Crayon Shinchan, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Yoshito Usui (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2005

Famous as a Japanese anime TV show, Crayon Shin-Chan follows the daily life of a five-year-old boy whose bodily functions, offensive comments, and outrageous behavior consistently annoy his parents and land him in hot water. A national phenomenon in Japan, this shocking and hilarious comic celebrates the terrible power of destruction and indecency wielded by toddlers everywhere!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sometimes called the Bart Simpson of Japan, cartoon character Crayon Shinchan has his own TV show and manga series. Readers shouldn't be fooled by the flat line drawings and the cover's primary colors, or by the innocent-looking little kid, because five-year-old Shinchan relentlessly sasses the adults around him and pulls perverted pranks that would make even Bart blush. One minute he's getting ready for a bath like any other kid his age; the next, he is teasing his mom about the size of her breasts. At school, he torments his principal and tells his kindergarten teacher that for Christmas he wants Britney Spears "right out of the shower." Shinchan's antics are so powerful, almost every episode ends with an adult in tears, their world shattered by embarrassment. Each incident takes place over three pages, which is sometimes long for bathroom humor. Though it's initially hard to see who the character would appeal to besides 10-year-old boys, eventually the pace and rhythm of the silliness takes on a charm of its own. (However, those who don't like this kind of humor will tire quickly of the book's shameless clowning.) The series must lose something in the translation: some of the jokes and dialogue are awkwardly phrased, and Shinchan's love of all-American Oreos and Britney Spears is too forced to be effective. Still, those who want a peek into Japanese popular culture, and who enjoy light, family-based (if not family-oriented) comics, might want to keep this on the bathroom shelf next to Calvin & Hobbes.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: ComicsOne (April 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588991946
• ISBN-13: 978-1588991942
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #826,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fun of being Five and Japanese, November 14, 2006

By 

E. Ocasio (Mayaguez, PR) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crayon Shinchan, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The back cover says I quote: "...celebrates the terrible power of destruction and indicency wielded by toddlers everywhere". And it's true and so much FUN!
Each volume of this English translated manga by Comics One contains two stories in color and the rest are in black and white, or with "tones" used in Japan. You get to see what is the life of 5 year old Shinnosuke Nohara,Shinchan being the diminutive of his name in Japanese; he is rude, loud, makes the most innapropiate comments at the worst time, and isn't afraid of exposing his nude body and private parts for all to see. Shinchan is a free spirit in every sense of the word. The stories are very honest, very funny and sincere; and some even typical for the behavior of a 5 year old boy.
The author has included many elements of the typical middle class Japanese family and Japanese culture in his stories, but the translator has cleverly changed some details to appeal American audiences. In the first volumes all names are Japanese then are changed to American names in later issues.
Though Shinchan and his aprents remain eternally young (like the Simpsons) the stories do follow an order and sequence of events in the boy's life, but he is five years old forever, unlike the stories on other anime and manga where there is a beginning, middle and end and the charatcers grow, mature and die or move on, NOT here!
Both the manga and the anime series it inspired are very popular in Japan, and as I recently discovered also in Spain and Argentina. I highly recommend these comics to all who have had to deal with small children or would like to read something funny, cute and semi-obnoxious from Japan.
Shinchan is a real character you'll love him! I know I do!
Personally I cannot wait till the release of the anime in the US.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You average 5 year old hell raiser., December 20, 2002

By 

Chris (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crayon Shinchan, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

This book was hilarious. Follow the life of 5 year old kindergartener Shinchan Nohara as he causes all sorts of trouble for his parents.
If you didn't already know this is a Japanese comic (manga). Although it's not drawn very well, the humor makes up for it.
For a 5 year old Shinchan is smart at times but dumbfound at others. He already knows pickup lines, uses children books to hide porn at the bookstore and outsmarts his mother. Other times he goes home to ask his mother their phone number so that he can tell the grocery lady so she can call his mother and ask how much ground beef she needs.
Although the book suggests it should be okay for 13 year olds and up, I still thought it had some adult themes to it (from an American point of view anyways. They see things differently in Japan). My only complaint is that the book is read from left to right. The original Japanese version would be the opposite, since that's how they read.
Definitely worth picking up.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LOL, Loved it., May 27, 2008

By 

Drago-Rosso (Denver,Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crayon Shinchan: Volume 1 (Crayon Shinchan - Reissue) (Paperback)

I love Shin Chan the anime, and the manga is no different (aside from a slight difference in the way Mitzi is drawn). This is my first Shin Chan manga, I skimmed through the comicsone version a while back(the company previous to this one that translated Shin, in a non Shin Chan manner), but I didn't like it too much since they censored some of the original content. I never like when the original is tampered with. But this version, the CMX version (which is the manga division of DC comics) is completely uncensored. And not to worry, this won't change your perception of the characters at all, I had a slight fear of that when I read the explicit content sticker on the front. But it flows completely natural to what you would expect, and to what you have already seen in the anime, with a couple more scenes with Shins pants down, LOL.

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 for a couple reasons.
1. It only has 119 pages, which I can forgive just because it's Shin Chan.

& 2. You don't get the version that is shown in the picture here on Amazon that has the Japanese characters on the cover. You get the English covered one instead with a big red Parental Advisory sticker on the front.

All in All, if your a fan of the Shin Chan animation and read manga, I wouldn't even think twice, just buy it already ;-)