Crayon Shin-chan Anime, #2229

Crayon Shin-chan

Crayon Shin-chan (クレヨンしんちゃん Kureyon Shin-chan) is a manga and anime series written by Yoshito Usui. The American version of the manga is titled "Crayon ShinChan", while the UK and Spanish version of the anime is titled Shin Chan. The series follows the antics of a five year-old boy and his father and mother.

Crayon Shin-chan first appeared in a Japanese weekly magazine called Weekly Manga Action (WEEKLY週間アクション), which is published by Futabasha Publishers.

Much of the humour in the series stems from Shin-chan's occasionally unnatural and inappropriate use of language, as well as from his inappropriate behaviour. Much of this humour is untranslatable for non-Japanese speaking readers and viewers. 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.

The storylines used in the anime series are based on those in the comic. Although the stories have been softened for television, there has been controversy about the program, primarily from parents who argue that the main character, Shin-chan (like Bart on the American animated series The Simpsons), sets a bad example for children. Although some westerners have called Shin-chan the "Bart Simpson of Japan," there are fewer similarities than differences between the two characters. In particular, Bart is older and apparently more intentionally mischeivous than Shin-chan, many of whose misdeeds seem to stem more from simple ignorance of correct behaviour due to his age. This provides the writers with ample opportunity to write gags based on age-inappropriate behaviour, such as Shin-chan's occasional use of extremely formal language. Shin-chan has also been compared to the character Calvin, from the cartoon strip Calvin and Hobbes.