Baku-kun

Baku-kun (バクくん) is an anime based on a four-panel comic strip by Chiro Yokoshima. The manga was first serialized in the manga magazines Ciao and Pucchigumi in November 2021 and continued until April 2022. A 50-episode anime adaptation by Claire Studios aired between July and December 2022 on TV Osaka and TV Tokyo. It is confirmed that a season 2 will be released after Season 1 stops airing.

## Plot

One morning Claire Usachiko, a female elementary school student, finds a small, cute creature in her closet. During breakfast, Claire looks down at the creature, which seems to resemble a Malayan Tapir, and decided to name the creature Baku, or tapir in Japanese. Claire takes Baku to school with her and he is an instant hit with her friends, while ignored by other students. While they are at school, an alien lands on Earth and makes his way to a park where Claire and her class are spending an art class. Kuromi Rokusagi, one of Claire's classmates, finds the creature and names him Baikinman, which "baikin" is germ in Japanese, since he seems to look like those germ personifications in the cartoons she sees on TV. Unlike Baku, Baikinman is aggressively antisocial and shoots searing beams out of the laser gun he holds with him when he is confronted.

## Characters

### Claire Usachiko

Voiced by: Miina Tominaga (Japanese), and Tara Sands (English)

Claire is a female 6th grade student who has a very drastic changing attitude and shows lots of emotion. She was the one to find and name Baku, and he is very attached to her. She does her best to look after Baku, taking him to school with her each day. Claire's mother is a stay-home mom, her father works outside of home, and has two annoying little brothers: Robert (4th grade) and Jojo (kindergarten) who often torment Baku. A running gag with Claire is her fearfulness when there is a sound she is sensitive to. She suffers of ADHD and mild autism, and is sensitive to some sounds and they make her tear up or get angry. She also finds some songs annoying and would blow up when she hears them. A chibi-fied version of her can be seen in the closing credits

### Baku

Voiced by: Noboru Maeda (Japanese), and Stephen Ouimette (English)

Baku is a mysterious creature that appeared one day in Claire's closet. The name Baku comes from the Japanese word for a tapir animal, since he mostly resembled a Malayan Tapir. At first, he could not say anything but "zona", a nonsense phrase which he often utters even after learning how to say a few words like Claire's name. As the series went on, he learned to speak. He started speaking properly around episode 11. After learning to speak properly, "zona" eventually became a verbal tic, which is common in a lot of anime characters. Baku is very protective of Claire, and if a bully tries to get close to her, he will moan in a worried tone and cling onto her, but later on when he learned to speak, he was able to warn Claire using his words. When taken around with Claire, he is held against her chest, though he can grow his ears longer and fly. He has the personality of a young child around five or six years of age and acts like a sweet and friendly little boy. It was revealed that he is a living stuffed animal, since he has a small, purple, chubby body filled with cotton, and his fur is actually polyester, according to Claire when she touched Baku in the first episode. His appearance is complete with tapir ears and an ahoge on his head and a tapir tail. Baku will fly into a rage when bullies try to tease Claire. Baku is also telepathic, and can sniff out what people are dreaming, and becomes very caring and comforting to Claire when she has a nightmare and "eats" her nightmare away. While Baku dislikes bullies, he finds Claire's friends quite likeable. He has a crush on Claire, and after hearing about this, Claire likes him back and they eventually start “dating” each other. He would often get mistaken for a teddy bear or eggplant. There was one rare occurrence where a woman called him a mouse.

### Baikinman

Voiced by: Ryusei Nakao (Japanese), and Jason Michael Kesser (English)

Baikinman is another mysterious creature, and an alien, that appeared at a park riding in a UFO, and is the same as Baku in anatomy, since he is another living doll filled with cotton and covered with polyester fur. Baikinman is named by Kuromi Rokusagi shortly after she ran into him at school. The name Baikinman is derived from the Japanese word for germ/bacteria (baikin), since Kuromi has seen a lot of cartoons which germ characters are depicted with a similar appearance to Baikinman, and -man (マン) added at the end, since Baikinman also looked like a humanoid creature. Baikinman says the nonsense word "hahi", similar to Baku's "zona". Like Baku, he gradually learned to speak in later episodes. Baikinman carries a unique, purple laser gun with a logo that is a silhouette of his head on it, that can fire strong beams. He has a very self-sufficient personality, and has only partially warmed up to Kuromi, who often gives Baikinman food when at school or at home; Baikinman often repays Kuromi by putting bug carcasses in her room or in her locker at school. It is strongly hinted Baikinman has a crush on Kuromi (similar to Baku's on Claire) as he continually blushes around Kuromi and once attacked Baku who was about to be fed one of Kuromi's snacks out of jealousy. Baikinman sleeps in a squishy pillow in Kuromi's bedroom, and he has the habit of kicking open doors to go through instead of using them normally. Baikinman has small wings on his back, and is able to fly, though he is rarely seen doing so, as he is mostly riding in his UFO. Like Baku, he also gets mistaken for something else. He often gets called an insect, mostly a fly.

