Ask John: Is There a History of Anime Family Sitcoms?

Question:
Is there any history of an anime family sitcom? For example, in the U.S. we have The Simpsons, Family Guy, and King of the Hill. Have the Japanese ever thought about making their own animated family sitcoms or is it impossible because such a show will not be popular or as memorable?

Answer:
Although most Americans are not especially conscious of anime family sitcoms (situation comedies), the genre has been quite popular in Japan for nearly as long as it’s existed in America. The earliest American animated family sitcoms include The Flintstones, which premiered in 1959, and The Jetsons, which debuted in 1962. Japan’s foremost family sitcom, Sazae-san, premiered on October 5, 1969 and is still airing new weekly episodes! Sazae-san is officially the world’s longest continuously running animated series.

Momoko Sakura’s popular manga series Chibi Maruko-chan, the story of nine year old “Maruko-chan” and her daily life with her extended family in suburban Japan in the late 1970s, premiered as an anime television series on January 7, 1990. The original series aired 142 episodes and ended in 1992. A second series began in 1995 and is still ongoing. This tremendously popular series has over 700 TV episodes so far, two feature films, and even a live action television adaptation. Yet it remains virtually unheard of by most American anime fans.

American anime fans are quite familiar with the works that director Isao Takahata has helmed for Studio Ghibli, but less familiar to Americans is Takahata’s very popular 1981 nostalgic, dysfunctional family life comedy drama Jarinko Chie. The series lasted for 64 episodes and one motion picture. Takahata again returned to the family sitcom with Studio Ghibli’s 1999 motion picture Hohokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun (“My Neighbors the Yamadas”). The original Tonari no Yamada-kun comic strip by Hisaichi Ishii, which Takahata’s movie was based on, was again adapted into anime in 2001, by Toei Animation, as the successful, 61 episode television series “Nono-chan.”

Likewise, director Akitarou Daichi has handled two family sitcoms. In 1998 Daichi directed the crude and hilarious Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku (“Super Radical Gag Family”) television series – a show about an irresponsible, selfish, and often disgusting dysfunctional family. In 2002, following his successful stint on the Fruits Basket television series (which itself may be thought of as a sort of family comedy anime), Daichi went on to bigger success directing the conventional but very popular lighthearted family drama Atashi’n chi. Although Daichi is no longer directing the series, the Atashi’n chi anime is still ongoing with 231 episodes and one motion picture so far.

The anime family sitcom that American fans are probably most familiar with is unquestionably Crayon Shin-chan. The series premiered on April 13, 1992 and is still ongoing today with over 600 TV episodes and 15 motion pictures. Subtitled episodes were broadcast on television in Hawaii in the early 1990s. And now FUNimation and the Cartoon Network are distributing the series nationally.

I have little doubt that there are many other anime family sitcoms that I’m either unfamiliar with, or have forgotten about, but I think that this brief overview is enough to establish the fact that Japan has quite a number of anime parallels to American shows like The Simpsons and King of the Hill. And many of Japan’s family sitcom anime have been among the most successful anime ever released. But despite the fact that many of these series are still airing new episodes right now, these shows are not well known in America because American anime fans seem to be uninterested in very culturally oriented, Japanese domestic dramas. Anime about the everyday lives of typical Japanese families just aren’t as appealing to average American viewers as fantastic and sensationalistic anime about giant robots, ninjas, and young love.