50 Fun Facts About Mr. Osomatsu (Osomatsu-san)

Which movie monster copied the pose of Osomatsu-kun's Iyami in the film Invasion of Astro-Monster?

Godzilla strikes Iyami's flailing pose in the 1965 film, a craze so big in Japan that children copied it in every photo. John Lennon and Paul McCartney struck it too on their visit.

The grown-up Matsuno brothers of Mr. Osomatsu all still live with their parents as what?

NEETs, people not in education, employment or training, is what all six have become, ten years older than in the 1960s manga. Their father, a salaryman, is the family breadwinner.

Ichimatsu, the gloomy fourth-born brother of Mr. Osomatsu, is devoted to which animals?

Cats are Ichimatsu's closest friends, and one episode doses his favorite with a serum that lets it speak and read minds, exposing his true feelings.

Jyushimatsu, the hyperactive airhead of the Mr. Osomatsu sextuplets, is obsessed with which sport?

Baseball is Jyushimatsu's passion, and he practices swings with his own bat whenever he has a spare moment. The first season even ends with the whole family entering a tournament.

Karamatsu is taken hostage in Mr. Osomatsu over an unpaid tab at a stand selling which dish?

Oden is the simmered hotpot Chibita sells from his stand, and his kidnap plan flops because the brothers do not care enough about Karamatsu to pay up.

Dekapan, the genial scientist of Mr. Osomatsu, runs his experiments dressed in nothing but what?

Striped boxers are all Dekapan ever wears, and he hides all sorts of things inside them. His name is short for a Japanese phrase meaning huge pants.

Hatabō, the childlike tycoon of Mr. Osomatsu, has gone through life with what stuck in his head?

A small flag has been lodged in Hatabō's skull since boyhood, and his name means flag boy. As an adult he is a multibillionaire who still gets around by tricycle.

Mr. Osomatsu was produced to celebrate which milestone for the late creator of the original manga?

His 80th birthday fell in 2015, seven years after the artist died at 72. The studio first planned a remake of the children's series before aging the brothers into adults.

Totoko, the self-styled heroine of Mr. Osomatsu, performs as an idol themed around what?

Fish costumes are Totoko's gimmick because her family runs a thriving fishmonger's shop, yet the act wins her almost no fans beyond the six brothers.

Flat-broke Iyami learns in Mr. Osomatsu that which part of his body contains a rare metal?

His buck teeth turn out to hold a metal worth a fortune, a windfall for a schemer who has sunk to sleeping under a bridge. They have been his trademark since the 1960s manga.

Choromatsu, the most responsible brother in Mr. Osomatsu, wears which trademark color?

Green sets Choromatsu apart from five brothers with the same face, each given his own color for the 2015 series. In the old manga the six were drawn to be impossible to tell apart.

Osomatsu, eldest of the Mr. Osomatsu sextuplets, bets on horses and spends his days playing what?

Pachinko, Japan's noisy pinball-style gambling game, eats up Osomatsu's days. All six brothers love it, and anyone who wins big soon has the takings seized by the others.

Karamatsu, the self-styled cool guy of Mr. Osomatsu, peppers his speech with which foreign language?

English phrases are part of Karamatsu's act, along with a leather jacket, sunglasses and the fangirls he imagines for himself. His brothers tend to ignore whatever he says.

Iyami, the scheming con artist of Mr. Osomatsu, boasts of having returned from which country?

France is where Iyami claims to have toured, though the original manga keeps hinting he has never been. He once tried to eat the shells of his escargot.

Stranded on a deserted island in Mr. Osomatsu, the cast's new society collapses fighting over what?

Toilet paper starts the war when one brother finds some and tries to keep it for himself. The battle escalates until everyone on the island awakens latent superpowers.

A crude parody of which children's hero got Mr. Osomatsu's third episode edited for rebroadcast?

Anpanman was spoofed with Dekapan as a caped hero who ends up in jail. The broadcaster's president later called the skit disrespectful to the original.

Which boy band played the six brothers in the 2022 live-action Mr. Osomatsu film and sang its theme?

