Otasuke-kun

Frontispiece featuring the Shiketa family, Ichiro, and his father.

**Otasuke-kun** (おた助くん) is a gag manga series by Fujio Akatsuka, later credited to Akatsuka and Fujio Pro. It ran in Shogakukan's monthly grade school learning magazine 4th Grade, as well as other grades, in the period of 1963 to 1968.

It was followed up by a short-term sequel and spin-off, **"2nd-Generation President Ichiro-kun"**.

## Overview

The title derives from the word *otasuke*, meaning helper/assistant, but it is also the character's name and his purpose. The elementary school student Otasuke and his younger brother Tamao happen to live with their average salaryman and housewife parents, but must often deal with situations involving their father's boss, the President of Otoboke Pharmaceutical, along with his incredibly foolish son Ichiro. The series follows the daily lives of the three boys, as well as the various situations they get into in trying to help out others or in adventuring to strange places.

During its run, it was often considered a more easy-going, "home drama" and "home comedy" type of manga in comparison to the wilder *Osomatsu-kun*, but still amassed its own level of popularity to be continued through other grade magazine serializations. It also included its own colorful supporting cast characters with their own stories, such as Gorilla the Housekeeper, Hippo Man, and Hige-sensei ("Mr. Beard").

As with Osomatsu and his brothers, Otasuke himself would also wind up overshadowed by his very supporting cast over time; Ichiro would become a common character used by Akatsuka, and Chikako from *Ohana-chan* would also become part of the cast (while simultaneously being associated with *Akko-chan's Got a Secret!*) and receive billing in the *Otasuke and Chika-chan* spinoff. In fact, Ichiro's foolish antics and mischief lead to him being the most frequent character to "eat the lead role" of the series, with him receiving many spotlight chapters or significant parts to play in a story.

The characters of the series would also cameo in other Fujio Pro titles around the mid-1960s, but ultimately drop off in appearances. Of the cast, Ichiro and Chikako would remain in use as recent as the 1990s; Ichiro in the *Songo-kun* remake, *Gag Shop*, and *MR. Masashi*, while Chikako guest-starred in the remake of *Hennako-chan*.

It is possible that the works of *I am a...Salaryman* and *Mister Kaguya* inspired this eventual series, as the family structure and story flow would appear to be prototypical, along with one of the two children resembling an early Tamao. Readers of *Nama-chan* will also recognize that this series contains remakes of certain stories, with Nama and his friends' roles substituted with Otasuke and the others in their place.

### 2nd-Generation President Ichiro-kun

In this short-lived rebranding and spinoff, Ichiro takes over the Otoboke company for his bedridden father and has to deal with the daily business life.

Though it was initially directly linked to *Otasuke-kun* itself, it quickly became its own kind of universe with its own kind of gags and rules, and Otasuke and his family barely appeared.

## Characters

*See List of characters in Otasuke-kun for more people appearing in this series.*

### Otasuke

The protagonist and elder son of the Shiketa family. He is often kept busy by having to assist others around him with their requests, whether it's helping his unreliable father or Ichiro. He notably shares his design with Ganmo of *Akko-chan,* but it is unclear as to whether Akatsuka may have indeed intended them as the same star or merely had them be unrelated "twins" as Akko and Totoko were in design.

Otasuke managed to guest-star in *Leave it to Chota* as the friend of the lead character (who has a suspiciously similar father to that of Otasuke), though he was quickly renamed "Demekin" ("bulging eyes") for his later appearances in that title.

### Tamao

The younger of the two sons. He has a distinct checker-print hat that nearly always covers his bald head. He tends to tag along with Otasuke, and acts as his sidekick.

His design was refined from a younger brother character that appeared in Akatsuka's older one-shots of *Mister Kaguya* and *I am a...Salaryman*, as well as taking his name and some features from the lead of *Tamao and the Thief*.

### Ichiro

The foolish, not too intelligent son of the Otoboke president, who frequently gives his father a hard time with his antics. He is the oldest of the three boys, stated to be first-year junior high school student in the first chapter, although appearances outside this series can have him as younger or older as the setting may require.

He is characterized by his unique pointed mouth and his taro-like head, making him immediately visible when he shows up elsewhere.

### Ichiro's Papa (The Company President)

A busy boss who intends for Ichiro to take over his company when he is smarter and old enough. Unfortunately for this man, his son is a bit too stupid and carefree and gets more delight out of making random mischief for the neighborhood.

### Gorilla the Housekeeper

An ugly but strong and capable housekeeper that was hired by Ichiro's father. She is named such due to being compared to a gorilla by the boys, but has a somewhat motherly role to them while bearing no children of her own. Her own gorilla-like husband and relatives pop up during the series, providing more humor of people who look strangely animalistic.

Gorilla's character design was re-purposed for the lead of Giant Mama, gaining an extra tooth which also appeared on her in some *Otasuke-kun* chapters during the time.

### Otasuke's Parents

A company handyman and a busy housewife.

As mentioned before, the very design of Otasuke's father is re-used for the one in *Leave it to Chota* (as well as in the original *Songo-kun*), but gains an overbite to distinguish him in appearance.

Otasuke's mother is later seen re-used for the mother of Ganmo in a later *Akko-chan* chapter, as well as being the mother of a "cousin Saburo" (Tamao) that appears in another.

### Chikako ("Chika-chan")

A side cast member who gets more prominence with the boys as the series goes on, showing great affection for Otasuke but being easily jealous if he may be seen with another girl. She also becomes a target for Ichiro's chaotic and sometimes dangerous pranks.

## Serialization

*See List of chapters in Otasuke-kun*

* 4th Grade: April 1963-March 1964. Returned to the magazine from April 1965 to March 1966 re-branded as "Otasuke and Chika-chan" (おた助・チカちゃん), and then returned for a final "Otasuke-kun" run from September 1967-October 1968.
* 5th Grade: April 1964-March 1965.
* Shogakukan Comics: Summer 1965,Winter 1965, Spring 1966 special issues
* 6th Grade: April to December 1965. Ran simultaneous to "Otasuke and Chika-chan" and the 2nd Grade version.
* 2nd Grade: September 1965 to March 1966. Succeeded by the 2nd Grade run of Osomatsu-kun.

After the wrap-up of the final 4th Grade run, the *Ichiro-kun* feature ran in its place for five months from November 1968 to March 1969. Because of its short length and connections with the other characters, it can be easily included with the rest of the series.

It is also to be noted that some issues may have included a chapter in the magazine itself, while another story could also be in its appendix booklet.

## Reprints

*Various chapters have been missed in editions. "Otasuke and Chika-chan" is either entirely skipped, or has a few chapters folded into the "Otasuke-kun" name. The 2nd Grade run may also have chapters missed out in reprints such as Akebono, while other chapters from it are interspersed with the original 4th Grade run.*

* Kinran Company: 3 volumes
* Akebono: 7 volume kashihon. The series was later reprinted into 6 volumes as part of the "Complete Works" line (for vol. 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, and 12) in 1969, including the spin-off "2nd Generation President Ichiro-kun" and two other older short-term Akatsuka series.
* Shogakukan: The Akebono "Complete Works" volumes were digitized for the "Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works" DVD-ROM set, released in 2002. Japanese residents can order print-on-demand versions of these books via Comic Park.

## External Links

* Otasuke-kun write-up at the Akatsuka Preservation Society (Japanese)
* Summary of the series at "Fujio Akatsuka as a Cultural Heritage" (Japanese)