Shinnosuke Nohara (野原しんのすけ), also known as Shinchan or just Shin, is the titular main protagonist of Crayon Shin-chan. He is the son of Hiroshi and Misae. His nickname is "Shin-chan" and he is Himawari's brother. A kindergarten-aged boy whose antics are the basis for the series.

He is 5 years old and yet acts overly mature. He knows the adults' words (does not always fully understand the meaning though), and hints at his somewhat deep philosophy in between dumb behavior. In general, he is brutally honest, highly curious, and has no shame whatsoever. Ironically, there have been several instances in which Shinnosuke's own crazy antics actually solved the problems of those around him. Whether this is the result of his own or purely accidental is debatable. Adding to that, he also displays a surprising amount of talent and ability in various activities (running, surfing, kendo, fishing, skiing, swimming and others).

He frequently pulls down his pants and dances with his butt, singing his original song, "Buttock Alien". At the same time, he takes special care of his butt, for it to stay shiny and nicely plump. His affectionate name by relatives is Shin-chan. He loves chocolate corn biscuits of the brand "Chocobi" and a TV superhero named "Action Mask", but he dislikes green peppers. He inherited more genes from his mother than his father. He is lethargic, loves to eat and sleep, stingy, stubborn (a trait that passed down from his maternal grandfather to his two aunts and mother and his mother passed down to him), imagining things, cannot resist good things, opinionated and brazen which is just like his mother while the only thing same with his father is that he likes to watch and flirt with pretty young ladies. Both Shin-chan and his sister's appearance look more like their mother. He always takes care of his sister, Himawari. Sometimes he changes the actual words, making it very funny. For example, promise becomes promotion. He often exhibits deep affection for his best friend, Kazama. With his three other friends, Nene, Masao, and Bo, the five are the members of KB, a "guardian" unit of their home city called Kasukabe in Japan. KB is often the protagonist of all Shinchan movies, let alone Shinchan himself. Most of the movies are about them facing conflicts together. Some of his strange activities include dressing up (often as an animal and insect). He also causes trouble for others and then wastes their efforts in covering for him. However, it is his charm that he is still a very loveable character. Some of his strange activities include dressing up (often as an animal). He also causes trouble for others and then criticizes their efforts in covering for him. In general, he is outspoken and very curious. He has little to no shame.

In several occasions, both in manga and anime, he is either seen doing drag or wearing animal costumes. There have been several instances in which his antics actually solved the problems of those around him. Sometimes he can be very kind to those around him. For example, the dog that he has, Shiro, is one that he saved on the street. In one anime episode he saved a frog from a truck on a rainy day, becoming wet and dirty in the process and risking Misae's anger since it was his last set of clean clothes. In another episode, he gives Masao the change in cash money he has even though he knows that his mother will scold him later. However, these are often immediately followed by his weird antics.

A running gag in the series involves Shin-chan being late for the bus to his school, usually due to taking a long time in the bathroom, leading Misae to begrudgingly having to take him to school on her bike. Although he always teases his mother, he is very close to her. There are also times when Shin-chan displays a level of maturity beyond his usual self in his concern for others, and in a few rare instances he shows that deep down he really does care for his family even though he doesn't act like it.

Shinnosuke is based on the character Shinnosuke Nikaido of another series by Yoshito Usui, Darakuya Store Monogatari. He is a naughty child around which the series is made. He balks at washing dishes and taking out the dog. What is most interesting, though not as far-out as the other differences, is that he rarely screams, rarely cries or throws tantrums, and is often punished. His works are always done by his puppy dog eyes. He generally pulls his pants down when happy and dances while singing "Buri! Buri!" (ケツだけ星人). He also likes to do the elephant dance (ゾーさん / zō-san) which consists of that an elephant is drawn around the penis, which acts like a trumpet. He always runs to the nearest TV at 5 PM to see Action Mask and, when he can't go inside his house he will go at Masao's house. He is a member of the Kasukabe Defence Force. He has his own imaginary character called Buriburizaemon.

He is a good singer and a pretty good baseball and football player. He learned photography from his aunt Musae. He tends to not act like a child when he sighs "Gokuraku, gokuraku" ('Paradise, Paradise'-- a stereotypical utterance while in a hot bath or spring) at a hot spring or complains about "kids these days" as if he isn't a kid himself. His friends often have to remind him of that.

His misuse of language is also typical. Shin-chan calls out "itte rasshai!" ('see you soon!'--said to those leaving) when he comes home from school and uses mixed-up greetings like "okonban gozaimasu" (a combo of 'good morning' and 'good night'). His written language is full of misspellings and strangely-written characters, and when he overhears someone older saying something that sounds pretty sophisticated, he'll try to repeat it, but fails miserably, switching around syllables and words to no end. He also uses "ora" (a corruption of the tough-guy first person pronoun 'ore') - which is nonstandard even for adults - to refer to himself when most five-year-old boys use "boku", and prefers "hoi" (another corruption, this time of 'hai', or 'yes') to "hai". The word "hoi" is actually Dutch (the Netherlands' language) for "hi".

