Voice of 目玉おやじ R.I.P.

I’ve mentioned before that I like the Japanese manga and anime titled 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Gegege-no-Kitarou“).

It’s about a group of 妖怪 (ghouls) who help humans.

I have a few of the manga, I watch the anime on TV sometimes, and my family and I went to see both of the live-action movies at the theater.

I also like the artist, 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki). His life story is fascinating.
I wrote a bit about him and the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Gegege-no-Kitarou“) on another post.
Click here read it.

Anyways, 田の中勇 (Isamu Tanonaka), the 政友 (“Seiyuu“)…”voice actor”…who did the voice of one of this show’s main characters–「目玉おやじ」 (“Medama-oyaji“) died last Wednesday.
He was 77 years old.

田の中勇 (Isamu Tanonaka), R.I.P.

I wrote a post last September about the death of the artist of another popular Japanese manga…Click here to read it.

Shin-chan’s creator is missing

Do you know the Japanese cartoon 「クレヨンしんちゃん」 (“Crayon Shin-chan“)?

It was created in 1990 (the year I came to Japan) by 臼井義人 (Yoshito Usui).

It’s about a mischievous kindergarten-age boy named Shinnosuke, nicknamed “Shin-chan”.
Shin-chan and his family and friends live in 埼玉県春日部 (Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan) near Tokyo…which is where 臼井義人 (Yoshito Usui) lives.

Some of the characters in the show are Shin-chan and his friends and classmates in his kindergarten, including the bossy Nene-chan who likes to force the boys to “play house” with her, and the principal of the kindergarten who looks and acts like he used to be a mobster in the Japanese mafia, as well as Shin-chan‘s mother, father, younger sister and their dog.

I found out that 「クレヨンしんちゃん」 (“Crayon Shin-chan“) is shown around the world in many countries, including America…but that it’s usually edited alot due to Shin-chan‘s habit of playfully exposing himself and speaking impolitely.
I heard that many countries even edit out the fact that Shinnosuke often flirts with pretty young women and that his father likes to drink beer.
After all that editing, I wonder what’s left of the cartoon? 😉

I watched the show on TV last night. Did you see it?
It was about the adventure Shin-chan and his father had when they went grocery shopping together and couldn’t find the key to the father’s bicycle when they were ready to go home.
It was pretty funny.

Well, the creator of the 「クレヨンしんちゃん」 (“Crayon Shin-chan“) cartoon, 臼井義人 (Yoshito Usui), told his family that he was going hiking in the mountains in Gunma Prefecture last weekend.
He has been missing since then.
The police have been searching for him since last Monday.
He’s been missing for nearly a week now…but hopefully they can find him safe.

うちの３姉妹

Do you know the words “manga” and “anime“?

Maybe they have become commons words in Western countries…but before I came to Japan in 1990, I had never heard either of those two terms before.

They are both Japanese words.
マンガ (Manga) is the word to describe Japanese comic books. アニメ (Anime) is a Japanese word that comes from the English word “animation”…it’s the word for Japanese cartoons.

Are you a manga and/or anime fan? (You don’t call yourself an オタク (otaku)*, do you??)

*(オタク (otaku) is another Japanese word that, it seems, is being used in Western countries that was never used in America when I lived there. オタク (Otaku) are compulsive fans.)

I’m not really a fan of manga or anime. I know some of them because I have three kids.

Sometimes I watch 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou), 「ちびまる子ちゃん」 (Chibi-Maruko-chan), 「サザエさん」 (Sazae-san), 「あたしンち」 (Atashinchi), or 「クレヨンしんちゃん」 (Crayon-Shin-chan).
And sometimes I might read one of those series in manga.

I watch those anime series because they’re all funny and show average life in Japan.
I can relate.
(Well, 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) is about 妖怪 (ghosts)).

I occasionally read a manga in order to practice reading Japanese.

One manga that I like to read is called 「ダーリンは外国人」 (“My Darling Is A Foreigner“).
It’s written by a Japanese woman whose husband is an American. They live in Tokyo and the manga is a chronicle of their life in an international marriage.
I can relate to this comic, too.

Another one I like to read is called うちの３姉妹 (“Our Three Daughters“).
(うちの３姉妹 isn’t so easy to translate accurately! Something like “Our Family’s Three Sisters” is closer…but that sounds odd in English. Anyways, it means “Our Three Daughters”.)

The author of this one is a mother of three girls close in age…like my daughters are.
Her daughters are younger than mine…but I remember when my kids acted like hers do.
I can relate to this one, as well.