Comments from the Team
No matter how many years went by, Obocchama-kun lived on in so many people's memories, and Chama lived on inside me the whole time. I can still go full throttle with the voice and energy from back then! I want to do it! Thanks to having more experience than I did back then, I was able to get even more deeply involved in the work together with all the staff, and the recording sessions were so much fun it was heartwarming, with that feeling of "we're creating this together!" I just can't wait for it to air! Pokkun is back! Everybody watch it together, kuri-kuri!
Comment from Yoshinori Kobayashi
The generation that knows Obocchama-kun well is people in their 40s and 50s. Their children have watched the old manga and anime, and some of them are actually already fans of Obocchama-kun. When I do live events, kids sometimes come to the green room with their parents. One of those kids brought along a worn-out paperback edition of Obocchama-kun, and seeing that was just adorable. Once the anime airs, they'll be able to watch new episodes. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the kids of the Reiwa era feel about it and how they'll take to it.
These days, hardly anyone aspires to become a gag manga artist anymore, so Obocchama-kun might look fresh to today's kids. They might think, "There's a manga you can laugh at this purely?" Ideally, that might inspire some of them to aim to become gag manga artists themselves. In that sense too, I think it's very meaningful for Obocchama-kun to live on.
When I reread my old paperback editions of Obocchama-kun, they still make me laugh like crazy. I really do love making people laugh. No matter how serious the event I appear at, I think laughter is necessary. I can't help thinking about how to turn things into laughs. Before I know it, I'm going for the laugh. In any situation, ideas for Obocchama-kun come to me. I think, "If this were the setup in Obocchama-kun, I could do this," and the ideas just keep coming.
I think part of what makes Chama so lovable is that he looks cute. Those big round eyes are adorable, aren't they? And he acts very honestly on his "desires." I think that's one of his charms too. It's REBORN, after all. Being born all over again. I hope people will rediscover that there was once such a thing as gag manga in this world. I hope it becomes such a big hit that I can't even go outside anymore!
Comment from Maiko Sumida (TV Asahi International Business Development Department)
Obocchama-kun REBORN originally started in India. When the Obocchama-kun anime was rolled out in India in 2021, it became an explosive hit as a wildly cheerful gag anime in a country that was struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic at the time. Pushed by voices saying they absolutely wanted to see a sequel, the project was launched. Soon after, executives from an Indian broadcaster came to Japan to meet with Yoshinori Kobayashi. Won over by their passion, an all-new anime worthy of the name REBORN was born as a Japan-India co-production! And now, crossing time and borders, it's making its "Kameback" to Japan. We hope it will be enjoyed by longtime Obocchama-kun fans as well as by brand-new REBORN fans.
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