Calimero

:"For the Italian saint with this name, see Calimerius."Infobox animanga/Header
name = Calimero


caption =
ja_name = カリメロ
ja_name_trans = Karimero
genre = Infobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Yugo Serikawa
studio = Toei Animation
network = flagicon|Japan NET (now TV Asahi)
network_other = flagicon|Netherlands flagicon|Belgium TROS flagicon|Germany ZDF RTL2
first = October 15 1974
last = September 30 1975
episodes = 47Infobox animanga/Anime
title =
director =
studio = Toei Animation
network =
first = October 15 1992
last = September 9 1993
episodes = 52

nihongo|"Calimero"|カリメロ|Karimero is a Japanese anime series (based on an Italian creation) about a charming, but hapless anthropomorphized cartoon chicken; the only black one in a family of yellow chickens. He wears half of his egg shell still on his head.

The characters were created by Nino and Toni Pagot and originated as a series of animated advertisements shown throughout Italy. The characters were later licensed in Japan as an anime series, twice. The first was made by Toei Animation and ran from October 15, 1974 to September 30, 1975, and the second, with new settings and characters, was made in 1992 . Altogether, 99 Japanese episodes were made (47 in the 1974 Toei series, and 52 in the 1992 series).

The series mostly consists of the many adventures of Calimero and his friends as they solve mysteries and make documentaries. However, their adventures usually get them into quite a bit of trouble.

Characters

*Calimero - The hero of the show.
*Priscilla - Calimero's girlfriend, a shy bird with common sense.
*Valeriano - a green bird who is obsessed with film-making.
*Susy - a wealthy girl duck.
*Piero - Susy's boyfriend, another wealthy green duck.
*Rosella - Valeriano's girlfriend, another shy bird.
*"'La banda dei topi

Cult following

Calimero's "little boy lost" persona and distinctive speech patterns caused him to have a worldwide fan base, which was officially headquartered in Hampton - a suburb of Melbourne, AustraliaFact|date=June 2007.

Trivia

* "Calimero" is the name and subject of a Welsh language song by the Super Furry Animals.
* French singer Brigitte Fontaine collaborated with the band Stereolab on a song of the same name.
* A not-very-subtle racist undertone is evident from watching the original series of advertisements, which aired in Italy in the sixties Calimero hatches later than his siblings and immediately falls into a mud puddle, which turns him black. When he finds his mother, he asks her "Are you my mom?" She replies, "No, I don't have any black children." He says, "But would you love me if I were white?" She clucks, "Si, certo! (Of course!)"
* The slang nickname during the 1970's-1980's for military policemen in the Israeli Army was "Calimero", due to their egg-shaped white helmet. The helmet was changed to casquette style hat in the early 1990's.

External links

* [http://www.calimero.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/lineup/tv/karimero/ Calimero on Toei's website]
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