Takashi Yanase
is a Japanese children's superhero picture book series written by Takashi Yanase, running from 1973 until the author's death in 2013. The series has been adapted into an anime entitled , which is one of the most popular anime series among young children in Japan. The series follows the adventures of Anpanman, a superhero with an anpan (a red bean paste filled pastry) for a head, who protects the world from an evil anthropomorphic germ named Baikinman.