This article needs a plot summary. (February 2026) |
| Forza! Hidemaru | |
|---|---|
| フォルツァ!ひでまる | |
| Created by | Sunny Side Up |
| Developed by | Hideo Takayashiki |
| Directed by | Yoshihiro Takamoto |
| Music by |
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| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original language | Japanese |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Producers |
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| Animator | Gallop |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | TV Tokyo, TVO, TVA, TVh |
| Release | April 6 – September 28, 2002 |
| Related | |
| Manga | |
| Hidemaru the Soccer Boy | |
| Written by | Makoto Mizobuchi |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| Magazine | CoroCoro Comic |
| Original run | 2002 – 2003 |
| Volumes | 2 |
Forza! Hidemaru (Japanese: フォルツァ!ひでまる, Hepburn: Forutsa! Hidemaru) is a Japanese anime television series. It was produced by NAS and aired on TV Tokyo for twenty-six episodes. Enoki Films licensed the series as Forza! Mario, and NAS refers to the series by that name on its English website. The series, about a boy who wants to play soccer, aired in 2002, the year of the FIFA World Cup in Japan and Korea.
Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, the authors of The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, wrote that the series "seems far out of its time in the early 21st century" but "the very young audience sees" the sports tropes "with fresh eyes." A manga adaptation, Hidemaru The Soccer Boy by Makoto Mizobuchi, was serialized in Shogakukan's Corocoro Comic.
Hidemaru appeared on the website nakata.net, Hidetoshi Nakata's official website.
Clements and McCarthy stated that the cast consists of "wacky animals in sports getup" with a fox, two fat hippopotamus girls, dogs, horses, and rabbits.