Several anime series are incredibly long-winded, lasting years before finally airing their final episodes. This has resulted in several shows that have 1,000 or more episodes! One such franchise to finally hit this milestone is none other than Yu-Gi-Oh!.
The trading card game-based franchise is well-known to both Japanese and International anime fans, but surprisingly enough, it's one of the only traditional shounen series to have officially reached 1,000 or more episodes. Even the venerable One Piece is still a few episodes off from reaching this milestone. Ironically, the longest lasting anime are almost all fairly colorful sitcoms filled with cute characters and saccharine plots. Here's a look at some of the company that Yu-Gi-Oh! now has in the 1,000+ episode club.
Doraemon (1979)
Though he's not as well known outside of Japan, Doraemon is immensely popular in his home country, and it shows with how long his anime's continued to chug along. The series follows the eponymous Doraemon, a robotic, earless cat from the future who travels back in time to aid a Japanese youth in the present. This boy, Nobita Nobi, is a bullied child who doesn't do well in school, leaving Doraemon to help him throughout life. Doraemon hold a myriad of gadgets in his fourth-dimensional pocket, which he both gets into and out of trouble with.
The 1979 anime, which succeeded the 1973 series, lasted until 2005, airing 1787 episodes and 30 specials. Upon ending, it was quickly replaced with a new anime, which has so far aired over 600 episodes and specials. The series is generally more faithful to the original manga from Fujiko Fujio, though it remains to be seen if it will last as long as its predecessor. The runtime for the new show's episodes are also a more traditional 24 minutes, as opposed to the 11 minute runtime of the 1979 series' episodes.
Crayon Shin-Chan
Though it strongly resembles many of the other family sitcoms on this list, Crayon Shin-Chan is definitely not child-friendly. The series is based around young elementary school student Shinnosuke, or Shin, and his family. The series, especially the Funimation dub, was known for its crude, adult-oriented humor, essentially making it an anime equivalent to American shows like South Park.
The series is usually episodic, though certain plot points do carry over from season to season, such as the family temporarily losing their house. Dubbed into over 30 languages, the series, which began in 1992 and is still running, has aired 1035 episodes. Unlike some of the other shows on this list, the episodes for Shin-Chan are the typical 24 minute length.
Sazae-San
Based off of the manga from Machiko Hasegawa, Sazae-san is the longest-running anime of all time. This makes sense, as the manga began all the way back in 1946 and didn't end until 1974! It is a family comedy based around the life of Japanese wife Sazae Fuguta, who finds herself in a traditional domestic life despite her relative progressiveness and tomboyish nature. These inclinations, which were typically at the expense of Sazae's salary man husband Masuo, were somewhat controversial when the manga was published, but the anime plays it all for fairly innocuous laughs.
Each anime episode is shown in vignettes, and even features characters which were not seen in the original manga. Beginning back in 1969, the series has so far amassed over 7,000 episodes! These episodes are around 7 minutes long, however, which explains why they're so easy to quickly animate.
Chibi Maruko-chan
Chibi Maruko-chan is a semi autobiographical series from Momoko Sakura. Beginning with a manga in the late '80s, it got its first anime in 1990. This series only lasted for two years, but it was followed up by a 1995 series that has continued to run to this day. Many of the voice actors from the original version reprised their roles in the second anime. The show's episodes are also at the 24 minute mark, surprisingly enough.
The anime is about Momoko "Maruko" Sakura, an elementary school student who lives with her sister, parents and grandparents. The episodic series is based mainly around events in the author's own life, though told in a cheery, comical, breezy way. Its somewhat idyllic and domestic nature has seen it compared to the aforementioned Sazae-san, as has the long length of its anime. So far, it's received a total of 1257 episodes, and with the manga having only just ended about two years ago, the series should continue for quite a while.
