Chibi Maruko-chan

Chibi Maruko-chan
Cover of the first tankōbon volume, featuring Momoko Sakura (Maruko)
ちびまる子ちゃん
Genre	Slice of life
Manga
Written by	Momoko Sakura
Published by	Shueisha
Imprint	Ribon Mascot Comics
Magazine	Ribon
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	August 1986 – October 2022
Volumes	18
Anime television series
Directed by	Yumiko Suda Tsutomu Shibayama
Music by	Nobuyuki Nakamura
Studio	Nippon Animation
Original network	FNS (Fuji TV)
English network	IN: Nickelodeon SEA: Animax Asia
Original run	January 7, 1990 – September 27, 1992
Episodes	142 (List of episodes)
Anime film
Directed by	Yumiko Suda Tsutomu Shibayama
Written by	Momoko Sakura
Music by	Nobuyuki Nakamura
Studio	Nippon Animation
Released	December 15, 1990
Runtime	94 minutes
Anime film
Chibi Maruko-chan: My Favorite Song
Directed by	Yumiko Suda Tsutomu Shibayama
Written by	Momoko Sakura
Studio	Nippon Animation
Released	December 19, 1992
Runtime	93 minutes
Anime television series
Directed by	Jun Takagi
Music by	Nobuyuki Nakamura
Studio	Nippon Animation
Licensed by	NA: Crunchyroll
Original network	FNS (Fuji TV)
English network	IN: Nickelodeon India
Original run	January 8, 1995 – present
Episodes	1437 (List of episodes)
Television drama
Chibi Maruko-chan (live-action special)
Original network	FNS (Fuji TV)
Original run	April 18, 2006 – October 31, 2006
Episodes	2
Television drama
Marumaru Maruko-chan
Original network	FNS (Fuji TV)
Original run	April 19, 2007 – February 28, 2008
Episodes	31
Anime film
Chibi Maruko-chan: A Boy from Italy (2015)

Chibi Maruko-chan (Japanese: ちびまる子ちゃん, lit. "Little Maruko-chan") is a manga series written and illustrated by Momoko Sakura. The series depicts the simple, everyday life of Momoko Sakura, a young girl everyone calls Maruko, and her family in suburban Japan in the year 1974. Maruko is a troublemaker, and every episode recounts Maruko's trouble and how she and her friends succeed in solving the situation. The series is set in the former of Irie District (入江町), Shimizu, now part of Shizuoka City, birthplace of its author.

The first story under the title "Chibi Maruko-chan" was published in the August 1986 edition of the manga magazine Ribon. Other semi-autobiographical stories by the author had appeared in Ribon and Ribon Original in 1984 and 1985, and were included in the first "Chibi Maruko-chan" tankōbon in 1987. The author first began writing and submitting strips in her final year of senior high school, although Shueisha (the publisher of Ribon and Ribon Original) did not decide to run them until over a year later. The author's intent was to write "essays in manga form";^[1] many stories are inspired by incidents from her own life, and some characters are based on her family and friends. The nostalgic, honest and thoughtful tone of the strip led to its becoming popular among a wider audience.

Chibi Maruko-chan was adapted into an anime television series by Nippon Animation, which originally aired on Fuji Television and affiliated TV stations from January 7, 1990, to September 27, 1992. It has also spawned numerous games, animated films and merchandising, as well as a second TV series running from 1995 to the present. Maruko's style and themes are sometimes compared to the classic comic Sazae-san. In 1989, the manga tied to receive the Kodansha Manga Award for the shōjo category.^[2] As of 2006, the collected volumes of the manga had sold more than 31 million copies in Japan, making it one of the best-selling manga series.^[3]

On April 25, 2020, it was announced that the second series would be suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4] On June 14, 2020, it was announced that it would resume on June 21, 2020.^[5]