A brief description of this show could be “Japan’s answer to ‘South Park’”.

“Crayon Shin-Chan” (or just “Shin-Chan”) follows the adventures of the five-year-old Shinnosuke “Shin” Nohara (the guy getting his cheek pulled) and his parents, Hiroito (Hiro), Misae (Mitsi), baby Himawari (Hima) and Whitey the dog, their neighbors, and friends and is set in Kasukabe. Not that it matters. It might as well be in “South Park”.

Shin is the kind of boy that you would fling into a pile of poodle doo…except that he might like it. He is rude, brash, crude, disgusting and perverted and lives in the realm of his tiny world, oblivious to those around him.

The art work is intentionally bad. If you tried ‘traditional’ animation with the writing that is presented (and it is some of the best writing I have heard for a show, as they have dropped all pretenses that this is a ‘cute’ show), it would not work. The art work needs to be as crude as the topics and their presentation.

This is a show where you can give a review, even if you haven’t seen the end, as it is a series of vignettes about their life together, such as it is. The arc where they have to live in a crummy apartment complex while their house is being rebuilt is pretty funny, as all their neighbors are at least as crazy as they are, if not more so.

Shin goes to “Super Happy Fun Time American School”, which offers about zero educational effort for all of it and there he runs around with his loser friends. Even Georgie (a staunch Republican in the making) seems unable to do anything about Shin, and he’s potentially the smartest of the bunch.

I only want to mention fan service in passing, as the artwork precludes anything decent in the way of fan service. You do see it, but it is pretty pathetic. You get the feeling if they spent more than $20 an episode, they pocketed the difference. But, again, it all works hand in hand, so you are willing to give up a lot.

Shin spends the bulk of his time doing his ‘butt dance” (no, it’s called worse than that, but we are mature adults around here and don’t devolve into that crap) and watching his favorite show “Action Bastard”, who fights questionable villains with his useless female sidekick. Two very funny episodes are Season 1, Episode 20, where we go to the Planet of the Dogs and Whitey plays a big part, and Season 2, Episode 1, their “Star Wars” parody.

If you want a show that is really funny, but something you can’t show the wife (the daughter has no problem with it, but the wife!), then this is your show. And to see Shin play the piano with his butt as almost art………..and I use the term ‘almost’ very loosely. I really recommend this show.
On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           1 (Easily the worst in terms of ‘art’)
Plot                  8 (Surprisingly good)
Pacing              8 (A good rhythm)
Effectiveness   6 (But there is no ‘point’ to it)
Conclusion       7 (It reaches a coupler, but doesn’t really end)
Fan Service      1 (A similar show would be “Ouran High School”)

Overall            8 (Fine, despite the rudeness)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. Do you have any Action Bastard chips?