Crayon Shinchan

Crayon Shin-chan (Japanese: クレヨンしんちゃん, Hepburn: Kureyon Shin-chan), also known as Shin Chan, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshito Usui. It follows the adventures of the five-year-old Shinnosuke "Shin" Nohara and his parents, baby sister, dog, neighbours, and friends and is set in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture of Japan.

Crayon Shin-chan first appeared in 1990 in a Japanese weekly magazine called Weekly Manga Action, which was published by Futabasha. Due to the death of author Yoshito Usui, the manga in its original form ended on September 11, 2009. A new manga began in the summer of 2010 by members of Usui's team, titled New Crayon Shin-chan (新クレヨンしんちゃん, Shin Kureyon Shin-chan).

An anime adaptation of the series began airing on TV Asahi in 1992 and is still ongoing on several television networks, worldwide. The show has now been dubbed in 30 languages which aired in 45 countries, has over 1007 episodes and 26 full-length movies. More than 275 million copies of the manga have been sold worldwide in 20 years.

An anime spin-off titled Super Shiro, produced by Science Saru, premiered in October 2019. The story follows Nohara's family dog, Shiro, becoming a superhero and protecting the legendary bone "Bobobobobone" from the evil inventor dog, Dekapoo and his ambitions of world domination.

Contents

 * 1Overview
 * 2Media
 * 2.1Manga
 * 2.2Anime
 * 2.2.1Vitello and Phuuz dubs
 * 2.2.2Funimation dub
 * 2.2.3LUK International dub
 * 3Crayon Shin-chan in other countries
 * 3.1Brazil
 * 3.2China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
 * 3.3Denmark
 * 3.4France and Wallonia (Belgium)
 * 3.5Germany
 * 3.6Greece
 * 3.7India
 * 3.8Indonesia
 * 3.9Italy
 * 3.10Israel
 * 3.11Latin America
 * 3.12Malaysia
 * 3.13The Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium)
 * 3.14Spain
 * 3.15Philippines
 * 3.16Poland
 * 3.17Portugal
 * 3.18South Korea
 * 3.19Thailand
 * 3.20United States
 * 3.21Vietnam
 * 4Official video games
 * 4.1Console and handheld
 * 4.2Smartphone and tablet
 * 5Movies
 * 6References
 * 7Further reading
 * 8External links

Overview[edit]
Main article: List of Crayon Shin-chan characters Train in special Crayon Shin-chan vinyl wrapping livery at Kurihashi Station, Japan Many of the jokes in the series stem from Shin-chan's occasionally weird, unnatural and inappropriate use of language, as well as from his mischievous behaviour. Consequently, non-Japanese readers and viewers may find it difficult to understand his jokes. In fact, some of them cannot be translated into other languages. In Japanese, certain set phrases almost always accompany certain actions; many of these phrases have standard responses. A typical gag involves Shin-chan confounding his parents by using the wrong phrase for the occasion; for instance, saying "Welcome back" ("おかえりなさい" "okaeri nasai") instead of using a more suitable wording such as "I am home" ("ただいま" "Tadaima") when he comes home. Another difficulty in translating arises from the use of onomatopoeic Japanese words. In scolding Shin-chan and attempting to educate him in proper behaviour his parent or tutor may use such a phrase to indicate the correct action. Often through misinterpreting such a phrase as a different, though similar-sounding phrase, or through interpreting it in one sense when another is intended, Shin-chan will embark on a course of action which, while it may be what he thinks is being requested of him, leads to bizarre acts which serve only to annoy his parents or tutors even more. This is not restricted to onomatopoeic words, since almost any word can become a source of confusion for Shin-chan, including English loanwords, such as mistaking "cool" for "pool" ("That's pool!" or "Pūru da zo!" ("プールだぞ！") for "That's cool!").

Some other humorous themes which are repeated in the series are of a more universal nature, such as gags based on physical comedy (such as eating snow with chopsticks) or, as a child, unexpectedly using adult speech patterns or mannerisms. But even there, many of the gags may require an understanding of Japanese culture and/or language to be fully appreciated; for example, his "Mr. Elephant" impression, while being transparently obvious as a physical gag, also has a deeper resonance with contemporary Japanese culture since it refers to the popular Japanese children's song "Zou-san" (ぞうさん). Shin-chan regularly becomes besotted with pretty female characters who are much older than him, and an additional source of humor is derived from his childlike attempts at wooing these characters, such as by asking them (inappropriately, on several levels) "Do you like green peppers?" (ピーマン好き?). He continually displays a lack of tact when talking to adults, asking questions such as "How many times did you go to the police?" to tough-looking men or "How old are you?" to elderly people.

