This anime has been running for 55 years and has broken its own Guinness record

Key recommendations

• Sazae-san is a long-running, influential anime with over 2,700 episodes and a Guinness World Record.
• The series began as a forward-thinking manga that challenged gender roles, later evolving into lively stories.
• Sazae-san has been on the air since 1969, only going on hiatus twice due to extraordinary circumstances, maintaining its popularity as a family show.

Nowadays, a good portion of the anime that airs in Japan also has an international release. Maybe not one at a time, but they all eventually get an official international release.

This is a huge change from a few decades ago. But there's a series that's been airing for years in Japan, but it looks like it's going to have a hard time getting a US release. In addition, this anime is a decades-old hit that is featured in the Guinness World Records. It's called Sazae-san.

What exactly is Sazae-san?

Sazae-san it started as a Yonkoma manga (four-panel short stories, usually with comedic tones) by Machiko Hasegawa in Japanese newspapers. It started at a local newspaper, but Hasegawa was later invited to write the strips for Tokyo's Asahi Shimbum, and the stories were published daily from 1946 until 1974, when Hasegawa finally retired (unfortunately, he died in 1992). The manga has been compiled into 68 volumes with over 6,000 strips.

Sazae-san comics were thoughtful for their time. Sazae Fugata was no ordinary housewife, she would rule around her husband and even became a feminist at one point. Her neighbors didn't take it too well, as Sazae would usually subvert gender role expectations. But despite these political tones, the strips are mostly lively stories, not dark commentary on society.

The story was then adapted into animation. Sazae-san first aired on October 5, 1969, on Fuji TV, and probably no one imagined what this animation would actually become.

Over 2,700 episodes aired in Japan

Since 1969, Sazae-san aired new weekly episodes on weekends. It is usually among the most watched weekly anime on Japanese TV. What is behind such a successful series? Well, it's family entertainment. Parents and children gather to watch it on television. It's actually big news when seasonal anime gets more views than this classic weekly entertainment.

Despite the strip's political “tones”. Sazae-san he always approached the subjects with ease. And actually, things have turned around since the original comics. The anime is seen today as a nostalgic image of the “olden days”, and Sazae is now pretty much an ordinary housewife in a typical family. She might be a little clumsy, but not exactly a feminist. She is, though, definitely an icon of Japanese television.

Sazae-san only took a break twice

Replays occurred only in difficult times

This year marks 55 years since this anime, with over 2,700 episodes (and still counting!). You might wonder if this series ever had a hiatus, and indeed it did. But only twice, due to extreme circumstances. In 1975, amid the oil crisis, Sazae-san replayed episodes for a month. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they once again needed to rerun the episodes. That's huge for an animation with tight schedules.

Due to the milestone and 55th anniversary, Guinness World Records recognized the series as the longest-running animation on TV, according to SoraNews. Which is a record Sazae-san beat himself (in fact, they have now received the award for the second time). Guinness also awarded actress Midori Kato for voicing the same character (Sazae) since then. Kato, now 85, had previously received the same honor.

To sum it up, this is a story about the ordinary lives of ordinary people, just like many sitcoms. The only difference is that Sazae-san is an “animated sitcom”. And you won't want to ask your mom to change the channels when she gets her Sunday entertainment for decades in Japan.

Unfortunately,
Sazae-san
not available for official viewing or broadcast in English.