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1st Worldwide Mobile Game for Chibi Maruko-chan Launches
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Game developer Animoca Brands launched its Chibi Maruko Chan Dream Stage iOS and Android smartphone game on Wednesday. The company streamed a video previewing the game.
Animoca Brands describes the game:
Maruko-chan wants to make it big on TV! Join her and her friends as she strives to learn new talents and earn new items to impress the judges. She'll do whatever it takes to win this contest, so mix and match various talents and put on a spectacular show!
The game is free-to-play, but with optional paid content.
Animoca Brands developed the game in partnership with Nippon Animation under a revenue share agreement. Animoca Brands claims the game is the "first official worldwide mobile game" for the franchise. The company previously released apps in English for Doraemon, Astro Boy, and Ultraman.
The Chibi Maruko-chan television anime is consistently the #2 rated anime series after Sazae-san. The first anime series ran from 1990 to 1992, and the ongoing second series premiered in 1995. The 1,000th television anime episode aired in 2012, and the show now has more than 1,100 episodes.
The series celebrated its 25th anniversary last year with both the Eiga Chibi Maruko-chan: Italia kara Kita Shōnen (working English title: Chibi Maruko Chan -A Boy from Italy-) film, and a one-hour television special, which both debuted last December.
Momoko Sakura serialized the original manga that the anime is based on in Shueisha's Ribon magazine from 1986 to 1996. The manga has approximately 32 million copies in print. She launched a four-panel version in a Japanese newspaper in 2007, and she ended that version in 2011. The manga has also inspired several live-action specials and television series.
