What do you think?
Rate this book
Peanuts: It's Tokyo, Charlie Brown
The Peanuts gang touches down in Tokyo! Charlie Brown and Snoopy lead the charge as the gang’s team is selected to represent the United States in an international baseball game in Japan. Charlie Brown can’t believe his team was picked, but even with the addition of a sports star like Peppermint Patty, do they have any hope of winning? Between seeing the sights and taking in the best of Japanese culture, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty and the rest of everyone’s favorite characters still manage to be their incorrigible selves.
111 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2012
635 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Charles M. Schulz
3,037 books1,633 followersCharles Monroe Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 23, 2016
Plot line was a bit in realistic but it's cartoons so it's cute hahaha
July 11, 2017
This is a great comic!
I'm a long time Peanuts fan, been once ever since I was a baby. I love the specials and I love the strips and I love this comic. The writing is very close to Charles classic style, but not as one to one to feel like a carbon copy. The comic does it's own thing while retaining the feeling of Peanuts. The art of the comic is very similar to the classic Schulz look, but updated and more bouncy, cartoony, crisp and defined. It just looks great. The dialogue and characterization is also incredibly similar to Schulz's writing, but slightly updated for a modern audience. I say slightly because the comic still seems to be set in the 60s-70s.
The humor is great. Simple and visual jokes that are funny in an innocent way, which clash greatly with the incredibly mean spirited jokes near the end. Their's just something cute about seeing Patty go berserk, telling Charlie Brown that he's nothing, after seeing her innocently try on different dresses, all of which look the exact same.
It was a lot of fun seeing the Peanut Gang interacting in a vastly different setting, though I felt like they could've done more with it. Don't get me wrong, seeing Snoopy dressed as a samurai, or being a sumo wrestler, or Lucy trying to pry compliments out of Schroeder while in her kimono were all funny, but other scenes fell flat. For example, the scene where they all go into the Bonsai Tree didn't really do anything for me, but seeing Charlie interact with the wilting Bonsai Tree was oddly heartwarming.
The climax of the comic also fell a little short. It was very funny and very in-line with Schulz humor, but it also went by to quickly and seemed a little rushed at the very end. What I will always love about the Peanuts is the optimism. Charlie Brown got utterly tore apart by his friends at the end, even Linus and Schroeder, who usually stick up for him, chewed him out for messing up. And what does Charlie do? He smiles and looks on the bright side of it all. Any other story could've turned that into dramatic, heart-wrenching scene, yet the Peanuts turns it into a hopeful moment.
My biggest complaint is the story only really focuses on the most well known members of the Gang. When I saw the book featured Patty and Violet, I was hooked. They were some of my favorite characters from the early strips who seldom appear in newer stuff. Patty got a few good jokes in the fist half of the book, but was silent in the second, while I don't think Violet ever got a single line. Seeing Violet hug Sally while Patty goes in for a hug as well was super cute though, I must say.
I'm a long time Peanuts fan, been once ever since I was a baby. I love the specials and I love the strips and I love this comic. The writing is very close to Charles classic style, but not as one to one to feel like a carbon copy. The comic does it's own thing while retaining the feeling of Peanuts. The art of the comic is very similar to the classic Schulz look, but updated and more bouncy, cartoony, crisp and defined. It just looks great. The dialogue and characterization is also incredibly similar to Schulz's writing, but slightly updated for a modern audience. I say slightly because the comic still seems to be set in the 60s-70s.
The humor is great. Simple and visual jokes that are funny in an innocent way, which clash greatly with the incredibly mean spirited jokes near the end. Their's just something cute about seeing Patty go berserk, telling Charlie Brown that he's nothing, after seeing her innocently try on different dresses, all of which look the exact same.
It was a lot of fun seeing the Peanut Gang interacting in a vastly different setting, though I felt like they could've done more with it. Don't get me wrong, seeing Snoopy dressed as a samurai, or being a sumo wrestler, or Lucy trying to pry compliments out of Schroeder while in her kimono were all funny, but other scenes fell flat. For example, the scene where they all go into the Bonsai Tree didn't really do anything for me, but seeing Charlie interact with the wilting Bonsai Tree was oddly heartwarming.
The climax of the comic also fell a little short. It was very funny and very in-line with Schulz humor, but it also went by to quickly and seemed a little rushed at the very end. What I will always love about the Peanuts is the optimism. Charlie Brown got utterly tore apart by his friends at the end, even Linus and Schroeder, who usually stick up for him, chewed him out for messing up. And what does Charlie do? He smiles and looks on the bright side of it all. Any other story could've turned that into dramatic, heart-wrenching scene, yet the Peanuts turns it into a hopeful moment.
My biggest complaint is the story only really focuses on the most well known members of the Gang. When I saw the book featured Patty and Violet, I was hooked. They were some of my favorite characters from the early strips who seldom appear in newer stuff. Patty got a few good jokes in the fist half of the book, but was silent in the second, while I don't think Violet ever got a single line. Seeing Violet hug Sally while Patty goes in for a hug as well was super cute though, I must say.
March 12, 2022
I loved this! It would have made a wonderful Peanuts special but it was fun to read it in comic book form! Beautiful drawings of Tokyo, but stays true to the Peanuts characters with Charlie Brown worrying about the baseball game. I will read this again!
May 13, 2023
It's so surreal to see the Peanus crew in Japan, but it's also fun. Believable for how the characters would act. So cute to see the crew in yukatas(?) and kimonos. But the kids (excluding Linus) are especially mean to Charlie this time around.
December 28, 2018
Charming new Peanuts book. Great story and illustrations, and light-hearted like the original Peanuts strips.