The series works under a sliding timescale where the characters have maintained their ages throughout the course of the series. Though time has passed to allow for the rise and fall of several pop culture icons, marriages, pregnancies, and births of various characters, all the characters still maintain their age at the time of their introduction. For example, if the two major births in the series are taken into account (Shinnosuke's sister, Himawari, and his kindergarten teacher's child), Shinnosuke would be seven years old and in second or third grade, but he is not.

Manga[edit]
Main article: List of Crayon Shin-chan volumes

Crayon Shin-chan first appeared in 1990 in a Japanese weekly magazine called Weekly Manga Action, which is published by Futabasha. It started as a spin-off of the character Shinnosuke Nikaido (二階堂信之介) of another series by Yoshito Usui, Darakuya Store Monogatari (だらくやストア物語). The chapters were collected into 50 tankōbon volumes, which were published under Futabasha's Action Comics imprint, from April 11, 1992 to July 10, 2010.

Yoshito Usui died on September 11, 2009 after a fall at Mount Arafune. After Usui died, Futabasha originally planned to end Crayon Shin-chan in November 2009. Upon discovering new manuscripts, Futabasha decided to extend the comic's run until the March 2010 issue of the magazine, which shipped on February 5, 2010. Although the series formally ended on February 5, 2010, it was announced on December 1, 2009 that a new manga would begin in the summer of 2010 by members of Usui's team, titled New Crayon Shin-chan (新クレヨンしんちゃん, Shin Kureyon Shin-chan).

A series of four bilingual Japanese-English manga were released in 1996 in Japan as Shin-chan: The Little Horror! (クレヨンしんちゃんの楽しいゾ英会話).

ComicsOne translated ten volumes of Crayon Shin-chan into English and released it in the United States. Occasional pop culture references familiar to Americans, such as Pokémon and Britney Spears, were added to increase the appeal to American audiences. The manga is mirrored from its original to read from left to right. Starting with the sixth volume, many of the names were changed to the ones used in the Phuuz English version of the anime, even though the dub never aired in North America. This translation is rated Teen.

Since then, American publisher DrMaster took over the licenses of several manga series, including Crayon Shin-chan, from ComicsOne. No new volumes of Crayon Shin-chan were released under the DrMaster imprint.

On July 28, 2007, DC Comics' manga division CMX announced the acquisition of the Crayon Shin-chan manga. The CMX version is rated Mature instead of Teen from ComicsOne, because of nudity, sexual humor, and bad language. The first volume was released on February 27, 2008, with uncensored art, and the style of jokes that frequent the Adult Swim dub with some throw backs to the original version, such as his original greeting. However, volume 10 omitted a gag which was in the ComicsOne version.

On April 11, 2012, One Peace Books announced their release of the manga, which is a reprint of the CMX version, in an omnibus format. Three omnibus volumes were released simultaneously on October 15, 2012. Volume 4 was released on November 13, 2013 and included the Japanese volume 12, marking the first time that particular volume has an English translation.

The Crayon Shin-chan manga spin-off, Action Mask, is currently available as read-only/print-only subscription from Crunchyroll and Futabasha. The main Shin-chan manga is also available from Crunchyroll using the CMX version, concurrently up to volume 10.

Anime[edit]
Main article: List of Crayon Shin-chan episodes

An anime adaptation of Crayon Shin-chan, produced by Shin-Ei Animation, has aired in Japan on TV Asahi since April 13, 1992. The series was originally directed by Mitsuru Hongo from 1992 to 1996, and was replaced by Keiichi Hara from 1996 to 2004. Since 2004, the series is directed by Yuji Muto. The music in the series is composed by Toshiyuki Arakawa. The series was originally going to end in 1994 and have its time-slot replaced by a remake of Umeboshi Denka. However, because the series was a huge hit on TV Asahi, the network decided not to replace it.

