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[align=center]Crayon Shin-chan (クレヨンしんちゃん, Kureyon Shinchan?) (also known as "Shin-Chan" in the United States) is a Japanese manga and anime series written by Yoshito Usui.

Crayon Shin-chan follows the antics of five-year-old Shinnosuke Nohara and his parents, neighbors, friends, etc., and is set in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

Contents

1 Basic information

2 Characters

3 English-language adaptations

3.1 English anime

3.1.1 Vitello/Phuuz Production

3.1.2 English FUNimation version

3.2 English manga

4 Shin-chan in other countries

5 Running times


Basic information

Crayon Shin-chan first appeared in a Japanese weekly magazine called Weekly Manga Action, which is published by Futabasha. Crayon Shin-chan began broadcasting on TV Asahi on April 13, 1992, and has also been aired by the anime television network, Animax across Japan, Hungama TV in India, and in Latin America.

Much of the humor in the series stems from Shin-chan's occasionally weird, unnatural and inappropriate use of language, as well as from his inappropriate behavior. Therefore much of this humor is untranslatable for Western readers and viewers, and a few jokes can't even be translated into other East Asian 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 example, saying "Welcome home!" when he arrives instead of "I'm home!".

During the beginning of the series, the TV show was mostly based on the storyline in the comic books. As the show progressed, more and more episodes became anime-original.

Characters

Main article: List of Crayon Shin-chan characters

English-language adaptations

English anime

Vitello/Phuuz Production

The Shin-chan anime had an English dub produced by Vitello Productions in Burbank, California in 1994. The dub, with character names changed, ran on Fox Kids (now JETIX) in the United Kingdom, and on RTÉ Two in the Republic of Ireland in the early 2000s. The dub is of American origin, with actors and actresses such as Kath Soucie, Russi Taylor, Grey DeLisle, and Pat Fraley playing major roles (Soucie plays Shin himself, and his mother). Despite the American origin, this dub was never licensed in North America, likely something to do with the large amount of content that would be considered questionable for children by American censors; although the dub is edited for content, many scenes—including the frequent appearance of Shin's naked buttocks, humor relating to breast-size, transsexualism and other sexual concepts—remain in the finished product. RTÉ Two has not shown the series since 2003, and Jetix only usually shows it as shorts in between programs, with even more edits. Vitello's dub was succeeded by Phuuz Entertainment inc. in 2003, which featured a new cast of voice artists.

An English subtitled version of Crayon Shin-chan ran on KIKU-TV in Hawaii from April 1, 1993 - December 1, 2001. (1)


[edit] English FUNimation version

FUNimation Entertainment has acquired the license for the Shin-chan anime in the US as of 2006. [1] As per all international licenses for the series, TV Asahi remained a licensing partner for North America. The new dub received a month-long test run on Cartoon Network on the Adult Swim programming block. The show returned to Adult Swim on April 9th, at a 12:30 am EDT timeslot. [2] The new dub features a Texas-based cast of voice actors, and English scripts written by television writers Jared Hedges, Joel Bergen, Alex Muniz, and a few part-time writers. Comic and television writers Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer also contributed to the early scripts (episodes 1-6 and 8) for polish/punch-up. The dub is directed by Zach Bolton, and occasionally Laura Bailey.

FUNimation's dubbing of "Shin Chan" takes many liberties with the source material. Most notably, the Funimation episodes of the series air the episodes out of their original order in order to allow them to feature characters such as Ai that are introduced much later in the series original run. Since most episodes do not feature extensive continuity, this has allowed FUNimation to seemlessly mix episodes out of their order.

The dialogue and humor of FUNimation's dub are extremely adult-oriented, with many sexual references, black humor, and references to popular American culture. For example, in one scene, Ai and Penny argue over which one of them is Jessica Simpson and which one is Ashlee Simpson, which is very different from the original Japanese script that dealt with many social issues within Japan at the time. The show also created new backstories for the characters, most notably that Penny Milfer's father (who has yet to appear in the series) is physically abusive towards both his wife and daughter, a running gag that the show uses for black humor. The use of modern American pop culture references to a show otherwise dated by the times was also used in Geneon's dub of the popular Lupin the 3rd 1978 series. Most episodes of the American dub have received a rating of TV-14, for its relatively strong suggestive dialogue (D) and coarse language (L). However, some episodes are rated TV-MA for more offensive language, stronger sexual dialogue, and objectionable humor/content deemed too strong for a TV-14 rating. Outlines of the episodes used by FUNimation can be found here.