Romances


Shin-chan and Nanako Oohara

Shinchan is attracted to older girls and women despite his young age and flirts with them with adult dialogue such as "Hei, oneisan, tamanegi tabereru~?" (Hey, baby, you like onions?). He brazenly pursues any girl who catches his eye. As he flirts, a smiling mouth, red cheeks, and flirting eyes can be seen. He shares this trait with his father and paternal grandfather, but this often results in mom's cruel punishment. However, he seems to have at least some standard in his pursues as he almost never tries to flirt with any of his female teachers (Ume Matsuzaka, Midori Ishizaka and Masumi Ageo). The only girl he seems to really like is a college student named Nanako Oohara. He always tries to pretend to be a brilliant boy in front of her in order to impress her but Nanako just treats him like a little brother. He has absolutely no interest in kindergarten girls; in fact, upon receiving a love letter from a fellow student, he whines, "but I'm not attracted to kids!".

 

Relations

 

Misae (mother)


Shinnosuke, Misae and Hiroshi

Shin-chan's mother from Kyushu. She is 29 and a typical housewife of post-war Japan. Although he always teases his mother along with his father and sister (he teases the most), he is very close with his mom, as seen when his mom goes to the hospital when she is pregnant and he becomes sad for her believing she will die in one month.

Hiroshi (father)

 

He and his father both like to see and flirt with pretty young ladies which always get punished by his mother, Misae at the right time. Normally Shin-chan will tell things about Hiroshi to Misae, making Misae beat him up.

Himawari (sister)

 

Shinchan has a close relationship with his sister. They often bond over their love for mischief and adventures. While she often bickers with him, Himawari looks up to her brother a lot. Shin Chan, in turn, is protective of her and always takes care of her.

Shiro (dog)

 

Shiro is a white, fluffy pup Shin-chan found in a cardboard box early in the series. While a beloved member of the family, he is the subject of neglect thanks to his owner's forgetfulness and short attention-span. He is a very intelligent dog, often presenting logic and intellect that surpasses his human owners. Shin-chan loves him very much even though he always complained to take Shiro out for a walk and give him dog food.

Toru (friend/classmate)

 

Shinnosuke and Kazama

Being the closest friend with Shin-Chan, he is intelligent. He is Shin-chan's immaculately groomed and perfectly mannered best friend, who usually loses his mind when Shin-chan teases him and other things. He also bickers and fight with words with Shin Chan sometimes. Despite that, they are actually closer than any of the other friends they have. A strong evidence is that when Kazama was extremely frustrated and lonely in several episodes, Shin-chan was the only one who stayed with him. Even though Kazama always denied when Shin Chan says that he is his best friend, his best friend is Shin Chan too. He shows unexpected actions in the movie My Moving Story! Cactus Large Attack!, where he cried and went to meet Shin Chan when he was leaving for Mexico with his family. He chased the train Shin Chan and his family took to the airport. He looks like he doesn't like Shin-Chan but he cares a lot about him. He is called Toru by front name but his friends call him Kazama by his last name.

 

Masao (friend/classmate)

 

Masao always cries when he is teased by Shin Chan, but he is still one of his closest friends. He is a member of Kasukabe Defence Organization. He is weak and always cries whenever he gets in danger. Masao is still very kind to his friends. He is really good at voice acting and drawing mangas and plans to become an artist in the future but fails in the end. Although he looks weak, when he is fired up he will become unstoppable, in which recklessness might change the ending.

Shinchan and Nene sometimes bully him but not in a bad way. For example, when Masao showed his friends that he had kept a four leaf clover which brought him luck, Shinchan and Nene steal the leaf and fight for it until the leaf torn apart which made Masao cry. Shinchan and Nene sometimes scold him and make him cry while Kazama and Bo calm him down and comfort him. His nickname is "Onigiri" due to his shaven head's resemblance to a rice ball, and there are several moments where Shin-chan accidentally mistook Masao's head for rice ball and even tried to eat it. Masao is in love with Ai and jealous at Shin-chan because Ai loves Shin-chan but they are still best friends. In one of the episodes, he wanted to fight Shin-Chan for Ai but he couldn't because him and Shin-Chan are best friends and Shin-Chan isn't even interested in Ai-Chan.