An spin-off series called Crayon Shin-chan Gaiden consisting of four seasons is exclusively streaming on Amazon Prime Video worldwide with English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese subtitles.

An English subtitled version of Crayon Shin-chan ran on KIKU in Hawaii from 1992 until December 2001 when Vitello Productions acquired the rights. The episodes were translated by Karlton Tomomitsu.

An anime spinoff series titled Super Shiro was announced on February 3, 2019. The spinoff focuses on Shin-chan's dog Shiro. The series is directed by Masaaki Yuasa and animated at Science Saru. Kimiko Ueno is handling series composition, while Tomohisa Shimoyama is serving as chief director. TV Asahi, Shin-Ei Animation, ADK EM, and Futabasha are producing the anime. It will run for 48 episodes, with each episode being five minutes long. The series premiered on October 14, 2019 on AbemaTV. An English dub premiered on Cartoon Network in Australia and the Philippines.

Vitello and Phuuz dubs[edit]
The series was first dubbed into English by Vitello Productions in Burbank, California through 2001–2002, when TV Asahi and Lacey Entertainment decided to market the series worldwide. During the early 2000s, it ran on Fox Kids (and later Jetix) in the United Kingdom, on Fox Kids in Australia and on RTÉ Two in the Republic of Ireland. RTÉ Two has not shown the series since 2004, and on Jetix UK, the series was eventually relegated to shorts in-between programs, with more edits. The dub is of American origin, with veteran voice actors such as Kath Soucie, Russi Taylor, Grey DeLisle, Pat Fraley, Eric Loomis and Anndi McAfee playing the characters. Soucie voiced Shin and Misae.

Many characters had their names changed to American-sounding ones, the original background music was completely replaced with new background music, and scenes with nudity were edited to remove any signs of indecent exposure. Most adult jokes were re-made into family-friendly jokes, and the profanity was edited out. However, the frequent appearance of Shinnosuke's naked buttocks, as well as humor relating to breast-size and sexual themes, remained in the finished product. Some episodes that displayed adult material and mature content were not dubbed at all. Additionally, the episodes were dubbed out of their original order which created continuity errors. For example, episode 29 shows Shin bringing his classmates to visit his newborn sister, episode 30 shows his sister coming home from her birth in the hospital and in episode 52 it was revealed that Shin was going to have a sister.

In 2003, phuuz entertainment inc. was commissioned by Lacey Entertainment to continue in similar style as the Vitello dub. But their episodes featured a new cast of voice artists (among others Diane Michelle, Julie Maddalena, Peter Doyle). The Phuuz dub was pitched to Adult Swim for a U.S. broadcast, but was rejected, as they felt that it was better suited to a younger audience.

52 episodes have been produced of the Vitello dub and at least 78 episodes of the Phuuz dub. Vitello and Phuuz episodes lasted on an average 21 minutes and contained three segments of 5 to 7 minutes. Some of the dubs of the series used the Vitello dub as the source for the dubbing. Some dubs also dubbed the Phuuz dub afterwards.

Funimation dub[edit]
Funimation acquired the Shin-chan North America license in 2006. As per all international licenses for the series, TV Asahi remained a licensing partner for North America.

Funimation's version features a Texas-based cast of voice actors. Funimation's dub takes many liberties with the source material and was heavily Americanized. Similar to the Vitello dub, episodes of the series were dubbed out of their original order, and segments were reordered. Additionally, many characters had their names changed to American-sounding ones. Many sexual references, dark humor, and references to current popular American culture were added. For example, in one scene, Ai and Penny argue over which one of them is Jessica Simpson (whose first album was not released until 1999) and which one is Ashlee Simpson (whose first album was not released until 2004), which is very different from the original Japanese script that dealt with many social issues within Japan at the time. At least two episodes reference Rudy Giuliani and his unsuccessful bid for president.

New, previously non-existent backstories were created, as well as significantly different personalities for the characters. For instance, the unseen father of Nene (known in the dub as "Penny") was suggested to be physically abusive toward both his wife and daughter, and this was used as a source of black humor. Principal Enchou was rewritten as a half-Peruvian, half-Romani man with a complicated prior life that includes a stint as a magician, in which he accidentally injured scores of audience members. Ageo-sensei (known in the dub as "Miss Polly"), Shinnosuke's teacher, was rewritten as a kinky nymphomaniac, while Shin's schoolmate, Kazama, (known in the dub as "Georgie") was portrayed as a hawkish young Republican.

