is a Japanese children's comedy manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series written and illustrated by Haruko Tachiiri

Haruko Tachiiri

is a Japanese manga artist who writes mostly manga for children. In 1979, she received an Excellence Prize from the Japanese Cartoonists' Association for Picola-picola, and in 1984 she received the Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga for Panku Ponk.-References:...

. It began serialization in the December 1976 issue of the Shogakukan

Shogakukan

is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...

 magazine ; as the characters aged, it moved to , , and the shōjo manga magazine Hop, before concluding in 1991. Serial numbers were very short, usually no more than four pages, and were collected in a total of 12 bound volumes

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

 under Shogakukan's Ladybird Comics imprint. It was followed by two sequel series, , collected in two volumes, and . Panku Ponk received the 1984 Shogakukan Manga Award

Shogakukan Manga Award

The is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...

 for the children's category. It is licensed in English in North America by Studio Ironcat

Studio Ironcat

Studio Ironcat was a small publishing company based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, dedicated to publication of manga and later, Amerimanga. The company is most known for its publication of the first volume of Megatokyo, a prominent webcomic, as well as the flamboyant style of one of its founders,...

.

Characters

is the protagonist of the series. He is an over-sized rabbit, big enough to be mistaken for a pig. He is Bonnie's michevious pet who likes to eat carrots. is the leader of the punk girls at elementary school, with a fondness for fighting. She has a habit of eating snacks at lunch, even though this upsets her stomach. is Bonnie's boyfriend and a talented inventor. However, he is usually teased by Bonnie and her group, making his personality change erratically. is Bonnie's mother. She is a full-time housewife with a talent for housework. She frequently has to reprimand Bonnie when she gets a zero on tests. is Bonnie's father. He is a senior post office worker and a heavy smoker. is a giant hamster who escapes his alcoholic, bachelor owner to follow Panku around. is Chamo's girlfriend. She has a friendly personality and aims to be a hairdresser. is the owner of the town's pediatric hospital. He is nicknamed "Mambo" because of his fondness for the mambo

Mambo (dance)

Mambo .In the late 1940s, Perez Prado came up with the dance for the mambo music and became the first person to market his music as "mambo". After Havana, Prado moved his music to Mexico, where his music and the dance was adopted. The original mambo dance was characterized by freedom and...

dance.