| Synopsis |
Ojamanga Yamada-kunOjamanga Yamada-kun is an omnibus-style animation series that revolves around the Yamadas、 a three-generation family that lives in a fictional town called Higashiedogawa San-chome. The protagonist changes with each story.The main theme of the series is the comical everyday life of the Yamada family and the tenants of the student apartment owned by Yoshio Yamada、 the head of the family. Yoshio and his third son Minoru、 a junior high school student、 are the main protagonists. Episodes featuring Yoshio depict his stressful life as a father after retiring from company service and frequently visiting the unemployment office、 as well as his obsession with baseball. Episodes featuring Minoru typically depict him as a junior high school student who、 bored of life、 looks for fun and ways to make money、 only to fail every time and get scolded and called a fool by Yoshio. Other members of the family living together include Minoru’s education-minded mother、 Yoshio’s eldest daughter along with her husband and daughter、 Yoshio’s eldest son who is preparing for his university examinations、 and Yoshio’s second son who is in high school. The series reflects the social situation at the time of its broadcasting、 with a dark-humor、 socio-satirical focus.Unlike in many other sitcoms、 the characters age in line with the trends at the time of broadcasting、 and the last episode depicts the life of the Yamadas set 30 years later.Some characters with the exact same names as those above appear in Nono-chan、 a series created by the same author and broadcast by TV Asahi in 2001、 and the feature-length animation film Hohokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun that was created later. This is because the four-frame manga Tonari no Yamada-kun in The Asahi Shimbun、 which was the precursor of Nono-chan、 was inspired by Ojamanga Yamada-kun、 and the characters were intended as completely different characters.
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