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Crayon Shin-chan, or Shin-chan, is a long-running Slice of Life Japanese manga and anime series created by Yoshito Usui. It follows the misadventures of the mischievous little boy Shinnosuke "Shin" Nohara who gets into various antics with his family and friends.

The original manga began serialization in 1990 in Weekly Manga Action before moving to Manga Town in 2000. Following Usui's 2009 death in a hiking accident, the manga was ended in 2010, compiling 50 volumes in the process, before starting up again that summer as New Crayon Shin-chan. The second incarnation of the series is written by UY Team, a group of writers who previously worked under Usui. The anime adaptation first aired in 1992 and is still running. There have been several attempts to dub the show in English, described in the folder below.

    English Dubs 
  • The first English dub was created by Vitello Productions and Lacey Entertainment, often referred to the "Vitello dub" which adapted 52 episodes. Being marketed towards kids, the dub censored a lot of content from the Japanese version to make it more suitable for Western Audiences. However at the same time, the dub is notable for the amount of dirtier jokes they left in from the original show, and many dirty jokes they actually added themselves, as well as replacing jokes that most Western viewers wouldn't get with localized substitutes. This version was never aired in the US, but did air in the UK through 2002-2003 on their version of Fox Kids.
  • In 2004, Lacey commissioned Phuzz Entertainment to do a dub similar to the Vitello dub, with the intention of being a "second season" of sorts. The Phuuz dub used the same background music and localized names of its predecessor but now featured a different pool of Los Angeles-based voice actors. At least 78 episodes of the "Phuuz dub" are rumored to exist (based on the German dub which translated its scripts from the Vitello and Phuuz dubs) but no English-language segments have appeared on the Internet and it was never released on DVD.
  • After Phuuz's license expired, FUNimation acquired the rights and their dub was approved to air on [adult swim]. This version is a considerably more profane Gag Dub (though it retains the original Japanese background music) and had a video and streaming-only release for a third season. As of 2020, FUNimation has removed the series from its streaming services, probably signaling the license expiring. The only legal way to get this dub now is through buying the out-of-print DVDs.
  • A fourth English dub was commissioned by LUK Internacional in 2015 and released in 2016 on the European and South African Nintendo 3DS eShop. This version is translated from LUK's Spanish dub, which is more faithful to the original Japanese than any other currently existing English dub. This gives the LUK English dub the feeling of a more direct translation of the original Japanese version with virtually no censorship.
  • Finally, one more English dub exists that was created in Korea with the intention of teaching kids English. Purportedly 12 episodes were dubbed and released through VCD and DVD. This dub was translated from the Korean version thus it uses the Korean character names (such as "Jjanggu Shin" for Shin Chan) as well as retaining whatever censorship and visual edits the Korean dub had.
  • A sixth English dub is currently around the corner. Not much is known about it at the moment, other than it has a Miami-based cast and that it will release on Amazon Prime Video.

Since each dub significantly deviates from the original in tone and plot to various extremes, examples specific to each dub are listed in their own separate sections.


Tropes specific to the Original Japanese version/the series in general:

    open/close all folders 

     Tropes List 
  • Accidental Kiss:
    • It happens with Shin-chan and Georgie/Kazama of all people!
    • Shin-chan often kissed someone when he's sleeping, with reaction ranging from total disgust, to remark that he's a good kisser for a kid.
  • Affectionate Parody: Many arcs are this towards popular manga and movies.
  • Alliterative Family: Misae/Mitsy has two sisters named Masae and Musae.
  • Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The South Korean dub's opening and ending. Though this practice was stopped in season 7, it eventually received a Korean-exclusive theme song named "Buri-buri Dance Party" (Korean: 부리부리 댄스 파티 bulibuli daenseu pati) in season 16.
  • Angry Cheek Puff: Puffed cheeks are a visual shorthand for characters getting angry. It usually happens to the titular character when denied a snack by his mother Misae or when his neighbor Nanako (whom he had a Precocious Crush on) starts paying more attention to his kid sister Himawari, but this can happen to Shin-Chan's classmates and other supporting characters too.
  • Animated Shock Comedy: A rather odd case; while the original manga is aimed at adults since it ran in a seinen magazine and has plenty of raunchy humor, the anime is considered a family-friendly show and airs in a primetime slot despite the raunchy humor still being kept in.
  • Anti-Alcohol Aesop: There are several episodes where Hiroshi forbids his children from drinking beer, as well as several episodes where Shin and Hima accidentally get drunk from mistaking beer for a soft drink, worrying their parents and suffering headaches the following morning.
  • Art Evolution: The series has undergone a noticeable change in character designs since the anime started in 1992. The art shift is extremely noticeable in the FUNimation dub, where they don't run episodes in any particular production order. Rather, for the sake of the Gag Dub, they just looked through numerous episodes and chose ones they wanted to work with. Even for episodes that are aired in the order relating to the storylines (such as the Apartment or Kendo story arcs), a more primitive design comes back once in a while.
  • Art Shift: Between the manga and the anime, there is a huge difference in the art - the anime looks much more kiddy scribbles, slightly disproportionate and everything, as well as using thinner lines than in the manga.
  • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The Italian dub often changes the names of some characters with Japanese-sounding names which are actually Italian descriptions of their job, attitude or appearance. For example, once a fat guy was called "Namasa Dekili" ("Una massa di chili", "A big mass of kilos")
  • Author Avatar: Yoshito Usui has not one, not two, but three of them! First is mangaka Usuto Yoshii, who always has the misfortune of being bugged by Shin-chan, often resulting in delays is his manga publications. Second is a one shot character called Toyo Ishiuto who was once bugged by Shin-chan, but it inspired her to write the Show Within a Show Enpitsu Shin-chan ("Pencil Shin-chan"). Third doubles also as a Creator Cameo in the fifth movie where Usui himself appears as a young man who likes to sing karaoke, and near the end of the movie ends up being punched in the face by an angry Hiro. Ouch.
  • Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts: Subverted in the manga which has a series of AU short stories where the titular character grows up and becomes a cab driver. One of his lady passengers disappears mid-ride, leaving only a puddle of cold water on the seat. Much to said the ghost/passenger's exasperation, instead of realizing that she is a ghost, he just becomes angry that the passenger ran off without paying and peed on the seat.
  • Berserk Button: If you're Hiroshi, don't even dare going near these random girls when Misae is around or better yet, don't tell her you been around these woman when you're out by yourself. If you do, she will get you.
  • Big Damn Movie: While your usual Crayon Shin-chan episode is about Shin's Wacky Hijinks, either in his hometown of Kasukabe, or parodying a fairytale or sci-fi, the movies take a step further with Shin saving the world from outlandish villains, with the help of his family or his friends, while still managing to keep the wacky spirit of the TV series.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: All the male Noharas.
  • Book Dumb: Yonro, who just can't seem to get into college.
  • Bowdlerise: A lot of international versions did tone this down to make it more child- and family-friendly.
  • Blood from the Mouth: Spoofed in the episode Misae learns she's pregnant with Hima. After accidentally making her spit up some tomato juice, Shin becomes convinced that she is going to die as he had just seen a soap opera where the female lead coughed up blood in a similar way.
  • Brother–Sister Incest:
    • In an episode, Hima becomes infatuated by a handsome package-delivery man. When Shin arrives, Hima snaps, thinking he's the delivery man, and goes after her brother to forcefully steal a kiss from him! Shin's (and Hima's, after realizing who she was kissing) reaction? PRICELESS!
    • Another episode has them taking a bath together, and he mentions that "he'll get naked with her", disturbing Misae. Later, he starts showing unusual concern for the size of her breasts when she's older, disturbing Misae even further.
  • By the Lights of Their Eyes: A rather weird one in episode 8 of the spin-off series "Gaiden: Toy Wars," since the characters usually have no visible sclera.
  • Casanova Wannabe: All the male Noharas.
  • Catchphrase:
    Shin: ZO-SAN! ZO-SAN! (when doing the elephant dance)

