Calimero is an animated television series about a charming but hapless anthropomorphized chicken; the only black one in a family of yellow chickens.[1] 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.[2] 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, titled Calimero (カリメロ, Karimero). The first was made by Toei Animation and ran from October 15, 1972, to September 30, 1975; the second, with new settings and characters, was made in 1992. Altogether, 99 Japanese episodes were made (47 in the 1972 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 second series was never renewed for a second season. English dubbed versions for the first two anime series were never officially released, though dubbed pilot episodes do exist. However, the series did come out in other languages. The original 1970s shorts and the third CGI series were released in English, however. The first series was also broadcast on European networks such as TROS (The Netherlands), ZDF and RTL II (Germany) or TVE (Spain).
A third animation series about the character, in computer animation, premiered in TF1 in 2013. The production team includes France’s Gaumont Animation, rights owner Calidra, Italy’s Studio Campedelli and Japanese partners TV Tokyo and Kodansha. The series also aired on several other TV channels, including on Disney Junior in the United Kingdom and Australia.[2]
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:
In the Netherlands and Belgium, the term "Calimerocomplex [nl]" is used to denote people who are staunchly convinced that their position as an underdog is due to their smaller size, either literally or symbolically, which covers up for their own shortcomings. Often the character's lines from the show are cited, "They are big and I is [sic] small and that is not fair, oh no!" (translated back from Dutch, with intentional error).[7]
The slang nickname during the 1970s and 1980s for military policemen in the Israeli Army was Calimero, due to their egg-shaped white helmet; the same was the case in Spain,[8] where calimero was also a name for a type of helmet for motorbikers.[9]
Italian luxury fashion house Bottega Veneta introduced the "Kalimero" bucket bag in 2022, taking inspiration from the bindle that the character carries.[10]
^Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 38. ISBN9781476672939.
