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Badtz-Maru


Bad Badtz-Maru (バッドばつ丸, Baddo Batsu Maru), commonly named "Badtz-Maru", is a male penguin with spiky hair, and one of the many characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. He was created by Hisato Inoue in 1993. He is the main protagonist the Badtz-Maru universe. Unlike the more popular Hello Kitty, he has an attitude and is one of the few characters that is marketed to all genders. He was born on April 1st (April Fool's Day).

In the United States, like Chococat, Badtz-Maru is a very popular character, due to his theme being associated with American culture, though in Japan, he fame is rather less but not to the same degree.

Personality

Badtz-Maru has many different facial expressions and poses, but he is classically recognized for pulling one eye down and sticking out his tongue (something Kuromi would later share).

While he seems perpetually stuck in the first grade, he has dreams of becoming "the boss, of everything" when he grows up. "A bit selfish, he tends to make fun of things by thinking silly. This mischievous little penguin loves to fight for the wrong side. His hobby is collecting pictures of bad guys played by movie stars." He enjoys expensive sushi in Ginza. In some media such as Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures, he also wants to be seen as a cool person.

Family and Friends

He lives in Gorgeous Town with his mother, pinball-playing father and younger siblings; the Badtz Twins and Tzunko.

Badtz-Maru has two best friends, who are often found accompanying him: Pandaba, a female Giant Panda who always is seen in a short frilly skirt, and Hana-Maru, a male white seal.

In addition to Hana-Maru and Pandaba, Badtz also is close with Kahme (a small blue turtle), Iruka (a white dolphin), Sameo (a blue shark), Goro (a small white bird), Anko (a black fish), and Kobun (blue henchman of his father).

XO Clan

In Japanese "badtz" (batsu) is a term for "X", the cross signifying a wrong answer. "Maru" means circle or "O", and signifies a correct answer. Therefore, his name technically means "wrong-correct," and is frequently represented by "XO". Indeed, with his friends Pandaba and Hana-Maru, Badtz runs the mischievous XO clan.

Hapidanbui

In 2020, the band Hapidanbui is created, which consisted of himself, Tuxedo Sam, Keroppi, Pochacco, Hangyodon, and Pekkle. Badtz-Maru is the vocalist of the group.

Merchandise

Badtz Maru Introduction SN JAPANESE

Goods sales of Badtz-Maru began in June 1993. Badtz-Maru has gone through many product lines since his release at Sanrio. While he has many fewer releases than Hello Kitty and some others such as My Melody or Cinnamoroll, he has been a staple character found in almost all stores worldwide. Over the years, Maru has been portrayed as an astronaut, motorcyclist, DJ, camouflage monster, basketball player, boxer, and others. His products range from typical stationery supplies (eg. pens, notebooks, erasers, pencil cases ...) to more novel items (eg. cd players, guitars, license plate frames ...).

Music

  • ばつ丸音頭 (Badtz-Maru Ondo) - Appears on サンリオTVオリジナルソングブックLET'Sシング! along with a Karaoke Version.
    • Initially the lyrics for this song were written by Hisato Inoue himself, and the music was composed by Ko Katayama
  • 忍者ばつ丸のかくれてポン! (Ninja Badtz-Maru Hide and Pon!) - Appears on サンリオTVオリジナルソングブック::うれしSONG!!～みらいへの宝物 along with a Karaoke version.
  • わるわるワルツ and がってんばつ丸の回転寿司 - Appears on キティズパラダイスＰＬＵＳ　ソングブック　サンリオキャラクターとおどろう！ダンスソング
  • 目覚ましCD　けろけろけろっぴの朝だよみんな!

Media

TV

Appearances in media

Various OVAs

Badtz-Maru appears in several Japanese OVAs released in the 1990s named Bad Badtz-Maru no Ore no Pochi wa Sekaiichi, Bad Badtz-Maru no Ore wa Yuutosei, and Bad Badtz-Maru no Otoko Dokyou no Omoiyari.

He is voiced by Fujiko Takimoto in these series.

Hello Kitty's Animation Theater

Badtz-Maru appears in "The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf". He plays the role of the Shepherd Boy.

He also appears in "The Ants and the Grasshopper". He is a friend to the grasshopper.

Hello Kitty Stump Village

Badtz-Maru first appears in "Strange Penguin".

The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends

Badtz-Maru appears as one of the main characters. Always looking for an angle, he is a precocious youngster with dreams of grandeur. His selfish ways get him in hot water from time to time, but his good heart always steers him in the right direction. Sometimes there is rivalry between him and Dear Daniel.

His English voice is by Andrea Kwan.

Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures

BadtzMaruSupercuteAdventures

Badtz-Maru is one of the main characters in the show. He owns an arcade named "XO Arcade" and is himself an experienced gamer. In this series, Badtz is best friends with Keroppi and also revealed to have a crush on Kuromi. Like the latter, he also appears to be friendlier than in some other Sanrio media, though he still does his trademark mischievous behavior.

Hello Kitty Super Style!

Badtz-Maru appears in Hello Kitty Super Style!.

Ranking in the Sanrio Character Ranking

During the 2013 Character Ranking, if Badtz-Maru reaches 10th place or higher, a king-sized sofa based on Badtz will be made. However, he failed to reach that rank (as Hello Kitty was the winner). Badtz-Maru's rankings had decreased since his early years and became rocky but he did manage to win in 1996. He himself is a popular pick in the United States, however.

