In commemoration of Fujio Akatsuka’s 80th anniversary of birth, popular sextuplets, Osomatsu kun came back to TV as a whole new series, “Osomatsu San”!

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Original series, Osomatsu Kun is written by Fujio Akatsuka and became a big hit back in 1960. This series was turned into anime in 1960 and 1980 and live action drama in 1980 as well. The original series, Osomatsu Kun is a story about 10-year-old sextuplets in a daily life, surrounded by other unique characters and it is a family-friendly comedy manga. However, this new series, Osomatsu San is about these sextuplets 10 years later. Due to mature contents, it was aired on TV after midnight for adults. It is still a comedy anime about their daily life, but all of them have no jobs or girlfriends (they even claim that they are all virgins) so they often talk about their “adult struggles” in this show.

Well this does not explain enough why Osomatsu San made a huge hit, especially with girls. Lately lots of classic anime titles have been back on TV such as Sailor Moon Crystal, Dragon Ball Super, Young Black Jack and so on but why did only Osomatsu San particularly become a social phenomenon in the otaku industry? Let’s find out.

 

1) Huge Impacts with Various Parodies

When they announced about the revival of these sextuplets, not many people were making comments about this online both in Japan or America. HOWEVER, once the first episode went on air, it has been causing a sensation in the world.

I believe most people would agree with me that Osomatsu San episode 1 was one of the most shocking episodes in the anime history ever. Do you want to know why?

This episode started with an original artwork in black and white with main characters discussing about how they can survive in 2000s anime world. Then suddenly all the showa-era looking characters transformed into hot looking popular idols (that really reminds viewers of a popular anime/game for girls, Uta No Prince Sama) and that was a start of non-stop parody paradise in one episode. I counted how many titles I can find and there were more than 20 different anime references. For example, the story has evolved based on Uta No Prince Sama, but also you can see characters cosplaying from Shingeki No Kyojin (Attack on Titan), Yowamushi Pedal, Sailor Moon, Love Live!, Totoro, Doraemon, Kuroko No Basket, Naruto and more.

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2) Distinguishable Unique Characters

In the original Osomatsu Kun series, “sextuplets all look the same and cannot tell who is who” was one of their main jokes. However, in their new series each character became way more unique on their own way and they can be easily recognized.

For example, the easiest way to recognize these sextuplets are their image colors. Each character got their own colors such as red, blue, green, yellow, purple and pink. They also got different looks and personalities. As for looks, fans can even tell characters’ names from their eyes or their hairstyle since they are all slightly different. Each characters’ personalities are very distinct as well.

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3) Popular Voice Actors and Stuffs

In Japan, voice actors are really popular like idols. There are even many voice actor’s magazines with their photos posing like models or idols. Osomatsu San’s sextuplets are voiced by popular actors that have huge followers especially among girls.

The director of this show is also Yoichi Fujita who is a recent director of a famous anime series, Gintama. Gintama is famous for unique characters and lots of parodies and this aspect would pretty much explain the direction of Osomatsu San.

 

Although Osomatsu San’s anime series is now over, their popularity has been increasing even today. If you want a good dark laugh, I really recommend Osomatsu San.

 

 

 

Source & Image: Manga Buzzca


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