    Shin: BURI BURI! BURI BURI! (ASS DANCE! ASS DANCE!)

    Nene Sakurada: You're not my usual mom!

    Encho: I am not a Gangster, I am the Principal!

    Misae Nohara: SHIN!!!
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • Miss Ume, initially started off as a proud rival to Miss Anderson that competes alongside with Class Rose in challenges. Later episodes showed her that she's initially a Country Mouse, now struggling to live financially & romantically due to her proud nature.
    • Nene, from a kind normal girl to a Hair-Trigger Temper bully that forces the gang to play "extremely realistic tea party" with her in a normal day.
  • Chew Toy: Happiness Bunny, Georgie
  • Child Prodigy:
    • Whenever an episode revolves around him, Boo is often implied to be this.
    • In everybody eyes (particularly with the mothers), Kazama is seen as this.
    • To say nothing of Shin Chan himself. In almost every sport based chapters, he usually performs something that a child of his age is not capable of, causing several amount of people to surround him, praising his performance, or asking him to teach them.
    • In many What If? Time Skip chapters, both Himawari and Shin Chan are always depicted as The Ace.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Boo takes the cake, though Shin intentionally becomes one to annoy his friends.
  • Collective Death Glare: The series has this as a Running Gag thanks to the titular character's frequent Open Mouth, Insert Foot moments. One episode has Futaba Kindergarten's teacher, Ume Matsuzaka being separated from her boyfriend Tokuro, due to the latter having a job posting in South Africa. Shin-Chan and his friends try cheering Ume up by striking up a conversation, but Shin-Chan who's first to talk immediately brings up a neighbor of his getting married a week ago and is going to New York to celebrate her honeymoon. Cue everyone throwing a sharp glare (with Cross-Popping Veins!) in Shin-Chan's direction.
  • Comically Oversized Butt: Shin-chan has a big butt that he can even use to pick up objects with, and he most commonly moons people while doing his signature "ass dance".
  • Comic-Book Time: They never age. Shin-chan has gone from being an eighties kid, then a nineties kid, and currently 2000s kid. According to a 2010 episode, which it itself is out of canon by now, he was born 12 years after the manga started.
  • Comic Trio: Shin thinks Ryuko, Ogin and Mary (the Crimson Scorpions of Saitama) are this. Hilarity Ensues!
  • Crossover:
    • A ten-minute short has Shin meet the cast of Kamen Rider Den-O (early in its run; Urataros hadn't even appeared yet!) and becoming Kamen Rider Shin-O in order to help save his mother from an Imagin.
    • To promote Shin Godzilla, a crossover special episode in which Shin fights the film's Godzilla aired close to the film's debut.
  • Darker and Edgier: The movies in general, as they typically throw the Nohara family into a trying situation, and then mix in a liberal amount of adult worries. The 18th movie, for example, shows that not terribly long after the present day, a meteor strike wipes out Tokyo as well as a large part of Japan and severely affects the climate, forcing surviving future inhabitants to constantly wear cold-weather clothing when outdoors.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: The antagonist of the 22nd movie wanted to take Japan back to feudal times, when husbands and fathers were typically more strict.
  • The Ditz: Boo. Averted in the original, where he's the smartest one in the Kasukabe Defense Force.
  • Does Not Like Spam: Shin-chan hates green peppers.
  • Dub Name Change: Nearly the whole cast had their names changed, between both the Vitello/Phuuz dubs and the one by FUNimation.
    • Oddly, both the dubs gave Misae similar name changes, to "Mitsy"/"Mitzi".
    • The One Peace Books translation of the manga mostly keeps the names unchanged, except for Misae->Mitzi.
  • Dude, Not Funny!: Grandpa fakes a heart attack as a joke when Misae yelled at him, making her think she killed him. This actually makes her cry.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • When the anime was first released, the character's faces were different compared to later episodes and so on.
    • Shinnosuke's voice tone was different in earlier episodes before changing to its more familiar tone. Akiko Yajima voiced him from the very start, but adapted her voice to a different direction when her characterization was already set.
    • Shinnosuke also doesn't do any "butt dancing" in earlier episodes.
    • In some of the early episodes, Shin would smile from the front, though it was rare. In later episodes, he only smiles when his head is turned away from the audience.
  • Enslaved Tongue: Don Pan Pan in the 26th movie incapacitates his adversaries by hitting Pressure Points that make the victim crack one-liners, or only say "Your underwear is showing".
  • Everybody Knew Already: In some episodes, Hazama's liking of Cute P (a Magical Girl show) is already well known by the kids, even when he sometimes tries to hide it.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • The "Extremely Realistic Tea Party" which Nene forces the gang to play. It is one of the things that manages to scare Shin Chan into obeying.
    • When trying to create a new Action Kamen move, the group is in Stunned Silence after seeing Boo's "Super Snot Yo-Yo" attack - even Shin.
  • Evil Is Petty: Narao and Yosuru from the 19th movie plot to fire fart-fuelled missiles all over the world just because when they were kids they farted in public once and got embarrassed.
  • Expy:
  • Face of a Thug: Principal Ench, whose face convinces everyone (adults and children alike) that he is a Yakuza. He uses this on occasion.
  • The Faceless: Future!Shin-chan in the 18th movie has the top half of his face constantly obscured. At one point it's even covered up by a Lens Flare.
  • Fake Crossover: With Kamen Rider Fourze.
  • The Flatwoods Monster: Flatwoods Monsters are the Mini-Mecha the all-female population of Warota utilizes during armed conflict. They appear in the two-parter "Uchuu Kazoku Nohara Da Zo". At first, the Warotans attack the Nohara Family because Ginnosuke unknowingly took a stone needed to keep a giant, voracious eel locked in its lake. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, the Nohara Family comes to the Warotans' rescue. Most of the army, which handles red mecha, gets eaten by the eel, so the Warotan Mayuyu and Shin join the fight in their own mecha, which is blue. The stone is successfully returned to its original location, which forces the eel to throw up all the soldiers it had eaten and to return to the lake.
  • Fractured Fairy Tale: If it has Shin-chan in it, then it's inevitable.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip: With Shin and Mitzi in "Trading Faces".
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Nene. This wasn't the case in the earlier episodes as she was a kind girl who never lost her temper. However, in later episodes where she's a bit of a bully, the boys are scared of her and seem to only let her tag along because they don't really have a choice.
  • Friendly Rivalry: Miss Anderson and Miss Ume, it mellows out in the later seasons.
