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The Kabocha Wine (Theかぼちゃワイン, The Kabocha Wain, trans. The Pumpkin Wine) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mitsuru Miura. It was serialized in Kodansha‘s Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1981 to 1984. The Kabocha Wine received the 1983 Kodansha Manga Award for the shōnen category.

The sequel to the manga, The Kabocha Wine – Sequel (The かぼちゃワイン sequel, lit. “The Pumpkin Wine – Sequel”) is a one-shot manga published by Seirindo on October 15, 2006.

The third series of the manga, The Kabocha Wine – Another (The♥かぼちゃワインAnother, lit. “The Pumpkin Wine – Another”) is published by Akita Shoten.

It has been adapted into a 95 episode anime series by Toei Animation.

The sequel to the anime was in the form of an animated movie, called The Kabocha Wine: Nita no Aijou Monogatari (Ｔｈｅかぼちゃワインニタの愛情物語, The Pumpkin Wine: Nita’s Love Story), which was released on July 14, 1984 by Toei Animation.

On October 26, 2007, wint released a DVD for the live-action movie adaptation of the third manga series, called The Kabocha Wine – Another (The かぼちゃワインAnother, lit. “The Pumpkin Wine – Another”). Directed by Hitoshi Ishikawa, the movie starred Yoko Kumada.

Characters

Shunsuke Aoba (青葉春助, Aoba Shunsuke) Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa: Shunsuke is the main character of the series, and Natsumi’s love interest. He is very short (Dwarfism) highschool student, being only 145 cm (4’9”). Generally gruff, proud and stubborn, Shunsuke is nonetheless a good-hearted, strong and brave guy. He is afraid of dogs, loves to eat and does not disdain to fight.
Natsumi Asaoka (朝丘夏美, Asaoka Natsumi) Nickname: L (エル, Eru) Voiced by: Keiko Yokozawa: Natsumi is the female protagonist of the series, and Shunsuke’s girlfriend. She is taller and bustier than the average Japanese girl, being 180 cm (5’9”). She is very sweet, nice, intelligent, judicious, stubborn, energetic, cheerful and kind.

**Kotaro Hayakawa (早川小太郎, Hayakawa Kotarou) Voiced by: Kiyonobu Suzuki (Yoku Shioya for episodes 2, 3, and 9)**

Kotaro is Shunsuke’s classmate. He is usually very shy and timid, and admires Shunsuke for his masculinity and bravery. He wishes to be just like Shunsuke someday, and does whatever he can to impress him. Outside of school, his family owns a flower shop.

Manga

The third series of the manga is published by Akita Shoten. As of April 2009, Akita Shoten has published six tankōbon of the manga.

Anime

Toei Animation broadcast the 95 episodes of The Kabocha Wine on TV Asahi between July 5, 1982 and August 27, 1984. The anime is also broadcast in French by Mangas and TF1. It is also broadcast in Italy on Europa 7 and Italia 7.

The anime uses three pieces of theme music. “L is Lovely” (Ｌはラブリー, L Wa Raburii) by Kumiko Kaori is the opening theme for the entire series. “The Nature of Aoba Shunsuke” (青葉春介、ザ・根性, Aoba Shunsuke The Konjou) by Toshio Furukawa is the first ending theme, while “Pumpkin Night” (パンプキン・ナイト, Panpukin Naito) by Toshio Furukawa and Keiko Yokozawa is the second ending theme for the anime.

On September 27, 2006, wint released the first DVD box set for The Kabocha Wine. The box set contains the first 48 episodes over 8 DVDs, each with 6 episodes. On November 29, 2006, wint released the second DVD box set for The Kabocha Wine. The second DVD box contains eight DVDs spanning the episodes 49 to 95.

Cover of The Kabocha Wine 1st DVD Box

Animation CD

On March 21, 2007, Columbia Music Entertainment released an animation CD for The Kabocha Wine, called The Kabocha Wine Ongakushu. The songs were sung by Osamu Shouji.

Theかぼちゃワイン *(The Kabocha Wain)*
The Kabocha Wine
Cover of the first manga volume
Manga
Written by	Mitsuru Miura
Published by	Kodansha
Magazine	*Weekly Shōnen Magazine*
Demographic	*Shōnen*
Original run	1981 – 1984
Volumes	18
Manga
*The Kabocha Wine – Sequel*
Written by	Mitsuru Miura
Published by	Seirindo
Published	October 15, 2006
Volumes	1
Manga
*The Kabocha Wine – Another*
Written by	Mitsuru Miura
Published by	Akita Shoten
Magazine	*Play Comic*
Demographic	*Seinen*
Original run	June 20, 2007 – 2009
Volumes	6
Anime television series
Directed by	Kimio Yabuki
Studio	Toei Animation
Original network	TV Asahi
Original run	July 5, 1982 – August 27, 1984
Episodes	95 (List of episodes)
Anime film
*The Kabocha Wine: Nita no Aijou Monogatari*
Directed by	Kimio Yabuki
Produced by	Chiaki Imada
Music by	Osamu Shooji
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	July 14, 1984
Runtime	24 minutes
Live-action film
*The Kabocha Wine – Another*
Directed by	Hitoshi Ishikawa
Released	October 26, 2007
Runtime	78 minutes