Mom NO.1

Cover featuring Taro, and his mom's two looks.

**Mom NO.1** (母ちゃんNO.1 ) is the title of two related yet separate gag series by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro. The original was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday through 1976-1977, while a remake ran in Deluxe BomBom from 1994-1995.

Both works will be covered and compared within this article.

## Overview

The work is a slice of life family comedy, revolving around a young boy named Taro whose mother pulls double-duty by assuming a day job as a black factory worker- as well as that of a man and father, to make up for her son not having a father figure in his life. At the time, discrimination against women in workplaces was still present and there was no guarantee of them being treated equally. This plays into the setting of the mother, Fukiko, masquerading as a "Torazou Yamada" and working harder than all her fellow employees to make the best life for her son.

The title would have its occasional experiments and twists employed: One week, Akatsuka had a chapter "Dad NO.1" that revolved around an entirely different Taro and his father (the usual Taro and his mom only showing up at the end in the neighborhood), while the following week was "Brother NO.1" about a Taro and his older brother. Even later on, there was the chapter "Kinmoro NO.1" that revolved around a pair of twin aliens named Kin-chan and Tama-chan coming to Earth to cause trouble.

The arrival of a strict old man known as Ryunoshin Hattori would be the best example of a shake-up in the series, with his antics winding up taking over the plot as he made himself at home with Taro and his mother.

As with a few other Akatsuka works like Hennako-chan and Songo-kun, a remake version was produced for the Heisei era readership with its own modern alterations: The son is now a boy named Shunsaku, while his mother does not assume the disguise of a man in the daytime but nonetheless remains dedicated to making sure her son has an enjoyable life.

The newer *Mom NO.1* would wind up being the final Akatsuka manga to run in Deluxe BomBom, after having succeeded The Cat House Owner.

## Characters (1976)

Aside from these characters and the usual guest and one-shot types, there is very minor usage of Akatsuka's Star System; The Police Officer with the Connected Eyes shows up in the later portion, along with Ataro, Dekoppachi, and Beramatcha.

### Taro Yamada

A bright and courageous young boy who won't be defeated too easily. Though he lost his father early in life, he will gladly help keep his mother's secret going and relies on her expertise at being the best of both parents.

### Fukiko Yamada

A woman with both strong femininity and a hard edge of masculinity that makes her formidable enough to pull off her day-job as a shipment clerk. Once she gets home, the work clothes come off and she puts her apron back on, though in some cases she may be forced to retain her disguise as a man for certain guests.

Her given name isn't revealed until later in the series, when her mother appears in Tokyo and is surprised to see her job.

### Company President

Fukiko's boss, who is initially unaware of her double life but becomes flustered and awkward after the reveal, wondering how he can show affection and deal with feelings about her (though he still refers to her as "Yamada-kun" to keep her cover intact).

### "Mom's Mom"

Fukiko's mother, who moves into the house for about six chapters and provides further company for the mother and son, even attracting the affection of an old greengrocer in one story. However, she then leaves the plot, for Hattori-san to take her place at their house and Taro to be upset at such a development.

### Neighbors

A husband and wife that live by the Yamadas. The wife is always nosy at the strange events that go on, rushing back to her husband to panic while he's occupied with something else; usually his attempts at performing magic tricks.

### Ryunoshin Hattori

A strange old man who winds up coming to stay with Taro and his mother. He's hot-blooded and deeply admires the way of the samurai, going as far as to wield a sword.

Initially, he has a black mustache and is depicted in a full traditional outfit, but this changes as immediately as his second appearance with his mustache becoming white and him preferring to go naked in a loincloth when not in his yukata. He will go naked even if he gets a cold in the chilly air, and see nothing wrong with getting others to take off their own clothes to expose themselves.

A much different character by the same name exists in Gag Guerrilla, and is definitely not to be mistaken with this man.

### Taro's Dad

He died before the events of the series, and is only shown in memorial photographs or via a flashback chapter of Fukiko explaining how they met. He was a shabby, poor college student who relied on Fukiko's kindness and offerings of vegetables and other food to help him out, loving her sweet potatoes the most.

## Characters (1994)

Although there is not much of a Star System presence, Chikako and Hennako from the 1991 remake of Hennako-chan can be seen on a playground in the first chapter, along with Nyarome.

Bakabon's Papa and Nyarome are also shown as cartoons on TV at a point, providing some more meta in-joking.

### Shunsaku

Born in Showa year 59 (1984). He is called "Shun-chan" by some for short, though usually referred to by his whole given name.

He is a straightforward, nice but somewhat mischievous young boy who lost his father in a car accident soon after his birth. As it's just him and his mother, he'll do his best with his life growing up in the Heisei era even if he may be swayed by some impulsive ideas.
As a baby, he resembles Hajime from The Genius Bakabon, but has full, round eyes and dark hair at age 10.

### Kazuyo

The mother in this version. She doesn't appear to have a job other than keeping up the house, though she is still around to make sure all goes well with her child and to reprimand any trouble. Her eyes are more often fully round than dots, and she lacks the buckteeth that Fukiko had in her design.

While her son may not be a very strong boy, she can show her own great physical strength. Even in the instance where Shunsaku tries to become a sumo, she's still able to throw and defeat him, showing that little has changed about him at all.

### Neighbors (The Tanaka Couple of 2-Chome)

As in the original, a couple of an average-looking woman and a sharp-dressed man who's busy with his magic tricks and other pursuits. The husband attempts to show Shunsaku a card trick, but fails, while in a later story the wife converses with the boy about his idea to enter sumo wrestling.

### Funio Shirotsuka

A manga-ka that Shunsaku visits, living out of a derelict building known as "Urena-so" (a parody of Tokiwa-so). He is the creator of "***Usomatsu-kun***", a gag manga about septuplets.

As one can figure, he is based off Akatsuka himself and even appears alongside him in a later frontispiece illustration.

## Serialization

* Weekly Shonen Sunday: #20, #23, #27-12 from 1976 to 1977
* Deluxe BomBom: April 1994 to March 1995

## Reprints

* Shogakukan: 3 volumes in "Shonen Sunday Comics" imprint. The 1965 double-shot feature "Giant Mama" was reprinted as extra content at the end of the last volume. These volumes later were digitized for the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set in 2002, though the "Giant Mama" chapters were removed due to the redundancy of one already being in "We are 8 Pro" (yet the first chapter was not digitized anywhere). This later version is also available via print-on-demand form through the ComicPark service. The 1990s remake was collected for the first time in its own book, "Mom NO.1 1994"
* eBookJapan: 4 volumes, with the final volume composed of the remake edition (titled "New Mom NO.1" )