The first 52 episodes of the dub aired on Adult Swim. All three seasons, 26 episodes per season, have also been released on DVD. Season 3, released in 2011, culminated in the official finale, effectively ending the Funimation series.

LUK International dub[edit]
A fourth English dub of Crayon Shin-chan has been produced in Hong Kong by Red Angel Media in 2015 and was commissioned by LUK Internacional, the company that produces the Spanish, Portuguese, the second Italian and the second French dubs of Crayon Shin-chan and commissioned the Doraemon dub that aired on Boomerang UK. The dub was translated from LUK Internacional's Spanish dub, which is close to the Japanese original and has no censorship. The first three volumes of the dub were released in the European and South African Nintendo 3DS eShop on December 22, 2016, and the fourth and fifth volumes were released on December 29, 2016. The dub is separated into five volumes, with the first volume being free while the other four cost €1.99/£1.79. The first volume contains two episodes while the other four contain 6 episodes each which makes 26 episodes in total.

Brazil[edit]
In Brazil, the series aired with a Brazilian Portuguese dub translated from the Vitello and Phuuz dub, first on Fox Kids and later on Animax. The manga was also released in Brazil by Panini, but due to the low sales, only twelve volumes were published.

China, Hong Kong and Taiwan[edit]
In China and Taiwan, the manga is titled 蠟筆小新 (Làbǐ Xiǎoxīn). The show was dubbed into Mandarin (separately, in China with Peking Dialect Mandarin, and in Taiwan with Standard Taiwanese Mandarin), Sichuanese, and formerly Cantonese, the show became popular. In Taiwan, Crayon Shin-chan is one of the most popular Japanese cartoons. Crayon Shin-chan 's movies are still loved by many adults.

In Hong Kong, the anime was first aired dubbed in Cantonese on ATV Home and in Mandarin on STAR Chinese Channel in 1995 and was very popular. Films are still occasionally shown in cinemas today, followed by subsequent DVD releases. The manga is published by Tong Li Publishing (Hong Kong), titled as "蠟筆小新", literally Crayon Shin-chan.

Denmark[edit]
In Denmark, Shin-chan was aired by DR1 with a Danish dub based on the Vitello dub.

France and Wallonia (Belgium)[edit]
The French dub was directed by Frédéric Meaux, produced by La Dame Blanche and was a translation of the Vitello and Phuuz dubs. It aired in Wallonia (French-speaking part of Belgium) on Club RTL. And in France from 31 August 2002 on Fox Kids (Jetix in 2004). A second French dub was released by LUK Internacional in the Nintendo 3DS eShop on December 22, 2016 in five volumes, this dub consists of other episodes than the English LUK Internacional dub.

The manga was published in French by J'ai lu for the first time on May 15, 2005, the fifteenth and final volume of the French publisher was published on August 13, 2006. Casterman continued the publishing of the manga, this time bimonthly, on 11 March 2008 from Volume 16 under the title Crayon Shin-chan Season 2. Casterman published under its label Sakka 23 volumes of the "second season" (Japanese volumes 16 to 38) until October 2012 before suspending the release of 12 remaining volumes.

Germany[edit]
In Germany, a German dub was produced by Interopa Film based on the English dubs of Vitello and Phuuz. It aired on RTL 2 from 5 April 2002. Later it went to Fox Kids and Jetix, the series aired for the last time on Animax. A total of 130 episodes aired in German, and in autumn 2003 15 episodes were released on three DVDs/VHS.

Of the first 52 episodes two dub versions exist. The first aired from 5 April 2002 to 24 June 2002, this version was filed with foul language partly exacerbated from the English dub. Because of protests the series was suspended for a month and received a new dub. From then on, only this dub was aired on RTL 2 and Jetix. Episodes 53–130 didn't have exaggerated formulations from the outset. As a result of that these episodes were closer to the original than the first 52 episodes.

The manga was published by Egmont Manga & Anime and cancelled after eight volumes.

