“Buri! Buri! Buri! Buri!”*
*Translation: “Ass dance! Ass dance! Ass dance! Ass dance!”
Most anime film franchises develop in a very particular way (or so it seems to my gai jin eyes). First comes the manga (or comic book, O my droogies), the creative progeny of a single artist. Given immediate manga magnanimity, an anime TV series develops, often doing animated adaptations of individual manga issues, to prevent continuity problems, or questions of canon.
Then given enough series success, feature films begin. These are produced by the same animation studio behind the TV show, and done on an annual basis as a supplement to it. In many U.S. animated programs, a similar approach yields movie-length TV or DVD entries, but rarely anything theatrical. And indeed, these anime movies are theatrical, in a Japanese cinematic trend I have no knowledge of (this whole write-up is gonna be me groping in the dark, like at a Romanian orgy). Seemingly, the movies are the least important ingredients of these manga-based franchises. However, this blog’s format necessitates considering all film franchises as such, creating an odd scenario when it comes to much Japanese product.
So it is with “Crayon Shin-chan,” which originated in 1990 with creator Yoshito Usui. The manga and TV show employ a simple (almost childishly simple) visual style, like a little kid’s sketches. This is appropriate, as the series concerns a kindergarten-age rapscallion, Shinnosuke Nohara, more popularly known as Shin-chan. He is a shameless boy, with something of an anal fixation, and a love for women far too old for him (as a 5-year-old, that means any sexually mature woman). These interests, as well as a love for the fictional show-within-a-show “Action Kamen,” lead to antics, which lead to problems for the larger Nohara family, which lead to hilarity.
Enduring Shin-chan’s buttocks-heavy nonsense are his mother Misae (known for a short tempter, and an inexplicable visual trademark called “guri-guri”), his father Hiroshi (who may or may not wear the pants depending upon Misae’s mood), and later in the series Shin-chan’s newborn little sister Himawari. There’s also the dog Shiro, another later addition. So the franchise’s focus is decidedly domestic, with the parents occupying the traditional (nay, stereotypical) modes for a Japanese couple: the housewife and the salaryman. Then there is the extended family on either side, Shin-chan’s school chums, and the surrounding universe of the Kasukabe Saitama Prefecture.
So…a boringly standard setting, with a large cast of characters (which I haven’t even remotely delved into), a reputation for scathingly funny social humor (which I’ve also neglected mentioning so far). “Crayon Shin-chan” sounds like nothing so much as “The Simpsons!” (Only a bit more kid-based…ish.)
Sometimes called “Japan’s Bart Simpson,” Shin-chan emerged roughly parallel to that American satire, and seems to occupy a similar comedic niche in Japan. The humor is reportedly based upon Japanese wordplay and other cultural notions which do not travel well. Hence, despite the franchise’s noted popularity within Japan, it has not moved extensively beyond the Asian world. But since Chinese is linguistically similar to Japanese, the show (and other properties) has successfully transitioned to that market.
Common Shin-chan love made it as far as India, where the show’s songs could easily be replaced with local Bollywood singles, as befitting that country’s pop cultural obsessions. This continued up until a point, when parent groups took offense to certain Shin-chan facets. As befitting a “Simpsonian” social satire, “Crayon Shin-chan” is not without risqué elements, most notably the titular Shin-chan’s habitual tendency to drop trousers and wiggle his buttocks proudly for all to see. He does similar entertainments with his penis, including a famous routine called “Mr. Elephant.” There was nothing all too culturally questionable about such anarchical impertinence in Japan, where cartoons regularly do much, much stranger things, but a nation like India is considerably more conservative in such matters. There was altogether too much sex in “Crayon Shin-chan,” though ‘tis otherwise a kids’ show, leading to complete government censorship in 2008.
The same story is found further afield, such as in American and European markets where “Shin-chan”’ was eventually distributed in the ‘00s. Due to profanity, frequent naked buttocks, etc., the intended audience of children never saw the show to any great degree. Fox Kids held distribution rights in the early 2000s, but the only markets where “Shin-chan” escaped government censure were those markets where the new dubs came pre-censored. And when that happened, “Shin-chan” was not popular.
Except in Spain! “Crayon Shin-chan” is ridiculously hot in Spain!
Within the U.S., the greatest “Crayon” craziness was on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, where the show was again redubbed for a decidedly more adult audience. This FUNimation version totally recontextualizes the show into a run of off-color jokes, placing new emphasis on the original’s occasional display of asses, genitalia, dead babies and fart clouds. (Find the first full-length episode here, as long as the link survives.)
An example of this bastardization’s humor: Shin-chan’s Futaba Kindergarten is renamed the Super Happy Fun Time American School. “Action Kamen” is now “Action Bastard.” It’s not quite my taste (within Adult Swim, give me “The Venture Brothers”), but I’ve known many of my friends to really love this version. They also find Airplane! “too subtle,” so what’re ya gonna do?
All that’s to do with the show (and manga, to a lesser extent). As for the movies, they really haven’t travelled beyond Japan, and surely haven’t been redubbed in any serious capacity (or at all).