Snow Man has nine members, so three of them played new characters named Period, End and Close. It was the first live-action film made from the franchise.

A spin-off series of anime shorts reimagines the sextuplets of Mr. Osomatsu as which animals?

Dogs modeled on the six brothers star in Matsu Inu, which grew out of a line of character goods and aired from October to December 2023.

The matching hoodies worn by the six brothers of Mr. Osomatsu carry the emblem of which tree?

Pine is what matsu means in Japanese, and the word sits in the family name and at the end of all six brothers' names. Each brother wears the hoodie in his own color.

How do the six adult Matsuno brothers of Mr. Osomatsu sleep at night in their parents' house?

In one long futon is how all six bed down, lined up side by side. It works on a calm night, less so when the others stay noisy until morning.

Which manga artist, nicknamed the King of Gag Manga, created the sextuplets of Mr. Osomatsu?

Fujio Akatsuka launched Osomatsu-kun in 1962 and won a Shogakukan Manga Award for it two years later. Born in Manchuria, he began his career drawing comics for girls.

Which voice actor, heard as Levi in Attack on Titan, plays idol-obsessed Choromatsu in Mr. Osomatsu?

Hiroshi Kamiya voices Choromatsu, one of six star actors cast as the brothers. In the earlier anime of the 1960s and 1980s, every one of the six was played by a woman.

Which studio made both the 1988 Osomatsu-kun anime and Mr. Osomatsu, nearly three decades apart?

Pierrot, the studio behind Naruto and Bleach, made both. Its 1988 series pushed Iyami and Chibita into the lead roles and drew ratings as high as 20 percent.

Mr. Osomatsu director Yoichi Fujita came to the show from which long-running gag anime?

Gintama veterans filled the staff: Fujita brought along head writer Shu Matsubara and several others who had worked on that series.

Which streaming service simulcast the first season of Mr. Osomatsu to viewers outside Japan?

Crunchyroll streamed each episode as it aired in Japan, and later added a commentary track by the voice cast for the year-end special.

Which idol group sang the opening themes for three seasons of Mr. Osomatsu before disbanding?

AŌP sang all six openings across those seasons before splitting up in 2021, so DA PUMP took over for season four.

In the 2019 Mr. Osomatsu anime film, the brothers wake in a world of memories after attending what?

A class reunion leaves the six sulking over old classmates with proper careers, so they drink until they fall asleep. They wake among their own 18-year-old selves, just before graduation.

On a rainy evening in Mr. Osomatsu, the brothers show their strengths and flaws playing which game?

Mahjong fills the first half of an episode that then introduces Godmatsu, a saintly extra brother formed from the goodness the six have lost.

When the Matsuno parents plan to divorce in Mr. Osomatsu, what must each son face to be chosen?

An interview lets each parent choose which sons to go on supporting, so the six pitch themselves like applicants. The couple blame differences in direction, like a band splitting up.

Todomatsu, the outgoing youngest brother of Mr. Osomatsu, manipulates others by playing up what?

His cuteness as the baby of the family is Todomatsu's weapon. He has been dubbed a dry monster for the cold calculation underneath the charm.

Osomatsu-kun, the manga behind Mr. Osomatsu, ran from 1962 to 1969 in which boys' magazine?

Shōnen Sunday carried the series for seven years, and its early chapters ran on people mixing up six identical boys. Iyami and Chibita later grew so popular that they took over as leads.

Osomatsu-kun's creator also drew which gag manga, whose scene-stealing Papa outshone its boy hero?

Tensai Bakabon won its author the Bungeishunju Manga Award, and several of its characters turn up as guests in the 1988 Osomatsu-kun anime.

Iyami helping a blind flower seller in Mr. Osomatsu retells which Charlie Chaplin film?

City Lights is replayed with Iyami in the tramp's role, earning an honest living for once to pay for the flower seller's eye surgery. The original manga borrowed several Chaplin routines too.

Killed in a car crash, Sanematsu returns in Mr. Osomatsu as a pastiche of which movie character?