Greece[edit]
In Greece, Shin-chan was aired by Star Channel with a Greek dub based on the Vitello dub.

India[edit]
A Hindi dub of the anime started airing in India on Hungama TV on June 19, 2006, Later in Tamil dub and Telugu dub.

There were complaints from parents over the main character's behavior and the attitudes exhibited towards elders on the show, both of which were seen as a negative influence on children. The series was banned in October 2008 by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India) on account of heavy nudity. Before the ban, the Hindi version of Crayon Shin-chan gained up to 60% of the channel's market share. After many requests from fans, the Indian censor boards heavily edited the content and revived the Indian dub on March 27, 2009.[citation needed] The jokes were edited to be more family-friendly, words like "Leader" and "Hamburger" were muted and all mentions of "alcohol" were replaced by mentions of "juice". Scenes that have been cut include instances of Shin-chan performing either the "Mr. Elephant" dance or the "butt-shaking" dance, and instances of Nene's mother beating up a stuffed toy in anger.

Only 13 films of Shin-chan have been dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu and have aired on Hungama TV.

But starting from 1 May 2017, No new films of Crayon Shin-chan will be aired on India and dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. The license is held by Spacetoon India.

Indonesia[edit]
In Indonesia, the first publisher of Crayon-Shin-chan is PT Indorestu Pacific in 2000. Later, Elex Media Komputindo reprinted and published the series in 2012. The Indonesian dubbed version of Crayon Shin-chan was broadcast by RCTI. The Soap Opera Shinchan Gambar Spacetoon Is Company Studio X Production (2007-2010) Studio X Production Is Close (1 August 2010) Forward By Screenplay Production (2010 - Presents)

Italy[edit]
In Italy, two different dubs have been produced. The first dub aired on Italia 1 in 2005 with repeats airing on Boing and Hiro in 2009. Based on the English Vitello dub, the first Italian dub used the original Japanese names for the characters, except for the father of Hiroshi, in the Italian version his name was Gary while his original name is Ginnosuke.

The second Italian dub aired on Cartoon Network on June 15, 2009. The dub was translated from LUK Internacional's Spanish dub, which is close to the Japanese original and has no censorship. It had some different voice actors than the first Italian dub. In 2010, the dub aired repeats on Boing. Some episodes of this dub were released by LUK Internacional in the Nintendo 3DS eShop on December 22, 2016 in five volumes.

Israel[edit]
In Israel, Shin-chan (שין צ'אן) was aired by Arutz HaYeladim.

Latin America[edit]
In Spanish-speaking Latin America, the series first aired on Fox Kids (later JETIX) in 2002 with a Spanish dub translated from the Vitello and Phuuz dubs, and later from 2005 to 2010 the same dub aired on Animax. Animax aired 4 episodes of the dub that weren't aired by Fox Kids. This dub later aired in Chile on ETC. The uncensored version airs since 2014 in Mexico on Tiin, translated from LUK's European Spanish dub, which is close to the Japanese original, yet with the names from the Vitello dub.

Malaysia[edit]
In Malaysia, Shin-chan's comic is titled "Dik Cerdas", which roughly means "brilliant kid" or "active kid". The publisher was Comics House which closed its doors in October 2016.

The anime airs in Malay on NTV7. Shin-chan's voice in the Malay language version of the anime is voiced by a 15-year-old. Like in South Korea, pictures revealing Shin-chan's genitals were all censored by cutting the scenes. Mandarin versions that are also shown in Malaysia however, are not as heavily censored. Episode 1-111 were released by PMP Entertainment on 30 VCDs with Mandarin and Malay audio, and English subtitles.

The Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium)[edit]
The series aired in the Netherlands from February 1, 2003 until August 25, 2007 on Fox Kids/Jetix and on KANAAL TWEE in Flanders (Dutch part of Belgium) from September 1, 2003 until March 18, 2005. According to Shin-chan's Dutch voice actress, Melise de Winter, the series was taken off the air in the Netherlands because of complaints by parents. Measured by ratings, Crayon Shin-chan was one of the most successful series ever aired by a Dutch children's channel. The Dutch dub was produced by JPS Producties and based on the English Vitello and Phuuz dubs.

