Spitzohr, also known as Akacho, is the primary recurring enemy of Banner in the anime Risu no Banna. He also appears as an antagonist in the original novel by Ernest Seton, Bannertail: The Adventures of Gray Squirrel, where he is referred to simply as a red squirrel.
Biography
Spitzohr is a European red squirrel who is a sometime enemy of Banner, the protagonist of the series. He lives by himself in a drey apart from the other squirrels, avoiding contact with them if he can help it. He's the only red squirrel seen in the anime.
He owns a vast hoard of nuts, more than any other squirrel, and is thus considered very wealthy. He often carries a cane, and wears a yellow bowtie to show off his status and sophistication. He is very arrogant, titling himself "Prince of the Forest" and insisting his kind of squirrel is more beautiful than any other. He boasts this to Banner when they first meet. He is in love with Sue, and will do anything to make her marry him. In this pursuit, he is openly hostile to anyone (especially other males) who so much as gets near her, once threatening to eat Felix.
He and Banner first meet when Spitzohr observes him talking to two mice, Non and Nen, and invites him up to his drey to eat. However when Spitzohr's cane breaks, causing him to fall down, Banner laughs at him; an enraged Spitzohr renounces his invitation and returns to his drey to discover all his nuts are gone. He blames Banner and demands Sue's grandfather, the local patriarch, punish the newcomer. Eventually it turns out Non and Nen took the nuts, and Banner is absolved - however Spitzohr's hatred of the other squirrel remains, especially when he notices him spending more time with Sue.
He invited her to come eat with him, but she refused. He responded angrily she had time for Banner, and secretly vowed to get rid of him. Finding Banner eating some walnuts he dug up, Spitzohr chided him or eating nuts and insisted he should eat some exotic mushrooms instead. Banner, not knowing they were toxic, gobbled them up, and subsequently experienced hallucinations which drove him insane for a brief period of time. Sue became worried about Banner, and he swore he wouldn't eat the mushrooms again, but he broke his promise when tempted by Spitzohr.
A disappointed Sue accepted Spitzohr's invitation to dinner. During the dinner, though, Sue learned it'd been Spitzohr who made Banner each the mushrooms, and she left. Thereafter, Spitzohr abandoned his pursuit of Sue, but occasionally continued to turn up, mostly to harass the other squirrels, especially Banner.
Near the end of the series, when lumberjacks cut down a tree and it landed where Sue had buried her nuts, Spitzohr made fun of her for burying them - insisting that red squirrels' practice of storing their nuts in their dreys as much smarter. Suddenly a gunshot rang out. One of the lumberjacks had gone hunting for food and shot at Spitzohr with his rifle. Spitzohr fell out of the tree he was in and crashed to the ground.
He survived, however; the bullet missed him and he simply lost his balance and fell. He got up, shaken but trying to save his pride. He angrily declared that the forest was becoming too dangerous to live in and ran away. He paused only once to look back, perhaps regretful, before continuing on to live somewhere else.