Shinnosuke and his dog Shiro discover an unconscious man near the lake while walking in the afternoon, where he picks up a shiny ball lying next to the man. Shinnosuke returns home and while he is distracted, his sister Himawari swallows the ball. That night, the Nohara family is attacked by the same man accompanied by his brothers. They introduce themselves as Rose, Lavender and Lemon and reveal themselves to be searching for the ball picked up by Shinnosuke. After discovering that Himawari swallowed the ball, they forcefully take the Nohara family with them to their dance-bar. On the way, the brothers explain to the Noharas that they are the descendants of the Tamayura tribe of Ainu shamans.

In the past, an Ainu shaman from the Cataplines tribe had awakened a powerful dark entity called Jack to gain magical abilities and rule the world but was defeated by the Tamayuras' ancestor. In order to prevent Jack from reawakening, the Tamayura shaman divided Jack's powers into two balls and a statue. One ball was in the possession of the Tamayuras, until they sold it off due to financial constraints. The statue was buried deep underground but had been recently unearthed and kept in a museum, from where it was stolen by the 3 daughters of Tamao Nakamura, a descendant of the Cataplines shaman and in possession of the other ball, aiming to revive Jack. Nakamura had also got into the group a man called Hexon who achieved psychic powers from meditating in Tibet and was also in possession of the ball which had been sold off by the Tamayuras. But the Tamayuras had managed to steal that ball from Hexon at the Tokyo airport. The Noharas agree to travel alongside the Tamayuras after they explain that the Cataplines already know through Hexon the location of the other ball and are seeking to kidnap Himawari in order to extract it.

At the dance-bar, the group is ambushed by the Cataplines and a bodybuilder named Satake but are able to escape. The group then stops at a bathhouse to take some rest, where they are joined by Yone Higashimatsuyama, a female cop from Chiba city seeking glory for herself. However, they are again ambushed by the Cataplines but are able escape them. But this time, Yone and Hiroshi get separated from the rest of the group. Hexon however, uses his mind-reading abilities to locate the group.

The next morning, the Cataplines once again attack the group at a grocery store and succeed in capturing Lemon and Lavender. Rose leads the Nohara family to his home in Tohuku as Yone and Hiroshi rejoin the group. Rose informs his mother about the situation as she orders her soldiers to defend Himawari at all costs. She also reveals Rose, Lemon and Lavender's real names to be Takeshi, Kiyoshi and Tsuyoshi. This time, only Hexon comes from the Cataplines but succeeds in capturing Himawari despite the best efforts of Takeshi, Takeshi's mother, Takeshi's mother's troops, Yone, Shinnosuke, Hiroshi and Misae. Using her own abilities, Takeshi's mother discovers the Cataplines to be hiding near Tokyo's industrial regions the next morning.

Shinnosuke, Shiro, Hiroshi, Misae, Yone and Takeshi head straight away to save Himawari. The Cataplines insist on keeping Himawari hostage (in spite of having extracted the ball from her) in order to prevent Nohaeaw from interfering in their plans, to which Satake disagrees, so he leaves them and returns Himawari back to the Nohara family. A fight ensues between the group and Tamao's daughters, and in midst of the chaos, Tamao and Hexon escape. Tamao and Hexon try to insert the two balls in Jack's statue. Tamao attempts to betray Hexon but to no avail. The group arrives to retrieve Jack's statue as a fight ensues, where Shinnosuke uses his humor to overcome Hexon's abilities and ultimately succeeds. However, Shinnosuke and Himawari accidentally awaken Jack by inserting the two balls, but Jack reveals that he had died many years ago and is now just an ordinary human being and no longer wields dark powers. A furious Hexon tries to kill Himawari by throwing her off the top of a high-rise building, but Shinnosuke and the rest of the group save them. As Yone arrests the Cataplines and Hexon on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder, the Nohara family return home, while Jack & Satake join the Tamayuras at their dance-bar.

• Akiko Yajima as Shinnosuke Nohara
• Miki Narahashi as Misae Nohara
• Keiji Fujiwara as Hiroshi Nohara
• Satomi Kōrogi as Himawari Nohara
• Daisuke Gōri as Rose
• Kaneto Shiozawa as Lavender
• Shinya Ōtaki as Lemon
• Yuriko Yamamoto as Yone Higashimatsuyama
• Suwon Rin as Tamayura's mother
• Keiko Yamamoto as Tamao Nakamura
• Jun Hazumi as Hexon
• Saeko Shimazu as Chimama Maho
• Fumihiko Tachiki as Satake
• Mari Mashiba as Shiro
• Shin Aomori as Jack
• Yoshito Usui as Cartoonist
• Rokurō Naya as Bunta Takakura (principal)
• Yumi Takada as Midori Yoshinaga
• Michie Tomizawa as Ume Matsuzaka
• Tamao Hayashi as Nene Sakurada
• Teiyū Ichiryūsai as Masao Sato
• Chie Satō as Bo Suzuki

Hexon edit

One of the descendants of the Clan of the Cataplines who had emigrated to Europe. He can read the minds of their opponents by a training in Tibet. He has blonde and blue eyes.

Majo edit

It is directed by the troops of Clan Cataplines. She is an expert in the art of rhythmic gymnastics combative.

Rose edit

One of the three sisters of transvestites Tamayura Clan. Pink goes with her head shaved. Her real name is Takeshi.

Lavender edit

One of the three sisters of transvestites Tamayura Clan. Will lime green with a shaved head. She is thin and has painted eyes. Her real name is Tsuyoshi.

Lemon edit

One of the three sisters of transvestites Tamayura Clan. She goes from yellow and with a shaved head. Is thin. Her real name is Kiyoshi.

Satake edit

He is the son of the chief of Clan Cataplines. He's champion in martial arts. He loves children. In the end, is passed to the good with Tamayura clans. Its major peculiarity is its enormous musculature.

Yone Higashimatsuyama edit

A policeman from Chiba. She only hits a shot in the film and is very useless. The origin of the surname is in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, her guns are Beretta M92 FS and M84

Tamao Nakamura edit

Chief of Clan Cataplines. Wears a kimono, owner of hostess club, has Kyoto accent.

Jack edit

Demon who had dark power. But his dark power expired on 31 December 1996.

Yoshito Usui edit

Cameo appearance.

The names of the staff are listed below:^[1]

• Original: Yoshito Usui
• Director: Keiichi Hara
• Screenplay: Keiichi Hara
• Storyboard: Keiichi Hara
• Character design: Katsunori Hara
• Animation director: Katsunori Hara, Noriyuki Tsutsumi
• Cinematography: Toshiyuki Umeda
• Music: Toshiyuki Arakawa, Shinji Miyazaki
• Sound adjustment: Nobuhiro Shibata
• Edit: Hajime Okayasu
• Producer: Hitoshi Mogi, Kenji Ōta and Takashi Horiuchi
• Production companies: Shin-Ei Animation, TV Asahi and ADK

It was released on 19 April 1997 in Japan.^[1] It was released in India as Shinchan in Dark Tama Tama Thrilling Chase and aired on Hungama TV.^[5] It was released as Crayon Shinchan The Movie: The Dark Ball Chase with English subtitles on VCD by PMP Entertainment.^[6]

• List of Crayon Shin-chan films

• Crayon Shin-chan: Pursuit of the Balls of Darkness at IMDb  
• Crayon Shin-chan: Pursuit of the Balls of Darkness (anime film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia