Chibi Maruko-chan

is a shōjo manga 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 (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 shōjo manga 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 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 television series by Nippon Animation, which originally aired on Fuji Television 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 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. 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 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 (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. 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''. 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 Fuji Television 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 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'' 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. 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, Super RTL and Jetix. It aired weekdays on Nick India in India.

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 (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, th