Anime Week in Review: Shin-Chan

OK a few things before I begin this review. Every Saturday I am going to post an anime week in review for any anime shows that I watched during the previous week. I figured instead of everyday talking about a different disc each day for one show, it would be better for you guys and myself to just write one review for anything watched during the week. So, without further ado here is my first review.

The anime series Shinchan tells the story of Shin Nohara, a 5 year old child who loves eating chocolate biscuits, performing his ass dance (yes that is what it is called), and giving his parents a hard time. The show also involves his family, classroom friends, principal and  favorite TV show character; Action Bastard. Shinchan is basically the South Park or Simpson's of Japan. The show doesn't have any main ongoing storyline for the whole series especially considering that the show only has 50 episodes in America where as Japan has over 700 episodes and counting. The main plot of the show is to give Shin the spotlight and occasionally the supporting cast to get into all kinds of antics from getting the last carton of cheap eggs or getting off a planet ruled by British talking dogs. Shinchan is a show intended for adults, so put the kids to bed before you watch this. Various moments of nudity, mostly Shin's ass or occasionally his penis pop up at random moments as well as the occasionally vulgarity. Don't let those reasons stop you from checking it out. This show has it all and it's not afraid to show it or mock it for that matter of fact. The great thing about Shinchan is that the dubbers over at Funimation were basically given liberty to do pretty much whatever they want with the shows dialogue. Since in the original Japanese format the jokes in the show all relate to Japanese people and culture which would be completely lost on American audiences.

That's what makes this show, so much fun to watch, the dialogue. It's witty at times and the references are spot on. The writing staff at Funimation sure did a great job writing content and making sure that the dialogue would be able to match lip flaps. That's another area where the show succeeds on the dubbing job is amazing on par with shows like Cowboy Bebop or any Miyazaki film. All the dialogue matches perfectly with the lip flapping. The running gags in the show are great too, like their neighbor being a dropout or one of Shin's friends that everyone thinks is gay. The dialogue is what makes this show, take it away and all you have is a 5 year old who likes to show his ass and dance around. The animation is a bit on the crappier side but what do you expect from a show that started back in 1990. I will admit the animation used on Shinchan is very different from the anime that shows up these days but that's where a lot of the appeal and love for the show comes from. For you Star Wars geeks, there is a great episode of Shinchan that pokes fun at Star War in all it's glory on par with Family Guy or Robot Chicken's parodies of Star Wars. I've only watched the first season so far, so I still got another 26 episodes to watch this coming week. Next Saturday I'll just briefly touch base on the second season but expect more of the same.

In closing, Shinchan is a great comedy show in a world where comedy is few and far between (most anime have action or dramatic stories with only bits of humor). It's a great show that any fan of anime should checkout at least a few episodes of in their lifetime. Whether you like watching a 5 year old insult his mom's breast size or watching a depressed wife beat up a stuffed bunny to release anger, Shinchan offers it all. So party party and bring the whole Shinchan family along.