is a Japanese ''

seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Ma ...

'' manga series written and illustrated by Hiromi Morishita. It describes the daily life of Ashibe (an elementary school boy) and his family and friends, including a white sea lion pet named Goma-chan. It was published from 1988 to 1994 in the magazine ''

Weekly Young Jump is a Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shueisha. Launched in 1979, it is published under Shueisha's ''Jump'' line of magazines. The chapters of series that run in ''Weekly Young Jump'' are collected and published in ''tankōbon'' v ...

'', owned by

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

, with a total of 8 volumes. It received an

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

in January 1991, which led to an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

television adaptation in the same year, aired on TBS from April to December 1991. It was followed by another season named ''Shōnen Ashibe 2'' from 1992 to 1993. In the same magazine, a sequel of the manga, named ''ComaGoma'', which depicted Ashibe as a 2nd grade student, was serialized from 2000 to 2004, with 6 volumes. In April 2016, 22 years after the original run ended, it began serializing in

Futabasha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Higashigokenchō, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.会社概要
" Futabasha. R ...

's magazine ''

Monthly Action is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Futabasha. History ''Monthly Action'' was launched on May 25, 2013, the anniversary of publisher Futabasha's founding. The magazine was formed from a merging of the editorial departments of the m ...

'' a continuation of the original manga, named ''Shōnen Ashibe: GO! GO! Goma-chan'', illustrated by Ogino Junko, which was published from April 2016 to March 2017, with 8 volumes. It had a 32-episode animated television adaptation from 2016 to 2017 in NHK Educational TV. Several seasons have been broadcast since then: ''Shōnen Ashibe: GO! GO! Goma-chan 2'' from April 2017 to February 2018 with 32 episodes, ''Shōnen Ashibe: GO! GO! Goma-chan 3'' from April 2018 to February 2019 with 32 episodes and ''Shōnen Ashibe: GO! GO! Goma-chan 4'' from April to December 2019 with 24 episodes. In July 2017, it was first published in ''Monthly Action'' the continuation of the ''ComaGoma'' manga, named ''ComaGoma Goma-chan'', and ended in July 2018 with 6 volumes. Another sequel of the manga, named ''Seishōnen Ashibe'' began serializing also in ''Monthly Action'' in the same month. It depicts an older Ashibe, who has become a freshman in high school, with Shohei in charge of the illustration. And in February 2020, another sequel named ''3rd Grade Ashibe QQ Goma-chan'' began its serialization in Futabasha's magazine '' Manga Action'', and it depicts Ashibe as a 3rd grade student.

Reception

When the anime was aired, the manga gained an explosive popularity, and by 2016, the original 1988 run had sold 20 million copies.

References

External links

* * 1988 manga 1991 anime television series debuts 1992 anime television series debuts 2001 manga 2016 manga 2016 anime television series debuts 2017 manga 2017 anime television series debuts 2018 manga 2018 anime television series debuts 2019 anime television series debuts 2020 manga Seinen manga Shueisha manga Anime series based on manga Comedy anime and manga Futabasha manga Shin-Ei Animation Slice of life anime and manga NHK original programming {{anime-stub