  • 1994: 3rd place
  • 1995: 2nd place
  • 1996: 1st place
  • 1997: 3rd place
  • 1998: 7th place
  • 1999: 10th place
  • 2000: 10th place
  • 2001: 7th place
  • 2002: 9th place
  • 2003: 9th place
  • 2004: 9th place
  • 2005: Below 10th place
  • 2006: 10th place
  • 2007: 9th place
  • 2008: 9th place
  • 2009: Below 10th place
  • 2010: 18th place
  • 2011: 9th place
  • 2012: 15th place
  • 2013: 18th place
  • 2014: 16th place (4th place in Group D)
  • 2015: 20th place
  • 2016: 17th place (15th in the Nade Time ranking)
  • 2017: 14th place
  • 2018: 15th place (2nd place in US)
  • 2019: 12th place
  • 2020: 14th place
  • 2021: 14th place
  • 2022: 12th place
  • 2023: 10th place (10th in Taiwan and Brazil, 9th in Italy)
  • 2024: 13th place
  • 2025: -- *rankings ongoing*

Official description (2001)

As his April 1st birthday would suggest, Badtz Maru is one mischievous little penguin. He lives with his mother and pinball-playing father in Gorgeoustown. He attends the first grade at the Gorgeous Academy. Badtz Maru attracts lots of attention as he walks his pet alligator, Pochi. Badtz Maru has dreams of greatness when he grows up, but for now he rolls his eyes at his humorous life in Gorgeoustown. [1]

Trivia

  • Badtz-Maru is possibly inspired by Bart Simpson, one of the main characters from the long-running adult American cartoon The Simpsons, which both characters has the same birth date as well: April 1st (April Fool's Day).
    • His second designer Kaori Harada, also shares the same birthday.
    • Badtz-Maru appeared in the movies Bring It On and Like Mike as a plushie.
    • Like Bart, Badtz-Maru is skilled on the skateboard and has spiky hair.
  • Badtz-Maru was the official Mascot for the 2006 FIBA World Championship of basketball, which was held in Japan. Special merchandise based on this event was released as well.
  • Due to Badtz-Maru's appearance, some fans have mistaken him as a crow, when he is in fact a penguin.
  • When Badtz-Maru was officially introduced in the Strawberry News May 1993 Issue, he was noted to be Sanrio's first "not nice" character. However, unlike Kuromi or Lloromannic, who debuted later in 2005 and 2007, respectively, he was not originally depicted as a villain but is rather neutral.
  • In Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Badtz-Maru is depicted with dark blue feathers rather than black.
  • Badtz-Maru was a frequent guest in the Strawberry News' Chitty Chatty Strawberry column, where he and his friends (and sometimes family members!) often appeared in comics and talked about a variety of topics such as Christmas and Valentine's Day.
    • Badtz-Maru also frequently appeared in a subsection of Chitty Chatty Strawberry titled (A Little...) Hocus Pocus, where a set of instructions similar to spells and charms are given to readers to try out in hopes of achieving something such as making up with a friend after a fight, curing stomach aches, and getting your crush to notice you.
    • For a time in the Strawberry News magazine, readers could send in rumors they want investigated by Badtz-Maru and his friends, where they would be confirmed or debunked.
  • Badtz-Maru's Japanese voice actress, Fujiko Takimoto, who also voices Cherry of Lloromannic, is famously known for being the voice of Link from Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise, specifically the young Hero of Time incarnation from the critically acclaimed games Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on the Nintendo 64.
    Badtz-Maru and Kuromi blushing
  • As Kuromi, My Melody's rival, is widely known to be attracted to handsome male characters, although she technically already had a love interest with Keiichi Hiiragi, Prince Sorara, and a young lion who actually likes My Melody in Onegai My Melody (which are shown explicitly in those cases) and this continues with Niko in Kuromi's Pretty Journey, Badtz-Maru's relationship with her in certain episodes from Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures is unique in that it is the first time two chief Sanrio characters besides Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel were to do such act, causing a popular interest among fans of the show. Between the two, however, Badtz-Maru shows his crush less clearly.
  • Within a few years of his debut in May 1993, Badtz-Maru frequently landed in the top 5 of the official Sanrio Character Popularity poll; landing 3rd place in 1994 and eventually taking 1st place in 1996.
    • This makes him thus far the only character of Hisato Inoue's to ever place 1st with Hangyodon achieving the top 3 in comparison.
  • Badtz-Maru cameos with Hello Kitty and Keroppi in the first few minutes of the film Ready Player One.
  • Although Badtz-Maru was created by Hisato Inoue, at some time around 1996, his designer became Kaori Harada presumably after Hisato left Sanrio in 1995 to become a Freelancer.
  • Badtz-Maru and Kuromi share a lot in common with each other that both are mischievous, are generally black in color, and even share the trademark expression of pulling their eyelid down and sticking their tongue out.
  • Badtz-Maru later received a PC game for Windows and Macintosh computers titled バッドばつ丸 ゴージャスタウンは大さわぎ！Hisato Inoue had a hand in developing the game.[2]
    • Badtz-Maru loves fishing, though he isn't very good at it.

Gallery

Badtz-Maru/Gallery

Sources

  1. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20031002015629/http://www.sanrio.com/main/charactersection/xo.html
  2. ↑ [1]