Osomatsu-kun | |
おそ松くん | |
---|---|
Genre | Comedy |
Manga | |
Written by | Fujio Akatsuka |
Published by | Shogakukan Kodansha Shōnen Gahosha |
Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Sunday |
Demographic | Shōnen |
Original run | April 15, 1962 – January 15, 1969 |
Volumes | 34 |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Makoto Nagasawa |
Studio | Children's Corner, Studio Zero |
Original network | MBS |
Original run | February 5, 1966 – March 25, 1967 |
Episodes | 56 |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Akira Shigino |
Studio | Pierrot |
Licensed by | |
Original network | Fuji TV |
Original run | February 13, 1988 – December 30, 1989 |
Episodes | 86 |
Anime film | |
Osomatsu-kun: Suika no Hoshi Kara Konnichiwa zansu! | |
Directed by | Ryuichi Okumura |
Written by | Tokio Tsuchiya |
Music by | Yusuke Honma |
Studio | Pierrot |
Released | March 18, 1989 |
Runtime | 25 minutes |
Anime television series | |
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Osomatsu-kun (Japanese: おそ松くん) is a comedy manga series by Fujio Akatsuka which ran in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine from 1962 to 1969. The series revolves around a group of sextuplet brothers who cause all sorts of mischief. It has been adapted into two different anime series of the same name, the first of which was produced by Studio Zero in 1966, and the second by Studio Pierrot in 1988. A new anime series by Pierrot, Mr. Osomatsu, began airing in October 2015 to celebrate Akatsuka's 80th birthday, with a manga adaptation by Masako Shitara serialized in Shueisha's You magazine from January 2016.
This series helped establish Akatsuka's reputation as a gag comic artist, long before his other popular manga, Tensai Bakabon, was released. Several adaptations of Charlie Chaplin routines can be found in the manga.
Osomatsu-kun has appeared in numerous special issues of Shōnen Sunday. In 1964, Akatsuka won the 10th Shogakukan Manga Award for Osomatsu-kun.[2]
The original manga by Fujio Akatsuka ran in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday between 1962 and 1969. Early chapters of the manga were based around people becoming mixed-up with the sextuplets identities, due to how they all looked alike.[3] However, as the manga progressed, more chapters focused on the misadventures of Iyami and Chibita to the point that they eventually took over as the main characters. An English-Japanese bilingual volume has been released on August 10, 2017, in Japan.[4][5]
The original anime series was produced by Studio Zero and co-produced by Children's Corner;[3] it was in black-and-white and aired in Japan between February 1966 and March 1967. The first opening was "Osomatsu-kun no Uta" (おそ松くんのうた, Song of Osomatsu-kun) by Matsuyo, the sextuplets, Iyami, and Chibita, while the second opening was "Osomatsu-kun no Uta 2" (おそ松くんのうた2, Song of Osomatsu-kun 2) by Makoto Fujita, with instrumental versions used as ending themes. Akatsuka himself supervised the series. Unlike the 1988 anime series, the sextuplets had more screen time in the episodes with prominent appearances of Iyami and Chibita. Often the same character animation was reused six times in a single shot for the sextuplets due to how they all looked alike. The series reran in the 1970s, but it went missing sometime after the reruns ended. In 1990, 16mm broadcast prints of the entire series were found in a TV station warehouse. The entire series was later released on DVD box sets, along with individual volumes.[3]
The second series, which was produced by Studio Pierrot, aired in Japan between February 1988 and December 1989. The series is notably different from the original series, focusing largely on Iyami and Chibita as the main protagonists, but was still very popular, hitting ratings as high as 20%. The opening theme was "Seichō Osomatsu Setsu" (正調 おそ松節, Traditional Osomatsu Tune) while the ending theme was "Osomatsu-kun Ondō" (おそ松くん音頭), both performed by Takashi Hosokawa. A short film, Osomatsu-kun: Suika no Hoshi Kara Konnichiwa zansu! (おそ松くん スイカの星からこんにちはザンス!, Osomatsu-kun: Greetings From the Planet Watermelon!), was released on March 18, 1989.
On December 16, 1985, a live-action TV special entitled Osomatsu-kun, Iyami, Chibita no Itamae Ippon Shōbu (おそ松くん イヤミ・チビ太の板前一本勝負, Osomatsu-kun, Iyami, and Chibita's Cooking Showdown) was aired as part of Fuji Television's Monday Dramaland. The series revolves around Iyami and Chibita competing to be the best chef at the Matsuno's restaurant in order to appeal to a food critique. The theme song was performed by Tatsuro Yamashita.
Three video games based on the series have been produced. Osomatsu-kun: Hachamecha Gekijō (おそ松くん はちゃめちゃ劇場, Osomatsu-kun: Crazy Theater) was developed and published by Sega for the Mega Drive on December 24, 1988. It was the first game developed for the system that wasn't released outside Japan.[6] Osomatsu-kun: Back to the Me no Deppa Maki (おそ松くん バック・トゥ・ザ・ミーの出っ歯の巻, Osomatsu-kun: Back to the Me's Overbite Winding) was released by Bandai from the Famicom on December 8, 1989. Finally, Hisattsu Pachinko Station V9 Osomatsu-kun (必殺パチンコステーションV9 おそ松くん, Finishing Move Pachinko Station V9 Osomatsu-kun) was released by Sunsoft for the PlayStation 2 on February 24, 2005.
Main article: Mr. Osomatsu |
Mr. Osomatsu, produced by Pierrot, aired in Japan between October 2015 and March 2016 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll, making it the first piece of Osomatsu-kun media to receive an official English release.[7][8] The series, which celebrates the 80th birthday of creator Fujio Akatsuka, who died at the age of 72 in 2008, follows the Matsuno siblings as adults. The series' first episode, which featured multiple parodies, was removed from streaming sites on November 12, 2015, and was replaced by an original video animation in its home video release.[9][10] Additionally, the third episode, which features a crude parody of Anpanman, was edited for its BS Japan broadcast and is altered in its home video release.[9] A second season aired from October 2017 to March 2018.[11]
A manga adaptation of Osomatsu-san, illustrated by Masako Shitara, began serialization in Shueisha's You magazine from January 15, 2016.[12] An otome game based on the series is being developed by Idea Factory.[13]
Naoki Urasawa stated that in mid-1960s Japan, the character Iyami from Osomatsu-kun was so popular that whenever children took a picture, they were sure to copy his iconic "Sheeh" pose. He noted that Godzilla struck the pose in a film, as did John Lennon and Paul McCartney when they visited Japan.[14] Iyami appears in Urasawa's 2017 manga Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams, where he is known only as the Director.[15]