is a

shōjo manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent females and young adult women. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent boys), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adult ...

series written and illustrated by Momoko Sakura. The series depicts the simple, everyday life of Momoko Sakura, a young girl everyone calls ''Maruko'', and her family in suburban Japan in the year 1974. Maruko is a troublemaker, and every episode recounts Maruko's trouble and how she and her friends succeed in solving the situation. The series is set in the former of Irie

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

(入江町), Shimizu, now part of Shizuoka City, birthplace of its author. The first story under the title "Chibi Maruko-chan" was published in the August 1986 edition of the

magazine '' Ribon''. Other semi-autobiographical stories by the author had appeared in ''Ribon'' and '' Ribon Original'' in 1984 and 1985, and were included in the first "Chibi Maruko-chan"

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or m ...

in 1987. The author first began writing and submitting strips in her final year of senior high school, although Shueisha (the publisher of ''Ribon'' and ''Ribon Original'') did not decide to run them until over a year later. The author's intent was to write "essays in manga form";"夢の音色" ''Chibi Maruko-chan'', January 18, 1989, volume 4, page 135. many stories are inspired by incidents from her own life, and some characters are based on her family and friends. The nostalgic, honest and thoughtful tone of the strip led to its becoming popular among a wider audience. ''Chibi Maruko-chan'' was adapted into an

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series by Nippon Animation, which originally aired on

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network ...

and affiliated TV stations from January 7, 1990 to September 27, 1992. It has also spawned numerous games, animated films and merchandising, as well as a second TV series running from 1995 to the present. Maruko's style and themes are sometimes compared to the classic comic '' Sazae-san''. In 1989, the manga tied to receive the

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in ea ...

for shōjo. As of 2006, the collected volumes of the manga had sold more than 31 million copies in Japan, making it the fifth best-selling shōjo manga ever. On April 25, 2020, it was announced that the second series would be suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. On June 14, 2020, it was announced that it would resume on June 21, 2020.

Themes

The trademark face fault of this series, in reaction to an awkward "don't know what to say" situation (or sometimes, embarrassment) is the sudden appearance of on a character's face, sometimes with an unexplained gust of wind blowing above that character's head.

Characters

The series has a large number and variety of secondary and recurring characters, some inspired by people who Sakura met. Some of them debuted in the anime and others derive from the original manga. Following are descriptions of the main characters and family members that appear frequently in all chapters and episodes.

Sakura family

; :, Live-Action: Ei Morisako (2006 special), Ayaka Ito (2007 show) :The title character, Maruko (born May 8, 1965), is a nine-year-old

third-grade Third grade (also called grade three, equivalent to Year 4 in England) is a year of primary education in many countries. It is the third school year of primary school. Students are usually 8–9 years old. Examples of the American syllabus *In ...

student raised in a modest family of six. It is implied that the show is drawn by Maruko herself. ; : (1990-2016), Machiko Toyoshima (2016-), Live-Action: Mayuko Fukuda (2006 special), Maaya Murasaki (2007 show) :Maruko's older sister. Her birthday is March 21, 1963, making her 11 in the series. ; :, Live-Action: Katsumi Takahashi (2006 special), Masakazu Mimura (2007 show) :Maruko's father. He was introduced to Maruko's mother by her friend. His birthday is June 20, 1934, making him 40 years old during the series. ; :, Live-Action: Michiko Shimizu (2006 special),

Noriko Sakai is a Japanese given name for females. Possible writings * 徳子, "benevolence child" * 法子, "method, law child" * 則子, "rule child" * 紀子, "chronicle child" * 教子, "teach child" * 範子, "pattern child" * 典子, "rule, precedent, ...

(2007 show) :Maruko's mother. Her birthdate is May 25, 1934. It is revealed in one episode that her maiden name is Kobayashi. ; :''Voiced by:'' Kei Tomiyama (1990-1995), Takeshi Aono (1995-2010), Bin Shimada (2010-), Live-Action: Fuyuki Moto :Maruko's kind but absent-minded paternal grandfather, Hiroshi's father, and Sumire's father-in-law. His birthday is October 3, 1898, making him 76 in the series. The author has said that she used her own grandfather as the model for Tomozou, but that his personality is the opposite of Tomozou's. ; :, Live-Action: Yoshie Ichige (2006 special), Yoshiko Miyazaki (2007 show) :Maruko's paternal grandmother, Hiroshi's mother, and Sumire's mother-in-law. She's wise and knows what's good for the human body and wears a traditional

Kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimon ...