  • From the Mouths of Babes: And Shin knows he is saying the darnedest things.
  • Future Badass: Every main character in the 18th movie Super-Dimension! The Storm Called My Bride... eventually, but only Future!Shin-chan and Future!Bou-chan start out this way. Future!Himawari, of all people, despite being referred to as a civil servant, grew up to become a cop.
  • Gasshole. Shin. Most episodes he'll just randomly fart without warning, much to the dismay of anyone near him.
  • Get It Over With: Happiness Bunny wishes for death, but alas, it was not meant to be.
  • Goggles Do Something Unusual: Glasses here has the ability to change personalities, it shows in Miss Katz and once on Masao (when he took Principal Ench's glasses by accident}
  • Gonky Femme: Shinobu Kandadori, Nanako's friend, who dreams to be a profesional wrestles and still likes skirts and pigtails.
  • Good Behavior Points: An early issue of the manga has Misae devising a "Good boy" and "Bad boy" points system, on the basis that by collecting ten "Good boy" points within a week, Shin can get a Christmas present. Being Shin, however, by the end of the issue, he gets one "Good boy" point, while the "Bad boy" points leaderboard ends up running out of spaces.
  • Good Parents: Hiro, even though he's nearly as bad as Shin at times.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Shin Nohara, when it is about his family and his friends (especially in the movies). And when he shows it, it's endearingly sweet.
  • Horrible Honeymoon: The honeymoon of Midori Ishizaka (Shin-Chan's class teacher who constantly gets dragged into Shin-Chan's antics) and Junichi Ishizaka, where their wedding honeymoon have them going to Australia and somehow against all odds ending up in the same hotel as Shin Chan and family, with a sleepwalking Shin-Chan accidentally entering Midori's hotel suite and kissing Junichi in the dead of the night after a half-asleep Junichi mistook Shin-Chan to be Midori. Needless to say, Shin-Chan's typical shenanigans get into the couple's way during their tour around the Gold Coast, Great Barrier Reef, Opera House and finally causing Midori to suffer a brief breakdown near the Uluru Ayers Rock.
  • Hit Flash: Everytime Shin (and sometimes Hiro) gets smacked by Mitzi, the hit is censored and replaced with a giant "POW!" flash and accompanying sound effect.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Most every Japanese episode title ends with "...zo".
  • Ignorant About Fire: In episode 395, Hiroshi and Misae notice a gas leak and tell Shin not to light anything on fire. Shin immediately turns on a lighter and the house blows up, forcing them to move into an apartment until the house can be fixed.
  • Informed Attractiveness:
    • "Hottie" Nonako, who doesn't look that much different from the other women in the series (although she's the only "good-looking" girl who amused by Shin's antics instead of disgusted by it.
    • INVERTED by Shin's mom. She's supposed to look unattractive, having wrinkles and fat tummy, and yet she's drawn as normal-looking woman.
  • Intoxication Ensues: In one episode, Himawari gets drunk just from sniffing beer. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Kaiju: The main plot element of The Movie Legend of Buri Buri, 3 Minutes Charge is the family becoming super heroes and capturing Kaiju ranging from A blue minotaur in wrestling Tights to a giant parrotfish.
  • Kids Hate Vegetables: One of Shin-Chan's trademark dislikes is green bell peppers, which he often tries to dispose of without his mom noticing, from holding it in his mouth and running away mid-dinner to spit them into the toilet, to pretending to keep them with plant seeds and burying them. Truth in Television, however — bell peppers are widely-produced in Japan and frequently served to children for their nutritious value, but most Japanese kids dislike them for their bitter taste.
  • Killed Off for Real: In the manga, Miss Ume's boyfriend, Tokurou.
  • Lipstick Mark: It turns out it was the baby.
  • Looming Silhouette of Rage: Usually Mitzi.
  • Love Triangle: Masao has a crush on Ai, who has a crush on Shin.
  • Male Frontal Nudity: Shin from time to time, especially with his Elephant Dance.
  • May–December Romance: Musae develops a crush on grandpa Gin.
  • The Men in Black: Kuroiso (Mr. K), Ai-chan's bodyguard. Guess what the 'Kuro' part means. Also, Mr. K, Get it?
  • Mistaken for Gay: Happens to Kazuma quite often.
  • Mouthy Kid: Shin, so much. He upholds Children Are Innocent, though.
  • Naked People Are Funny: The "Elephant Dance"!
  • Nervous Wreck: Georgie
  • Non-Standard Character Design: In the Shin Godzilla crossover, Godzilla is drawn much more realistically compared to the stylized-looking characters and ends up sticking out like a sore thumb as a result.
  • Not Allowed to Grow Up: Shin-Chan made his debut in 1992, and his kid sister Himawari was born in 1996. After three decades they're still respectively a kid and a toddler - despite having multiple episodes featuring their birthdays, Coming-of-Age day, Christmas, and the like. One 2002 issue depicting the Noharas celebrating the 2003 New Year countdown acknowledges that times does indeed pass in their universe, but the main cast remains the same age.
  • Not Me This Time: In one episode, Misae accuses Shin of making a mess out of her dressing table, and is forced to clean it out, but Himawari is actually the one who made that mess and Shin is proven instantly right when Hima starts playing with her cosmetics while both Misae and Shinnosuke were arguing.
  • One of the Boys: Played with in that Nene always hangs around with the boys, but also always makes them play house with her.
  • One-Steve Limit: There are several homonym characters throughout the show:
    • Fumie is either: The female model that Shin-chan likes to watch in her magazines, or the name of Keiko's (Misae's friend) niece who babysat Shin a couple of times. The coincidence has been brought up the first time she appeared.
    • Hitoshi is either: One of the bullies from kindergarten; or the name of Keiko's baby child.
    • Ogin is either: The teenage member of Saitama's Crimson Scorpions; or the barefoot kunoichi agent from special episode 6.
    • Atsuko is either: the weather newslady who Shin-chan likes to watch on TV; or Atsuko Kutsuzoko (Summer in the FUNimation dub) from Falling Apartments.
    • Shinobu is either: The college student who has the misfortune of being fired from every part time job because of Shin-chan; or Shinobu Kandadori, Nanako's college friend.
  • Painful Adhesive Removal:
    • One volume of the manga have Misae forgetting to keep a roll of duct tape after using it, and Shin Chan, being curious as usual, tries playing with it like sticking strands of tape on his skin and pulling it off. He finds the mildly painful sensation giddy and exciting, but goes a bit too far when he sticks and pulls off a wad of tape over his balls.
    • Shin sees Misae applying heat pads to her back and decides to try them on as well. Intrigued by the warm sensation, he gets carried away and sticks the patches all over his body, including his nipples and crotch. He soon comes to regret it, as the pads firmly adhere to his skin, leaving a painful bruise when he tries ripping them off.