FUNimation episodes are streamed online weekly at Adult Swim's free broadband service, Adult Swim Video, which is available worldwide, as well as being shown on Adult Swim. Also, the tenth episode that was dubbed is available at AdultSwim.com for free as an interactive video. In addition to watching the episode, one can watch video commentary from the FUNimation staff, booth recordings, script comparisons, bios, show artwork, and other special features. The episode can be viewed here.

The first thirteen episodes are scheduled for release on DVD May 13, 2008, by FUNimation Home Entertainment. Season 2 airs April 5-6,2008 12:30-1:00 am ET on Adult swim


English manga

ComicsOne has translated ten volumes of 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 comic is oriented to read 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 anime never appeared 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 there is no censorship in this version, and so there is 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, but with some throw backs to the original version, such as his original greeting.


Shin-chan in other countries

Crayon Shin-chan is also very popular in many other countries, especially East Asian countries where many of the jokes can be translated (that is, if they aren't censored).

In China, the show and title La Bi Xiao Xin (traditional Chinese: 蠟筆小新; simplified Chinese: 蜡笔小新; pinyin: làbǐ xiǎoxīn) can be viewed on local channels mostly uncensored and well translated. Despite the fact that legal DVD sets and comics are published, most manga/videos bought in China are counterfeits as with Shinchan merchandise. Shinchan merchandise are especially popular among teenagers who often have them as accessories. (eg. cell phone straps) His visage can also be seen next to Doraemon, Garfield, Pokemon and Disney characters in video and toy stores.

In Taiwan, the publisher of Crayon Shin-chan is Tong Li Comics. A Chinese subtitled version of Crayon Shin-chan in Japanese premiered in Taiwan on ETTV on April 13, 1992

In Vietnam, the series' first 5 books were released in July - August 2006. However, Crayon Shinchan received a bad reaction from the Vietnamese society due to some impertinent scenes contained within the books ,especially the sex-related stories (starting from The Workers Newspaper).[1] Even VTV (one of the two nationwide broadcasting systems) criticized the series on its main news program. As a result, Kim Dong publisher (distributor of Shinchan's stories in Vietnam) must stop releasing the series.[2]

In South Korea, the show and comics, titled 짱구는 못말려 (Jjanggu the Unstoppable, literally), are also tremendously popular. Shin-chan's name is changed into "Shin Jjanggu" (신짱구), which is coined by his original Japanese name and the Korean word "jjanggu" (짱구) for "protruding forehead." In Korea, the animated version is severely censored - compared to the original Japanese version. Most South Koreans consider it a kids' cartoon, since many toys and website games there center around 짱구 and is represented as an icon for childish fun there. Scenes revealing Shin-Chan's genitals are mostly censored, with exception to few scenes in which exposure is inevitable, and only few scenes with his buttocks shown remain. Some episodes explicitly displaying adult material are censored, and all mature-themed jokes in the original Japanese version are dubbed into rated-G jokes in Korean to make the series more suitable for children, who were considered the main audience for the show in Korea. However, the comic book version is mostly uncensored, labeled as "for 19 or above."

Shin-chan is one of the most popular anime characters in Indonesia. The Indonesian actor who dubbed Shin-chan's voice (a man aged about twenty but looks like a 12 year old because of a genetic defect) has released multiple records and is even said to resemble Shin-chan. The anime itself was extremely popular yet controversial. It is the first animated show to have a BO (an Indonesian equivalent to the United States rating "PG"). All the dubbers of the anime found success thanks to the show.

Shin-chan found a devoted following in Spain, where the show is broadcast through Cartoon Network, Antena 3 and several autonomic channels in five different languages: Valenciano, Catalan, Euskara, Galician and Castilian/Spanish. It has proved so successful that several Shin-chan movies have seen a theatrical release nationwide. Also, Spain is the only country outside Japan where a Game Boy Advance game [3] based in the character was released (in 2005 by publisher Atari), with a sequel to follow in Q3 2006 [4]. Despite its success, some TV channels had to move the show to night programming or drop it completely after complaints by parents associations who claimed Shin-chan was not appropriate for children, the biggest followers of the show. Yoshito Usui visited Barcelona in 2004 in order to promote the Spanish release of the manga, when the show was already airing on Catalonia's public television channel TV3. Usui was so impressed by Shin-Chan's popularity he decided to thank his Spanish followers [5] by making an episode that takes place in Barcelona.

