Chibi Maruko-chan


is a 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 resolving the situation.
The series is set in the former Irie District, 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 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 did not decide to run them until over a year later. The author's intent was to write "essays in manga form"; 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 the shōjo category. As of 2006, the collected volumes of the manga had sold more than 31 million copies in Japan, making it one of the best-selling manga series.
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 is the sudden appearance of vertical lines 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

;Momoko "Maruko" Sakura
;Sakiko Sakura
;Hiroshi Sakura
;Sumire Sakura
;Tomozou Sakura
;Kotake Sakura

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, four months after Momoko Sakura's death.
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 due to Sakura's death in 2018. The volume contains seven new chapters, and are based on stories that Sakura originally created for the Chibi Maruko-chan television anime.

Spin-offs

A spin-off manga by Momoko Sakura titled Nagasawa-kun 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 a live-action drama, premiering on Tokyo Broadcasting System Television on April 1, 2013.
A square-headed parody version of manga Chibi Maruko-chan titled Chibi Shikaku-chan 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, 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, 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.
To celebrate the franchise's 10th anniversary in 1996, Pony Canyon released a special LaserDisc in Japan. One of the segments was a compilation of international opening and ending themes from the original series. Both the LaserDisc sleeve and the ending of the segment credit the 1994 English production to Ocean Studios in Vancouver, Canada. This is the only footage from the dub to surface. Actress Teryl Rothery has listed her involvement with the show on her resume.
Voicebox Productions, a Canadian voice acting company also located in Vancouver, has listed a Chibi Maruko-chan pilot for Pioneer Entertainment and Studio B Productions on their website since the early 2000s. No other information on this project is known. As Voicebox only came into existence in 1999, it's likely this was unrelated to the aforementioned Ocean dub.
Opening theme:
  1. Yume Ippai by Yumiko Seki
Ending themes:
  1. Odoru Pompokolin by B.B.Queens
  2. Hashire Shoujiki-mono by Hideki Saijo

    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 now broadcasts weekly in Japanese. In Latin America, is distributed by The Japan Foundation, the dub was produced in Mexico and broadcast on several local, public and other private television networks. As of 14 January 2024, Crunchyroll has started to stream the series from episode 1419 in the US, Canada, the Philippines and Singapore.
Opening themes:
  1. Ureshii Yokan by Marina Watanabe, Chibi Maruko-chan
  2. Humming ga Kikoeru by Kahimi Karie
  3. Odoru Ponpokorin by ManaKana & Shigeru Izumiya
  4. KinKi no Yaruki Man Man Song by KinKi Kids
  5. Odoru Ponpokorin by B.B.Queens
  6. Odoru Ponpokorin by Kaela Kimura
  7. Odoru Ponpokorin by B.B. Queens
  8. Odoru Ponpokorin by E-Girls
  9. Odoru Ponpokorin by Sakurako Ohara
  10. Odoru Ponpokorin by Golden Bomber
  11. Odoru Ponpokorin by Momoiro Clover Z
  12. Odoru Ponpokorin by Ado
Ending themes:
  1. Hari-kiri Jiisan no Rock 'n' Roll by Hitoshi Ueki
  2. Hari-kiri Jiisan no Rock 'n' Roll by Grandfather and the children
  3. Akke ni Torareta Toki no Uta by Tama
  4. Yume Ippai Shin Version
  5. Jaga Buttercorn-san by ManaKana
  6. Chibi Maruko Ondo by ManaKana
  7. Kyuujitsu no Uta by Delighted Mint
  8. Uchū Dai Shuffle by Love Jets
  9. Arara no Jumon by Chibi Maruko-chan with Bakuchu Mondai
  10. Hyaku-man Nen no Shiawase!! by Keisuke Kuwata
  11. Kimi o Wasurenai yo by Sakurako Ohara
  12. Susume Nonsense by PUFFY
  13. Itsumo no Fūkei by Kazuyoshi Saito

    Live action

A live action series was shown on Fuji Television in 2006. The series was created to commemorate Chibi Maruko-chan's 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.

Films

  • Chibi Maruko-chan
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: My Favorite Song
  •  Chibi Maruko-chan: A Boy from Italy
  • ''Chibi Maruko-chan: The Fantastic Notebook''

    Video games

All the Game Boy titles were developed by KID and published by Takara. The other titles were published by different companies like Namco, Konami, Epoch and Banpresto.
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Uki Uki Shopping
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Okozukai Daisakusen
  • Chibi Maruko-chan 2: Deluxe Maruko World
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Harikiri 365-Nichi no Maki
  • Chibi Maruko-chan 3: Mezase! Game Taishou no Maki
  • Chibi Maruko-chan 4: Korega Nihon Dayo Ouji Sama
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Quiz de Piihyara
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Waku Waku Shopping
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Maruko Deluxe Quiz
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Mezase! Minami no Island!!
  • Chibi Maruko-chan no Taisen Puzzle Dama
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Maruko Enikki World
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Go Chounai Minna de Game Dayo!
  • Chibi Maruko-chan DS Maru-chan no Machi
  • Chibi Maruko-chan
  • Chibi Maruko-chan: Dream Stage iOS/Android, 2016