For the Italian saint with this name, see Calimerius

Calimerius

Calimerius was an early bishop of Milan. He is honoured as a Saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches and his feast day is on July 31.-Life:...

.

is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

/Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese cartoon about a charming, but hapless anthropomorphized

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...

 cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

 chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

; the only black one in a family of yellow chickens. He wears half of his egg

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

 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 soap products shown throughout Italy. 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

Toei Animation

Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...

 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 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.

1972 series

– The hero of the show. – Calimero's girlfriend, a shy bird with common sense. – – – – – –

1992 series

• Calimero –
• Priscilla – – – – a wealthy girl duck. –

Influence in popular culture

• Calimero is the name and subject of a Welsh language song by the band Super Furry Animals
  Super Furry Animals
  Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
  
  
• French singer Brigitte Fontaine
  Brigitte Fontaine
  Brigitte Fontaine, born in 1939 in Morlaix in the Brittany region of France, is a singer of avant-garde music. During the course of her career she has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry and world rhythms...
  
   collaborated with the band Stereolab
  Stereolab
  Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
  
   on a song of the same name
• The slang
  Slang
  Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
  
   nickname during the 1970s-1980s for military policemen in the Israeli Army was Calimero, due to their egg-shaped white helmet
  Helmet
  A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...
  
  . The helmet was changed to casquette
  Casquette
  Casquette is French for "cap". In cycling jargon, it is used to refer to the traditional peaked cotton cap worn by racing cyclists.With the introduction of compulsory cycle helmets for massed-start racing, casquettes have become less common, but most professional race outfits still have them...
  
   style hat in the early 1990s
• Spanish military policemen are nicknamed calimeros after their Calimero-like helmets
• The word calimero passed into Portuguese, French and Slovene language usage to denote, someone that is always complaining or considers himself a victim. It is still occasionally heard and, as of 2009, remains widely understood
• In the Netherlands and Belgium, Calimero complex is used to denote someone who thinks the world is against him or her because they are an underdog. In the Dutch series Calimero says They are big and I is small and that is not fair, oh no! (Dutch: "Zij zijn groot en ik is klein, en da's niet eerlijk, o nee!", erroneous use of the word "is" is intentional)

External links

• Official Website
• Calimero on Toei's website
• http://istikana.com/ar/tv_shows/calimero Full episodes in the Arabic language