Badtz-Maru

Badtz-Maru is another lovable characer by Sanrio. Well maybe he would prefer 'cool' to lovable. Yeah, he's cool.

Who is Badtz-Maru?

According to Sanrio " As his April 1st birthday would suggest, Badtz-Maru is one mischievous little penguin. He lives with his mother and pinball-playing father in Gorgeoustown. He attends the first grade at the Gorgeous Academy. Badtz-Maru attracts lots of attention as he walks his pet alligator, Pochi. Badtz-Maru has dreams of greatness when he grows up, but for now he rolls his life at his humorous life life in Gorgeoustown"

His Friends

Badtz-Maru has three best friends; Pochi, Hana-Maru, and Pandaba. In addition to Hana Maru and Pandaba, Badtz also is close with Hanatare Kame (a small blue turtle), Soga Iruka (a white dolphin), Ogawa Same Otto (a blue shark), Nogaki Goroo (a small white bird), Mochizuki Anko (a black fish), and Kobun (blue henchman of his father).

Pandaba

From Wikipedia:
"Pandaba is a female panda born on August 8. She was born in Iwayama (lit. Rocky Mountain), China. Pandaba likes to listen to rap music. She has a skill of eating shumai, a Chinese steamed meat dumpling, in speed-eating contests. (One time she ate 100!)"

Hana-Maru

From Wikipedia:
" Hana Maru was born one day before Pandaba on August 7. He is a white seal born in Kokuritsu Hospital located in London. He can do ball acrobatics and likes gardening. In Japanese, he is called Good Hana Maru, in contrast to Bad Badtz-Maru."

Pochi

While most people like to keep watch dogs, Badtz-Maru has a pet alligator!

His Sister - Tsunko

From FIBA website:
"BAD BADTZ-MARU's sister. Birthday: April 2nd
Cheerleader of the TEAM BAD BADTZ-MARU.
Her hobby is to play tricks and to keep a diary.
She is good at classic ballet, and tends to pose in ballet positions while talking.
Her favorite food is strawberry shortcake.
The future dream is to be an idol singer while being a primadonna.
BADTZ-MARU doesn't know how to deal with her way of making a mess wherever she goes. She speaks with a slight accent as she's just arrived in Japan recently.
She sticks to a nice-looking guy with the tenacity of a snapping turtle if she sees one."

His Mom - Mama

From FIBA website:
" Hyper-obsessed with her childrens' education.
Loves aerobics exercise. Sometimes she forces PAPA, BADTZ-MARU and their pet to practice aerobics together.
Bossy MAMA keeps the team on its toes in her position as point guard, as she yells out orders!! "

His Dad - Papa

From FIBA website:
" He runs a Pachinko shop.
MAMA is stronger in the couple's relationship, though
PAPA himself thinks that he wears the pants in the family.
PAPA is a committed team member, but always has to resign himself to the bench soon after the game starts.
Luckily for him, TSUNKO is always more than ready to get out on the court. "

History and Info

From Wikipedia:
" Badtz-Maru has gone through many product lines since his release at Sanrio. While he has much fewer releases than Hello Kitty, he has been a stable character found in almost all stores worldwide. He has been portrayed as an astronaut, motorcyclist, DJ, camouflage monster, basketball player, boxer, and more. His products range from typical stationery supplies (eg. pencils, notebooks, erasers ...) to more unique items (eg. cd players, pillows, clocks ...). For several years, Sanrio also marketed Badtz-Maru condoms, but these are no longer available.

Badtz-Maru was the official mascot for the 2006 FIBA World Championship of basketball, which was held in Japan.

In Japanese "badtz" (batsu) is a term for "X", the cross signifying a wrong answer. "Maru" means circle or "O", and signifies a correct answer. So, his name is like "wrong-correct," and is frequently represented by "XO". Indeed, with his friends Pandaba and Hana Maru, Badtz runs the mischievous XO clan. Badtz-Maru has many different facial expressions and poses, but he is classically recognized for pulling one eye down and sticking out his tongue."