While Viz Media has tackled the more recent material with Osomatsu-san, Discotek Media dipped into one of the previous anime series last year with Osomatsu-kun. Crunchyroll has made it completely binge-worthy as they’ve added the complete eighty-six episode run in one drop rather than doling out big batches every week or two. Availability is pretty good as it’s open to audiences in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland.
Discotek previously brought out the first episode streaming on YouTube. Done up with English subtitles, availability for it is set to unrestricted, so you can sample it below. The series originally aired in 1988 with eighty-six episodes total.
directed by Akira Shigino based on the series composition by Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, Yoshiyuki Kishi handled the character designs and it was animated by Pierrot.
The Japanese cast includes Kaneta Kimotsuki as Iyami, Mari Mashiba as Karamatsu, Mari Yokoo as Ichimatsu (2nd Voice), Mayumi Tanaka as Chibita, Megumi Hayashibara as Todomatsu Matsuno, Naoko Matsui as Jūshimatsu Matsuno, Rica Matsumoto as Choromatsu Matsuno, and You Inoue as Osomatsu.
Plot Concept: The would-be hijinks of the mischievous Matsuno sextuplets are hijacked from episode one by colorful buck-toothed con man Iyami and Chibita, his bald munchkin sidekick. Nearly every episode is a standalone comedy cavalcade with the above cast as well as other quirky locals who show up in a number of different roles as the series shifts effortlessly between time periods (such as the Edo and prehistoric eras) and genres (Western, gangster, pirates, heist), but in most cases, Iyami and Chibita are front and center as partners in crime, a couple of sad sacks scraping by but carrying out scammy schemes in order to get rich quick, whether that involves Iyami faking his own death, stealing a brilliant invention or just ripping everyone off en masse. Over the course of the 86 episodes, alternate universes are explored, villains become heroes (and vice-versa), and every member of the “Osomatsu-kun troupe” gets their time in the spotlight, but in the end, it all comes back to Iyami and Chibita, two characters you’ll love to hate and hate to love.
