Yamamoto stepped down from the role after the episode aired on December 17
The staff of the anime Chibi Maruko-chan announced on Sunday that Emi Motoi will take on the role of Shōta Yamada in the anime, starting with the episode that will air on February 4. Motoi also voices Himeko Jogasaki in the show .
Image via Anime! Anime! Twitter account
© さくらプロダクション/日本アニメーション
Keiko Yamamoto retired from voicing Shōta Yamada after the episode aired on December 17. Yamamoto has voiced the character since January 1990. Yamamoto also stepped into the role from voicing the character. Hanako Hanazawa in the similar children’s anime series Sazae-san in November. Kumiko Watanabe currently voices the character.
Chibi Maruko-chan aired its 1,500th episode in May 2022.
The original Chibi Maruko-chan manga inspired by a television anime is almost consistently ranked 3rd after Sazae-san and Detective Conan. (Chibi Maruko-chan airs on Fuji TV at 6 p.m. on Sundays, before Sazae-san at 6:30 p.m.) The first anime series ran from 1990 to 1992, and the second series was running in 1995 .
Manga author Momoko Sakura died of breast cancer at the age of 53 in August 2018. She serialized the story in Shueisha’s Ribon magazine from 1986 to 1996. The humorous manga tells the story of the daily life of a third grade girls, has about 32.5 million copies in print. Sakura launched a four-panel version in a Japanese newspaper in 2007 and ended that version in 2011.
The Chibi Maruko-chan manga series began getting new chapters in 2019. Sakura Production, staffed by Sakura’s assistant Long-time, is drawing the chapters. The manga is released sporadically on Ribon.
Source: Chibi Maruko-chan anime Twitter account accountNatalie Comics