Maruko's previous voice actor, TARAKO, passed away on March 4 after 34 years of voicing the character.
The official website for the television anime Chibi Maruko-chan announced on Friday that voice actress Kokoro Kikuchi (Boruto's Sarada) will be the new voice for the anime's main character Maruko, with the first episode featuring Her appearance will be released on April 21.
Image via Comic Natalie
© さくらプロダクション/日本アニメーション
TARAKO, who voiced Maruko for 34 years since the series premiered on January 7, 1990, passed away on March 4. The last new episode featuring her voice aired as a one-hour special on March 24. The show has been rebroadcasting previous episodes since March 10, except for the final episode of TARAKO.
Chibi Maruko-chan is based on the manga of the same name by the late author Momoko Sakura. The humorous comic series about the daily life of a third-grade girl has about 32.5 million copies in print. This anime series is almost consistently the 3rd ranked TV anime series behind Sazae-san and Detective Conan. (Chibi Maruko-chan airs on Fuji TV on Sundays at 6 p.m., before Sazae-san at 6:30 p.m.) The first anime series ran from 1990 to 1992, and the second series is running in 1995. Chibi Maruko-chan aired its 1,500th episode in May 2022.
Source: website, Comic Natalie