The Longest Running TV cartoon, ever (Sazae-San)

[Mr. Big]

When living in Japan, I used to see a show called "Sazae-San" (Mrs. Sazae), about a housewife living in suburban Tokyo with her husband, her 2-year old son, and her family (mom, dad, and younger brother and sister). It's very much about a domestic family, with no real gimmick like, say, "The Simpsons".

Yet...this is the highest rated anime in Japan...ever. Sometimes it's the highest rated TV Show of all time. The show began in 1969 and it's been in production ever since. There are now almost 7,000 episodes (seriously!), and most notably, it's the only TV cartoon in the world that's still cel-painted.

Even though the show's been around for more than 40 years, not a single episode was ever released on VHS or DVD. That was due to a request from the creator; apparently she didn't want people comparing the newer episodes to older ones, so when VHS tapes started to happen, she told the studio that she doesn't want any episode out on home media. Even though she died in 1992, this is still being honored today, even as we move into the Blu-Ray and digital download era.

Because of the "no home release" clause, and the fact that older episodes are hardly rerun (most episodes only air once and that's it), any episodes made before VCRs became the norm are extremely hard to find.

There are a bunch of old episodes on YouTube, and that's only because people videotaped them. Here's a set of episodes from 1996

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF9mk49_UhE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQFWC4J4xvA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnH9jsp_hSU

And here's one from 1978:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zaXTmKIXXg

Here's one from 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S77nDc8QMpc

Finally, here's the very first episode, from all the way back in 1969 (this actually did get rerun as part of an anniversary special):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=can14-vDWFE

[Daikun]

She looks like Olive Oyl.

[RacattackForce]

Wait, an animated series that's still cel-painted? What kind of sorcery is this?