Shinnosuke Nohara, known as Shin-chan, is a five-year-old boy living in Kasukabe, Japan. He exhibits a unique blend of childlike curiosity and unexpectedly mature behavior, often employing adult vocabulary without fully understanding its meaning. His personality combines brutal honesty, extreme mischievousness, and a complete lack of shame, frequently leading to socially inappropriate actions such as pulling down his pants to perform his signature "buri buri" dance or "elephant dance" impression. Despite his chaotic tendencies, he occasionally displays unexpected competence in activities like sports, photography, and problem-solving, sometimes resolving complex situations through accidental or unintentional actions.

Shin-chan shares a strong resemblance to his mother, Misae Nohara, inheriting her stubbornness, while adopting his father Hiroshi Nohara's tendency to flirt with older women, often resulting in comedic punishments. He maintains a close yet teasing relationship with his parents. He is protective of his younger sister, Himawari, often bonding with her over shared mischief. His pet dog, Shiro, whom he rescued as a stray, is a beloved companion despite occasional neglect due to Shin-chan's short attention span. Among his friends, his closest bond is with Toru Kazama; despite frequent bickering, they demonstrate deep mutual care, particularly evident during emotional moments like separations.

Within his imagination, Shin-chan created Buriburizaemon, a cowardly talking pig character who featured in his own adventures. This character transitioned from spoken dialogue to silence following the original voice actor's death before eventually returning with a new performer years later. Linguistically, Shin-chan consistently misuses language, mixing up greetings like saying "itte rasshai" upon returning home instead of leaving, inventing hybrid phrases such as "okonban gozaimasu," and using non-standard pronouns like "ora" for himself. His written language contains misspellings and malformed characters.

In the adventure involving the Buri Buri Kingdom, Shin-chan's family wins a fraudulent vacation lottery orchestrated by the villainous White Snake Gang. Escaping their plane via parachute, the family survives in a jungle where Shin-chan's comical dancing unexpectedly wins over hostile monkeys, securing them food and shelter. A monkey gifts him a pig nose-shaped artifact critical to the plot. Upon reaching the Buri Buri Kingdom, Shin-chan is mistaken for the kidnapped Prince Sunnokeshi due to their identical appearance. Captured by the gang, Shin-chan meets the prince and learns they are both needed to access a booby-trapped treasure palace. During the confrontation with the villains Anaconda and Mr. Herb, Shin-chan wastes a genie's wish on obtaining a news reporter's autograph, inadvertently foiling their plans. He later helps defeat the transformed Anaconda by using two pig nose artifacts to collapse the palace, sealing the villains away.