  • Parent Service: Misae "secretly" lusts after various Bishōnen characters in Action Mask. One episode even revolved around Misae's secret admiration for a new show called Super Biker Ryuu and its title character. At the end, a newspaper had the following news: "Super Biker Ryuu, a favorite among housewives!" (On the [adult swim] version, the headline was, "Desperate Women, Pitiful Lives.")note 
  • Picky Eater:
  • Plot Tailored to the Party: The 17th movie, "Howl! Kasukabe Wild Kingdom", has Shin-chan's friends turned into animal versions of themselves, and they discover that their new forms give them an edge in battle (Rabbits can hear well and kick like mofos', Armadillos can bounce around very effectively, and bats can apparently scream good)... But Kazama-kun is turned into a penguin, and is therefore useless for the entire battle. Until a crapton of water nearly drowns his friends, at which point he shows that penguins are quite fast underwater, leaving a vortex the size of a 747 in his wake.
  • Poster Patchup: The Nohara family is forced to stay in a cramped studio apartment. Shin-Chan's antics with their next-door neighbour, Yonroh, unintentionally leads them to break a hole into the dividing wall of their apartment (large enough for Hiroshi Nohara to crawl through). When the landlady comes over for a routine monthly inspection, the Nohara family covers up the hole with stacked boxes. On the other side of the wall, Yonroh uses a poster.
  • Precocious Crush:
    • Shin-chan for Nanako Ōhara. While Shin usually goes after girls who are older than he, Nanako is special to him.
    • In episode 225c, a high school student sent a love letter to Ms. Matsuzaka/Ms. Katz, and later after finding out that he needs to get better grades at school, and that he already has a female friend, the teacher asks the kindergarten principal and Sihn-chan to pose as her husband and child respectively in front of him to set him back on track.
  • Percussive Maintenance: Misae's attempt to fix the TV this way only made it worse.
  • Retail Riot: Mitzy often finds herself beating the crap out of other women just to get her hands on anything on sale. One time, it was over bulk-packaged eggs. Most of them ended up smashed on the ground during the chaos.
  • Running Gag: Lots, including:
    • Misae giving a strike in Shin-chan's head whenever he misbehaves. Sometimes other characters do this him, as well.
    • Shin-chan making fun of his mom's breast size or her big butt.
    • Shin-chan driving Nene's mom crazy causing her to lose her temper and have an outburst, with Nene witnessing it and crying "You're not my usual mom!". Other times she goes to the bathroom to punch a stuffed bunny, a behavior that carried over to Nene after she inherits her mother's temper.
    • Shin-chan's Ass Dance and Elephant Dance.
    • Ms. Yoshinaga (Ms. Anderson)'s rivalry with Ms. Matsuzaka (Ms. Katz).
    • Encho being mistaken for a boss of the Yakuza.
    • Shin-chan reading in a bookstores without buying where the owner do some hilarious things to scare all the free readers off.
    • Dad woken up in a weird way by Shin-chan (smelly old shoes, grating a raddish with his beard, stuffing tissues oh his mouce etc) which is carried out to his dreams.
  • Sadist Show: Oh boy...
  • Secret Pet Plot: One manga chapter has Shinnosuke being gifted a chick by a street seller. However, he convinces himself that Misae would try to eat the bird, so he spends the entire chapter hiding his new pet from her. In the end, Misae finds out about the chick, assures her son that she won't harm it, and suggests he take it to the school's farm.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: In one episode Misae and Shin try to teach Himawari how to crawl so she can compete on a show where babies race each other. After many failed attempts she finally starts crawling on her own, only for Misae and Shin to learn the show has been cancelled.
  • Sideways Smile: Many characters do this, though Shin and Hima do it the most. For those two the smile isn't just visible from the side but directly behind them.
  • Significant Anagram: In the second movie, Shin-chan meets a prince who is identical to him. His name: Sunnokeshi (anagram of Shinnosuke).
  • Slice of Life: When it's not about Shinnosuke's antics, the stories happen to focus in the daily lives of the characters.
  • Shaking the Rump: Shinnosuke's trademark butt dance, where he pulls his pants down and shakes his butt.
  • Shout-Out: Lots, considering the long run of the series. For example, Penny has a crush on a student called Kazuo. She daydreams about him and accidentally calls Kazuo to Maso/Masao. Kazuo and Masao...
  • Souvenir Land: In Episode 138-C, where Shin-chan and family go to Action Land. They take a picture with Mimitchi Mouse, and they wait in a long line for the roller coaster while Shin and Misae are distracted by an Action Kamen parade.
  • Spaghetti Kiss: One episode has a drunk Miss Ume seeing Shin has a handsome grown man through her beer goggles and trying to do this with him, only with pocky.
  • Two-Teacher School: Well, Three-Teacher School, temporarily bumped to four during The Flamer's arc. When it was revealed he would be fired, the kids lampshaded the fact that Miss Ume rarely appears to teach them and suggested firing her in Flamer's place.
  • Toilet Humor: Sometimes Shin's dialogue is just "Farty poop fart fart" or something along those lines.
  • Trapped at the Dinner Table: In more than one chapter, Misae and Hiroshi sit on Shin-Chan's left and right side and forbid him to leave until he finishes all his bell peppers.
  • True Companions: The Kasukabe Defense Organization, consisting of Shin and friends.
  • The Unfair Sex: Misae will give Hiroshi a beating if she catches him checking out other women or just thinks he is doing that, but she can check out all the cute guys she wants.
  • Unmoving Plaid: Encho's pants. The English dub added some in-jokes.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Shin-chan and Kazama. Shin loves to tease him, and Kazama wants to get away from Shin when he does, but deep down, they're the closest friends and do care for each other. Nene and Ai just as well.
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: There are three of these in the episode where Misae is suffering from morning sickness.
  • Wham Episode: Volume 47. Miss Ume falling into depression and becoming suicidal after her boyfriend died from a terrorist attack on a trip in South America. Made more tragic as he was planning to propose to her when he returned.
  • Wham Line: Fighting his final foe, and having completed two separate power-ups, Kantam Robo declares that he's "sick and tired of powering up just to continue a bloodbath"note , then basically self-destructs with his wife to destroy President Gilgiros.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: The gang from the Kasukabe Defense Organization, except for Kazama.
  • Wrong Bathroom Incident: Spoofed in a story where the titular Dirty Kid and his family went to a waterpark. While in the changing room, Shin-Chan finds his mom's bra inside his backpack, exclaims "she must have misplaced it! I'll return it to her..." and quickly makes a beeline for the ladies' room.


