Hamtaro

Oh, my childhood. Where did you go? Let me begin my review by acknowledging (and hopefully resisting) a little bit of bias. Hamtaro was the very first anime series I ever saw. I started watching it when it was still airing on Cartoon Network in 2001; I was only three years old, so I suppose it's understandable that I fell in love with it. I don't feel like I should list myself as having watched any episodes, since I don't remember any of them in particular, but for many years, Hamtaro was my life. I would try to get up early every morning so I couldwatch it in the 6:30 slot before preschool. I only just discovered, today actually, that after the dub ended in 2002, the series kept running in its native Japan until 2006, and I am here to tell you that if I had known that, I would have gotten into subbed anime much sooner. Hamtaro, as a whole, is a beautiful series, in so many different ways. The story and character get a perfect ten from me for obvious reasons. Hamtaro brought out liveliness, kindness, adventure, and even childlike romance, all things a children's series tries to have, and it blew those topics out of the water. Not only is the title character courageous and adventurous, he's a bit naive, which makes him even more adorable. Art and sound...not quite so perfect, but understandable given the target audience. Children are going to love this series whether it looks like a hundred-million-dollar budget movie or not. Enjoyment? I believe I already acknowledged that area. The overall score is what it should be, in my opinion. Hamtaro is what every child longs for in a television series, and Ritsuko Kawai delivered. You don't see many anime series that live on ten years after they end, but yet, here we are today. At the time of writing, I am already making plans to get back into this series almost fifteen years after the last time I saw it. Tottoko Hamtarou, you gave me my childhood. Now, I feel like I'm right back in it, and it was the best time of my life.