Sakamoto
• Max - Kouichi Toochika
• Chibiyama - Miwa Matsumoto
• Leon - Dai Matsumoto
• Pochi - Rica Matsumoto
• Bluto - Junichi Endou
• Rikyu - Cho
• Dach - Yuu Mizushima
• Kowalski - Shoto Kashii

External links

• Fortune Dogs homepage
• TV Tokyo's FD page
• Fortune Dogs (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia