Midori Yamabuki, later known as Midori Norimaki, is a key supporting character in the Dr. Slump series. She is introduced as Arale Norimaki's beautiful and kindhearted teacher at Penguin Village Middle School, where she first encounters the bumbling inventor Senbei Norimaki when he tries to enroll his creation. Her background before moving to Penguin Village is largely unknown in the main series, though a movie depicts her as a child getting lost at an amusement park and accidentally boarding an alien spaceship. At the beginning of the series, she is twenty-three years old, stands 159 centimeters tall, and has blonde hair and brown eyes. Her personality is defined by warmth, friendliness, and a genuine love for her students. She is normally sweet and patient, but she can become quite angry when pushed too far. As the series progresses, especially after her marriage, she is also shown to be increasingly ditzy and scatterbrained, blending into the eccentric community of Penguin Village. Her primary role in the story is that of a romantic interest for Senbei, who harbors a long-standing crush on her. For much of the series, she is largely oblivious to his more lecherous schemes and nervous advances. This dynamic changes when Senbei proposes to her, thinking he is out of earshot, and she unexpectedly accepts immediately, leading to their swift marriage. Afterward, she becomes Midori Norimaki and fully integrates into the protagonist family. Her key relationships revolve around the Norimaki household. She becomes a mother figure to both Arale and the creature Gatchan, and she later gives birth to Senbei's son, Turbo Norimaki. Her development is marked by this transition from an unattainable schoolteacher to a central member of one of the village's most bizarre families. While she does not possess any superhuman abilities, she demonstrates a strong sense of justice and assertiveness that occasionally emerges, allowing her to hold her own among the village's surreal residents. By the later parts of the story, she adapts to the chaos of living with an inventor and a super-strong robot, becoming more lax and reckless in the process, a notable shift from her earlier, more composed demeanor.