At over 1200 episodes and 41 films, watching Crayon Shin-Chan is no small undertaking. The fact that not every episode is subtitled or dubbed only makes the challenge harder, but after over 100 episodes, I believe that it might be one of the best long anime to watch, only rivaled by its main competitor: Chibi Maruko-Chan.
How is it better? Compared to One Piece and to a lesser extent Detective Conan, Crayon Shin-Chan is episodic, therefore it is easier to start and easier to skip around without missing content. Additionally, each plot is 8 minutes long, with three plot segments per episode meaning that, since each plot is self-contained, it is easier to get used to the way the series is formatted, who the characters are and how the series conducts itself.
How does it compare to Chibi Maruko-Chan? Crayon Shin-Chan is very much a show that was initially intended for boys featuring some immature humor, including the sight of butt cheeks and penises, however, it also includes verbal humor as well. Chibi Maruko-Chan, on the other hand is restricted to verbal humor and is more reserved, so it has often been seen as a shoujo anime. There are ways that Shin-Chan has a one-up on Maruko-Chan, but it mainly boils down to availability and variety, as well as the fact that Shin-Chan has much more content with films, specials and spin-offs, whereas Chibi Maruko-chan has two series, with more episodes and three films (thank you u/ooReiko for the correction) (which combined have a shorter runtime), therefore, Shin-Chan is a better long series to watch.
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Additionally, there is Nintama Rantarou, which has had weekly hour-long episodes since 1993, plus films and a live-action adaptation. Sadly, no English translations are readily available.
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