Shin-chan (Japanese: クレヨンしんちゃん, Hepburn: Kureyon Shin-chan), is a Japanese manga series written and
illustrated by Yoshito Usui. Crayon Shin-chan made its first appearance 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,[5] titled New Crayon Shin-chan (新クレヨンしんちゃん, Shin Kureyon
Shin-chan).
An animated television adaptation began airing on TV Asahi in 1992 and is still
ongoing on several television networks worldwide and has over 1000 episodes. The show has been dubbed
in 30 languages which aired in 45 countries.[6] As of 2015, both the Crayon Shin-Chan and New Crayon
Shin-Chan series have sold over 58 million copies, making it among the best-selling manga series in
history.
Set in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, the series follows the adventures of
the five-year-old Shinnosuke "Shin" Nohara and his parents, baby sister, dog, neighbours, and best
friends. Most of the plot is about Shin-chan's daily life, but it is also often interspersed with a
lot of fantastic and incredible elements.
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 some viewers may find it difficult to
understand his jokes. Some 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). But after modest translation, it is popular
in the rest of Asia due to cultural compatibility. It also contains many sarcastic jokes and
stereotype humor.
The series is mainly in comedy style with a lot of sexual innuendo. However,
due to its popularity, it's also stylistically as family-friendly as possible, although it may not
apply to anywhere. Most of episodes are about the importance of family and friends. On rare
occasions, it also has some darker episodes like Miss Matsuzaka's boyfriend passing away in the
manga, though it was not adapted into an anime episode. It also includes several horror adaption for
example "The Line of no End", "The Horrible Elevator", "The Kindergarten Stairs", etc.
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?) (because he hates green peppers so much). 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. He is often shown with bare buttocks to
emphasize the nonsensical jokes.
