The first story, titled "Chibi Maruko-chan," appeared in the August 1986 issue of the shojo manga magazine Ribon. Other semi-autobiographical stories by the author were published in Ribon and Ribon Original in 1984 and 1985, respectively, and were included in the first "Chibi Maruko-chan" tankobon in 1987. These later stories are set in different time periods from the original story and feature different characters. The earliest evidence we have for Chibi Maruko-chan is from her debut year (1986) with two separate publications: one in shōjo manga and one in ribon. This indicates that Chibi Maruko-chan's popularity was already strong enough to support multiple editions. However, it is possible that other versions may have existed previously without any trace of them today. After her debut, Chibi Maruko-chan continued to appear regularly in Ribon until its cancellation in 1990. The artist also contributed chapters to Ribon Original before it too ended its run in 1985. So basically Chibi Maruko-chan debuted in 1986 and disappeared from publication in 1990. There was a short revival in 1991 with the release of the first Chibi Maruko-chan movie which served as a sequel/prequel to the original series. Nowadays there are many variants of Chibi Maruko-chan available in various media including anime, manga, drama CDs, video games, plush dolls, etc.