The show is also very popular in the Netherlands. Since its start in 2003 on the local Fox Kids / Jetix channel, it was - at first - mostly popular among kids aged 6-12, but not much later also got started a huge following among teens and even young adults. Due to the many sexual jokes and naked buttocks (even though in an edited and sometimes even censored form), and Fox Kids / Jetix being mainly a kids channel, the broadcaster started getting complaints from parents. Putting the facts together that the show appealed to an almost completely different target group, and the many complaints from parents, the channel reduced the amount of airing slots to once or twice a week. Than soon after to one episode short (ten minutes) a week, before being completely fased out. Shins popularity remains, but adult and teen oriented channels remain hesitant of airing the series, due to cartoons having a reputation in the Dutch culture as being 'just for kids', no matter if there's sexual content or not.

In Malaysia, Shin Chan's comic is titled as Dik Cerdas, which roughly means "brilliant kid". Shin Chan's voice in the Malay language version of the anime happens to be 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 however, are not as heavily censored. They are rarer, however and can only be found in places with high Chinese speaking populations.

This show was broadcast in the Philippines, uncensored and dubbed in Filipino. Shin-Chan was voiced by Andrew E., a local rapper notorious for his suggestive lyrics. For some reason, his mother was called "Carmen",his father was called "Bert" and his dog was named "Puti" which means white.

In Latin America, Shin-chan was originally shown on Fox Kids / JETIX in 2003, but was later moved to a new channel at the time, Animax, in mid 2005. There the episodes are shown weekdays, 3 to 4 times a day, and are dubbed over the English edited versions of the anime.

In India Shin-chan is aired on Hungama TV. Shin Chan is growing its fame rapidly in India. Bō is renamed to Suzuki for some reason. For promoting other shows on Hungama TV, the show parodies other shows like Doraemon, which airs just before Crayon Shin-chan. Because it is dubbed in Hindi, the Japanese songs are changed into popular Bollywood numbers. Hungama TV has started airing new episodes from 21st April. Indian version is one of the better dubbed versions of the show with little or no censor applied in later episodes. However beer has been renamed to juice in later versions. Also whenever Shin Chan gets naked, the groin area is either blurred by pixels or the screen is simply zoomed to the other side to remove the nakedness.

In Poland Shin-chan was aired on Fox Kids / Jetix on 11 pm. with polish dub. Polish version is based on american and uncensored.


Running times

Crayon Shin-chan's running time varied over time. The show usually broadcasts in a 30-minute time frame but the actual running time is shorter than the time slot allots. When specials or movies are broadcast on TV, the running time is longer, varying from 1 hour to 2 hours.



References

^ NLĐO - Tre con se hoc tap gi o “Shin - cau be but chi”? ~ Trẻ con sẽ học tập gì ở “Shin - cậu bé bút chì”? - BẠN ĐỌC VIẾT
^ Ngừng phát hành "Cậu bé bút chì"
^ KIKU-TV listing of Crayon Shin-chan in schedule archive

External links

Crayon Shin-chan (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

http://www.jetix.co.uk/fktv/shows/0,6248,2482,00.html - Website of JETIX UK Shin Chan anime release [DEAD INK]
http://www.futabasha.co.jp/sinchan/ - Futabasha's Crayon Shin-chan website (Japanese)
http://www.futabasha.co.jp/ke-tai/shinchan.html - Futabasha's Shin-chan cell phone page (Japanese)
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/shinchan/ - TV Asahi Shin-chan website (Japanese)
http://www.shinchan-movie.com/ - Website of Crayon Shin-chan the movie (Japanese)
http://www.shinchanshow.com/ FUNimation's Shin-chan website (English)
http://tviv.org/Crayon_Shin-chan - Shin Chan @ The TV IV (contains extensive information on North American dub) (English)
http://www.kikutv.com/shows/Japanese_Progr...chan/index.html - KIKU TV in Hawaiis archived listing of Crayon Shinchan.
Shin Chan Myspace (Created by FUNimation)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayon_Shin-chan"
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