RoboCop is the model for the rebuilt Sanematsu, a salaryman once deluded into thinking he was a seventh Matsuno brother. Like the film's hero, he is haunted by visions of his old life.

Which business do Iyami and Chibita run in Mr. Osomatsu once a drug turns them into cute women?

Rental girlfriends is the scheme, and the pair fleece the six smitten brothers with hidden fees. It all ends when the drug wears off in the middle of a final date.

Two AI robots sent to help the sextuplets in Mr. Osomatsu's third season end up chasing what dream?

Manzai comedy fame is the goal of Salmon and Pickled Plum, who reject their programming to work up a double act. Their target is the A-1 Grand Prix, a contest for automated comics.

Choromatsu, the idol fan among the Mr. Osomatsu brothers, plays which part in their comic banter?

The straight man is Choromatsu's part: he calls out his brothers' nonsense and is the only one worried about being unemployed. He is too indecisive to do anything about it.

Hoping future generations will see him as a hero, Choromatsu opens what in Mr. Osomatsu?

A museum of his own supposedly greatest moments is Choromatsu's bid for immortality, and he cuts the ribbon himself. His brothers have a name for this streak: rising self-consciousness.

In the first Tidbits Collection episode of Mr. Osomatsu, an inappropriate quiz show is held where?

A public bath hosts the quiz, and a second round of the skit was shown as new footage at the show's 2017 cinema screenings.

The Mr. Osomatsu boom was nicknamed Matsunomics after which Japanese prime minister's economic plan?

Shinzo Abe's Abenomics inspired the pun, coined by magazine editors as issues featuring the brothers sold out. Animage went back to press for the first time in about 36 years.

Iyami of Osomatsu-kun and Mr. Osomatsu was modeled on which flamboyant 1950s Japanese entertainer?

Tony Tani was a radio emcee famous for a pencil-thin mustache and a campy, high-energy stage act. Iyami inherited the mustache along with an affected way of speaking.

In the 1993 one-shot Osomatsu-kun Grows Up, the adult Choromatsu has taken up which career?

A police officer is the grown Choromatsu's calling in that story, which hands his brothers careers from doctor to company president. The 2015 anime left all six unemployed instead.

Choromatsu takes his brothers on an impromptu day trip to which mountain in Mr. Osomatsu?

Mount Takao is a popular hiking peak within an hour of downtown Tokyo, with a temple where visitors pray to the tengu of folklore for good fortune.

The 1966 Osomatsu-kun anime went missing after its reruns, until prints turned up in 1990 where?

A TV station warehouse held 16mm broadcast prints of the entire black-and-white series, which then came out on DVD. Its makers had reused one animation six times per shot for the brothers.

The makers of Mr. Osomatsu modeled its star voice casting on which earlier anime popular with women?

Polar Bear Café had won female fans with a cast of popular male voice actors, so the studio pitched six handsome brothers played by the same performers.

Mr. Osomatsu character designer Naoyuki Asano was chief animation director on which film series?

Doraemon films came first for Asano, who feared such simple designs would not catch on until the teaser art drew praise. He also illustrated the anime's novelization.

Which voice actor, the man behind Iyami, hosted the official web radio show of Mr. Osomatsu?

Kenichi Suzumura fronted the Sheeh Wave show from October 2015, reading listener mail and fielding questions for the cast. It won a newcomer prize at the 2016 Aniradi Awards.

A 2016 Mr. Osomatsu special was produced in collaboration with which sporting body?

Japan Racing Association is the country's main horse-racing body. In the special the brothers take Totoko to her first race, where she struggles to grasp how the wagers work.

F6, the handsome idol alter egos of the Mr. Osomatsu brothers, chiefly spoof which anime franchise?

Uta no Prince-sama and its pretty-boy singers are the target. F6 debuted in the pulled first episode and were later explained as a form the brothers take after swallowing a supplement.

In Mr. Osomatsu, the brothers try to push each other out of the kotatsu to fetch which fuel?

Kerosene for the family heater has run out, and nobody will leave the warm table to buy more. The errand later leads three of them into an underground village of look-alike people.