Hamtaro (Hamtaro)
From Animepedia
Hamtaro (ハム太郎 Hamutarou. Also sometimes ハム太郎くん Hamutarou-kun) is a male golden hamster, and the star of the children's novel, manga and anime Hamtaro (とっとこハム太郎, Tottoko Hamutarou), which was created by Ritsuko Kawai. His seiyuu is Kurumi Mamiya, and his American voice actor is Chiara Zanni.
Hamtaro was born on August 6th, the same day as another birthday of a hamster, Cappy (かぶるくん Kaburu-kun). There are many references in the Hamtaro anime that point to Hamtaro's birthdate. Such as the fact that the time always reads as 8:06 AM or PM.
As of April 5, 2006 a seperate anime featuring the same hamsters, known as Tottoko Hamutaro: Norisuta Hai! began to air on Japanese TV. Alhough the graphics are quite different and each episode last for five-minutes, the series star the same primary characters. Hamutarou is, of course, still the 'star' of the series.
Character Summary
Hamtaro's owner is Laura Haruna (Hiroko Haruna. Also sometimes Roko-chan), a fifth-grader girl who has moved to a new neighbourhood with her family. Hamtaro is a very curious and adventurous, and ends up outside his family's house where he soon meets a whole slew of hamster friends. It was also Hamtaro's idea of turning Boss's (タイショーくん Taishou-kun) underground house into the Ham-Ham Clubhouse, a clubhouse just for hamsters.
Often in most episodes(dubbed and original), Hamtaro is often protrayed as the 'real' hero of fixing a bad problem, and in most cases this is true. Because of this, most Hamtaro/Tottoko Hamutarou fans like the other hamsters more, who often aren't recognized as often as Hamtaro himself.
Character Appearence
Hamtaro shares the same body structure as most of the other hamsters in the anime. He has a large round head, round ears and a smaller body. He is able to walk on his hind legs like humans. Hamtaro is a golden hamster and thus shows some traits of being one. He is beige/white with some areas of his head are orange, which reaches down to his back. It can also be noted that Hamtaro has an orange spot just left of his tail. Hamtaro's eyes are fairly large and 'shiny'. At some times, you can see that his eye colour is grey.
As the episodes progressed (as well as the OVAs and movies), the animators found new ways of drawing the hamsters. Often these new ways were a lot easier and quicker. Hamtaro, like the other hamsters, started to be drawn with bigger heads and smaller bodies. Their beige paws also seemed to gain 'new joints', and they were able to things with their paws that only humans can do, such as giving a thumbs up.
Hamtaro and his hamster friends gotten the most major redesign with the release of Tottoko Hamutaro: Norisuta Hai!, which was created and animated by a different company. By now, hamster's heads were at their biggest and their bodies were at their smallest. Their feet and paws were also very different. The arms (or at least the visible arms) were not drawn, and the feet made them look as if they were always standing on their toes. Many fans of the series disliked this new look, as it was very unnatural. Many fans quoted that the bigger heads looked like they could snap its own neck.
Hamtaro's Relations to the Other Hamsters
Hamtaro's best friend is Oxnard, a spotted hamster who likes to eat sunflowers. They first met in episode one after Hamtaro discovers the outside world. Oxnard, who was outside at the time, saw Hamtaro and became scared. Running away, Hamtaro takes chase and bumps into Oxnard after he haulted unexpectedly. Oxnard was missing his sunflower seed, and Hamtaro helps him find it. Oxnard is grateful for Hamtaro's help, and the two quickly becomes friends.
Actually, Oxnard loses his sunflower seed quite often.. and it's usually the ham-hams' jobs to find it, espically Hamtaro.
Hamtaro met Boss after Oxnard accidently made a hole in the ground and fell in, Hamtaro jumped after him and they both ended up in one of Boss' many tunnels. Upon the appearence of Boss, the hamsters thought he was a monster until Hamtaro sniffed him. Boss, although having a hole in his tunnel, were quite polite to these new faces... and decided to show them around. It was then that Boss told his new friends of his crush with Bijou.
