Anpanman

Anpanman(アンパンマン)is a Japanese children'ssuperheropicture bookseries written byTakashi Yanase, running from 1973 until the author's death in 2013. The series has been adapted into ananimeentitledSoreike! Anpanman(それいけ!アンパンマン,Let's Go! Anpanman), which is one of the most popular anime series among young children inJapan. The series follows the adventures of Anpanman, a superhero with ananpan(ared bean pastefilled pastry) for a head, who protects the world from an evil anthropomorphic germ namedBaikinman.
Heavily merchandised, theAnpanmancharacters appear on virtually every imaginable children's product in Japan, ranging from clothesand video games to toysandsnack foods.The series spawned a short-livedspin-offshow featuring one of the popular recurring characters on the show, Omusubiman. Anpanman overtookHello Kittyas Japan'stop-grossing characterin 2002,and has remained the country's top-grossing character as of 2019.Anpanmanhas sold over 80million books as of February 2019, and the franchise generated¥4.5 trillionin total retail sales revenue by 2013. Works inspired byAnpanmaninclude themangaand anime seriesOne-Punch Man, and theK-popsong "Anpanman" byBTS.
An English dub, produced forTurner Internationalaired onPogoin India alongside a Hindi dub.
During theSecond World War, Takashi Yanase faced starvation countless times, which made him dream about eating an anpan. This inspired the creation ofAnpanman.
In each episode, Anpanman fights with Baikinman and saves the day. He goes on daily patrols around the house of Uncle Jam. He is a symbol ofjustice, fighting for good every day.Anpanmanhas a long history, and new characters are frequently introduced, keeping the series fresh.  In 2009,Anpanmanwas verified as aGuinness World RecordHolder for the highest number of characters in an animated franchise, with a total of 1,768 characters appearing in the first 980 episodes of the TV series and the first 20 films.
TheAnpanmanpicture book series debuted in October 1973.Froebel-kan has published over 150 picture books under different series labels consisting of a varying amount of picture books. Takashi Yanase wrote and illustrated the picture books until 2013, following his retirement from his career and eventual death.
Takashi Yanase created three different manga series based on the character.
The first anime adaptation ofAnpanman, consisting of a single episode, aired duringSpring Break Children's Hiroba - Picture BookonNHK General TVon March 13, 1979. Like the early picture books, Anpanman's name in the title was written inhiragana(あんぱんまん) instead ofkatakana. The anime was narrated by Meiko Nakamura. Although the character designs were closer to the picture books released under theKinder Picture Bookslabel, the story and the worldview were almost the same as the second anime adaptation.
The second anime adaptation of Anpanman, entitledSoreike! Anpanman(それいけ!アンパンマン,Let's Go! Anpanman), is produced byTMS Entertainment. Over 1300 episodes have aired onNTVsince October 3, 1988. In April 2020, it was reported the voice recordings have had been put on hold due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.On October 2, 2020, it was announced that the voice actors will now be recording lines in separate booths in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19. They will also be taking shifts.
The anime series received at least 3 English dubs, the first one is obscure and doesn't have much known information about it other than that it allegedly premiered in 1998 on Animax Asia and was dubbed into Thai, Uzbek and Sinhala, and the only surviving audio of the dub are the English-dubbed versions of the opening and ending songs that were used in the Thai dub and the only surving footage exclusive to the English dub are the opening and ending songs used in the Uzbek dub, which includes the English lyrics and credits, it is evident that the character Baikinman, was referred to both as Baikinman and Meany-Man in this dub, because in the English-dubbed ending song he is referred to as Baikinman, but in the subtitled lyrics, he is referred to as Meany-Man.
Anpanman also received an English dub in India (along with other regional languages) which was aired onPogo TVin 2009.
There are currently a total of 33 full-length films based on theSoreike! Anpanmananime series. The films are also produced by TMS Entertainment and have been released in Japanese theaters every year since 1989. Since at least 1993, the films have been released concurrently with storybook versions written and illustrated by Takashi Yanase himself. Each movie has the same general plot - A person (usually a princess) comes from a foreign land. Baikinman unlocks some dark secret and controls a weapon or monster able to polymorph people. And with the help of the aforementioned person, Anpanman defeats the said weapon or monster. Sometimes the person dies but is brought back to life by a tearful song from the characters.
In May 2020, it was announced that production on the thirty-first Anpanman filmSoreike! Anpanman: Fuwafuwa Fuwari to Kumo no Kuni(それいけ! アンパンマン ふわふわフワリーと雲の国,Let's Go! Anpanman: Fluffy Fuwari and the Cloud Country) had also been delayed due to the pandemic. The film was slated to be released on June 26, 2020.In June 2020, the film was delayed to 2021.
In 2021, TMS Entertainment dubbed tenAnpanmanmovies into English and Spanish exclusively forTubi.The first movie,Apple Boy and Everyone's Hope, was released on April 15, 2021 (which was the first Takashi Yanase anime production sinceRinging Bellto be presented in an English dub).The second movieAnpanman: Purun, the Soap Bubblewas released on July 23, 2021. Seven other films were released on September 10, 2021. The tenth movieAnpanman: Twinkle! Princess Vanilla of Ice Cream Landwas released on November 12, 2021. It was also announced on January 19, 2024, that two newAnpanmanfilms would be dubbed and released on Tubi in February of the same year. But these films got delayed until May.
In 1990, Tokyo Movie Shinsha started producing short subject Anpanman movies. These are around 24 minutes (except the second which is a double-length short) that were shown in conjunction with the full-length movies seen above. The shorts made in 1989 and 1993 arenot includedas they do not involve the world of Anpanman.
In December 1988, Tokyo Movie Shinsha started making Anpanman Christmas specials. A total of 32 Christmas Specials have been made.
There are currently a total of 42 video games on this list based on theSoreike! Anpanmananime series, ranging fromadventuregames toeducationalgames. With the exception ofSoreike! Anpanman Eigo to Nakayoshi 2 Tanoshii Carnival, the video games were released only in Japan.
In 2011, research byBandaifoundAnpanmanto be the most popular fictional character among people aged 0 to 12 in Japan for 10 consecutive years.Anpanman overtookHello Kittyas Japan'stop-grossing characterin 2002,and was Japan's top-grossing character as of 2019.
By 2006, theAnpanmanbooks had sold over 50million copies in Japan.By the time Takashi Yanase passed away in 2013, theAnpanmanpicture books had sold 68million copies.As of February 2019,Anpanmanhas sold more than 80million books.As of March 2021,Bandai Namcohas sold2.39 millionAnpanman PCunits since 1999, includingtablet computers.
Retail sales ofAnpanmanrelated products grossed an annual revenue of at least¥150 billionconsecutively for nearly 30 years.
There are five museums across Japan that are dedicated toAnpanman, such as theYokohama Anpanman Children's Museum & Mall. There is also theYanase Takashi Memorial Hall, a museum dedicated to Takashi Yanase himself.
Anpanman trainlivery is featured on some ofJR Shikokutrains, such as theJR Shikoku 2000 seriesDMUand theJR Shikoku 8000 seriesEMU.
The Anpanman Official Shop Taipei, the first overseasAnpanmanshop specializing in products related to the series, opened at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi shopping mall inTaipeion September 10, 2015.
Anpanmaninspired themangaand anime seriesOne-Punch Man(ワンパンマン,Wanpanman).It is awebcomic/mangaseries created byOne, with the title a play on the titular character.
TheK-popgroupBTSreleased a song in their hit albumLove Yourself: Tearunder the name "Anpanman" with many references to the series.