July 24th, Happy Birthday Prince Bo!
Bo is a secondary hamster that is specially well-known, not for his appearances in the anime, but because two of the Hamtaro games and two OVAs have him with an important role.
Bo is a relatively small cream colored hamster with orange ears and arms and an orange line going straight down his forehead to his nose, which is round and a pink color. His eyes are that same pink color, and he also sports two big pink circles around his cheeks and some big eyebrows. This makes him notoriously different to most of the Ham-Hams, and our guess that he is somewhat similar to a Djungarian hamster.
Bo is always wearing blue rain coat with a hood that covers most of his forehead and shows two antennae coming out of it. He is seen more often than not carrying a magical umbrella that has all the colors of the rainbow, but the most special feature of this unique hamster is that he has wings behind his back, hidden under a spotted ladybug shell.
Bo’s personality is bossy, noble and sometimes a bit rude. However, this changes a lot in all his appearances: while in the games he is usually more friendly and helpful, as well as happy-go and noble; in the anime he is more of a clumsy guy that worries a lot and is always asking Hamtaro for help, and in the OVAs he also changes a lot, being rude and snobby at the first OVA then quite friendly and secure in the next one. All on all, this is expected from someone with royal blood. He also make a quick cameo appearance in the third movie to help Hamtaro in Aurora Valley’s Grand Prix.
Bo is the Prince of Rainbow Land, a dream kingdom in the clouds that is in charge of the rainbows and some other stuff (like the celebration of the Ham-Ham Games). In an art and guide book sold with Ham-Ham Games there are some sketches that we believe to as early prototype designs for Prince Bo. One of them has him as a princess instead.
One of his tools is the magical umbrella we mentioned early, which can help him create rainbows and, for some reason, cause other weather related phenomena, like blizzards.
Bo’s Japanese name is Nijihamu-kun, which literally means “Rainbow Hamster”. Pretty straight forward.
In the Japanese dub, Bo finishes most of his sentences with “nosa” or “nanosa”. This is a variation of Hamtaro’s “nanoda”, used by regal characters. Fitting our prince rather well.
As mentioned, Bo is the plot point for Rainbow Rescue, as you have to help him recover the colors of his umbrella by finding ingredients of each color, and then help him deliver invitations for a special party in Rainbow Land; and then he is the host of the Ham-Ham Games, and also the leader of the hardest team in the game.
Lastly, Bo’s birthday date is quit possibly another Goroawase or Japanese word play date. While we already know that 7 is how many colors of the rainbow there are, the 24 is possibly the Japanese word for rainbow being “ni” for 2 and “ji” for 4 and therefore “niji.” Please note that this is just speculation however considering wikipedia says that “ji” can also mean 2 in Goroawase.
Bo does not have any known love interest, however, that does not stop him from being the target of others. All three of his “fan club” as the English called it, the Rainbow Girls, are in love with the little prince. He does not seem to consider this, however, so their love is pretty much one-sided.
This is more of a crack pairing, but since the animators did such a big effort to hint at it, we believe it is noteworthy. During the third OVA Hamtaro appears to have some kind of personal interest towards Bo, which is sound by the constant violation of personal space and the “fights” the two keep having during the whole trip. Now, this is naturally only vague assumptions, they just have a really close friendship.
Episode 181 – Bo and the Mammoth
This is the first episode where Bo is introduced. During one of Hamtaro’s dreams, this time in the stone age, Bo eats all of the seeds the tribes have been gathering!
Episode 222 – I’m Going, Ham-Hams!
Bo is flying around a strange world where animals can fly, searching for his lost umbrella and calling out Hamtaro’s name! The Ham-Hams step in to help him.
Episode 237 – Thick Rainbow Girls
The Ham-Hams meet the Rainbow Girls, who are friends of Bo, and were asked to deliver a box to a special lake. But they keep fighting all the time, and later they find out that they’ve been stalked by someone, who turns out to be Bo!
Bo receives the mission to find “the most treasured thing”, and meets Hamtaro along the way, who decides to help him. This voyage is a true journey for Bo in which he will learn what the most treasured thing is and also become Prince of Rainbow Land!
Bo requests the Ham-Hams to deliver the sacred flame to Hamcropolis, where the Ham-Ham Games will be held, but the Rainbow Girls think they’ll do a better job and try to steal it from them!
That is all! Happy birthday, Prince Bo!
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