Hangyodon

Japanese Name

ハンギョドン

(Hangyodon)

Birthday

March 14th; Pisces

Place of Birth

China

Personality

Hobbies

Comedy

Likes

Noodles
Shrimp Crackers (Has a habit where he starts crying for some reason when eating them)
Chilled Chinese food
Hot Pots
Hot Springs

Description

Very lonely

Family and Friends

Mother

Unnamed Mother

Father

Unnamed Father

Spouse

Kingyochan (Girlfriend; lasted for 3 days)

Siblings

Sumire (Sister), Unnamed older brother

Friends

Sayuri, Otamaro, Itaro, Myme Myme (Alien), Būshika, Kumiko

Enemies

Lucius the Phantom Thief

Occupation

Job Title

Detective (OVAs)

Creation

Debut

1985

Created By

Hisato Inoue

Voiced By

Ryūsei Nakao

Hangyodon (ハンギョドン, Hangyodon) is a male fish character created by Hisato Inoue from Sanrio in 1985. He was born on March 14th under Halley's Comet^[1] and his blood type is B.

Hangyodon is a nice guy who loves to make others laugh, but has a soft spot and doesn't like being alone. He desires to be a hero but his plans of heroism often go awry. Hangyodon also loves collecting merchandise based on himself and is a bit of a romantic despite being somewhat shy towards women, as seen with his various interactions with Kingyochan, his love interest.

Hangyodon's previous love interest was a human girl named Kumiko who starred with him, Sayuri, Otamaro, and others in a comic series that lasted for several issues of The Strawberry News.

Friends and Family

Sumire (Hangyodon)
Kingyochan
Itaro
Mr. Seahorse
Sayuri
Otamaro
The Sea Otter Bar Owner - He is the owner of Ebisen's Bar, a place Hangyodon sometimes visits.

Others

In one of his first jobs after leaving Sanrio and becoming a Freelancer, Hisato Inoue was tasked with assisting in the Japanese only 1998 video game Sanrio Timenet: Kako-Hen and Mirai-Hen. While some of the characters may strictly be Imagineer/Timenet's creations, he did talk about his role in the creation of two evolutions of Hangyodon; Great Hangyo and Hangyodon Robo on Twitter.^[2] In the staff credits, Hisato Inoue is listed as working for the character design for a company called Inspace.^[3]

Great Hangyo is Hangyodon wearing a super hero suit, while Hangyodon Robo is Hangyodon in a mech/robot suit.

Trivia

Hangyodon's huge round eyes and full lips were based on Hisato's own.
Hangyodon has had his own comic series in the Strawberry News, "Hangyodon" and "Hangyodon's Lecture of Manners".
Hangyodon was a regular guest in the Strawberry News' Chitty Chatty Strawberry column.
Hangyodon has starred in several anime films of his own such as Meitantei Hangyodon: Kaitou Ruzu Arawaruno-kan, Hangyodon no Parallel Daisakusen: Hana no Oedo wa Oosawagi, Hangyodon no 007/2: Doctor Sunday Arawaru no Maki, and Hangyodon no Parallel Daisakusen: Kyouryuu Oukoku wa Oosawagi.
- Hangyodon also stars in Sam to Chip no wa Hachamecha Dai Race as a racer, with other characters from his universe such as Otamaro and Kingyochan appearing as audience members.
- Hangyodon plays a big role in the Sanrio anime film Pokopon no Yukai na Saiyuuki.
Despite debuting first, Hangyodon shares some similarities with Badtz-Maru including being made by Hisato Inoue:
- Both characters usually don't wear clothing unless something such as going into space or surfing takes place.
- Both happen to be animals whose species' are linked to water in some way.
- Hangyodon and Badtz-Maru both have at least one female friend (Hangyodon with Sayuri and Badtz-Maru with Pandaba).
- Both characters have several brothers and sisters.
- There is at least one romantic pairing where one character is blue and the other is red (Hangyodon himself with Kingyochan and Badtz-Maru's parents).
- Both feature characters that are a part of a gang; Papa (Badtz-Maru) and Lucius from various anime films featuring Hangyodon. The members of both gangs also share similar designs and happen to be of the same species.
Hangyodon's name is spelled out to read "Half-fish man" in Kanji.
Hangyodon was first displayed on The Strawberry News' magazine cover in the October 1985 issue (No. 212)
In The Strawberry New’s "Sanrio Character Awards", Hangyodon won 3rd place in 1986.
At one point Hangyodon was set to have an anime series, but nothing has come to fruition aside from him starring in several films of his own.
Hangyodon's parents and older brother has been confirmed by Hisato on Twitter to never have gotten names.
- While Hangyodon's parents have never been seen again, his older brother appears in Hangyodon no Parallel Daisakusen: Kyouryuu Oukoku wa Oosawagi as a prehistoric ancestor version of himself.
Despite several merchandise items made for the Hangyodon in Ebisen's Bar series depict Hangyodon playing Billiards, Hisato himself had never actually took part in cue sports.^[4]
Before his official debut in The Strawberry News, Hangyodon's debut was originally part of a promotion for a company called Kids Press where he was simply called Hangyo. According to Hisato, this is a little known factoid to even people who've worked at Sanrio in the past.^[5]
In various anime films starring him, Hangyodon is shown to have a job as a detective.
His voice actor Ryūsei Nakao is also famous for being the Japanese voices of Frieza and Baikinman from both the Dragonball and Anpanman franchises respectively.