Tropes specific to the Vitello/Phuuz Dubs:

     Tropes List 
  • Affectionate Nickname: Mitsy affectionately refers to Harry as "Papa Bear"
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: A example in-universe, in "Fun at the ski lodge" Enzo offhandedly mentions he would like to eat "lutefisk" a Swedish dish and as it turns out the restaurant actually serves it.
  • Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Vitello and Phuuz dubs uses this, making it seem more kid friendly than it really is, but not shying away from showing Shin-Chan's naked buttocks.
  • Bowdlerise: In one episode's source footage, Cosmo had a dream about getting breastfed by his mother as a baby. The Vitello dub had a close-up of his mother's face pasted over the scene so it looked like he was kissing her cheek. This causes a bit of Lost in Translation during the dialogue in the next scene.
    • Usually all scenes of Shin's crotch are taken out of the dub, the last scene of 'Going To A Haunted House' however, has Shin's butt drawn over where his crotch can be seen in the other versions.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: Principal Enzo, he completely breaks down after a few sips.
    Enzo: And my momma never understood me, mainly cause she didn't speak English. And now I'm stuck in this lousy job! Why? Why!?
    Dori: Well, you're very good with kids.
    Enzo: I'm gonna die in a freakin' kindergarten. I should've taken my chances on the outside!
    Dori: You're not gonna die.
    Enzo: Great, take away my last hope why don'tcha! (sniff) Well, I'm glad you got all that off ya chest...
  • Catchphrase: In the Vitello Dub, Shin Chan often exclaims "Gee Sammich!" or "Coolie-oolie!" The Vitello Dub also localizes Shin's Buri Buri dance as "The-Bare-Butt-Boogie".
    • Principal Enzo often replies to his nickname with "Don't call me Godfather!"
  • Chew Toy: "Dr Weinstein" the rabbit toy Nini's mother Ruby takes her aggression out on.
  • Children Are Innocent: Averted with Shin Chan, though it's implied the only reason he often gets away with his antics is because adults perceive him this way.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: A recurring gag in the Vitello Dub is mentions of Principal Enzo's shady past.
    Enzo: You would not want to spend the night in the joint ladies and gentlemen. Not that I have been in the slammer myself...
  • Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: In the Gag Dub, the characters frequently hum along to the background music of the scene. In a couple episodes, they outright sing the ending theme.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: In Mom's a Shopaholic, Mitsy holds a magazine up to Shin and Harry and asks their opinion on "which one is better". After thinking for a couple seconds, they both gesture to the girl on the left, indicating she's hotter. Mitsy gets angry with this.
    Harry: I guess she wanted our opinion on the clothes...
    Shin: They were wearing clothes?
    • Inverted in "Play Ball Part 2." Miss Dori uses a bikini girl calender to actually make Shin Chan to concentrate on the ball game. Dori gets this idea after noticing Shin Chan catch a ball by pure accident while staring a pretty lady walking by.
    • Similarly in "The Late Great Me" Mitsy tries to wake up Shin Chan using a similar method but unfortunately she uses a picture of herself.
    Mitsy: (holding a photo) Lookie lookie, Shiny winny! Open your eyes, it's a hot bikini babe!
    Shin: (whimpering in his sleep) Ugh...get..it..away!
    Mitsy: (inspects the photo) Oh, it's a picture of me... (cries) It still shouldn't give you nightmares!
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul": Mitsy often tells Shin Chan off for calling her by her first name. Likewise Enzo hates it when people call him "Godfather".
  • Drama Queen: Shin Chan is a fan of soap operas and will sometime invoke this trope.
    Shin: (falsetto) No Flax! We mustn't! Not in the limo! We have a beach house.
    Harry: Drop the soap stuff, we need to talk.
  • Dub Name Change: As mentioned before the Vitello dub changed most of the character names but often localized them in a manner so that they resembled the original names in some form: Kazuma became "Cosmo", Nene became "Nini", etc.
    • Himawari's name means "sunflower" and the dub localizes the flower theme by naming her "Daisy".
  • Exact Words: In "Dad Goes Jogging" Harry vows to cover at least 10 miles before work. But he tires out after just 5 and ends up taking a cab back home so he wouldn't be late for work.
    Mitsy: You said you were gonna do 10 miles!
    Shin: Yeah, but he didn't say how!
  • The Ghost: The Vitello dub added a few of these which weren't present in the original show. One example would be Richard Gere whom Mitsy is a huge fan of.
  • Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Invoked given he fact it is still a kids show no matter how raunchy it gets.
    Dori: Gosh darn it! I just lost 50 bucks to that punk Uma!
  • His Name Really Is "Barkeep": In the original Japanese version the protagonist's real name was "Shinnosuke Nohara". His more commonly used nickname "Shin-Chan" is a contraction of his first name and Japanese honorific "-chan" which roughly translates to "Little Shin". However in the Vitello dub, "Shin Chan Nohara" is literally his full name.
  • Idiosyncratic Wipes: The Vitello dub added in scene transitions, by Rotoscoping various stock footage shots of Shin Chan.
    • Averted by the Phuuz dub which omitted them entirely.
  • Innocently Insensitive: Downplayed with Shin compared to the original Japanese version. In the Vitello dub, Shin is less oblivious about his usual lack of tact when talking to adults.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "Dad has a breakdown" Shin notes the odd angular shapes of his parents' heads.
  • Look Behind You: Shin tries to invoke this on an angry dog in "I hit a homer" but it fails to work.
    Shin: Look! A cute pink poodle! I think she winked at ya! (Homer continues to growl)
    Owner: Yeah, nice try. But Homer's a girl.
  • Loophole Abuse: In "The Late Great Me" The teachers and students bet whether or not Shin Chan will miss the bus and be late for school for the 40th time in a row. Shin actually makes it to the bus on time but is nonetheless late for school due to the bus getting stuck in traffic. As a result neither side wins the bet.
