Obocchama-kun returns as REBORN in 2027, a Japan-India co-production with Chie Kojiro back as Chama
TV Asahi's new anime of Yoshinori Kobayashi's gag manga grew out of the original series' 2021 popularity in India, and Green Gold Animation is producing it with Shin-Ei Animation and Sony Pictures Networks India.
Ohayōguruto is headed back to Japanese television. TV Asahi has announced Obocchama-kun REBORN, a fresh TV anime of Yoshinori Kobayashi's gag manga, for broadcast on its network in 2027, more than three decades after the first adaptation wrapped up. A short teaser is already online.
A revival that started in India
The project's origin story is unusual. Back in 2021, with the pandemic keeping families at home, the old anime found a huge new audience among Indian children; TV Asahi says it was the top kids' channel program there in 40 out of 52 weeks that year. Requests from Indian viewers for more episodes are what got the new series moving, and it is now a joint Japan-India effort: India's Green Gold Animation leads the animation work, backed by Japan's Shin-Ei Animation alongside Sony Pictures Networks India.
The heir and his made-up language
Kobayashi launched Obocchama-kun in Shogakukan's Monthly CoroCoro Comic in 1986, which makes 2026 its 40th-anniversary year. The serialization lasted until 1994, filled 24 volumes and earned the children's category prize at the 34th Shogakukan Manga Award. Its hero, Chama Obo, is the spoiled heir to the Obo zaibatsu's fortune, enrolled at an exclusive academy for the offspring of rich and powerful families, where his extravagance and absurd jokes keep dragging relatives and classmates into trouble.
Much of the humor rides on "Chama-go," his personal dialect of puns built on ordinary Japanese phrases and food. Ohayōguruto blends a morning greeting with yogurt; Sonna banana is another of his staples. According to TV Asahi, kids were repeating those lines everywhere when the first anime was on the air. That series ran from 1989 to 1992 and totaled 164 episodes, per AniList.
New stories, a familiar voice
REBORN is not a remake. It will animate chapters of the manga the earlier show never covered, mixed with original episodes overseen by Kobayashi himself. Chie Kojiro, who first voiced Chama in 1989, is returning to the role. "Chama has always lived inside me," she said in her statement, as translated by Pixel Twelve, adding that she enjoyed building the show alongside the staff during the new sessions.
Kobayashi recalled young readers coming to see him with a parent in tow, clutching battered copies of his books, and said he is curious how today's kids will react; he hopes a few might even be moved to draw gag manga of their own.
The 30-second teaser opens with a helicopter touching down on an island, then follows an expedition on a trek past jungle and into a cave until the doors of Chama's mansion swing open and he welcomes viewers in Chama-go. TV Asahi has confirmed only the 2027 window so far, with no premiere date or overseas streaming partner announced.