Spain[edit]
The series first aired in Spain on TV3, where it eventually found a devoted following. It was later aired on Cartoon Network, Antena 3 and several other channels in five different languages/varieties: Basque, Catalan, Valencian, Galician, and Spanish. The dub is completely uncensored and close to the original. The series is so successful that several of the films had a theatrical release nationally. Over 800 episodes including specials have been aired in Spain and concurrently it is airing on Fox.

Despite its success, some channels moved the series to night programming or dropped it completely after complaints by parents associations who claimed it was not appropriate for children. Yoshito Usui visited Barcelona in 2004 in order to promote the Spanish release of the manga, when the anime series was already airing on Catalonia's public television channel TV3. Usui was so impressed by Crayon Shin-chan's popularity he decided to thank his Spanish followers by making an episode that takes place in Barcelona.

The manga was released up to Japanese volume 25 in Spanish and up to 35 in Catalan. Spain is the only country outside Japan and South Korea where some of the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and Wii games based on the series were released.

Philippines[edit]
In the Philippines, the show aired on IBC-13 in the early 2000s and on RPN-9 with a Tagalog dub. Shin Chan was voiced by Andrew E., a multi-platinum awarded, movie actor, rapper, very well known for his suggestive lyrics.

Poland[edit]
In Poland, Shin-chan was aired by Fox Kids (later Jetix) for the first time on April 13, 2003 at 23.40. Despite the late hour air time, the series gained a large audience. The Polish dub was produced by STUDIO EUROCOM and was a translation of the Vitello dub. 24 of the 52 Vitello dub episodes were dubbed in Polish and aired. In 2005, the show disappeared for half a year, he came back but the number of episodes in one episode decreased from three to two and then one. In 2007, the show was completely taken off the air in Poland. It is currently broadcast by Fox Comedy.

Portugal[edit]
The series first aired on SIC in 2006 with a translation of the Vitello and Phuuz dubs. The uncensored version arrived to Portugal by hands of LUK Internacional on Animax in October 2009 and continued airing on the channel until its closure in 2011. The Animax dub resurfaced on Biggs in June 2013, this time premiering the episodes in packages of 26 and then 52.

South Korea[edit]
In South Korea, the show and comics, titled 짱구는 못말려 (Jjanggu the Unhelpable), are also tremendously popular. Shin-chan's name is changed into "Shin Jjanggu" (新짱구), which is coined by his original Japanese name and the Korean word "jjanggu" (짱구) for "protruding forehead." In Korea, the animated version is strongly censored compared to the original Japanese version. 12 segments of the anime were dubbed in English in South Korea and released on learn English VCDs and DVDs.

Most South Koreans consider it a kids' cartoon, since many toys and website games there center around Jjanggu and is represented as an icon for childish fun there. Scenes revealing Shin-Chan's genitals are mostly censored, with the exception of a few scenes in which exposure is inevitable, and only a few scenes showing his buttocks remain. Some episodes explicitly displaying adult material are censored, and all mature-themed jokes in the original Japanese version are changed into family-friendly jokes in order to make the series more suitable for children, who were considered the main audience for the series in Korea. However, the manga is mostly uncensored, labeled as "for 19 or above." Currently, the new versions of Crayon Shin Chan in Korea are for ages 15 and up.

Thailand[edit]
In Thailand, the publisher of the Crayon-Shin-chan (เครยอนชินจัง) manga is NED (former's TNG). Their translations contains more chapters than original Japanese version per book (such as Thai comic #21 is Japanese comic #30). The Thai dubbed version of the Crayon Shin-chan anime was broadcasting by ThaiTV3 (Bec).

United States[edit]
In the United States, the series has appeared on Adult Swim.

Vietnam[edit]
In Vietnam, the series' first 6 volumes of the manga were released in July and August 2006. However, it received negative reactions from Vietnamese media due to impertinent and sexual content. Even VTV criticized the series on its main news program. Due to intense public pressure, Kim Dong publisher stopped releasing the series. In December 2011, Kim Dong re-published the series with careful editing and age restriction.

Console and handheld[edit]
Many of the video games were only released in Japan, but there were others released in South Korea, Italy and Spain.

Smartphone and tablet[edit]
Note: The last app isn't a game in itself, rather a Crayon Shin-chan hub with news, manga, and games.