What is Mama Doing Now (ママなにしてるの) is a shojo manga series that ran through Shogakukan's 3rd Grade magazine from July 1961 to March 1962.
Overview[]
The series revolves around the young girl named Chiko, who lives an ordinary life with her parents and her younger brother Machao, as well as her run-ins with neighbor Buu-chan. Chiko must figure out solutions to the current problems whether with her mother's help, or by trying to figure it all out on her own.
The work of Opposites at Address 3 is seen as a spiritual successor, due to the interactions between two different neighboring families but with the settings updated for a more comedic tone.
Characters[]
Chiko[]
The protagonist of the series, resembling Mami-chan from Papa and Mami-chan. Her story and situation often crosses paths with that of her next-door neighbor Bunkichi.
Machao[]
Chiko's toddler-aged brother, who can minimally speak and walk but is otherwise still very much an average little child needing assistance.
Mama[]
A wise housewife, the titular "Mama" who is in a more minimal presence compared to her daughter.
Papa[]
A busy salaryman, resembling a cross between early shojo protagonist fathers and some elements of gag manga fathers like that of The Sextuplets. When his wife is not around, he'll do what he can to help his daughter.
Bunkichi[]
AKA: "Buu-chan". The shorter, chubby and foolish neighbor of Chiko who can be a bit of a handful to her as well as his own mom. His family is more working-class than Chiko's family.
Serialization[]
- (July 1961)- Unreprinted
- (August 1961)- Unreprinted
- (September 1961)- Unreprinted
- (October 1961)
- (November 1961)
- (December 1961)
- (January 1962)- Unreprinted
- (January 1962 separate appendix)- Unreprinted
- (February 1962)- Unreprinted
- (March 1962)- Unreprinted
Reprints[]
Only three chapters of the series have ever made it into reprints, via the "1960s" volume of the Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works DVD-ROM set and the print-on-demand version supplied by ComicPark.
There has yet to ever be a full republishing of the series, be it in print or digital format.