Crayon Shin-chan

The noted Japanese manga Crayon Shin-chan (クレヨンしんちゃん) first made its appearance in a weekly magazine called Action. The comic is drawn by a man called Yoshito Usui and since the introduction of this comic, has enjoyed increased popularity. Its popularity has resulted in the release of 36 volumes of Crayon Shin-chan comic books, and it still continues. These can be found at almost any Japanese bookstore or even at convenience stores in Japan.

Characters

Nohara Shinnosuke

The main character is little boy named Nohara Shinnosuke whose nickname is Shin-chan. Shin-chan is a small kindergarten-aged boy with wavy eyebrows and a very distinctive voice that makes you like him straight away. The easiest explanation of Shin-chan, is to imagine a practical eighteen year old teenager stuck in the body of a little boy. He is obsessed in beautiful women, as in adults, and doesn't care a bit about the girls near him. He is not exactly evil, but wherever Shin-chan goes, there is trouble. If you look up his name in the dictionary, the definition would probably be "trouble".

Nohara Misae

Shin-chan's mother, rules the Nohara household with an iron fist that is regularly whacked against Shin-chan and her husband's head. Beneath the good little housewife exterior is a very short temper that Shin-chan can snap with almost no effort. Shin-chan is able to send her over the edge in many ways. Shin-chan's common ways of making her angry is by trying to flirt with women on the streets, reminding her of how flat chested she is, etc. Despite their daily quarrels, Shin-chan and his mother share a great relationship and treat each other like best friends.

Nohara Hiroshi

Shin-chan's father, is a hard working businessman and unfortunately, he doesn't get much time to spend with Shin-chan. However, the time that he does spend with Shin-chan reveals a different side to the hard working businessman. A side that isn't very much unlike his son. He too has the habit of staring at beautiful women, which makes Misae slap him across the face. It is very obvious that they are father and son. Obviously, they share the same personality.

Kazama-kun

Kazama Toru is the Anti Shin-chan. He is the perfect example of your typical elite kindergartener. Always immaculately groomed and perfectly mannered (most of the time), the disaster called Shin-chan is inevitably drawn to him like a magnet. Though, he dislikes Shin-chan's immature behavior, they are always best friends.

Nene-chan

Sakurada Nene is Shin-chan's female classmate. She's a normal, maybe almost generic, kindergartener. She happily spends her time playing "omamagoto" (an imaginary game where you pretend to be someone else), and drags Shin-chan and his friends into it. She looks and behaves like an ordinary girl, but beneath her pretty smile, she is a raving Amazon warrior.

Masao-kun

Masao is one of Shin-chan's friends who can be easily identified by his monkey-like, shaved head. He's extremely submissive and it doesn't take much to make him cry. However, he is kind and cares much about his friends.

Boo-chan

There's always that one kid who was always a little bit "slower" than everyone else. Boo-chan is that kid. He follows the other kids around like a miniature version of Frankenstein. He rarely speaks but once in a while, he will catch his friends off guard with a witty retort, which they don't think him to be capable of.

Crayon Shin-chan on television

The stories used in the television anime series are based on those in the comic, but much of what is contained in the comics could never be aired on a family television show. Such interesting story topics from the comic version, include playing peek-a-boo while his father is driving the car, what to do to your father with a vacuum cleaner while he's asleep, pretending that your kindergarten teacher is kidnapping you when a police car drives by, etc. Although the stories have been softened for television, there has been a lot of argument about broadcasting the program. This backlash is not entirely unlike that which resulted when The Simpsons was first aired on American television. The primary argument from the parents is that the main character, Shin-chan, sets up a very bad example for children. Shin-chan's actions and use of language would definitely be considered unnatural and inappropriate for children. However, many children, and some adults find his actions amusing.

Crayon Shin-chan on movies

Several full length movies of Crayon Shin-chan was released and these were made with a completely different goal from television series. They were made to be thoughtful and enjoyable to adult audiences and simply fun to kids. Many of jokes and parodies could be understood only if adults explained them. Kids had simpler laughs like Shin-chan darting around in the underwear or making clever comments.

Shin-chan in other countries

Crayon Shin-chan is particularly popular in China, where he is called La Bi Xiao Xin. His visage can be seen next to Garfield and Disney characters in video and toy stores. He is the most popular anime character in Indonesia and the boy who voice dubbed for Shin-chan has released multiple records and looks very much like Shin-chan himself. He has also found a devoted following in Spain.