. She was born on April 4, 1902. Her name of Kotake was never known in the series until it appeared in a 4-panel manga ( Yonkoma) on July 1, 2007.

Media

Manga

The original ''Chibi Maruko-chan'' manga was serialized in the shōjo-oriented ''

Ribon Magazine is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Shueisha on the third of each month. First issued in August 1955, its rivals are ''Nakayoshi'' and ''Ciao''. Its target audience is girls roughly 8–14 years old. It is one of the best-se ...

''. 14 volumes were published from July 1987 to December 1996, with a 15th volume published in February 2003. In July 2007, a 4-frame version of ''Chibi Maruko-chan'' was published in every morning edition of several Japanese newspapers such as the Tokyo Shimbun and the Chunichi Shimbun. The 16th volume of the manga was published on April 15, 2009 and 17th volume was issued on Dec 25, 2018. The 18th volume was issued on Oct 25, 2022. The new manga was produced by Sakura's long-time assistant Botan Kohagi and other assistants at Sakura Production. The volume contains seven new chapters, and are based on stories that Sakura originally created for the Chibi Maruko-chan television anime ٩(＾◡＾)۶

Spin-offs

A spin-off manga by Momoko Sakura titled focuses on the character Kimio Nagasawa on High School, was published on the magazine Shogakkan's '' Big Comic Spirits'' from January 1993 and May 1995. It was made into an live-action drama, premiering on Tokyo Broadcasting System Television on April 1, 2013. A square-headed parody version of manga Chibi Maruko-chan titled was published on Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine from October 19, 2016.

Anime

First series

''Chibi Maruko-chan'' originally aired on

and affiliated TV stations. 142 episodes were broadcast, from January 1990 to September 1992. Maruko was voiced by Tarako; other voice actors included Kappei Yamaguchi and Hideki Saijo. Original manga author Momoko Sakura wrote the

teleplay A teleplay is a screenplay or script used in the production of a scripted television program or series. In general usage, the term is most commonly seen in reference to a standalone production, such as a television film, a television play, or a ...

for most episodes. The first series was directed by Yumiko Suda, animated by Masaaki Yuasa (who later directed '' Mind Game'' in 2004), while the music was composed by Nobuyuki Nakamura. The series attained a TV viewer rating of 39.9% on October 28, 1990, the highest rating ever attained by an animated TV series in Japan. The outro song ''

Odoru Ponpokorin is a song by Japanese pop group B.B.Queens, serving as their debut single on April 4, 1990. It was used as the original ending theme of the anime series ''Chibi Maruko-chan''. On July 9, 1990, "Odoru Pompokolin" reached the top of the Oricon Sing ...

'' became a hit and was interpreted by several artists including the KinKi Kids and Captain Jack. The series was exported throughout Asia and was especially popular in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

. In addition, 65 episodes were dubbed into Arabic (called Maruko Assagheera, which means Little Maruko), where it garnered attention from people of all ages. It also aired in Germany with the same title as the original and was broadcast by

RTL II RTL Zwei (stylised as RTLZWEI), formerly spelled RTL 2 and RTL II, is a German-language television channel that is operated by ''RTL2 Television GmbH & Co. KG''. RTL2 is a private television broadcaster with a full program ''(Vollprogramm)'' ...

, Super RTL and Jetix. It aired weekdays on Nick India in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. Opening theme: #'' Yume Ippai'' (ゆめいっぱい "Full of Dreams") by Yumiko Seki (eps. 1–142) Ending themes: #'' Odoru Pompokolin'' (おどるポンポコリン) by

B.B.Queens were a 1990s J-pop group whose debut single "Odoru Pompokolin" was the #1 song in 1990 on the Oricon charts, won the 32nd Japan Record Awards, was listed as the 3rd song on the JASRAC lists for 1991, and certified as a Million Record. The three ...

