From our other sites
The story
Fuji TV’s anime series *Chiikawa*, which airs within the “Mezamashi TV” program, has announced that it will pause new episodes starting October 2 and switch to rerunning fan-favorite episodes instead. The rerun block runs for 25 installments through December 25, combining broadcast TV with streaming (FOD, TVer, YouTube), and new episodes are set to resume in January 2027. On 5ch, threads buzzed with speculation about the gap between the anime and the source manga, the production setup, and the voice actors growing up.
Fri, Sep 25, 6:00 AM
The TV anime *Chiikawa* (airing Tuesdays and Fridays on Fuji TV’s “Mezamashi TV”) has announced that starting October 2, it will pause new episodes and instead rerun story arcs that got a huge response from viewers. This time the show combines broadcast and streaming in a new format that lets fans enjoy popular story arcs back-to-back, with the rerun run planned for 25 episodes total through December 25. New episodes are set to resume in January 2027.
October 2 will air an early fan-favorite episode (Episode 6). Starting the week of October 6, popular story arcs — including the “Nanto-kavania” arc (a fan nickname for one story arc) — will air on weekly rotation. On broadcast TV, only the opening episode of each arc will air, as usual on Tuesdays and Fridays, while every Friday a special video compiling that entire arc from start to finish will stream for one week only on the official “Mezamashi TV” YouTube channel, FOD, and TVer.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
In other words, lazy reruns lolololol
Toward the end of the old Doraemon, they were rerunning the second half of episodes too.
I figured a production setup like that made the "New Doraemon" reboot inevitable…
Then I found out that ever since the '80s, the second half of every Doraemon episode had actually been a rerun from three years earlier the whole time.
https://hanaballoon.com/dorachan/data/anime/ooyama/30min/index.html
Probably renewed some contract.
The manga doesn't even update every day, so if they kept airing new anime episodes daily, they'd catch up to the source material in no time.
Studio DOGA KOBO's swamped with other work, that's why.
Because they're about to catch up to the source manga.
Their voice already changed a while back, so unless the actor themselves doesn't want to keep going, I doubt there'll be a recast.
The creator's been praising the voice actor, so I doubt there's a recast coming.
Their natural voice, which got talked about recently, is already on the higher side for a high schooler — wonder if it won't drop any further.
Apparently a lot of teens these days have fairly high voices (even the boys), so there's a real chance it stays as is.
Forcing that tone artificially would be rough on them, and at that age, their friends would probably tease them about it too.
If they do anime-original episodes, it'll end up like old-school Dragon Ball.
Anime-original episodes just aren't happening — I can't picture anyone else nailing that particular vibe.
I think Mezamashi TV's real strength is having both the "Today's Horoscope Countdown" and "Dog of the Day" segments.
Even people who claim they never watch Fuji TV still tune in just for those, lol.
There's talk that they just want to give the production staff a break for a while — between the anime, the movie, and all the merch, it must've been brutal.
Wait, isn't the TV anime made by a different studio than the movie?
Oh really? Then maybe it's simply for a renewal.
Might also be that Hachiware's voice actor has high school entrance exams coming up.
Background and Key Points
The hiatus comes down to a structural issue: new-episode production catching up with the source manga. *Chiikawa* is a short-form anime running just a few minutes per episode, airing twice a week, while the source manga updates irregularly — so keeping up that pace would quickly burn through the available material. Long-running shows like *Doraemon* have faced the same problem by inserting original episodes or reruns, and commenters in the thread drew that comparison. The voice actor “voice change” and recast rumors that dominated the thread were not part of the official announcement and remain pure fan speculation. Theories that the production staff need a break, or that this is for some kind of renewal, are likewise unconfirmed — the only reason Fuji TV has officially given is to “rerun story arcs that got a big response from viewers.”
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Chiikawa New Anime on Hiatus — Returns January, Rerun Broadcast Starts in October.”
Leave a Reply