And how does one do a yearly feature connected to a show that’s essentially “Simpsons”-esque? (Consider how…awkward The Simpsons Movie turned out, and that was with 20 years of prep time.) Reportedly, the silly and derisive “Shin-chan” tone changes ever so slightly, with Shin-chan’s genuinely virtuous characteristics taking greater prominence – the better for creating the impression of arcs and drama. And in favor of wacky hijinks, the plots concern big, ridiculous world-shattering battles against supervillains and space aliens and whatnot. They’re action thrillers!...Presumably. Also presumably, wackiness remains to some extent, so maybe all this is more a parody of the typical feature anime. Someone with a bit more knowhow, help me out please!
Anyway, the movie series ran from 1993 through 2010 (though maybe not any more after that – more on that in a later post). Here they all are:
1. Crayon Shin-chan: Action Kamen vs Leotard Devil (1993)
2. Crayon Shin-chan: The Secret Treasure of Buri Buri Kingdom (1994)
3. Crayon Shin-chan: Unkokusai’s Ambition (1995)
4. Crayon Shin-chan: Adventure in Henderland (1996)
5. Crayon Shin-chan: Pursuit of the Balls of Darkness (1997)
6. Crayon Shin-chan: Blitzkrieg! Pig’s Hoof’s Secret Mission (1998)
7. Crayon Shin-chan: Explosion! The Hot Spring’s Feel Good Final Battle (1999)
8. Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called the Jungle (2000)
9. Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Adult Empire Strikes Back (2001)
10. Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Battle of the Warring States (2002)
11. Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: Yakiniku Road of Honor (2003)
12. Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Kasukabe Boys of the Evening Sun (2004)
13. Crayon Shin-chan: The Legend Called Buri Buri 3 Minutes Charge (2005)
14. Crayon Shin-chan: The Legend Called: Dance! Amigo! (2006)
15. Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Singing Buttocks (2007)
16. Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Hero of Kinpoko (2008)
17. Crayon Shin-chan: Roar! Kasukabe Animal Kingdom (2009)
18. Crayon Shin-chan: Super-Dimension! The Storm Called My Bride (2010)
That there are not IMDb links to many of these features indicates how sparsely known they are outside of Japan. Hell, I’ve found videos of movies not listed on the IMDb!
Clearly, little is known of these features in the English speaking world. Considering the rights entanglement most anime suffers through, international release rarely happens. All the regular reference sites have essentially zero plot summaries or anything. Even the freaking Anime News Network has little to no information on these movies, at least nothing of any use!
Here’s what I can find out (it doesn’t help that the locatable summaries are in Engrish):
Part One: Shin-chan’s TV hero, Action Kamen, is apparently a real part of his world now. Only he cannot return to his own world, or something, without his “Action Stone,” which has been stolen by Haigure, also called Leotard Devil. It seems Leotard Devil’s dastardly scheme involves swallowing the Stone (as opposed to passing it), which will somehow result in the end of the world. How this is so difficult, if he already possesses it, is beyond me. And it’s up to Shin-chan, the butt-bearing tot who’s hot-to-trot, to save the world, something he’ll do again every year for the next two decades, without ever aging.
Part Two: The Nohara family wins a dream vacation to Buru Buri Island (which translates out to “Ass Dancing Island”). Little do they know this is all a ploy by the wicked White Snake Gang to kidnap Shin-chan for no doubt justifiable reasons, Shin-chan being a completely normal 5-year-old in his universe, who happened to save the world once (maybe). Then there’s someone called Prince Sunnokeshi, and the Buru Buri Monster (aka the “Ass Dancing Monster”).
Behold, an article on this 1994 film’s mightily delayed premiere in India!
Part Three: N/A
Part Four: Things are normal enough as the Futaba Kindergarten goes to Henderland, an amusement park seemingly having to do with the Spanish infinitive for “to cleave.” But the park is home to Dark Secrets, and Shin-chan can only save the day with the magical playing cards he’s been given by a living marionette. I assure you, amongst Japanese media this is a ho-hum bit of weirdness.
Part Five – Eight: N/A
Part Nine: It now being officially the Twenty-First Century (i.e. 2001), a museum opens in honor of the Twentieth Century, where the adults can relive their childhoods. It all turns out to be an evil scheme straight out of Henderland, with the villain seeking a delayed Y2K, to keep it the Twentieth Century – forever. Shiver!
Parts Ten – Eighteen: N/A
About the other 13 movies, I know not beyond their titles, and what unwieldy beasts those are! Two colons in one title! Shin-chan, ass-centric deviant that he is, must be proud. And what’s with the repetition of the semi-subtitle “The Storm Called”?! Maybe it was a sub-brand “Shin-chan” name, presenting those movies as being in a separate continuity (or something) from the show or manga.
Really, I’m more confused now than when I started, knowing “Shin-chan” prior just as a source of butthole jokes on the Cartoon Network. But there are at least locatable two entries…In Japanese, of course, but if incomprehensibility negated movies from this blog, I wouldn’t’ve written up The Cremaster Cycle. That means Part Ten, Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Battle of the Warring States, and Part Thirteen, Crayon Shin-chan: The Legend Called Buri Buri 3 Minutes Charge, are next in the pike. (Future edit: Parts Sixteen is also available.) And to watch them, I shall have to become – an Internet Pirate! Arr!
RELATED POSTS:
• No. 10 Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Battle of the Warring States (2002)
• No. 13 Crayon Shin-chan: The Legend Called Buri Buri 3 Minutes Charge (2005)
• No. 16 Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Hero of Kinpoko (2008)
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