(eps. 1-66) #''Hashire Shoujiki-mono'' (走れ正直者 "Run, Honest Person") by Hideki Saijo (eps. 67-142)

Second series

A second series debuted on Fuji Television and affiliated TV stations in January 1995, airing on Sundays in the 6:00 pm time slot, before '' Sazae-san'' at 6:30 pm. The series is directed by Jun Takagi and Nobuyuki Nakamura, like the first series, composes the music. The majority of the voice actors from the first series reprised their roles. The first 219 episodes were written by Momoko Sakura, however, she had supervised the episode screenplays from episode 220 up until her death in 2018. In Spain, the show is available via VOD on the website of Neox's children's block, Neox Kidz. On TV Japan, which is available in the United States and Canada, the second series (starting with the episodes broadcast in 2009) now broadcasts weekly in Japanese. In

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

, is distributed by The Japan Foundation, the dub was produced in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

and broadcast on several local, public and other private television networks. Opening themes: #''Ureshii Yokan'' (うれしい予感 "Feeling Happy") by Marina Watanabe (eps. 1-73), Chibi Maruko-chan (Tarako) (ep. 28) #''Humming ga Kikoeru'' (ハミングがきこえる "Hear the Humming") by Kahimi Karie (eps. 74-179) #''Odoru Ponpokorin'' (おどるポンポコリン) by ManaKana &

Shigeru Izumiya Shigeru Izumiya (泉谷しげる ''Izumiya Shigeru'', born May 11, 1948 in Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a populat ...

(eps. 180–253) #''KinKi no Yaruki Man Man Song'' (KinKiのやる気まんまんソング) by KinKi Kids (eps. 254–294) #''Odoru Ponpokorin'' (おどるポンポコリン) by B.B.Queens (eps. 295–746; 793–807; 888–953) #''Odoru Ponpokorin'' (2010 Version) (おどるポンポコリン（2010年バージョン）) by Kaela Kimura (eps. 747-792) #''Odoru Ponpokorin'' (25th Anniversary Version) (おどるポンポコリン（ちびまる子ちゃん誕生25周年バージョン）) by B.B. Queens (eps. 808–887) #''Odoru Ponpokorin'' (2014 Version) (おどるポンポコリン（2014年バージョン）) by E-Girls (eps. 954–1046) #''Odoru Ponpokorin'' by Sakurako Ohara (Special 19) #''Odoru Ponpokorin'' by

Golden Bomber is a Japanese visual kei "air" rock band formed in 2004 and signed to the independent label Euclid Agency (sublabel ''Zany Zap''). Despite not actually performing the instruments themselves during concerts, they have gained popularity through t ...

(eps. 1047–1190) #''Odoru Ponpokorin'' by Momoiro Clover Z (eps. 1091-) Ending themes: #''Hari-kiri Jiisan no Rock 'n' Roll'' (針切じいさんのロケン・ロール) by Hitoshi Ueki (eps. 1-27, 29–73) #''Hari-kiri Jiisan no Rock 'n' Roll'' by Grandfather (Takeshi Aono) and the children (ep. 28) #''Akke ni Torareta Toki no Uta'' (あっけにとられた時のうた) by Tama (eps. 74-130, 132–179) #''Yume Ippai Shin Version'' (ゆめいっぱい（新バージョン） "Full of Dream (New Version)") #''Jaga Buttercorn-san'' (じゃがバタコーンさん) by ManaKana (eps. 180–230) #''Chibi Maruko Ondo'' (ちびまる子音頭) by ManaKana (eps. 231–340) #''Kyuujitsu no Uta (Viva La Viva)'' (休日の歌（Viva La Vida）) by Delighted Mint (eps. 341–416) #''Uchū Dai Shuffle'' (宇宙大シャッフル "Big Shuffle in Outer Space") by Love Jets (eps. 417–481) #''Arara no Jumon'' (アララの呪文) by Chibi Maruko-chan with Bakuchu Mondai (eps. 482–850) #''Hyaku-man Nen no Shiawase!!'' (100万年の幸せ!! "100 Thousand Years of Happiness!!") by Keisuke Kuwata (eps. 851-special 21) #''Kimi o Wasurenai yo'' (キミを忘れないよ "I Won't Forget You") by Sakurako Ohara (special 19) # by

PUFFY Puffy can refer to: * Puffy, stage name of Sean Combs (born 1969), American rapper and entrepreneur * Puffy, nickname of Mike Bordin (born 1962), American drummer for the rock band Faith No More * Puffy, nickname of Jeff Dubay (born 1968), Minneso ...

