Anpanman

Anpanman
	Cover of the first book, released under the "Kinder Ohanashi Ehon Masterpiece Selection" imprint
アンパンマン
Genre	Comedy, superhero
Manga
Written by	Takashi Yanase
Published by	Froebel-kan
Demographic	Kodomo
Original run	1973 – 2013
Anime television series
Soreike! Anpanman
Directed by	Akinori Nagaoka ; Shunji Ōga
Produced by	Hinta Fyumi
Written by	Sakura Uzamacki
Music by	Hiroaki Kondo ; Taku Izumi
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Original network	Nippon TV
English network	IN: Pogo TV;
Original run	October 3, 1988 – present
Episodes	1,640 (3,450 segments)
	Anime and manga portal

Anpanman (アンパンマン) is a Japanese children's superhero picture book series written by Takashi Yanase, running from 1973 until the author's death in 2013. The series has been adapted into an anime entitled Soreike! Anpanman (それいけ!アンパンマン, Let's Go! Anpanman), which is one of the most popular anime series among young children in Japan. The series follows the adventures of Anpanman, a superhero with an anpan (a red bean paste filled pastry) for a head, who protects the world from an evil anthropomorphic germ named Baikinman.

Heavily merchandised, the Anpanman characters appear on virtually every imaginable children's product in Japan, ranging from clothes^[2] and video games to toys^[3] and snack foods.^[4] The series spawned a short-lived spin-off show featuring one of the popular recurring characters on the show, Omusubiman. Anpanman overtook Hello Kitty as Japan's top-grossing character in 2002,^[5] and has remained the country's top-grossing character as of 2019^[update].^[6]^[7] Anpanman has sold over 80 million books as of February 2019, and the franchise generated ¥4.5 trillion in total retail sales revenue by 2013. Works inspired by Anpanman include the manga and anime series One-Punch Man, and the K-pop song "Anpanman" by BTS.

^ Cite error: The named reference Guinness was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "アンパンマンキッズコレクション" (in Japanese). Retrieved November 11, 2016.
^ "アンパンマン知育玩具" (in Japanese). Toys R Us. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
^ "フジパンアンパンマンシリーズ" (in Japanese). Retrieved November 11, 2016.
^ Cite error: The named reference nytimes2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference charabiz2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Content Tokyo 2020 》Vtuber、疫情中重塑品牌、以AI創作，日本內容產業熱議的3件事" [Content Tokyo 2020 》Vtuber, Rebranding During the Epidemic, Creating With AI, 3 Things That Are Hotly Discussed in the Japanese Content Industry]. Central News Agency (Taiwan) (in Chinese). 30 December 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2021.

[Guinness-1] Cite error: The named reference Guinness was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] "アンパンマンキッズコレクション" (in Japanese). Retrieved November 11, 2016.

[3] "アンパンマン知育玩具" (in Japanese). Toys R Us. Retrieved November 11, 2016.

[4] "フジパンアンパンマンシリーズ" (in Japanese). Retrieved November 11, 2016.

[nytimes2010-5] Cite error: The named reference nytimes2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[charabiz2013-6] Cite error: The named reference charabiz2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[cna-7] "Content Tokyo 2020 》Vtuber、疫情中重塑品牌、以AI創作，日本內容產業熱議的3件事" [Content Tokyo 2020 》Vtuber, Rebranding During the Epidemic, Creating With AI, 3 Things That Are Hotly Discussed in the Japanese Content Industry]. Central News Agency (Taiwan) (in Chinese). 30 December 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2021.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]