DVD
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that although this colorful anime series is about a 5-year-old boy, it's full of risqué humor, sexual innuendo, and frequent moderate profanity -- in other words, all the makings of a teen's ideal show. Of course, while the storylines contain sexually flavored humor, they're more adolescent than mature (Shin-chan frequently reveals his butt and penis, etc.). And the main character behaves badly, but it's more out of immaturity than hostility. Snide jokes about the mom needing a boob job or a woman needing a strong man like Bill O'Reilly may go over younger viewers' head, as may the dysfunctional relationship dynamics between the parents.
Families can compare Shin-chan with Bart Simpson. What's the difference between the two mischievous boys? How is the humor in their shows both similar to and different from each other? What's the appeal of their characters? How might these shows be different with a girl character in the lead?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Sierra Filucci
SHIN CHAN, an anime series featured in Cartoon Network's adult-oriented Adult Swim programming block, is adapted from a popular Japanese manga and anime series. The title character is a 5-year-old boy; the series follows his silly, mischievous, often-rude antics, along with those of his parents and neighbors.
For this version of the show, American producers wrote new scripts to accompany the original animation, using American voice actors and changing the dialogue to better suit an American audience. So jokes referring to popular culture figures like Bill O'Reilly and Jessica Simpson have replaced the original Japan-oriented humor.
Those who hear the word "anime" and think of wide-eyed girls in short skirts and lots of spurting blood will find something different in Shin Chan. The characters are drawn in a semi-abstract fashion -- but although the cartoon looks more like children's fare than some other anime series do, the humor is mostly adolescent- and adult-oriented, with a good dose of sexual innuendo and frequent profanity.
For example, one segment begins with Shin-chan watching a TV show in which a superhero named Action Bastard must defeat his enemy in order to save his young female sidekick, who has been attacked with an enema ray. She's seen squeezing her butt cheeks together until she's freed, at which point she relaxes and returns to normal. The scene segues into Shin-chan talking his mother into buying a particularly nasty type of sausage in order to collect Action Bastard stickers from the packaging and win a branded belt. Jokes about putting a sausage in one's mouth culminate in Shin-chan baring his butt in a grocery store and doing an "ass dance" in order to collect Action Bastard stickers from customers.
Jokes about boob jobs, penis size, crack whores, and more pepper this strange amalgam of anime and South Park. Teens won't learn anything new from the show, but their parents might want to preview the series anyway.
Fans might also enjoy South Park and The Simpsons.
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual ContentGood deal of sexual innuendo ("put your mouth on a sausage"); veiled jokes about father and mother having sex. Boy character shows his butt and penis regularly (very cartoonish, not realistic). |
 |
|
|
|
ViolenceCartoonish violence is implied but rarely shown. TV action hero is seen after beating up enemies; kid and man are shown bruised after a brawl. |
|
 |
|
|
LanguageFrequent moderate profanity like "ass," "sucks," and "bastard." Body-part words like "scrotum" and "penis" are also used regularly. |
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
|
|
|
Social BehaviorOver-the-top behavior and sarcastic humor are used for comic effect. Dad and child protest when Mom won't give them allowances and beats them both up off screen. Mom talks about getting a boob job, and a girl superhero jokes about an attack being her fault because she wore a skirt. |
 |
|
|
|
CommercialismJokes about product placement. |
 |
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco |
|
|
|
|