The trio later go visit Bijou, Boss wants to sing a song to her.. but his nervousness has overcome him. Hamtaro then steps up and decides to sing "Chick-Ah Chick-Ah Remember I'm Your Ham", and soon Boss(no longer nervous) and Oxnard join in. Bijou applauds them by throwing sunflower seeds at them as gifts. Also Hamtaro notices her seemingly to wink at her, and Hamtaro just thinks she has an eyelash.
This is actually the start of Bijou's crush for him, although Hamtaro never notices it at all during the whole TV series, and the OVA series. There are some 'special moments' during the TV series however. In episode 4, Boss is determined for Bijou to visit him. And all the ham-hams go to visit her and ask her to come visit. She declines the first time, since Bijou has never went outside before... and is scared about what Maria(her owner) might think. Hamtaro later tries the second time and actually helps Bijou out. She soon becomes brave enough to leave her house on her own, and offically is 'part of the Ham-Ham Club.' Hamtaro also notices Bijou's ribbons in this episode, and they say look nice on her or something similar.
In episode 15, this episode focuses highly on the relationship of Bijou and Hamtaro. Bijou remembers when Hamtaro complimented on her ribbons. At the clubhouse, the Ham-Hams plan to play "Blind Man's Bluff", but there is nothing to cover Hamtaro's eyes who is 'it'. Bijou doesn't play and falls asleep instead, where Cappy (under his heavy cooking pot hat) mistakes Bijou's ribbon as something he could use to play the game, and takes it off of her pigtail. Hamtaro doesn't realize it's Bijou's and uses to play the game. Bijou awakes and is angry at Hamtaro. When Hamtaro says he didn't know it belonged to Bijou, Bijou is very upset and locks her self in Boss' bedroom crying.
The Ham-Hams later go on their field trip to the acorn forest. Hamtaro really wants to make it up for Bijou and finds acorns, but accidently slips and falls down a hill where he gets hurt. After Bijou hears some of Snoozer's helpful advice, she goes to the forest and helps Hamtaro. He ties one of her favorite ribbons onto his foot as a bandage. At the end of the episode, Hamtaro and Bijou hold hands as they walk home. Boss and Stan are seen becoming jealous.
In the later seasons(which is Japan only), there are some other girl hamsters (Such as Sparkle) who starts to fall for Hamtaro, and Bijou can be seen getting jealous. There was one Valentines Day episode where Bijou, Sparkle and Oshare(a hamster in a straw hat) compete in a game to try to impress Hamtaro. Currently there is no information about who 'won'.
Most Hamtaro and Bijou pairing fans will agree on the plot of the third Tottoko Hamutarou movie, Tottoko Hamutaro: Ham Ham Grand Prix Aurora Tani no Kiseki - Ribon-chan Kikiippa, where Bijou is sent to Aurora Valley to solve a problem. A band of pirate hamsters and their captain, Hamstern sees Bijou and falls in love. Hamtaro actually gets jealous and competes against Hamstern in the Grand Ham-Ham Prix for her affection. In the end, it is Hamtaro who wins. Most fans do not count a movie as canon however. Besides that, there is nothing else about the relationship of Hamtaro and Bijou. There has been rumors of them getting married, confessing their love, or becoming a canon couple at the end of the TV series. But all of these were proven to be false.
End of spoilers.
In episode three, Hamtaro met Howdy, Dexter, Pashmina and Penelope. There isn't really much about his relationship about them. But Hamtaro truly is friends with them. The same goes for Sandy, Maxwell, Panda, Cappy and Snoozer(who Hamtaro met prior to episode 3). Again he doesn't have much screen time or speak a lot to those characters. Sandy in this episode once shown off her ribbon dancing, and Hamtaro said it was really good. This lead to a few fans believing about a possible Hamtaro and Sandy shipping.
Hamtaro and Oxnard were the ones to find Stan, Sandy's twin brother and reunite him with her twin sister. Besides that, there isn't anything else about Hamtaro's relationship with Stan.
