Tayo the Little Bus

Tayo the Little Bus (Hangul: 꼬마버스 타요; RR: Kko-ma-beo-seu Ta-yo) is a South Korean computer-animated television series created by Iconix Entertainment and Educational Broadcasting System of Seoul.^[1] The show was produced with the help of Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration.^[2] It began airing in South Korea on EBS in 2010, and an English-dubbed version of the series began airing on Disney Junior (Asia) in 2012. The latter also began airing on Disney Channel (Asia) and Disney Junior (Australia and New Zealand) in 2013. In the United States and Canada, Hulu is the exclusive distributor of the series.^[3]

The series is available in Korean and English on the production company's Tayo YouTube channel.^[4]

Characters

Main characters

The series features four main characters. Tayo (Bus 120, blue) is a playful and sometimes mischievous flatulist - he uses flatulence humour to amuse his friends. Rogi (Bus 1000, green) is his brother and best friend, although the two often get into fights with each other. Funny and mischievous himself, Rogi also has an interest in detective work, as can be seen in "Rogi the Detective!" (Season 2, episode 10) and "Prank Call Madness" (Season 2, episode 22). Both friends resemble a Hyundai Super Aero City. Lani (Bus 02, yellow) is youngest of the four. She is cheerful and kind. Possessing little tolerance for arguements, she often acts as a mediator between Tayo and Rogi. The main cast is rounded out by Gani (Bus 1339, red), who is hardworking, warm-hearted, and shy. He the oldest of the four.

Supporting characters

Many supporting characters feature in the series as well. Hana is a kind mechanic, who takes care of the little buses and works in the bus depot repair shop. Cito, a red double-decker tour bus, serves as a father-figure for Tayo, Rogi, Lani, and Gani. He often reprimands Tayo and Rogi for getting too rough. However in "Cito's Secret" (episode 13, season 2) it is revealed that he had a boisterous past himself. An old mentor of his, Bubba, appeared in this episode.

Frequent supporting characters

• Nuri is a calm and professional female taxi who first met Tayo in the episode "A Day in the Life of Tayo". She is very nice to Tayo and his friends, often visiting them at the bus depot.
• Rookie is a police officer who sometimes goofs up with his job because he is new to it.
• Pat is an experienced police car who is always serious when working. Rookie is Pat's police officer.
• Speedy is a red car who likes to go really fast, and is modelled on a Porsche 911.
• Shine is an overproud yellow car who likes to show off, repeatedly leading to his own embarrassment. Shine is modelled after the Mercedes SLK R171 coupe.

Recurring supporting characters

• Toto is a yellow tow truck who is really responsible with his job.
• Toni is a little truck who obeys traffic laws and likes to teach other cars about traffic laws. In the episode "I Want New Tires", he was so busy teaching other cars about traffic laws that he got late delivering Tayo's new tires to the garage (episode 8).
• Alice is an ambulance who works in a hospital who likes to work with Frank when there is a fire .
• Frank is a fire truck who works with Alice when there is a fire. He is serious about his job .
• Big is a big container truck who delivers goods to the airport to be sent overseas.
• Billy is a bulldozer who works at the construction site with Poco, Chris, and Max.
• Poco is an excavator who digs a dirt. He works at the construction site with Billy, Chris, and Max.
• Chris is a cement truck who works at the construction site with Billy, Poco, and Max.
• Max is a dump truck who carries away dirt. He works at the construction site with Billy, Poco, and Chris.
• Met is a subway train who knows about everything - in "Rogi's Hiccups" (episode 14) he showed this by helping Rogi to stop hiccupping.
• Wondie is an old blue bus who was scrapped last year.

Guest characters

• Joey the Magician is a magician who appears in the episode "Joey the Magician".
• Fire Ball is a superhero who appears in the episode "Nuri Is a Superstar". He is also disguised as the Car Thief.
• Princess Ray is the princess of Planet Clover and is chased by Bully. She appeared only in the episode "Tayo's Space Adventure".
• Bully is a space pirate and a main antagonist who appeared in the episode "Tayo's Space Adventure".

Reception

At a Vietnamese seminar for addressing the struggles of the Vietnamese animation industry, Korean animators named Tayo the Little Bus as a series that has been "dominating" the Korean market. These animators also noted that the series is popular in China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.^[5]

Cultural impact

Route 9401 bus that received Gani wrap

In 2014, the Seoul Metropolitan Government commissioned buses designed as the characters Tayo, Gani, Rogi, and Lani, to run around the Gwanghwamun Square area of the city. This was done as part of an initiative to teach children how to use the bus. The initiative was a massive success, drawing crowds of over 40,000 in a single day. People from all across the country came to see the buses. Although the buses were originally set to run from March 26 until Public Transport Day at the end of April, their popularity led to an extension until Children's Day on May 5. The number of buses was also expanded from the original four to 100. In wake of this success, the local governments of other cities in South Korea have considered adopting the campaign.^[6] Although officials for the city of Seoul initially opposed this, on copyright grounds,^[7] they consented in April to letting other cities use the characters for non-commercial purposes.^[2]

Jaeyeon Woo of The Wall Street Journal's blog Korea Real Time, speculated in an April 2014 article that the success of this initiative led both of Gyeonggi Province's gubernatorial candidates, Kim Sang-gon and Nam Kyung-pil, to adopt public transportation issues as a key part of their campaign platforms. Seoul-mayor Park Won-soon, who began the initiative, has been criticized by some of his political rivals, who feel that he took credit for the series, even though the series was began by his predecessor's administration.^[2]

On October 16, 2014, a South Korean group called the Teen Astronauts, launched a space balloon designed as the character Tayo from the Space Science Park in Korea's National Science Museum.^[8]

References