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Chibi Maruko-chan

Chibi Maruko-chan
Chibi maruko-chan comic no 1 cover.jpg
Cover of the first volume by Shueisha
ちびまる子ちゃん
Genre Slice of life
Manga
Written by Momoko Sakura
Published by Shueisha
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Ribon
Original run August 1986June 1996
Volumes 15
Anime television series
Directed by Yumiko Suda
Tsutomu Shibayama
Music by Nobuyuki Nakamura
Studio Nippon Animation
Original network Fuji Television
English network
Original run January 7, 1990September 27, 1992
Episodes 142 (List of episodes)
Anime film
Directed by Yumiko Suda
Tsutomu Shibayama
Written by Momoko Sakura
Music by Nobuyuki Nakamura
Studio Nippon Animation
Released December 15, 1990
Runtime 94 minutes
Anime film
Chibi Maruko-chan: My Favorite Song
Directed by Yumiko Suda
Tsutomu Shibayama
Written by Momoko Sakura
Studio Nippon Animation
Released December 19, 1992
Runtime 93 minutes
Anime television series
Directed by Jun Takagi
Music by Nobuyuki Nakamura
Studio Nippon Animation
Original network Fuji TV
English network
Original run January 8, 1995 – present
Episodes 1041 (List of episodes)
Television drama
Chibi Maruko-chan (live-action special)
Original network Fuji TV
Original run April 18, 2006October 31, 2006
Episodes 2
Television drama
Marumaru Maruko-chan
Original network Fuji TV
Original run April 19, 2007February 28, 2008
Episodes 31
Anime film
Wikipe-tan face.svg

Chibi Maruko-chan (Japanese: ちびまる子ちゃん?) 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. The series is set in the former city of 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"; 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 TV series by Nippon Animation, which originally aired on Fuji Television 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.


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Wikipedia

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