Norimaki, Arale
Summary
Arale is a robot created by Senbei Norimaki who appears as a young girl. She is characterized by her naive and energetic demeanor, a complete lack of common sense, and immense, unbelievable strength. Her powerful abilities include the Chikyūwari, which splits the terrain, and the Nchahou, a beam-like attack. Arale is nearsighted and requires glasses to see clearly. Senbei’s goal is to convince the residents of Penguin Village that she is an ordinary human, a deception that holds despite her superhuman physical capabilities. In the original manga and anime, she has long bluish-purple hair, whereas the 1997 Dr. Slush anime depicts her with dark-brown hair. Her name is a pun on arare, a bite-sized rice cracker, and when combined with Senbei’s surname, it references Norimaki Arare, a type of seaweed-wrapped rice cracker.