(eps. 1119–1216) # by Kazuyoshi Saito (eps. 1217–)

Live action

A live action series was shown on Fuji Television in 2006. The series was created to commemorate ''Chibi Maruko-chans 15th anniversary and had 3 episodes, each 2 hours. All costumes and hairstyles are faithful to the original manga. A Taiwanese live-action adaptation was also made begin airing on March 13, 2017. Both of the second television series and the live action series were broadcast in 1080i

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the ...

Films

"Frame Ritz Cinema is famous In this world" (Festival Frame Ritz Film Layar Lebar) *''Chibi Maruko-chan'' (

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the produc ...

, 1990) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: My Favorite Song'' (television film, 1992) *'' Chibi Maruko-chan: A Boy from Italy'' (2015) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: The Fantastic Notebook'' (2022) (Chinese 3DCG film)

Video games

All the Game Boy titles (which consists of minigames) were developed by KID and published by Takara. The other titles were published by different companies like

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

, Konami, Epoch and Banpresto. *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Uki Uki Shopping'' ( Famicom, 1990) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Okozukai Daisakusen'' (

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same te ...

, 1990) *''Chibi Maruko-chan 2: Deluxe Maruko World'' (Game Boy, 1991) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Harikiri 365-Nichi no Maki'' ( Super Famicom, 1991) *''Chibi Maruko-chan 3: Mezase! Game Taishou no Maki'' (Game Boy, 1992) *''Chibi Maruko-chan 4: Korega Nihon Dayo Ouji Sama'' (Game Boy, 1992) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Quiz de Piihyara'' ( PC Engine, 1992) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Waku Waku Shopping'' ( Mega Drive, 1992) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Maruko Deluxe Quiz'' ( Arcade/Game Boy/ Neo-Geo, 1995) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Mezase! Minami no Island!!'' (Super Famicom, 1995) *'' Chibi Maruko-chan no Taisen Puzzle Dama'' ( Sega Saturn, 1995) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Maruko Enikki World'' ( PlayStation, 1995) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Go Chounai Minna de Game Dayo!'' ( Game Boy Color, 2001) *''Chibi Maruko-chan DS Maru-chan no Machi'' ( Nintendo DS, 2009) *''Chibi Maruko-chan (

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generati ...

, 2016) *''Chibi Maruko-chan: Dream Stage'' iOS/Android, 2016

Stage

As part of the project to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the original work, it was announced in October 2021 that the first stage of this work, "Chibi Maruko-chan The Stage", will be produced, scheduled to be performed at the end of 2022. Nelke Planning is in charge of planning and production. In August 2022, it was announced that the title would be "High School Days" and that it would be performed at the Galaxy Theatre from December 15th to December 25th.

Notes

* Kenta Hasegawa (former Japanese international football player). Momoko Sakura, the author of the manga, created a character called Kenta

-kun The Japanese language makes use of a system of honorific speech, called , which includes honorific suffixes and prefixes when referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender-specific at the end of names, while prefixes are att ...

who occasionally makes an appearance. He loves football and is a classmate of Chibi Maruko. This character was created after Hasegawa. Sakura and Hasegawa attended the same primary school during the same period.

References

External links

*
Official International website
* {{Nippon Animation films 1990 anime television series debuts 1992 anime films 1992 Japanese television series endings 1995 anime television series debuts 1996 comics endings Japanese children's animated comedy television series Japanese adult animated comedy television series Fiction set in 1974 Comics set in the 1970s Animated television series about children Anime series based on manga Comedy anime and manga Fuji TV original programming Japanese television dramas based on manga Manga adapted into films Nippon Animation Television shows written by Eriko Shinozaki Shōjo manga Shueisha franchises Shueisha manga Video games based on anime and manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo) Animated children's television sitcoms Animated adult television sitcoms Anime postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Anime productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic