Chikako

**Chikako** (チカ子) is a character created by Fujio Akatsuka, initially appearing inOhana-chan but later becoming known for being a support character in Akko-chan's Got a Secret! and Otasuke-kun.

She is a common character seen inAkatsuka's Star System for the 1960s works, sporadically appearing afterwards through the 1970s to 1990s.

## Overview

Due to the lack of common reprints for *Ohana-chan*, Chikako may often be mistaken as originating from Akko-chan. In actuality, she is among one of the early prolific "stars" of Akatsuka's gag and shojo works.

She is often portrayed as a naughty little girl and abrasive, serving either as a rival-type character or a challenge to others. Otherwise, she may simply mingle in crowd scenes. Her age may often be ambiguous and dependent on the setting, with her either being of early elementary school age or a little older (but still short).

## Physical Appearance

Chikako is a small, squat young girl with a round face and large round glasses. Her hair is cut in a blunt bobbed style, although some artistic depictions may favor it being a bit longer and less even.

She wears a flower on either side of her head, and is often seen in a lace-collared dress with a single button. There are some occasions which she will be depicted with a hair bow instead of the flower, including some of her appearances in *Ken-chan* and the 1991 *Hennako*-*chan*.

In some of her 1970s appearances, Chikako may also be given a prominent bucktooth, as seen in Osomatsu-kun and "There's No Wonderful Business Like That of a Gag!".

If Chikako's glasses would wind up removed or stolen, she is revealed to only have tiny dots for eyes.

## Personality

She is a mischievous, louder and somewhat snobbish child, often mocking or tricking others but having a chance of winding up vulnerable due to her own antics.

In *Akko-chan*, she is played as a cryptic, sneering and bribing young girl who will threaten to spill others' secrets unless she is paid off or appeased in some manner. She is considered to run her own information network of rumors, but in other titles this detail is not a factor in her personality. There are times when she will wind up trying to investigate suspicious activity about Akko, only to be foiled by her transformations or other circumstances.

She is somewhat of a glutton, and loves attention and praise. But as much as her sly and crafty behavior can lead her to get away with some pranks, she can also be vulnerable and the target to pranking by others. And of course, there is no way she is able to go against her mother.

## Relationships with Other Characters

### Mother

Chikako's mother is only ever seen in *Ohana-chan* and *Otasuke-kun*, where she appears as a much taller, stern woman who is hard on her daughter and exasperated by the trouble she can cause.

As with her daughter, she has dark hair, a pointed nose, and thick round glasses.

### Father

Chikako's father also shows up during the *Otasuke-kun* series, as a salaryman who can wind up incredibly foolish and childfish when drunk, giving his daughter's class much amusement when he tries to entertain them at a Christmas party.

As with his wife and daughter, he wears thick glasses, but he can also be seen to have a pair of large buckteeth.

### Ohana

Compared to the innocent and carefree Ohana, Chikako is more openly naughty and a trickster type and will try to get her to go along with some type of mischief.

### Chibita

In *Osomatsu-kun*, Chikako first notably appears as a domineering little girl who forces Chibita into finding a lost handkerchief under the threat that they won't be able to play together. A later interaction and setting of the two has her as the object of Chibita's desire, but she outsmarts him and was manipulating him in the first place into defending her from the sextuplets. In the end, he takes his revenge on her.

She is briefly seen hanging around him in the 2nd run of -kun as well, cheering on the mutated Iyami at the end of the chapter "A Big Butt Popped Out!" and then seen hanging out alongside him and the other children at the end of "The Art of Tears".

### Ken-chan

In *Ken-chan*, Chikako is a fellow buddy of Ken, but will at times be at odds with him and leave him crying (such as one instance where she feuds with Chibita but then makes up with him and leaves Ken vulnerable).

She and Ken are both mentioned as going into first grade, and Osomatsu serves as a trickster mentor figure to the two of them at times, but is weak to the presence of their elder siblings.

### Otasuke

Chikako has great affection for Otasuke, to the point where in one notable story she gets significantly jealous when seeing another girl in the neighborhood daring to play and hang out with him and his friends. Once Otasuke learns of her involvement in trying to drive the girl away, they get into a fight, and he orders Chikako and the others to go find the other girl to resolve the situation.

### Tamao

Chikako has a decent bond with Tamao as well, but when angered or jealous, it is him that will be on the receiving end of any punch.

In the two kids' cameo in *Osomatsu-kun*'s "Captain Mom", they are rival pirates that both lost their glasses after bumping into each other, and are stuck trying to find them in the midst of the chaos.

### Ichiro

There are times when Chikako can be on the receiving end of one of Ichiro's pranks and naughty actions, such as when he goes about tearing up fish banners with his teeth and decides to chew up her dress due to its fish print. Another time, he is responsible for stealing and hiding her glasses, leading to her to stumble around in danger and nearly be hit by a train due to not being able to see well.

Still, there are other times she will be on friendlier terms, but as with Otasuke, may get jealous if she spies him paying more attention to another girl. In the "Chika-chan's Jealousy" story, she tries to use this and Ichiro's foolishness to her advantage to get him to prank the other girl and reduce her to tears.

### Akko

Chikako can be a thorn in Akko's side, teasing her with juicy new gossip but also reminding her and Moko that they'd have to pay for it. She becomes suspicious of Akko in the third run, however, attempting to find out her secret but either being foiled or disturbed by confusing revelations that she finds (such as taking a photo of a woman with Akko's father, only for the photograph to show Akko there instead).

### Kankichi

Chikako notably threatens Kankichi with tattling on him for stealing and breaking a smaller child's bike if he can't buy a new bike to replace it, which leads to his aim to try to sell newspapers for bike money. Otherwise, she can be seen to complete the trio of smaller children in the manga, often seen alongside both him and Ganmo. This factor carries through to the anime adaptations as well.

In the third run of Akko, Kankichi is revealed to have a crush on Chikako, to the disgust and horror of Akko and Moko, who try to prevent him all they can from liking her (Akko even taking Chikako's form to beat up Kankichi in hopes of making him hate her). However, Kankichi's feelings cannot be denied, and he and Chikako are seen enjoying sweet potatoes later on.

### Ganmo

Chikako seems to hold a friendly standing with Ganmo as part of the "younger trio", hanging around him and Kankichi whenever possible.

### Jajako

As seen in some appearances, such as *The Genius Bakabon* and *Otasuke-kun*, Chikako can be good friends with this girl. At another point in Jajako's own series, however, Chikako and some other girls that snub Jajako wind up pranked when she pours red paint into their pool.

### Mystery Child

An unidentified, unnamed child is once shown with Chikako in Osomatsu-kun, with it being unknown if they are a sibling or general neighborhood toddler that she hangs around. They follow after her closely, and are shown to play with her and Chibita.

This child also appears in a cameo with Chikako in the 1966 anime skit "First Class Car Race, Jo" when the two board a bus with the rest of the cast.

## Appearances in other works

*See also: Akatsuka's Star System*

* *Akko-chan's Got a Secret!*
* *Osomatsu-kun*
* *Otasuke-kun* (including "Otasuke and Chika-chan")
* *Ken-chan*
* *Kantaro*
* *Jajako-chan*
* *The Genius Bakabon*
* *There's no Wonderful Business like that of a Gag!*
* *The Great Stupid Detective Kogoro Hakuchi*
* *What Will Fujio Akatsuka Do!?*
* *Hennako-chan* (Weekly Josei magazine)
* *Mom NO.1* (1994 version)
* *Collapse of the Sheeh! Religion*

## Portrayals

### Voice Acting

* Osomatsu-kun (1966)- Mari Kitagawa
* The Secrets of Akko-chan (1969)- Hiroko Maruyama
* The Secrets of Akko-chan (1988, 1998)- Keiko Yamamoto
* That's How Things Should Be!! Fujio Akatsuka★The Movie- Maki Horikita

### Live Action

Chikako first appeared in a live-action form in not anything of *Akko-chan*, but the 1985 Monday Dramaland special for Osomatsu-kun. She was portrayed by Kyoko Takami.

## Trivia

* Each of Chikako's voice actresses would wind up associated with also voicing one of The Sextuplets in some way or another; Keiko Yamamoto doubled as Karamatsu and Choromatsu in the 1966 show, as well as occasionally substituting as Ichimatsu and Todomatsu. Mari Kitagawa would be a later substitute in the show for the latter two boys as well, aside from voicing guest characters like Chikako and Kinko. In the case of Maruyama, she voiced Gonvader, an alien who took Osomatsu's form and masqueraded as him in ep.14 of the 1988 show. Of course, it could be said that Yamamoto is also rather better known as Ataro and Bakabon in the original anime adaptations of their works.

## External Links

* Chikako profile at Koredeiinoda (Japanese)