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Emi Motoi Replaces Keiko Yamamoto as Yamada in Chibi Maruko-chan Anime
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The staff of the Chibi Maruko-chan anime announced on Sunday that Emi Motoi has taken over the role of Shōta Yamada in the anime, starting with the episode that will air on February 4. Motoi also voices Himeko Jogasaki in the show.
Keiko Yamamoto stepped down from voicing the character of Shōta Yamada after the episode that aired on December 17. Yamamoto has voiced the character since January 1990. 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.
Sources: Chibi Maruko-chan anime's Twitter account, Comic Natalie
