Kingyochan

Kingyochan is a female fish character created by Hisato Inoue and belonging to the Hangyodon Universe. Kingyochan is a red (sometimes pink) goldfish who tends to be quite shy and is commonly depicted as Hangyodon's love interest in various anime films and print media in the same universe. Lucius also happens to have a crush on her, which leads to him targeting Kingyochan in the OVAs, including numerous attempts to kidnap her.

History[]

Kingyochan was initially introduced in The Strawberry News around the late 1980s where she appeared as a mysterious girl Hangyodon met in a bar late in Harajuku but later left around midnight.

Later after the article was published, a fan letter was sent into the Strawberry News asking more about the then unnamed Kingyochan which lead to Hisato explaining her backstory further.

It was unknown when Kingyochan got her official name, but soon after her introduction Kingyochan became a recurring character who has went on to appear outside of The Strawberry News in Hangyodon related OVAs and cameos in other Sanrio related animations such as being a part of the crowd in Sam to Chip no wa Hachamecha Dai Race. She would also star as Queen Anne in Kero Kero Keroppi's Three Musketeers film.

For a short time after her initial debut in black and white, the color of Kingyochan took some time to be finalized which lead to several pieces of early merchandise (such as the 007/2 line) depicting her as blue like Hangyodon.

In recent years, Kingyochan placed 48th in a 2017 Sub-Character Contest in the Strawberry News.

Backstory[]

Kingyochan was originally Hangyodon's goldfish he won at a carnival. Hangyodon was having trouble catching goldfish at a Goldfish Scooping game when the nice stall vendor felt sorry for him and decided to go ahead and give him a red goldfish as a prize.

Hangyodon was so happy about receiving the goldfish that he spent a lot of time with her afterwards, and Kingyochan ended up falling in love with him. Her pure wish and desire (along with also wanting to thank him for caring for her) to be with Hangyodon granted her the ability to transform and appear in front of him as his girlfriend.

Unfortunately, the romance was very short lived as the magic only lasted for three days. After that, Hangyodon had no idea what actually happened and believes she just decided to disappear, but still thought about her from time to time.

Etymology[]

The word Kingyo means goldfish in Japanese, while -chan is an honorific sometimes used for endearing females as well as being commonly used towards children.