  • Literal-Minded: Shin Chan very much. Here are some examples. In "Play Ball Part 1".
    Dori: I'll hit the ball and you catch. Try to catch it on the fly.
    Shin: Whoa, that'll hurt! I better dress for a little. (pulls his zipper tight)
    Dori: Not that kind of fly Shin Chan! See, the idea is to keep me from getting to first base.
    Shin: No problem. (to the others) Back off! If anyone's getting to first base with this muffin, it's me!
    • "Play Ball Part 2"
    Cosmo: She's sending you a pop fly! You know what that is?
    Shin: Sure! "A fly with a wife and kid!"
    • "Vacation Fun"
    Mitsy: The guidebook gives it two forks up. Guess it's a good place to eat!
    Shin: Good place to eat? (imagines his parents literally eating the building) You guys are sick!
    • "The Kahzu Kamakazes Hit The Pool"
    Billy: I should hope not. I got it at "Lordstroms".
    Frannie: (whispers) It's bad for our image, take it off!
    Shin: Whoa! The "X" going X-rated! note 
    Frannie: She's not stripping! She's just gonna change that dumb suit!
  • Never Say "Die": Surprisingly averted! While there's no swearing, words such as "die" and "kill" are occasionally used within the dialogue. Though in some cases, words such as "freakin" were censored out by Jetix when the channel aired them.
    Dori: How are you doing Shin Chan?
    Shin: I'd have to get better just to die!
  • Parental Bonus: The Vitello dub is full of these despite it airing on RTÉ in the Republic of Ireland and Fox Kids in the UK and Australia.
  • Parenthetical Swearing: Invoked from time to time. E.g. in "Dad breaks a promise"
    Harry: Oh go noogie yourself!
    • "I go skiing"
    Uma: I hope he freezes his ass-sets!
    • "Smarty Pants Marti"
    Cosmo: She can kiss my kumquats.
  • Precocious Crush: Shin flirts with women more than twice his own age on a daily basis:
    Uma: Don't you have parents? What do you want?
    Shin: A little good morning kiss!
    Uma: Dream on, you're too young for me!
    Shin: That didn't bother you last night! (flashback) Don't you remember? We got it on!
    Uma: No! You just got 'em off. Your pants that is.
  • Recurring Riff: The Masked Muchacho theme tune usually plays whenever he is mentioned.
  • Refuge in Audacity: The entire plot of "Mom and Dad's Big Night" follows Mitsy trying to convince Harry to have sex with her even though he's exhausted from work. Did we mention this is supposed to be a kids show?
  • Shout-Out: Occasionally a few Western pop culture references are thrown in:
    Mitsy: Shin Chan Nohara, Age 5. An ordinary boy in an ordinary town. Except Shin Chan Nohara is about to enter the "Tardy Zone."
    • In "Dad goes Jogging" we get this exchange.
    • From the same episode
    Harry: (flattering himself) How'd Mel Gibson get into our bathroom?
    • In "I Go Skiing"
    Skier: Yer kiddin'! Where's Michael Jackson?
    Shin: The old guy in the middle. Personally I think he went a little too far this time with the surgery. Hey, for 5 bucks I can give you the inside scoop on Bubbles!
    Teachers: (in unison) SHIN! Cut it out!
    • In "Smarty Pants Marti"
    Marti: Naturally you're impressed. My intellectual capacity far outstrips your own.
    Dori: That's a five year old girl?
    Uma: Or Yoda in a dress...
    • From the same episode
    Marti: Hey isn't that Hulk Hogan!?
    Shin: Nah it's just Miss Mann the gym teacher.
  • Show Within a Show: Aside from the "Masked Muchacho" (the dub name for Action Kamen) there's also "Smiley Crocodiley" which Shin likes to watch on mornings.
  • Spoiler Opening: Daisy is featured briefly in the opening even though her birth doesn't actually occur until at least a dozen episodes in.
  • Stepford Smiler: The Vitello dub turns Principal Enzo into one as well as somewhat of a Deadpan Snarker.
    Enzo: Listen up happy snow bunnies, Miss Dori is going to show us all how to down hill fast! (Kinda like my life, hehehe)
  • "Super Sentai" Stance: The Kahzu Kamakaze gang employs one and they complain to their leader about it's usefulness.
    Becky: It's too hot for that!
    Billy: Yeah Frannie, no one's even watching!
  • Tantrum Throwing: In "We're going on a picnic", Mitsy does this to Harry when she gets angry after learning that he couldn't go to the picnic with them which is why she wants to leave the house.
  • Three Stooges Shout-Out: Shin states that the Kahzu Kamakazes are as funny as them.
  • Twisted Echo Cut: In "I can't sleep" Mitsy is on the phone with Harry only to startle him by suddenly yelling at him. However it turns out she was actually yelling at Shin Chan in the background.
    Mitsy: Poor bear, all alone in a big hotel...
    Harry: Yeah it's pretty boring alright. Maybe I can find something to read. Oh look, there's a Bible on the bedside draw.
    Mitsy: PUT DOWN THAT SLUTTY MAGAZINE! What do you think I'm stupid!? (scene change) Go read "Pat the Bunny" like a normal kid!
  • "Well Done, Dad!" Guy: Harry often tries to win Shin Chan's respect.
    Harry: (hugging Shin) I did it for you son. A boy needs to respect his dad and I just want you to be proud of me.
    Shin: Uh you got a Snot Bubble coming out of your nose...
  • What the Hell Is That Accent?:
    • Principal Enzo speaks with a bronx accent (despite allegedly being from Sweden) but he deliberately puts on a ridiculous Swedish accent when he is forced to call the police in "I'm mountain meat"
    • Marty Flang also attempts to fool Shin with a fake foreign accent.
    Marty: Uh Mr Flang no live here anymore! He moved very far away!
  • Worthy Opponent: "Hunt 'em Down Hishi" deems Shin Chan to be this as he's the only kid she's failed to sell one of her books too.
    Hishi: Well you've beaten me again. I know all the tricks kid, best in the business. But I finally met my match.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: The Vitello dub heavily uses this trope, going as far as to reformat optimistic endings to episodes with tragic ones which leads to a very jarring shift in tone from the original Japanese version.
  • Your Television Hates You: In "Mom's Gotta Barf", Mitsy is suffering from Morning Sickness and decides to watch TV to get her mind off it. Cue the TV shows about Foreign Queasine.

