Osomatsu-kun Review: The Sextuplets Who Were Too Funny to Stay in One Decade
by Fujio Akatsuka
Read the first volume. If it doesn't hook you, put it down. It'll hook you.
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Six identical brothers, one unforgettable supporting character, and a catchphrase that outlasted everything around it.
Quick Take
- Fujio Akatsuka's most commercially successful manga — the sextuplets and their world ran from 1962 to 1969, then returned in revival form, then became one of the most unexpected anime hits of the 2010s
- Iyami's SHEEH! pose may be the most recognizable single gesture in Japanese comedy
- Warm, chaotic, unpretentious gag manga that achieved cultural penetration few comedy works manage
Who Is This Manga For?
- Fans of the Osomatsu-san anime who want to experience the original source
- Classic gag manga readers who want Akatsuka at his most commercially polished
- Readers interested in Japanese comedy history — Iyami and SHEEH! are genuinely culturally significant
- Anyone who wants manga that is simply funny without complexity or depth as requirements
Content Warnings & Age Rating
Age Rating: All Ages Content Warnings: Slapstick comedy, gag manga conventions. No concerning content.
Appropriate for all readers.
Yu's Rating
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Story Depth | ★★☆☆☆ |
| Art Style | ★★★★☆ |
| Character Development | ★★☆☆☆ |
| Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers | ★★★★☆ |
| Reread Value | ★★★☆☆ |
Story Overview
The Matsuno family has six sons — Osomatsu, Karamatsu, Choromatsu, Ichimatsu, Jyushimatsu, and Todomatsu — all identical in appearance and largely indistinguishable in personality in the original manga. They live in a neighborhood populated by recurring characters: Totoko, the girl they all love; Dekapan, the strange neighbor; and above all Iyami.
Iyami is the series' great creation. He claims to be from France, speaks in a franglais that convinces nobody, and performs a constant theater of superiority that is punctured in every episode. His SHEEH! pose — an exaggerated triumphant gesture — became so associated with the series that it entered Japanese everyday language and gesture.
The comedy structure is gag-based: situation established, escalation, punchline. The punchlines vary in quality across 34 volumes and two decades of serialization, but the characters are consistent enough that the setting itself becomes pleasurable independent of any individual joke.
Characters
The sextuplets: In the original manga, largely interchangeable — the comedy of their identical appearance rather than their individual personalities. (The 2015 anime gave them distinct personalities; the manga is more interested in the sextuple chaos.)
Iyami: The series' genuine creation — a character who would be impossible in realist fiction and is perfectly at home in this comedy universe.
Art Style
Akatsuka's gag art is at its most practiced here — clean, fast, designed for maximum comedic efficiency. The exaggerated expression work that defines his style is fully developed, and Iyami's visual design is one of manga comedy's most successful character designs.
Cultural Context
Osomatsu-kun ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday from 1962 to 1969, then returned for revival serialization in the 1970s and 1980s. Multiple anime adaptations followed, culminating in the 2015 Osomatsu-san anime — which reimagined the sextuplets as adult NEETs and became one of the most watched anime of its season.
The series' cultural longevity is unusual for comedy manga. Most gag manga are era-specific. Osomatsu-kun generated characters durable enough to remain recognizable — and adaptable enough to be reinvented — across six decades.
What I Love About It
I love Iyami's absolute refusal to learn.
Every episode, Iyami's pretensions are punctured. Every episode, he returns with the same pretensions intact. He is not changed by consequences — he is constitutionally immune to the lesson. There is something both infuriating and deeply comforting about a character whose essential nature the story cannot touch. He will always do the SHEEH! pose. He will always be wrong about France.
What English-Speaking Fans Say
Known internationally primarily through the 2015 Osomatsu-san anime rather than the original manga. Readers who discovered the original through the anime are often surprised by how different it is — simpler, younger-skewing, less adult-themed. The original is recognized as the source of characters that proved extraordinarily durable.
Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning
Any scene where Iyami performs his SHEEH! pose in triumph, immediately before everything goes wrong. The structure is the same every time. The comedy is not in the surprise — there is no surprise — but in the pleasure of watching an identical pattern repeat with the characters' eternal belief that this time it will work.
Similar Manga
| Title | Its Approach | How Osomatsu-kun Differs |
|---|---|---|
| Tensai Bakabon | Akatsuka's more purely absurdist gag manga | More grounded setting; comedy from character types rather than pure surrealism |
| Doraemon | Comedy with emotional depth and gadget structure | Pure gag with no gadget crutch and no emotional ambition |
| Kaibutsu-kun | Akatsuka's monster comedy with warmth | Smaller cast, neighborhood-based, human comedy rather than monster comedy |
Reading Order / Where to Start
Volume 1. The series is episodic — any volume works — but the character introductions in the early volumes establish why Iyami is funny before the joke becomes assumed knowledge.
Official English Translation Status
Osomatsu-kun has no official English translation.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Iyami is one of Japanese comedy's great creations
- Accessible, warm, and immediately funny
- Cultural significance that exceeds the manga's surface simplicity
- The sextuplet design has proven extraordinarily adaptable across decades
Cons
- No English translation
- Less ambitious than Akatsuka's other work
- 34 volumes with variable joke quality — not every chapter lands equally
- The manga's simplicity may disappoint readers expecting the personality depth of Osomatsu-san
Is Osomatsu-kun Worth Reading?
For fans of classic comedy manga and Japanese cultural touchstones, yes — Iyami alone is worth the experience, and the sextuplet chaos is warm and durable. For readers who came from Osomatsu-san expecting the adult-themed personality humor of the anime, the original manga is a different register. Both are worth your time, but they're different things.
Format Comparison
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| Physical | Japanese editions available |
| Digital | Available in Japanese |
| Omnibus | Selected collected editions available |
Where to Buy
No English release yet. That just means you find it before everyone else does.
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Written by
Yu
Manga Enthusiast from Japan
I grew up in Japan and manga literally saved me during a tough time in elementary school. My English isn't perfect, but my love for manga is real — and I want to share it with you.