Back in March, it was announced that long-running anime series Chibi Maruko-chan would be airing an hour-long episode and retrospective to celebrate its 1,500th broadcast on May 1. As it happens, they weren’t done there — and the party is going to roll on all month!

Today’s broadcast kicked off the May Momoko Sakura Original Broadcast Matsuri: a four-week run of classic stories from early in the anime’s run, updated with new art and production. Today’s episode was a remake of the Season 1 stories “Maru-chan Really Wants a Bird!” and “Maru-chan Has a Birthday Party!”

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More remade episodes will air every Sunday in the month of May.

Chibi Maruko-chan is based on the semi-autobiographical manga by Momoko Sakura, originally serialized in Ribon from 1986-2018. The anime first ran from 1990-1992. It picked back up in 1995, and has been on the air ever since.

© Sakura Production / Nippon Animation

Source: Comic Natalie

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Kara Dennison is the book reviewer for Sci-Fi Magazine and a regular features writer for Otaku USA Magazine. Follow her on Twitter @RubyCosmos, and read more at KaraDennison.com.