 

Nene (friend/classmate)

She is Shin-chan's only one female best friend. She is also the only female member of Kasukabe Defense Organization. She likes to play real-house with the other members in the Kasukabe Defense Organization, because of this Shin-Chan and his friends always want to escape from her. She loves rabbits so much that in the movie Roar! Kasukabe Animal Kingdom after she drank the Animal Potion she even turned into a rabbit. However, when she is angry, like her mom, she grabs her rabbit plush and punches it. Nene is impatient with Shin's odd behavior but does enjoy his company, as she usually invites him (if he hasn't already invited himself) to join her and her mother if they're out for a meal (much to her mother's dismay). In the movie My Moving Story! Cactus Large Attack! Nene was upset when she hears Shin Chan is going to move to Mexico, proving that she does care about him. Although she has a habit of losing her temper, she still makes a good team with Shin Chan. Nene always gives Masao her husband's role and characters in house play. If not Masao, she will give it to Shin-chan. Besides Shin-chan's mother, Misae, Nene is the only girl who can control him and beat him. He is scared of her too. However, it is clear that they are not interested in each other romantically. They both sometimes bully (but not in a bad way) and scold Masao which makes him cry.

 

Bo Suzuki (friend/classmate)

 

Bo is also a member of Kasukabe Defence Force. Shin-Chan and Bo normally meet when the whole group is together. Bo always keeps a snivel. His interest is to collect strange rocks. In the movie The Storm Called: The Kasukabe Boys of the Evening Sun, Bo is the only best friend that still remembers Shin-Chan and being passive to him. He is also one of the most important characters even though he is quiet. Compared to the other three of Shin-chan's best friends, Bo understands Shin-chan's behavior the most and usually joins Shin-chan's things too. Example: playing hide and seek without seeker, imagine playing ball in the head etc.

 

Ai Suotome (friend/classmate)

 

She is a rich girl and has a crush on Shin-chan. She moved to Kasukabe because she wanted to feel how a normal kindergarten student is. Ai-chan loves Shin-chan and always calls him "Sama", but Shin-chan rejects her because he only likes older girls. If Shin-chan wants anything she does the work with the help of her bodyguard, she blackmails her bodyguard all the time. Ai-chan at first joined the Kasukabe Defense Organization but leaves it later because she thinks she is not "close" enough with Shin-chan.

 

Voice Actors

·       Japanese: Akiko Yajima (1992/04/13 - 2018/06/29) → Yumiko Kobayashi (2018/07/06 - present)

·       English (Vitello): Kath Soucie

·       English (Phuuz): Diane Michelle

·       English (Funimation): Laura Bailey

·       Dutch: Melise de Winter

·       German: Tanja Geke (2002 - 2016) → Arlette Stanschus (2017 - present)

·       Hindi: Akash Ahuja (2006 - 2010) → Alka Sharma (2010 - 2013) → Swasti S Sharma (2013 - 2015) → Akanksha Sharma (2016 - present)

·       Malay: Ammar Daniel Osman (2002-2003) → Arfalie Fikrie Razali (2003-2008) → Danish Osman (2008-2012) → Amirul Arif Bin Abdul Manaf (2013-2018)

·       Portuguese (European, Vitello/Phuuz): Sandra de Castro

·       Portuguese (European, LUK): Sandra de Castro (2004 - 2006) → Bárbara Lourenço (2005, movie 10 only) → Helena Mota (2009 - present)

·       Portuguese (Brazilian): Fátima Noya

·       Spanish (European): Sonia Torrecilla

·       Spanish (Latin American, Vitello and LUK): Laura Torres

·       Spanish (Latin American, Phuuz): Nallely Solís

·       Indonesian: Oni Syahrial

·       Telugu (Indian dub): Khadeer Gani Khan (2011-present)

·       Tamil (Indian dub): Raghuvaran (2008-2013) → Dgan Raja (2013-present)

For some countries episodes were re-dubbed. The year range above does not always imply an ongoing production of dubbing, but sometimes rather the time range in which episodes were aired (and re-runned) with the mentioned voice actor. The wiki does not have all data for every dubbing.

Trivia

·       Shin-chan ranked 1st in the official vote "My Favorite Character" from Japan.

·       Shin-chan's representative animal is an elephant (zou in Japanese) as he shows his penis and draws it like an elephant.

·       Shin-chan studied at the same primary school as Bo, Masao and Nene Sakurada but different from Toru Kazama.

·       "Hoho~i!" is a nonsense word Shin-chan uses loosely as a greeting.

·       Shin-chan's blood type is B.

·       He often does the "Ketsu-dake Seijin" (Butt-Only Alien) dance and "Zô-san" (Mr. Elephant) dance.

·       He sometimes says Ja ('Well, then', or, colloquially, 'See ya.') at the end of episodes.

·       On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the designation of Kasukabe as a city, the real life city council decided to award the residence certificate to Shinnosuke Nohara.

·       Shinchan is often compared to be the Japanese equivalent of the American television character Bart Simpson.

·       The name 'Shinchan' is Japanese for 'love child'.

·       Janggku is the Korean name of Shinchan.