Amin Abbas

DUBAI: The new Arabic dubbed season of the 1990s anime series, The Chibi Maruko-Chan, is available now on Emirati Majid Kids TV.

لأول مرة منذ أكثر من عشرين عاماً !⁣
الجزء الثاني من "ماروكو" حصرياً ولأول مرة في العالم العربي على قناة وتطبيق ماجد ابتداءً من الخميس 20 أكتوبر الساعة 5:30 عصراً بتوقيت الإمارات.⁣
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تستمتعون ببث مباشر مجاني لقناة ماجد الآن عبر https://t.co/S0jXxdWr1D و #تطبيق_ماجد pic.twitter.com/sHMbnNJaPj

— ماجد (@MajidKids) October 19, 2022

Actors returned after 26 years to participate in the revival of the series that played a major role in molding and shaping many childhoods. 

Fahad Al Zeyara, the producer of the new Chibi Maruko-chan Arabic version and creator of Qtoon Production and Distribution, said exclusively to Arab News Japan the story behind the inspiration of the new Arabic dubbed season; “The idea was based on my dream and the dreams of everyone who watched the first Arabic dubbed season where that the dubbing of the rest of the episodes that have not been dubbed (for the classic version) 26 years ago will be completed, because this series has a feeling that touches our childhood realistically through the character of the child (Maruko), who reminds us of ourselves when we were young with her quarrelsome attitudes and innocent ideas, as well as the simple family environment”.

Al Zeyara also talked about some of the challenges that were faced while working on the dubbed episodes saying, “the biggest challenges may have been when the dubbing process began in Jordan in February of 2020, when the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic began and the subsequent closures of streets and cities in the world in general and in Jordan in particular, which confused the dubbing process and its completion according to plan”.

Al Zeyara spoke about some of the very memorable moments they faced during their work on the episodes; Iman hail, the actress who played Maruko, created unforgettable moments filming the series, saying “the scenes that have exaggerated contentiousness, crying or singing, the actress is in the glow of her integration, so she separates herself from reality and lives the atmosphere of the little Maruko, to the point that she sometimes laughs at herself at the end of the scene”.

The dubbing of The Chibi Maruko-Chan will certainly not be the last dubbing for Qtoon Production and Distribution, Al Zeyara mentioned, “We will not stop at this point, but we will continue the journey with other projects and take into account the proposals of followers in the Arab world.”

Read more: The return of Chibi Maruko-chan to the Middle East