March 2, 2019
A cute little graphic novel, but the location of Japan could be switched with pretty much any other country. Some fun scenes and reused Peanuts jokes, but not much other than that.
July 23, 2020
Very Nice... In the preview
November 1, 2020
It was okay but of course not really by Schulz. Some of the drawings of Charlie Brown side on were not quite right. I did however really like the panels where Woodstock is being attacked by sushi.
March 11, 2021
All ages due to its humor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2023
It's new, but the voice really sounds true. Which is everything with these characters.
January 16, 2013
Unlike many other famous and popular comic strips Peanuts was not taken over by different creative teams at any time during its run. Charles Schulz was credited as the sole creator. Even now the strip reprints old classics and doesnt do new material.
I am a fan, and I had come to terms with never seeing anything new,but enjoying the originals. Then cam word that Boom! Studios would be putting out a Peanuts comic book and it would include new material. Before I get to this review, let me say that the comic book is just great. Any Peanuts fan would love it, and the new stuff has great potential and some of it has been on a par with a lot of went before it.
This is the first graphic novel from this new Peanuts studio, and if your a fan of the animated specials for TV this story had that feel to it. Written and penciled by Vicki Scott, with inks by Paige Braddock, this book feels every bit like the original material.
The President has chosen Charlie Brown and his baseball team to visit Japan, and play a game, and all the pressure and accusations that you would expect from this crew follow.
Just a really enjoyable story. The special material included an explanation of some of the rules that go with being in charge of this new Peanuts material, and how this story came about.
Well worth the read if you like Peanuts, a must own if your a big fan.
I am a fan, and I had come to terms with never seeing anything new,but enjoying the originals. Then cam word that Boom! Studios would be putting out a Peanuts comic book and it would include new material. Before I get to this review, let me say that the comic book is just great. Any Peanuts fan would love it, and the new stuff has great potential and some of it has been on a par with a lot of went before it.
This is the first graphic novel from this new Peanuts studio, and if your a fan of the animated specials for TV this story had that feel to it. Written and penciled by Vicki Scott, with inks by Paige Braddock, this book feels every bit like the original material.
The President has chosen Charlie Brown and his baseball team to visit Japan, and play a game, and all the pressure and accusations that you would expect from this crew follow.
Just a really enjoyable story. The special material included an explanation of some of the rules that go with being in charge of this new Peanuts material, and how this story came about.
Well worth the read if you like Peanuts, a must own if your a big fan.
December 2, 2015
This isn't quite as good as some of the other collections and stories in the relaunched Peanuts catalog. Getting the Peanuts gang to Tokyo takes a bit of a stretch (a Baseball game featuring America's worst team? Why?), and once they're there, we get a few shallow Tokyo facts and brief glimpses of the culture (as explained by Marcie's guide book), interspersed with a lot of angst from Charlie Brown about the baseball game. There are a couple cute moments (Snoopy's attempt at Sumo is a highlight), and the way the baseball game comes out works better than expected, but beyond that, there's not a whole lot here; the location doesn't really cater enough to the characters for them to express themselves fully. It's well done, but doesn't quite have the same Peanuts spark that most of the other titles have had.
April 26, 2015
When I first saw this comic in the comic store, I was hesitant to pick it up. Growing up as a fan of Charles M Schulz and the Peanuts series and films, I was skeptical of anyone else trying to write a brand new story starring the Peanuts gang. However, I read it and was very impressed. The drawing style is very similar if not identical to Schulz's, and the story holds the innocence and purity of the Peanuts cartoon. I can't believe I am saying this of something that is not solely of Schulz's imagination, but this book is a true joy and great new adventure for the Peanuts gang. Would love to see an animated special of this book as well!
October 15, 2015
Charles M. Schulzin elämäntyötä jatketaan kuin jatketaankin pitkien sarjakuvatarinoiden muodossa, tällä kertaa Kaboom!-nimisen kustantamon ja Vicki Scott -nimisen sarjakuvataiteilijan toimesta. En arvosta sitten yhtään, en kökköä tarinaa baseball-joukkueensa Japaniin asti vievästä Jaska Jokusesta enkä pahimmillaan hyvinkin kököltä näyttävää taidetta.
February 12, 2015
100 páginas de historieta de las cuales la mayoría son bastante entretenidas, aunque no llegan a ser graciosas, y cuentan una linda historia de no-derrota. Lástima lo poco explotado que está la temática y estética japonesas en general. Y que no aparezca ni un solo japonés en todo el libro...
La edición española, bastante linda. Pero cómo me molesta Tokyo escrito con "i".
La edición española, bastante linda. Pero cómo me molesta Tokyo escrito con "i".
January 4, 2016
This is a really great impersonation of Shulz' style. The art is very similar. The characters and humor are familiar. The few moments that strayed a bit farther than the rest were still funny. I enjoyed the additional material at the end of the book talking about how it was made. It was more informative than most.
January 3, 2013
I bought this for my little one and we read it together. She enjoyed it, and it's a cute book. The Japanese illustrations toward the end of the book are very nice as well, but the animation seems a bit sharper than Schultz's drawings. A good read for kids.
February 16, 2014
Otro libro de colección para todo amante de Snoopy y Charlie Brown. En esta ocasión, Charlie y sus amigos viajan a Japón para disputar un partido de béisbol. A colores y con llamativos dibujos, revivirás a este clásico de las comicaturas.
January 5, 2013
loved the references to the Halloween special (I got a rock) and the Christmas Special (this tree needs me...).
April 30, 2015
"A HOME RUN! GOOD GRIEF." (10)
February 23, 2016
Love this one! Such a different take on the gangs usual activities!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews