KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops

KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Kankichi Ryotsu
こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所
GenreComedy
Manga
Written byOsamu Akimoto
Published byShueisha
ImprintJump Comics
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Jump
DemographicShōnen
Original runSeptember 21, 1976September 17, 2016
Volumes201
Anime film
Directed byHiroshi Sasagawa
Written byTakao Koyama
Music byTadayoshi Matsui
StudioTatsunoko Production
ReleasedNovember 23, 1985
Runtime30 minutes
Anime television series
Directed by
Music by
StudioStudio Gallop
Licensed byRemow
Original networkFNS (Fuji TV)
Original run Regular broadcast
June 16, 1996 –
December 19, 2004
Specials
January 3, 2005
September 18, 2016
Episodes373 + 27 specials
Anime film
Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo the Movie
Directed byShinji Takamatsu
Written byToshimichi Okawa
StudioStudio Gallop
ReleasedDecember 23, 1999
Runtime95 minutes
Anime film
Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo the Movie 2: UFO Shūrai! Tornado Daisakusen!!
Directed byShinji Takamatsu
Written by
  • Shinji Takamatsu
  • Toshimichi Okawa
StudioStudio Gallop
ReleasedDecember 20, 2003
Runtime109 minutes

Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen Mae Hashutsujo (こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所; lit. "This Is a Police Box (kōban) in Front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward"), often shortened to KochiKame (こち亀) and known in English as KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops, is a Japanese comedy manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Akimoto. It takes place in the present day, in and around a neighborhood police station (kōban) in the downtown part of Tokyo, and revolves around the misadventures of middle-aged cop Kankichi Ryotsu.

It was continuously serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump for 40 years, from September 1976 to September 2016. Its 1,960 chapters were collected into 201 tankōbon volumes, making it the manga with the second-highest number of volumes for a single series. The manga has been adapted into an anime television series, produced by Studio Gallop and broadcast in Japan by Fuji TV, three theatrical animated films (by Tatsunoko and Gallop, respectively), two live-action movies, several stage adaptations, and a live-action television series.

By 2014, the manga had over 157.2 million copies in circulation, making it the eighth best-selling manga series in history. Kochikame won the Special Judges Award at the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2005, and the 48th Seiun Award for Best Comic in 2017.