Tropes specific to the FUNimation Gag Dub:

     Tropes List 
  • Adaptation Expansion: Many of the backstories for certain characters have been greatly changed and expanded to be more comedic. Most notably is principal Enzo, who in the original is by all accounts just really a nice guy with a run-of-the-mill background. Principal Ench on the other hand...
  • Audience Shift: It's considerably more profane than the original and it aired on [adult swim].
  • Barely-Changed Dub Name: The FUNimation English dub simplified many of the characters' names:
    • Shinnosuke Nohara to Shin Nohara
    • Misae Nohara to Mitzi Nohara
    • Hiroshi Nohara to Hiro Nohara
    • Himawari Nohara to Hima Nohara
    • Shiro to Whitey
    • Masao Sato to Maso Sato
    • Bo Suzuki to Boo
  • Black Comedy: Among many examples, the frequent mention of Penny's sister Caitlin in the Gag Dub who "Lives in the lake now..."
    Mitzi: (to Hima) You know, if we were in China right now, you'd be in a dumpster.
  • Brawn Hilda: Nanako's German roommate Griselda. She claims her muscle mass was mostly a result of the rhinoceros hormones.
  • Break the Haughty: Georgie in season three, when the economy wipes out his family's fortune. In particular, episode 66.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: The dub likes to do this now and then. One episode is even titled "Stop Referencing the Show!"
    • The two year Development Hell is mentioned seconds into episode 53.
    • Episode 8 of Season 1 has Shin holding up a "The End" sign while thanking the audience for watching after he blew up the Nohara house.
  • Black Comedy Rape:
    • Miss Polly is almost always constantly horny. She goes so far as to do research on other adults ("I don't mind if it's small. It's actually better for anal"), and it's implied that she rapes Principal Ench in numerous kinky ways, gets it on with a very willing Mr. K, and tries to get both Miss Katz and Miss Anderson in on the action. Miss Katz realizes her life sucks so much that she eventually submits to the idea of just letting Polly do whatever she wants with her.
    • It's also often suggested that Penny's mom is often raped by her husband.
      Penny's Mom: Tell my parents your ass hurts because you sat on a very large nail!
  • Casting Gag: In the Funi dub, Jerry Jewell, best known as Jimmy Kudo from their short-lived dub of Case Closed, was cast as Happiness Bunny because both roles are entire voiceovers without any Mouth Flaps to worry about.
  • Crazy Homeless People:
    • Kenta, the crazy Kendo instructor, who was abandoned at an orphanage by his father when he was young. He really is a lunatic who feels his ultimate purpose in life is to find Dildor, the Chosen One destined to defeat the evil Slutteress. He's convinced that Shin is Dildor, and persuades him to learn Kendo. Shin decides to go with it just for the entertainment, but actually learns and becomes rather well trained in the process.
    • His father has been living just down the street from Kenta's "Dojo of Destiny (a.k.a. Leet)" for his entire life.
  • Darker and Edgier: With emphasis on "edgier". This particular dub is far more profane and crass compared to other dubs and even the original Japanese version, with a lot of the jokes now revolving around abuse, sex, and poverty.
  • Delivery Stork: When playing house with Shin, Ai declares to Penny that she's pregnant. "Shin and I French-kissed and then the stork came down and knocked me up!"
  • Dub Name Change: Applied a bit differently than most other foreigns dubs of the show, as instead of the whole cast getting western names there are general three different categories (with a few examples):
    • Characters with no name change: Ai, Yonro, Nanako
    • Characters who have the shortened version of their original name treated as their full name: Shinnosuke->Shin, Hiroshi->Hiro, Himawari->Hima
    • Characters with entirely different names: Toru Kazuma->Georgie Prescott, Nene Sakurada->Penny Milfer, Enzo->Bernoulli Ench. These examples are often done because the character's backgrounds, nationality included, are entirely different which crosses this trope over with Race Lift. Pretty much the entire cast was Japanese in the original version, but Ench is half-Peruvian, half-Roma while Georgie is stated to be an American living in Japan because his dad is a diplomat.
  • Dysfunction Junction: Played for Laughs, but the characters have some really serious issues:
    • The Noharas in general. Shin is an apathetic troublemaker, Hiro is often depressed and abused by his own wife, while Mitzi is constantly overworked, stressed, and has to put up with her delinquent son. The only exception is Hima, which might make sense given that she's just a baby.
    • Masao is a socially-awkward mess who is constantly abused by his own friends (mainly Penny) and is a frequent bullying victim.
    • Penny used to get beaten by her father, which got to the point where she started to enjoy the abuse. After her father began taking anger management classes, Penny took that has a sign that he doesn't love her anymore. Penny's mother has it just as bad, where the abuse clearly made her insane enough to get sexually aroused by it, and is strongly implied she has no problem with committing murder. Both of them, in general, also have very serious anger issues.
    • Georgie indulges in extreme conservative views that frequently borders on straight-up fascism. Becomes moreso in Season 3, where the Recession bankrupts his family and he tries hard not to let the others know.
    • Boo is probably one of the least messed up characters in the whole show, but being mentally handicapped and, at times, socially awkward is enough to make him qualify.
    • Miss Polly has nymphomania so bad that it's heavily implied she's raped the other teachers before. She also develops a serious anger problem when her glasses are removed.
    • Miss Katz has a terrible love life and claims to be a heavy gambler that she considers a Dark Secret.
  • End-of-Series Awareness:
    • The final episode of season 3 starts right away in "The Bitzi Saga Conclusion: Alternate Ending", when Mitzi starts talking back to the Lemony Narrator. All of this happens while the episode keeps rolling.
      Narrator: Boy, this show's been swearing more this season. That's either a sign that the Supes support it... o-or don't care about it! Hey Zach! We're not getting canceled, are we!?
      ADR Director Zach Bolton: Nah, they got like 600 of these in Japan. We'll be doing this for years!
    • The rest of the episode just shatters what remains of the 4th wall with nothing but talk of whether Shin-Chan as a series will be cancelled or renewed for a 4th season. Numerous call-backs to previous characters, plot lines, and numerous Take Thats, Shout Outs, and parodies all over the place.
      Georgie: If enough fans buy our DVDs, we'll be back just like Family Guy and Futurama!
      Shin: The show's over, but we'll live on!
      Penny: Oh yeah? Look at what happened to Brittany Murphy after they canceled King of the Hill!
      (everyone jumps in shock at what Penny just said, while she has an accomplished grin on her face)
      Maso: That's a really dark note to end the series on.
      Penny: Have you seen this show?
  • Fiction 500: Ai's family is often mentioned to do many decadent and insanely illegal things with their money, including making children fight to the death for entertainment and feeding their dog steaks made from orphans.
  • Foregone Conclusion: In a flashback episode when Shin was a baby, Hiro was in a happy marriage with Mitzi and expected to reach the top of the corporate ladder by the time Shin was in kindergarten. It's a little sad to see how his life spiraled downward.
  • The Four Chords of Pop: Present in the ED.
  • Gag Dub: Probably one of the more extreme examples out there — dialogue, characters, and even the plots of most episodes are entirely rewritten in ways that subvert the originals and adds a tremendous amount of profane humor. The order and continuity of episodes isn't even the same, as the writers pick and choose a small numbers of episodes of the show from whenever in it's long-running history they want.
  • Gold Digger: After her boyfriend dies, Nanako tries to gold-dig off a rich man which she is not aware is a vampire that wants to reincarnate his dead lover into her body.
  • Gosh Darnit To Heck: Kenta, the crazy Kendo instructor from The Dildor Saga storyline doesn't like saying the more notorious swear words.
    Kenta: Instead of the F word, you should say Flarp.
  • Guilty Pleasure: In-Universe.
    • Georgie's favorite show is the Princess Heiressz show, intended for little girls. He always tries to hide the fact that he likes it though.
    • Similarly, he's a secret fan of Action Bastard, despite his overt contempt for it.
  • Henpecked Husband: Hiro is Mitzi's bitch, natch.
    Enchman: Umm, excuse me.
    Mitzi: (holding Hiro in a leg lock) What do you want!?
    Enchman: I received a distress signal and hurried over here. Is there something wrong?
    Mitzi: No, nothing's wrong. AS YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE, MY HUSBAND JUST FELL DOWN THE STAIRS! (continues inflicting pain on Hiro) SAY MY NAME, BITCH!
