Hamtaro Tales

Overview

Hamtaro Tales is an anime series whose genres are action, adventure, romance, and comedy and its audience range from children to adults. The anime is originally based on a children's book series by Ritsuko Kawai. It is directed by Osamu Nabeshima and produced by Shogakukan. It aired on the channel, TV Tokyo, with its first episode debut on July 7, 2000. It ended with 296 episodes on March 31, 2006.

North American Licensing

In U.S.A., VIZ Media bought the licensing for the anime, and it premiered on Fox Kids and Cartoonnetwork. On Cartoonnetwork's Toonami block, Hamtaro plays during the afternoons where young children usually come home to watch cartoons. In the U.S., the dub anime series only had 105 episodes aired from June 3, 2002 to June 25, 2003.

Misc Licensing

• Canada - YTV
• Phillipines - GMA Network

Plot

Hamtaro is a happy hamster who lives with his owner, a 5-year-old girl called Hiroko (5th-grader Laura in the company's foreign sales sheets). He sleeps in a little home kept on the buffet counter in the kitchen of a house on a quiet suburban street. But in the park, across the street, under the roots of the old tree, there is a hideout where the local hamsters go for secret meetings of the "Ham-Ham Friends."

Characters

Characters	Descriptions
Hamtaro	Hamtaro is the main protagonist. He's innocent hamster who loves his friends and work hard to resolve problems.
Laura Haruna	Laura is Hamtaro's owner. She's a sweet girl with normal issues like any other girls her age.
Oxnard	Oxnard is Hamtaro's neighbor.
Boss	Boss's a tough hamster who lives without an owner. His hideout is a place where Hamtaro and his gang spend their days in. He has a crush on Bijou.
Bijou	Bijou is female hamster and love interest of Boss.

Movies

Movie spin-offs duly followed. In Big Adventure in Hamhamland (2001), Hamtaro feels neglected on owner Laura's birthday, heads off with his friends in a magic flying basket over the rainbow to HamHamland to find the magic sunflower seeds, for which he has to face Ma-O-Ham, the Hamster Demon Lord. The movie took in excess of $20 million at the Japanese box office. Ham Ham Ham Jya: Mysterious Princess (2002) has an exotic Arabian Nights theme, with flying carpets and a beautiful hamster princess, Shera, living in a golden desert palace with a hamster handmaid harem of cute musicians and dancers. More than one and a half million people bought tickets for it. Ham Ham Grand Prix (2003) involves a sled race through an Alpine valley and a hamster pirate captain on a flying galleon. It was similarly huge at the box office, although the authors feel they should point out that all three were sharing double bills with each year's Godzilla movie! Ham Ham and the Mysterious Demon's Picture Book Tower (2004) capitalizes on the rise of Harry Potter, with the rodent friends adventuring through magical storybooks.

The franchise also produced several video incarnations, including a parody of From the Apennines to the Andes, Hamtaro's Birthday: 3000 Skitters in Search of Mama (2002, Hamutaro no Otanjobi: Mama wo Tazunete 3000 Techitechi), Hamtaro's Race for the Summer Seaside Vacation Treasure (2003, Hamu-chanzu no Takara Sagashi Daisakusen: Hamu wa Suteki na Umi no Natsuyasumi), and, in time for the Athens Olympics, Hamtaro's Gold Medal (2004, Hamuchanzu no Mezase Hamuhamu Kin Medal), as well as several educational videos on trains, learning the hiragana syllabary, and school life.