Leave it to Chota

The first Akebono "Complete Works" cover.

**Leave it to Chota** (まかせて長太 *Makasete Chota*)is a gag manga by Fujio Akatsuka and later also credited to Fujio Pro. It ran in Kobunsha's *Shonen* from October 1963 to September 1965.

## Overview

This series centers around the elementary school boy Chota working as an assistant for his handyman father. The two often wind up getting into unusual situations and exploited by criminals when they decide to take whatever work they can, though sometimes it will only be Chota that is vulnerable. Nonetheless, no matter what danger Chota may be put in, his strong will and vitality or the help of those around him can lead to him pulling through each adventure.

A month before its debut in *Shonen*, an advertisement for the series depicted a much different character design for Chota than what readers would eventually see. In the ad, Chota had overalls like his father and a larger nose. His design was changed by the first actual story, although he would gradually evolve to resemble the lead of Osomatsu-kun but with glasses and freckles; this was due to the influence of Akatsuka's wife Tomoko, who contributed her idea of a character design.

In addition to Chota looking like a nerdy counterpart to Osomatsu, other characters from that very series and other currently-running titles such as Otasuke-kun and Nonsensical NO.1 would show up in plots, using Akatsuka's Star System whenever it seemed to add to the fun.

Some characters that would come to be associated with -kun and The Genius Bakabon also made their debut here; the diminutive trickster Hagechibi in chapter 4 (re-appearing in chapter 21), and the White Snow Boss in chapter 16. An early prototype of Tetsuko from Kibimama-chan, based from a female character draft by Tomoko, also appeared in the original frontispiece to chapter 4 but was not used in the actual story.

## Characters

### Chota

The protagonist. He is a spirited young boy willing to take on any job, and believes that he'll be able to complete the task easily. Unfortunately, this often leads to him being taken advantage of and put into dangerous situations that he must find ways to outwit.

Chota has a markedly distinct appearance in the first chapter of the series, sporting large buckteeth and much messier hair while also wearing shorts with his winter jacket. This is tweaked by the second story and on, where he steadily loses the buckteeth and (as mentioned in the overview) becomes more like a Matsuno sextuplet in general shape and design points, to the point where his height even shrinks down as theirs had.

### Father

The owner of a handyman shop. Although he looks like he could be a responsible and dignified father on the surface, he too can actually be a huge fool. He also happens to look rather similar to the father in *Otasuke-kun*, except for that three-toothed overbite.

### Mother

Chota's mother, a housewife. She somewhat resembles the sextuplets' mother, except for wearing her hair in a high bun and usually sporting bangs. Although she wasn't much of a common star, her design was once used as a guest in *Otasuke-kun*.

### Demekin

Chota's best friend. He is originally named **Otasuke** in his first appearance to allude to him being the lead of *Otasuke-kun*, along with him being Chota's own assistant. However, his name is changed to "Demekin" (lit: "bulging eyes") for the rest of his guest spots, fitting his wide-eyed appearance.

When shaved bald, his uncanny facial resemblance to Chibita becomes even more clear.

## Serialization

*See also List of chapters in Leave it to Chota*

* Shonen: October 1963 to September 1965. Also serialized in two special chapters in Shonen's "Thriller Book" (January 15, 1964 and August 15, 1964).

Koredeiinoda mistakenly lists the series as running until December 1965, however this is not truly the case at all.

In total, there are 26 chapters, at least 3 of which have been missing from reprints of the series. Chapter 5 is presumably skipped over due to copyright matters involving references to Astro Boy and Tetsujin 28 (both also ran in *Shonen*), while others have not appeared for other unknown reasons.

## Reprints

* Toho Publishing: "Osomatsu-kun: Leave it to Chota", 1 volume kashihon (1965). Published as a fifth volume of *Osomatsu-kun* by the company. Notably contains "The Story of the Photography Shop" and "#X1 Breaks Up", which are missing from later reprints like Akebono's "Complete Works" collection.
* Bunka (Akebono): 3 volume kashihon, titled as "Comedy to Make You Laugh: Leave it to Chota" (お笑いお笑いまかせて長太), "I'll Do Everything: Leave it to Chota" (なんでもやるよまかせて長太), and "Do it Again and Again: Leave it to Chota" (コンチまたまたまかせて長太)
* Kodama Press: 1 volume in "Diamond Comics" imprint (1966)
* Akebono: 1 volume titled "Time to Work: Leave it to Chota" (よろずお仕事まかせて長太). The series was later reprinted as 2 volumes in the "Complete Works" release of Akatsuka's various works, although not simultaneously; vol.8 of the collection would cover part of the series and be released in 1969, while other chapters would be lumped into vol.17 and released in 1970. These reprints are infamous for the unusual choice in ordering chapters, as well as leaving out 3 stories. A 1-volume bunko edition was also released in 1976.
* Shogakukan: The two Akebono volumes are digitized in the "Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works" DVD-ROM set, released in 2002. Print-on-demand versions can be ordered by Japanese residents via Comic Park.

The entire series has yet to be collected in a release, let alone an eBook edition.

The 25th chapter "Miso is a Miso Robot", missing from most reprints, can be found in vol.2 of a compilation of popular stories from *Shonen*, released in 1989.

## References

1. ↑ Shonen September 1963 issue scans, Akemi Matsuzaki official blog (Japanese)

## Notes

* Outside his series, Chota was briefly used by Akatsuka in Weekly Shonen Sunday's full-page California Raisins advertising illustrations. This made it a rare time to see him show up in another magazine, especially one more famous for using a character he resembled (Osomatsu).
* Of special note is that the anime director Akitaro Daichi has been on record as having enjoyed Chota as his favorite Akatsuka series, to the point where his work of ***Leave it to the Iruka!*** (*Makasete Iruka!*; localized as ***"Grrl Power!"*** in its English release) was intentionally loosely based from it as his own idea of a handyman-themed series featuring child protagonists. He would state that he received approval from Fujio Pro to "halfway homage" the title, and would craft both a prototypical manga series in Animage as well as a 2004 OVA.

## External Links

* "Leave it to Chota" write-up at the Akatsuka Preservation Society (Japanese)
* "Leave it to Chota" summary at "Fujio Akatsuka as a Cultural Heritage" (Japanese)