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Mr. Milfer is constantly stated to be a drunk who beats Penny and Mrs. Milfer all the time. Once he stops drinkings, he becomes a much nicer person, but they're so used to it that actually miss it, because Penny thinks that's how he's supposed to act while Mrs. Milfer misses the incredibly violent sex they always had.
  • House Wife: According to a bonus web interview, the fact that the Noharas don't quite make enough money for Mitzi to live comfortably as a housewife is the main origin of Mitzi's unusual behavior.
  • Intrepid Reporter: Mitzi's sister Bitzi claims to be a photographer who ended up getting mixed up with the affairs of third-world hell holes like Africa and Burma. Because of it, she got addicted to drugs and is now trying to kick her habit. She was especially fond of Brown-Brown, which is mixing Cocaine with gunpowder...
  • Killed Off for Real: Hottie Nanako mentions that her boyfriend was fatally mauled.
  • Left the Background Music On: With this show, it gets lampshaded now and again.
    Hiro: Well, this inspirational music tells me we made it through the storm.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Its been lampshaded a few times that Shin wears the same outfit (a red shirt and yellow shorts) all the time. Especially when compared to the other characters, who have been seen wearing different outfits throughout the series on several occasions.
  • Love Hurts: In one episode, Penny sinks into a deep depression because her dad was taking anger management courses and no longer inflicted injuries on his family. Penny thinks it meant he stopped loving her, because she's never known otherwise.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Shin has a way with toying with people's emotions. Quite often, the only reason people stick around him is because they'd feel horrible if they didn't. His meddling is intentional, and sometimes he just says the right audaciously stupid thing to make others worry about him because they know he can't be trusted. It's almost a form of coercion, and he's aware of what he's doing. For example, in one episode, Miss Katz has to walk Shin home because his parents weren't home and couldn't pick him up from school. Miss Katz wanted to leave because she had other things to tend to, but Shin manipulated her to stay.
    Shin: Are you just going to leave me all alone?
    Miss Katz: Sorry, but I have to get going to my date.
    Shin: But what will the Press think when they see you walking away right before the fire?
    Miss Katz: GOD-DAMN YOU, SHIN!
  • Mistaken for Gay:
    • Maso... sort of. Much like Tobias Funke, Maso's dialogue is basically an endless stream of unintentional, homoerotic innuendo, but he shows interest in at least one girl and thus may be bisexual or just Camp Straight.
    • Initially implied to be the case with Ken Nakatomi and Bernie Ota, a pair of detectives, who rent an apartment near the Noharas' as part of an investigation and claim to be a gay couple to cover up in the episode "Stakeout of the Closet". Subverted, because about halfway through their first appearance it becomes increasingly obvious that they both are gay and in denial. In a later episode, their Inner Monologue reveals that they both secretly love each other. They reappear in the third season, both aware of and completely open their feeling for each other.
  • Mushroom Samba: When Shin ends up eating a 'shroom, his parents have no idea that he's even tripping out because everything he says is perfectly within his realm of imagination anyway.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Shin-chan does this to Georgie, much to his annoyance. Even one time, Shin-chan entered Georgie's bathroom, while he was still using it!
    Shin: Don't forget to wipe your ass!
  • Politically Incorrect Hero: Georgie. On one hand, he's shown to be a nice and well-mannered boy, with his jerkass moments usually being the result of the stupidity he's surrounded by. On the other hand, he has a low opinion on poor people (especially those who rely on welfare), accuses Barack Obama of being a nazi, and thinks Mexico is a filthy place.
  • Pop-Cultural Osmosis: Georgie's response in "Yaz-Manian Devil" is to invoke this trope.
    Shin: You know, it's not polite to spell when some of us can't count.
    Geogrie: I was abbreviating!
    Shin: And how do you know Yaz's name anyway?
    Georgie: Uhh... cultural osmosis?
  • Playing with Fire: The Flamer, who has what are at one point described as "mutant fire powers."
  • Refuge in Audacity: Let's face it: this dub doesn't just cross the line twice, it gleefully plays hopscotch with it.
  • Running Gagged: Penny's dad was VERY abusive. However, one late season 2 episode has her dad going to therapy and becoming a good father. It takes her an episode to realize not all Love Hurts. Even after a 2+ years break, the writers seemed to have kept this.
  • Self-Deprecation: "Stop Referencing The Show!" contains one such example of this:
    Penny: Your stick figures suck!
    Miss Anderson: No, Penny, that's kanji, the Japanese writing we told your parents we're teaching you!
    Georgie: Riiight... douchebags use it for tattoos!
    Shin: Mmhm, mmhm, or on this show when they're too lazy to change things to English.
    Georgie: Stop referencing the show!
  • Small Reference Pools: In an interview on the [adult swim] website the writers talked about how they went out of their way to avert this trope.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Penny lampshades her status as the Smurfette of the show in the final episode of season 3 by directly referencing this trope; she stops worrying about the character potentially being introduced to get the show renewed overshadowing when it turns out said character is male, thus her role as "the Smurfette" is secure.
  • Split-Personality Switch Trigger: When Miss Polly's are knocked off in episode 57, her personality does a 180 and she goes full dominatrix!
  • Subverted Kids' Show
  • Success Through Insanity: Kenta really IS crazy, but he's a good Kendo instructor because of it.
  • Tastes Like Purple: When Principal Ench gets hit in the head by a dodgeball, he remarks that he can smell colors.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: The Happiness Bunny all-but namedrops the trope in "Happiness Bunny's Revenge."
    Happiness Bunny: I tried to be the cute, cuddly, lovable guy, but you punished me like I was the bastard! So I might as well be the bastard! Don't you think that's fair?
  • Third-Person Person: Ai starts talking this way once she reappears in the third season. Amusingly, this is slightly obscured by the fact that her name is homophonic with the pronoun "I", leading to odd sentences that sound like something along the lines of "I is taking a walk."
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: Miss Polly waited in line at a donut shop to get a "Kream-splosion". If she didn't get one, she'd relapse into her sex craze and everyone would suffer. The customer in front of her bought the last one, and she feared the worst, but the store restocked them. She wanted to buy them all, but every other woman standing in line protested.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Boo's mental faculties are frequently shown to be potentially, directly lethal. In "The High School Years" episodes when Boo gets knocked out during a boxing match from one punch to the head and he just stands there and doesn't move. The announcer declares "Victory by Technical Manslaughter" for his opponent. Boo continues to show up for the rest of the episode, but they insist that Boo is a ghost (he's not). In other episodes, Shin suggests that Boo tends to stare up at the rain with his mouth open, and that he thinks he earns points in dodgeball by just standing there and letting everyone peg him with the ball.
  • Un-Cancelled: Two years after not being renewed for TV broadcast, a third season was made specifically for online broadcast and DVD release. Several jokes are made regarding the "two-year summer vacation".
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Shin likes to Troll Georgie all the time. It pisses him off to no end, but he still regards Shin as his best friend.
  • We Want Our Jerk Back!: Played with rather viciously as Mrs. Milfer and Penny both sorely wish their husband/father was a violent alcoholic because they missed the physical abuse. Mrs. Mifler at least realizes there's something wrong with her (and she'd seek therapy if she could afford it) but Penny continues trying to find someone who will beat her up.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The Flamer is afraid of rabbits, but was able to overcome it with Shin's help.
  • You Just Told Me: How Shin gets Principal Ench to reveal his secret identity as Ench Man.


Tropes specific to the LUK Internacional Dub:

     Tropes List 
  • Cultural Translation: An episode adapting the Japanese folktale Uriko-hime has Uriko-hime (portrayed by Himawari) called Thumbelina instead.
  • Unexplained Accent: Nene and her parents have British accents, despite living in Japan and having Japanese names.

Alternative Title(s): Crayon Shin Chan, Shin Chan

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