Calimero

Organizzazione Pagot
Company type	Animation studio
Industry	Animation, Television
Founded	1963
Founder	Nino Pagot, Toni Pagot, Ignazio Colnaghi
Products	Calimero animated TV series

Calimero is an animated TV series centered around a unique anthropomorphic chicken—distinguished as the sole black chick within a family of yellow ones—who wears half of his eggshell as a hat. Conceived by Nino Pagot, Toni Pagot, and Ignazio Colnaghi from Organizzazione Pagot, Calimero made its first appearance on the Italian program Carosello on July 14, 1963, rapidly becoming a beloved cultural symbol in Italy. Initially created as animated commercials for Miralanza AVA soap, each segment ended with Calimero being cleaned, revealing that his black color was actually dirt.

The franchise later expanded into Japan with two distinct anime adaptations named . The initial series, produced by K&S and animated by Toei Animation, aired between 1972 and 1975, comprising 47 episodes. The subsequent adaptation, produced by Telescreen in 1992, introduced additional characters and new environments across 52 episodes. Both installments focused on Calimero’s escapades involving mystery-solving and documentary filmmaking but were never fully dubbed into English beyond their pilot episodes. These series found broad European distribution on channels such as TROS in the Netherlands, ZDF and RTL II in Germany, and TVE in Spain.

In 2013, a third iteration utilizing CGI animation premiered on France’s TF1, co-produced by Gaumont Animation, Italy’s Studio Campedelli, alongside Japanese collaborators TV Tokyo and Kodansha. This reboot broadened Calimero's international footprint, broadcasting globally including on Disney Junior in the UK and Australia. The franchise’s enduring popularity is demonstrated through carefully managed international co-productions and diverse multimedia formats.

1974 series

– The main character.
– Calimero’s girlfriend; characterized by her timidity and practicality.
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1992 series

Calimero –
Priscilla –
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– a wealthy female duck.
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2013 series

Calimero - Voiced by: Rachel Berger (English) / Fanny Bloc (French) / Ayaka Asai (Japanese)
Priscilla - Voiced by: Naïke Fauveau (French) / Rumi Ōkubo (Japanese)
Giuliano (Valeriano in UK English dub) - Voiced by Georges de Vitis (French) / Kokoro Kikuchi (Japanese)
Peter (Pierrot in UK English dub) - Voiced by Pascal Sellem (French) / Tōru Sakurai (Japanese)
Susie - Voiced by Ren Kato (Japanese)
Pepe - Voiced by Tōmoyuki Maruyama (Japanese)

Mobile game

In 2015, the mobile game Calimero's Village was launched for iOS and Android platforms by BulkyPix.

Impact in popular culture

The character’s iconic appearance—marked by the eggshell worn on his head—and his frequent expressions of feeling wronged have left a mark on popular culture and language across various regions:

The Welsh band Super Furry Animals created a song inspired by Calimero.
French artist Brigitte Fontaine teamed up with Stereolab to produce a track titled "Calimero."
In Belgium and the Netherlands, the term "Calimerocomplex" is used to describe people who blame external circumstances for their perceived victimhood, reflecting the character’s well-known complaint about injustice.
Military police units in the Israeli Army and Spain earned the nickname Calimero due to their distinctive white helmets shaped like eggshells; additionally, in Spain, the term referred to a style of motorcycle helmet.
In some areas of Yugoslavia, the Polski Fiat 126p automobile was colloquially called Kalimero after the character.
Italian luxury fashion house Bottega Veneta introduced a "Kalimero" bucket bag in 2022, drawing inspiration from Calimero’s signature bindle.

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