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Keiko Yamamoto Steps Down From Role of Shōta Yamada in Chibi Maruko-chan Anime
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The staff of the Chibi Maruko-chan anime announced on Sunday that Keiko Yamamoto will step down from voicing the character of Shōta Yamada after the episode that will air on December 17. Yamamoto has voiced the character since January 1990. The staff have not yet revealed who will replace Yamamoto, but the new voice will debut in the episode that will air on January 28, 2024.
Yamamoto also stepped down from voicing the character of Hanako Hanazawa in the similarly long-running children's anime Sazae-san in November. Kumiko Watanabe is now voicing the character.
Chibi Maruko-chan aired its 1,500th episode in May 2022.
The original Chibi Maruko-chan manga inspired a television anime that is almost consistently the #3 rated television anime series after Sazae-san and Detective Conan. (Chibi Maruko-chan airs on Fuji TV on Sundays at 6:00 p.m., before Sazae-san at 6:30 p.m.) The first anime series ran from 1990 to 1992, and the ongoing second series premiered in 1995.
The manga's creator Momoko Sakura passed away due to breast cancer at the age of 53 in August 2018. She serialized the manga in Shueisha's Ribon magazine from 1986 to 1996. The comedy manga, which follows the everyday life of a third-grade schoolgirl, has about 32.5 million copies in print. Sakura launched a four-panel version in a Japanese newspaper in 2007, and she ended that version in 2011.
The Chibi Maruko-chan manga started getting new chapters in 2019. Sakura Production, which is staffed by long-time assistants of Sakura, are drawing the chapters. The manga is running irregularly in Ribon.
Source: Anime! Anime! (小野瀬太一朗)
