When asking international fans what the most popular anime are they likely will answer with shows such as Naruto, Bleach and Dragon Ball—shounen series that received English releases outside of Japan. However, the most popular anime in Japan are largely long-running family sitcom and children's series, many of which have never been brought to America before.

Let's take a look at some of these long-running series -- specifically, the 15 anime series with over 1,000 episodes. Surprisingly, Some might be shocked to see Detective Conan and One Piece not among them... yet (with Conan's 974 episodes and One Piece's 930, they'll surely join the 1,000 club soon). It should be noted, these are the longest-running series and not anime franchises, so franchises with multiple separate series such as Pokémon and Shimajirō will not make the cut.

Advertiser-Funded Shorts

Some of the longest anime series are also some of the oldest. At the 15th spot at 1,006 episodes is Sekai Monoshiri Ryoko or The Instructive Trip Around The World. As the name implies, the series was a collection of educational documentaries that depicted real places around the world.

Like Sekai Monoshiri Ryoko, a lot of older series were educational, and many were also ad-sponsored. Taking up three spots in the top 15 longest-running anime is the "Kirin Monoshiri" series, sponsored by Kirin Beer. Monoshiri Daigaku: Ashita no Calendar is a part of a long line of advertiser-funded programming, going as far back as the first TV anime Instant History. After switching sponsors from Meiji Seika to Kirin Beer, Instant History evolved into Otogi Manga Calendar, thus sparking several more Kirin-sponsored animations.

The Kirin series follows a cat named Cathy that teaches kids about history in a stage play format. The series is lost media, as only the intro to Kirin Ashita no Calendar and a couple of episodes of Kirin Monoshiri Yakata have been found.

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Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi

Older series commonly focused on adaptations of Japanese mythology and folk tales, such as anthology series Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi. This show depicts many of the most famous Japanese folktales, such as Urashima Taro and Momotarou. Due to its variety in storytelling, this series also gave many animators a chance to episode direct one of these folk tales.

MNMB features a good dose of indie and industry artists, with some well-known names such as Osamu Kobayashi and Yoshiaki Kawajiri providing art and animation to the series. With its earthy colors and traditional aesthetic, MNMB distinguished itself from its competitors, establishing a calm and organic tone. Some distinct episodes include Hidekazu Ohara's horrifying yet captivating "The Kitsune and the Razor," and Hirokazu Fukuhara's "The Snake and the Frog."

Slice-Of-Life Family Sitcoms

Family sit-coms are a common genre for long-running anime series. One which American otaku might be more familiar with is Crayon Shin-Chan. Airing since 1992 with 1,038 episodes and counting, Shin-Chan follows the life of five-year-old Shinnosuke "Shin" Nohara, his family, his friends and everyone else he encounters in Kasukabe.

Shin-chan is filled with puns that would be difficult to translate directly into English. Thus, FUNimation's dub took a different approach to the series. It aired episodes out of order and took many liberties with the source material, adding in references to American pop culture icons like Jessica Simpson and discussing American politicians such as John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. It did OK on Adult Swim, but not well enough to justify dubbing more than 78 episodes.

Shin-chan's naughty humor made it a controversial hit in Japan. Most of these popular family sitcoms weren't as rowdy. Chibi Maruko-chan is a slice-of-life shoujo manga adaptation that follows young Momoko Sakura, otherwise known as Maruko, and her life in suburban 1974 Japan. A semi-autobiographical series, Chibi Maruko-chan is simple, yet nostalgic, making it a hit among both children and adults.

Hoka Hoka Kazoku is also a simple story about a Japanese family and their daily life. It was sponsored by the office of the Prime Minister of Japan, and thus its content is meant to be educational, including lots of live-action footage to further illustrate Japanese culture.

Then there is Oyako Club, a story of aliens and humans interacting. Rompa and Lun are two cute yellow aliens who interact with humans. They join a human family and have many humorous, wacky and heartwarming times together.

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Doraemon (1979) and (2005)

Doraemon and Nobita

Doraemon (1979) is the second Doraemon series, following the brief 1973 series by Nihon Terebi Doga. Penned by Fujiko Fujio, the pen name of the duo Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko, the series is about an earless cat robot named Doraemon who travels back in time in order to help a boy named Nobita Nobi.

Doraemon (1979) was animated by Shin-Ei Animation, the reincarnated A Production. Like Shin-Ei's later series Crayon Shin-Chan, Doraemon became a training ground for powerhouse animators to grow, with many such as Masami Otsuka and Keiichi Hara flexing their skills here.

Following the 1979 series, Doraemon got a reboot in 2005 that is still airing to this date. The 2005 series aired two seasons with a heavily localized dub on Disney XD, though the show is nowhere near as iconic in the States as it is throughout Asia. Doraemon has evolved into a cultural icon for Japan. In 2008, Doraemon was appointed by Japan's Foreign Ministry as the nation's first "anime ambassador", in 2002 he was chosen by Time Magazine as "The Cuddliest Hero in Asia" and in 2017 filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro remarked the Doraemon series is "the greatest kids series ever created."

Kids Adventure-Comedy Series

Not all long-running series are historical or family-oriented shorts. Soreike! Anpanman follows the adventures of superheroes made out of bread, with its protagonist Anpanman constructed from bean paste made by Uncle Jam. As with most superhero series, Anpanman fights for justice and good every day. Whenever he rescues someone he also gives them a gift, a piece of his own head to eat. No worries, as Uncle Jam is able to reconstruct him afterward.

Aside from Anpanman, some other comedy-adventures include Nintama Rantarou and Ojarumaru, or Prince Mackaroo. Ojarumaru is about a 5-year-old Heian-era prince named Ojarumaru Sakanoue who time travels to modern-day Japan and has various adventures, many involving him avoiding a trio of oni trying to retrieve the scepter he stole from the Great King Enma.

Meanwhile, Nintama Rantarou centers around the titular character Rantarou, as he and his friends train to become ninjas. Nintama Rantarou also helped flourish many animators' careers, such as Masaya Fujimori who worked as the main character designer on the series and is set to direct the anime series Kemono Jihen.

Sazae-san

Towering above the rest is Sazae-san, with over 7,701+ episodes. Not only the longest-running anime in history but it also holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running animated series in the whole world. Like many other series on this list, Sazae-san is a family-oriented show following the life of Ms. Sazae.

Sazae-san was originally created by Machiko Hasegawa, who had requested the series never have home video releases. Thus, older episodes are rare to come by. In 2018 however, Fuji TV agreed to release some of the episodes onto Amazon Prime Video, so many early episodes are available for viewing now.

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