The popular anime "Sazae-san" (Fuji TV) will begin airing on Fuji TV TWO Drama & Anime, a CS channel, starting April 1st. This will be the first time the series is broadcast on CS. Episodes will be shown in chronological order, starting with the episodes that aired on terrestrial television in April 2016, two episodes at a time, Monday through Friday at noon.
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the start of the original "Sazae-san" manga series in April, a special program, "Iruka Goes to Meet Sazae: The World of Machiko Hasegawa's Dedication to the Original Manga's 80th Anniversary," will be broadcast on March 28th at 10:00 AM. Singer-songwriter Iruka, who is also active as a picture book author and a graduate of Joshibi University of Art and Design, will serve as the narrator. The program will look back on the history of the original manga from its creation to the present day, and explore the creative process behind Machiko Hasegawa, using valuable materials to unravel the charm of "Sazae-san," which has been loved across generations.
Iruka commented, "I was so happy to finally be able to visit the Machiko Hasegawa Memorial Museum, which I had long wanted to do. I was shown so many incredibly precious things, and I was able to discover many 'unseen parts' of the works that I have been familiar with since childhood, and I was able to feel Machiko-sensei's personality more deeply. I now have one more thing to look forward to when I look at her works in the future. I hope that everyone will be able to experience it with that perspective as well."
"My parents loved 'Sazae-san,' so books were always around me when I was little. Today, as I looked at the exhibits, there were so many works that made me feel nostalgic, thinking, 'I know this one,' and 'I know that one.' And when I saw the original drafts and drawings, I was truly moved by how carefully and beautifully they were drawn. Everything was so neat and tidy, and you could feel the tension and the love poured into the work from every single line. I realized once again why so many works that Machiko-sensei poured her heart and soul into have survived and continue to be loved by so many people," she said.
"Sazae-san" is based on a manga by Hasegawa. It began serialization in 1946 in the Fukuoka local newspaper, Yukan Fukuchi, and was serialized in the Asahi Shimbun from 1951 to 1974. The TV anime has been broadcast on the Fuji TV network since October 5, 1969, and has been a long-loved staple program on Sundays at 6:30 pm, spanning the Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa eras. In October 2024, it celebrated its 55th anniversary and broke the Guinness World Record for "longest-running TV anime series."
