Calimero

For the Italian saint with this name, see Calimerius.
Calimero

Calimero poster showing two of the main characters.
カリメロ
(Karimero)
Anime television series
Directed by Yugo Serikawa
Studio Toei Animation
Network NET (now TV Asahi)
Original run October 15, 1974 – September 30, 1975
Episodes 47
Anime television series
Studio Toei Animation
Network TV Tokyo
Original run October 15, 1992 – September 9, 1993
Episodes 52
Anime television series
Studio Gaumont Animation
Network TV Tokyo
Original run October 7, 2014 – ongoing
Episodes 104

Calimero (カリメロ Karimero) is an Italian/Japanese cartoon 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. Calimero originally appeared on the Italian television show Carosello on July 14, 1963, and soon became a popular icon in Italy.

The characters were created by the animation studio Organizzazione Pagot and originated as a series of animated advertisements for Miralanza AVA soap products shown throughout Italy. The creators of the main character were Nino Pagot, Toni Pagot and Ignazio Colnaghi. [1] At the end of each episode, it turns out that Calimero is not actually black, but only very dirty, and becomes white after being washed by the advertised soap products.

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 Toei 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. The first series was also broadcast on European networks such as TROS (Netherlands and Belgium), ZDF and RTL II (Germany) or TVE (Spain).

A third animation series about the character, in Computer animation, has premiered in TF1 in 2014. The production team includes France’s Gaumont Animation, rights owner Calidra, Italy’s Studio Campedelli and Japanese partners TV Tokyo and Kodansha. The series is expected to be aired in several other TV channels. [1]

Characters

1974 series

1992 series

2014 series

Impact in popular culture

The main character in the anime series has had a lasting impact in the vocabulary of some countries, either because of his looks, with an egg shell on his head, or because of his frequent complaining about being unfairly treated by others:

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Animation Magazine, Jan 27th, 2014: New ‘Calimero’ Series to Premiere on France’s TF1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 カリメロアニメ紹介 (in Japanese). Chara Pit. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
  3. ↑ The lyrics in Welsh say "Calimero wyt ti'n gwisgo wy ar dy ben" (Calimero you're wearing an egg on your head)
  4. ↑ The lyrics in French say "Je suis Caliméro, le vilain poussin noir" ("I'm Calimero, the naughty black chicken").
  5. ↑ Otte, Anja (5 May 2009). "Calimero". Flanders Today. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  6. ↑ Juan Gómez Capuz: El argot de los soldados de reemplazo: aspectos lexico-semánticos, lexicogenésicos y fraseológicos. (In Spanish)
  7. ↑ ABC newspaper: Adiós al «casco calimero» (In Spanish)

External links