Prince Mackaroo

おじゃる丸 (Ojarumaru)

6.3(608)

MAL Score

Ranked #8931

Popularity #11997

Adventure
Award Winning
Comedy
Fantasy
Historical

Duration: 10 min
Aired: Oct 5, 1998 to ?
Status: Currently Airing

Synopsis

Set in the Heian period, Ojarumaru, a young noble born into a life of luxury, finds himself yearning for excitement beyond the confines of his privileged existence. When three bumbling demons inadvertently misplace Enma’s powerful stick, Ojarumaru discovers it and unwittingly activates its magic, transporting himself to the modern era.

In this strange new world, he forges an unexpected bond with Kazuma, a friendly boy who welcomes him into his household. As Ojarumaru adjusts to contemporary life, he encounters a host of new friends and adventures, all while the hapless demons—Akane, Kisuke, and Aobee—try to reclaim their lost treasure, leading to a series of humorous escapades.

Otaku Consensus

Prince Mackaroo is valued less as a high-scoring cult object than as a durable Japanese children’s-TV institution: a Gallop-produced, Akitarou Daichi-directed gag fantasy that has kept airing since 1998 while remaining barely sampled on English databases. Its strongest assets are Daichi’s comic timing, Hajime Watanabe’s readable character designs, and a format that can reset cleanly for young viewers; the common limitation is that its deliberately simple, repetitive kid-facing humor does not translate into the broader fan enthusiasm reflected by its 6.34 MAL score and 53/100 AniList score.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Prince Mackaroo if you want a low-pressure, long-running children’s comedy with a historical flavor, not a quest anime chasing power-ups or lore reveals. It scratches a neighboring itch to Doraemon’s everyday mischief and Nintama Rantaro’s child-friendly period humor, but with Akitarou Daichi’s brisk gag sensibility and Gallop’s clean TV-animation readability. The appeal is in routine: recurring comic reversals, easy-to-grasp character acting, and a Heian-meets-modern contrast that can be understood in minutes. It is especially suited to viewers interested in Japanese kids’ programming, anime built for repeat viewing, or database deep cuts that remain culturally present in Japan despite having tiny English-language footprints.

Key Characters

O
Ojarumaru Sakanoue(VA: Chinami Nishimura)
Chinami Nishimura’s lead performance has to make Ojarumaru’s courtly-child persona funny in compact comic beats rather than through dramatic growth arcs.
K
Kazuma Tamura(VA: Yuriko Fuchizaki)
Kazuma functions as the grounded modern-child counterweight, giving the series a stable human rhythm for its recurring fantasy comedy.
S
Sanjuurou Denbo
Denbo’s main-character billing despite an unlisted voice actor in the supplied data underlines how under-documented this long-running kids title remains in English-facing anime catalogs.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
The series is produced by Gallop, a studio associated here with clean, legible TV character animation rather than spectacle-driven action staging, which fits a children’s comedy built around quick recognition and recurring reactions.
2
Akitarou Daichi is credited not only as director but also for episode direction and storyboards, giving the production a clear comedic hand at both the series-planning and scene-construction levels.
3
Hajime Watanabe’s character design credit is central to the show’s database identity: the cast has to remain instantly readable across a format designed for very young viewers and long-term repetition.
4
The staff list pairs Kazuya Tanaka as sound director with Harukichi Yamamoto as composer, signaling a production that depends on vocal rhythm, sound cues, and musical punctuation as much as on plot escalation.
5
Its AniList tags lean heavily toward Kids at 79% and Historical at 60%, a combination that distinguishes it from many fantasy comedies by making historical texture part of its basic comic vocabulary.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Prince Mackaroo began airing on October 5, 1998 and is still listed as currently airing, making its longevity one of the most striking facts about the title.
Fun fact 2: Rin Inumaru is credited twice in the core staff data, as both original creator and original planner, indicating unusually direct authorial involvement at the concept level.
Fun fact 3: Akitarou Daichi’s credits on the series span director, episode director, and storyboard, a rare concentration of top-level and episode-level comic control in the supplied staff listing.
Fun fact 4: The English-language database footprint is tiny for a show with this runtime history: MAL lists only 605 votes, while AniList records just 6 favourites.
Fun fact 5: The main voice cast data highlights two named Japanese performers, Chinami Nishimura as Ojarumaru Sakanoue and Yuriko Fuchizaki as Kazuma Tamura, while Sanjuurou Denbo’s voice actor is not identified in the supplied listing.