Ohayo! Spank

おはようすぱんく

Aired: 1981 - 1982

A television anime produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, based on the popular shojo manga 'Ohayo! Spank' (originally written by Shun'ichi Yukimuro and illustrated by Shizue Takanashi) serialized in Shueisha's Ribon magazine. Broadcast on TV Asahi affiliates, the series follows young Aiko, a girl waiting for her ocean-explorer father to come home, who takes in an excitable seaside dog named Spank. The bright, cartoonish antics of the irrepressible white dog form the surface comedy, while underneath the story carefully threads the emotional core of a shojo work: Aiko's longing for her father's return, the gentle friendship with the boy next door Ken-kun, and the tender bond between mother and daughter. Backed by Koji Makaino's beloved score and theme songs, Ohayo! Spank became one of the defining shojo anime of the early 1980s.