Otoko wa Tsurai yo (男はつらいよ, “It’s tough being a man”) is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as Tora-san (寅さん), a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as “Tora-san” by its fans.^[1] Spanning 48 installments released between 1969 and 1995,^[2] all of the Otoko wa tsurai yo films except episodes 3 (Azuma Morisaki) and 4 (Shun’ichi Kobayashi) were directed by Yōji Yamada, who also wrote (or co-wrote) all the screenplays.

Each film featured a different leading lady, called a Madonna, and a different region of Japan. (There were also episodes that featured scenes in Arizona and Vienna.) Two films were usually made each year between 1969 and 1989, one for summer and one for New Year release. From 1990 to 1995 only one film was made each year, for New Year release. AnimEigo released a boxset of the first four films in the United States in 2009 under the title “Tora-san”.^[3] The series holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running movie series starring a single actor.^[4]