| Alt Name: | Toupou |
| Runtime: | 22 minutes |
| Director: | Xavier Giacometti |
| Opentheme: | "Tupu! Tupu! Always on the run" performed by Catherine Miles and Roddy Julienne |
| Executive Producer: | Marc du Pontavice |
| Producer: | Marc du Pontavice |
| Company: | Xilam Tooncan |
| Music: | Hervé Lavandier |
| Editor: | Patrick Ducruet |
| Voices: | French: Lynda Harchoui Gérard Surugue Pierre Casanova Véronique Augereau Cathy Cerda Maël Davan-Soulas Pierre-François Pistorio Brigitte Lecordier Christophe Lemoine English: Bailey Stocker John Stocker Rick Jones Sonja Ball Mark Camacho |
| Country: | France Canada |
| Network: | France 3 / Gulli (France) Rai 3 (Italy) |
| Related: | |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
Tupu is a Canadian-French 2D animated television series, co-produced by the French animation studio Xilam and the Canadian animation studio Tooncan, directed by Xavier Giacometti, featuring the adventures of the fictional New York mayor's son, Norton, with a redheaded girl named Tupu in New York, focusing in Central Park. One series was produced, consisting of twenty-six episodes. The series had great success in numerous countries, being dubbed into languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, German, Dutch, and many others.
The show now is quite rare, and many countries no longer hold rights to the show. ABC in Australia currently has no plans to re-purchase the rights to the series, and only ran the show four times, not in order. In France, Gulli cancelled it only last year, ending on episode 14.
On the 29/03/13, the children's TV channel, KiKa (from ZDF), finished airing the series. They also concluded on episode 14.
No country other than the Netherlands has had DVDs released. No further plans have been made for DVD releases in other countries. There is an online petition to get Tupu released on DVD. ABC no longer holds rights to release DVDs.
An official Facebook website was created for Tupu on 28 May 2013. No information has been posted related to broadcast or DVDs.
The series revolves around a semi-wild girl named Tupu. Tupu is similar and reminiscent of Mowgli from The Jungle Book, although she retains manners and a basic understanding of English. Tupu lives with her friend, Whatzup, a squirrel, and also spends a lot of time with Norton. Tupu also had befriended all of the animals in the Central Park zoo. Norton lives with his father and has a privileged life, being chauffeured around town, especially to Central Park in a stretch limousine. Tupu is incessantly chased by the Central Park guard, Shoobert Shoobz, who makes every endeavor to prove her existence. Yet he keeps failing in catching her. His unconfirmed claim that a wild girl hides in the park has led people to perceive him as deranged.[1]
A barefoot wild girl who has been raised in Central Park and lives in the big oak tree. She gets along well with Norton and can speak to animals as well as understand them. She is often hunted by Shoobz, but always manages to elude capture. Tupu dislikes anyone who mistreats animals and nature. She is often accompanied by her squirrel friend, Whatzup. She is not known by anyone other than Shoobz or Norton. To everyone else she is just a normal girl from New York, only Norton really knows where she lives. Tupu's parents are never seen or mentioned and no explanation is given for their absence.
A happy-go-lucky young boy whose father is the mayor of New York City, and is best friends with Tupu. He is one of the few who know Tupu's secret. Norton wants to become an adventurer like his father and mother.Norton has an affaire with Tupu and in some chapters they are a couple.
Whatzup is Tupu's closest animal friend, is always seen with her, and comes to her aid when she is in trouble. Sometimes Tupu also has to help rescue Whatzup, but what are friends for? Whatzup sometimes is not with Tupu, when she is usually looking for food. Tupu and Whatzup share the same tree. Although he lives in Central Park, Whatzup is a ruddy European squirrel. His name is a pun on "What's Up?".
Shoobz is the caretaker of Central Park, and has made it his life goal to capture and prove the existence of Tupu. He lives with his overbearing mother.
| Character | French | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tupu | Lynda Harchaoui | Bailey Stocker | |
| Schubert Schoops | Gérard Surugue | John Stocker | |
| Norton | Pierre Casanova | Rick Jones | |
| Norton's mother | Véronique Augereau | Sonja Ball | |
| Miss Milleborne | Cathy Cerda | ||
| Malcolm | Maël Davan-Soulas | ||
| Mayor Bordon | Pierre-François Pistorio | ||
| John | Brigitte Lecordier | ||
| Benny | Christophe Lemoine | ||
| Eddy | Christophe Lemoine |
| Episode # | Title | Story by | Storyboard by | OriginalAirDate | U.S. air date |
|---|
Tupu has been released on DVD in the Netherlands on three volumes. The first two DVDs consisting of four episodes, and the third containing five (half of the series). The only available language track is Dutch. One of the episodes has the wrong episode audio track, belonging to that of the first episode again. The DVDs were released by Bright vision Entertainment and licensed by ZDF.
Online there is a petition to get Tupu released on DVD. There is a need of 10,000 signatures. it is unsure if the number is reached that Xilam will release the entire series or any DVDs at all.
| Country | Channel | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 2004–2005 | ||
| | 2004–2012 | ||
| | Disney Channel France[2] | 2005–2006 | |
 | 2005–2007 | ||
 | ABC Kids[3] | 2005–2008 (incl. repeats) The Australian Broadcasting Company has since lost rights to the show. | |
 | 2006–2007 | ||
| 2006–present (last seen the 19.3.13 but scheduling is being made) | |||
| 2006 – present | |||
 | 2008 – present | ||
 | 2006 | ||
| 2006 - Tupu was released on DVD in this language and country in Region 2. Only the first 12 (Skipping episode 7 due to an error with dubbing wrong episode) |