Anime: Crayon Shin-chan 2e383k

Critic's Log - Earthdate: September 6, 2012. Review #19: Shin Chan



What do Hemorrhoids and Shin Chan have in common? THEY ARE A PAIN IN THE ASS! ANNNND! That's it... Here is Shin Chan!







Shinnosuke Nohara is a little boy who seems to do everything he can
to annoy his parents and teachers (and succeeds wildly), but only means
the best, he just tries to have fun and in doing so does things which
will create the maximum irritation in others.



That is the basic plot summary of Shin Chan. Do I need to say anymore of it?



To Be Technical, this is a Shin'ei Doga production (the studio that
has produced the 1979 Doraemon series and Hare+Guu). This studio at
least deserves a for being criticized extremely because this was a
90's anime and the art style stays mostly true to the manga that it was
originally based off. It may look a little weird and it may as well been
intentionally made to look bad.



The Music by Toshiyuki Arakawa isn't memorable by any means so let's move on...



If there's any features that I think Shin Chan really stands out is
its humor, some of the humor is actually quite damn funny but this anime
will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea, because I have heard the
word "Retard" somewhere in the series and I sort of don't let that slide
easily, because believe it or not... I happen to be Autistic. Besides
the "R" word being used, I was able to channel that out and accept the
rest of the humor which is kinda funny. This anime does have a lot of
toilet humor and I pretty much accepted the humor and took it like a
man, because in order to be a man, I must have honor and a penis. DAMN
IT SHIN-CHAN, WHY DID I HAVE TO QUOTE THAT!?



I will it, Shin is intentionally annoying in this series. I feel
sorry for the other characters in the series. Ai is another somewhat
annoying brat but she's ok. The other characters were ok I guess.



If there is any big technical problems that I do have with this show,
it has everything to do with Funimation's treatment with this series.
Wanna know what problems I plan on addressing? I'll tell you. First of
all, if you are a purist when it comes to anime, Be prepared for
disappointment, The US release of Shin Chan does not have a Subbed
Version. Secondly, Funimation only released 78 episodes and released
these episodes out of order and make the dub consistent with what
episodes they licensed, after 78 episodes they decided not to license
anymore episodes because of the show's length. At the time I am posting
this review, This show has over 700 episodes. I guess Funimation's
release is reasonable by ending it early before it gets old. Last but
not least is its faithfulness in the original japanese script, it is
mostly different than its original release. Funimation decided to add
adult-oriented dialogue which the original japanese dialogue
surprisingly did not have. This anime is a bit Americanized, but it does
retain most of the characters' original names. If you're hoping to
watch Shin Chan in its purest form, well you're out of luck here.



If you're one of the people that doesn't mind the American adaptation
all that much well, to be fair... The Dub is not bad at all. In fact,
Hearing Laura Bailey as Shin is a real mindfrag, Chuck Huber as Hiro is
nice to hear, Colleen Clickenbeard voices the Baby (had no idea either).
So with that said, I was surprised that a couple of voice talents
played something completely different, for example... Laura Bailey
sounding like a boy and Colleen Clickenbeard sounding like a baby. And
to be fair, Laura Bailey did capture the American interpretation of Shin
extremely well because if you can find a clip of Shin's japanese voice,
it nearly almost has the same tone, I might was well give kudos for
Laura Bailey on Shin Chan. Kudos to Zach Bolton as the ADR Director on
that.



If you simply don't care about either version, then just enjoy it for
what it is and that's all I can say for encouragement. I am going to be
perfectly honest, I dropped the series because of the fact that I got
bored with this anime really quickly and I was kind of disappointed with
how unfaithful the American version really is.



Shin Chan is available from Funimation in the US, and was also
available by Vitello Productions and Phuuz Production (don't know where
the hell those guys came from), and the manga by the late Yoshito Usui
was available by ComicsOne but went out of print until it got rescued by
CMX manga which also eventually went out of print and got rescued a
SECOND TIME by One Peace Books. A new manga series of Shin Chan that is
called "New Crayon Shin-Chan" has not made it to the US yet.



With that said, Shin Chan is really kind of a mixed opinion type of
anime, some people might like this anime, some won't. I will it, I
find this show quite funny to some degree and I did find parts of this
show boring. I gave this show a try and I just couldn't sit through it
as it progressed.



I give Shin Chan a 5.5 out of 10, It is SO and SO!



Feel free to leave to comment, now if you'll excuse me... I am gonna
do the Thinker pose in the john and I'll meditate on as to why I tried
this anime...



That's - A - Wraaaaap!

Note: I have seen all episodes of this anime on dutch television, so this is my permanent vote.
Note2: This review might seem very unobjective, but I really think this anime deserves a lot of credit.

Animation: Now, the first thing people say when you start talking in a positive manner about crayon shin chan is: "but it's drawn so ugly". I have to disagree. Sure, compared to about any other series it looks like crap (still better than DBZ though), but it's like that for a reason. I really think I would not have enjoyed this anime as much as I do if the animation had been 'better'. It suits this anime because it is about a little chaotic boy. The drawing style is also chaotic and looks like it has been done by some 12 year old, so if you REALLY REALLY mind than don't read on. This type of animation makes the series all the more humorous and fantastic.

Sound: The 9 is only for the dutch dubs, because I really loved watching them, even more than the japanese original. For the japanese it would be a 7, and for the US I would guess a 6 or so. Anyway, the dutch voice actors did a REALLY good job on this series and the intro song really owns your ass!

Story: Well, the series is about a young boy, making havok and...uh...taking his pants off. That's the beauty of this anime, it's so friggin' hilarious! It's pretty much just the everyday life of a family with one hyperactive kid. Everywhere he goes he makes trouble or offends people, and it's just great. I would think it is really hard to keep coming up with funny stories as the series progress but the writer of Crayon Shin Chan did this very very well.

Character: The characters in Crayon are great, especially Shin Chan himself and his schoolmaster Mr. Enzo (a.k.a. Don Enzone). Every character is likeable in his or her own way and they're all very funny. The characters actually evolve over the series, the best example being mitsy (the mother) getting pregnant. Her attitude really changes during and after pregnancy.

Value: I've enjoyed the re-runs almost as much as the first time I watched the episodes. The jokes are still a lot of fun and with the exception of a few 'bad' episodes it has been a real joy to see them all again.

Enjoyment: As it shows above, I loved watching this anime, and I would recommend it to anyone from ages 6 to 30. (Don't blame me if your 4 year olds go running around without their pants on)