### Kuromi Rokusagi

Voiced by: Junko Takeuchi (Japanese), and Jenny Yokobori (English)

Kuromi is one of Claire's classmates. She has a tomboyish personality, but has a streak of girliness. She is also a bad cook, but isn't when making sweets, and has become involved with Baikinman as a result. Kuromi's mother frequently tries to convince Baikinman to leave their house, with usually bad results. Kuromi has been the only person who has ever been able to hold Baikinman; this was once when she helped Baikinman get out of a bush and another when she believed Baikinman had died.

### GIR

Voiced by: Wasabi Mizuta (Japanese), and Rosearik Rikki Simons (English)

GIR is a robot who first appears in Season 2. He is not a doll unlike the other pets, but he comes from the same origin. He and Iago were able to talk from the beginning unlike the others, and he ends his sentences with “robo”. He is frequently seen in a green dog costume (below). He likes getting tickled and likes to eat. He has a good bond with Baku and Chuck. He, like the other pets (except Iago), has a crush on his owner. He is the joker of the group of pets. In the Japanese dub, he is the only pet that has a female voice actor, but his voice actor is male in the English dub. He is also the only pet to come up with and  introduce his name, since he knew how to speak. He also introduces the name of Iago.

### Iago

Voiced by: Akira Kamiya (Japanese), and Jason Michael Kesser (English; Gilbert Gottfried is dead so Baikinman’s voice actor replaced him)

A living doll parrot who first appears in Season 2. He and GIR are the only pet characters who are able to talk in their first appearance. He ends his sentences with “omu”, which is Japanese for parrot. He and GIR are polar opposites. He is sorta grumpy, but sometimes, he joins in the fun with the other pets. Unlike the other pets, he doesn’t crush on his owner, and rather crushes on various female birds.

### Louise Fumiyo

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese) and Julie Lemieux (English)

Louise is Claire’s childhood friend. She and Claire have been friends since they were babies. At kindergarten, she moved away to America (in the English dub, she moved to El Salvador). She came back at the age of 13. She was born months before Claire, and she is a grade higher than her. She was shocked to see GIR at first, but then she started to love him dearly.

### Krissy Aomori

Voiced by: Yui Ishikawa (Japanese) and Teresa Gallagher (English)

Krissy is a girl who moved in along with Kit in episode 4 of Season 2. She made friends with Claire. She is an otaku like Claire and has the same hearing issues as Claire. She was the one to find and keep Osodashi. She also likes cats, but dislikes canines, especially wolves. She dislikes certain cartoons that sound annoying to her.

### Masked Osodashi

Voiced by: Kazuki Yao (Japanese) and Scott McNeil (English)

Masked Osodashi, or simply called Osodashi, is a humanoid in a suit. When he takes off his mask, he has a star-shaped head. When first meeting Baikinman, they become best friends. He could only say the word “hoshi”, which means star in Japanese. Later on, he was able to speak and “hoshi” became a verbal tic. He was named because he likes to cheat at rock-paper-scissors. Osodashi means delayed janken (rock-paper-scissors), while Kamen means mask, since he is wearing a mask. In the English dub, he is called Cheatsy. He is accompanied by a small black mynah bird plushie named Pecchakucha (voiced by Kouji Kurose in Japanese and Jeff Benett in English).

### Kit Akaneko

Voiced by: Ai Maeda (Japanese) and Emily Neves (English)

A shy girl who was an exchange student like Artemis. She first appeared in episode 4 of Season 2. She was the one to find and keep Chuck. She comes from a family who see cats as religious beings, and they are named for cats (Akaneko means red cat, since the color red is important in the family, and pink is too). She was given a red bow and had her hair dyed red and pink for protection. She tends to crush on Chuck back. Like Claire and Baku, they too are “dating”.

### Chuck

Voiced by: Takashi Nakamura (Japanese) and Ian Sinclair (English)

A green dog-like creature with zippers for his ears and tail. He first appears in Season 2 episode 4. His appearance is very similar to that of GIR’s costume. When they first met, they started laughing because of each other’s appearance and eventually became best friends. He crushes on his owner Kit, and she loves him back. He is the only pet that never learns to speak. He can only say his name.

### Jill Field

Voiced by: Mika Kanai (Japanese), and Stephanie Sheh (English)

Jill is one of Claire's classmates; she is her best friend, and is a transfer student from America. Jill mostly wears glasses, but can still see without them. She is sometimes seen without her glasses in some episodes.

### Kim Barako

Voiced by: Mitsuko Horie (Japanese), and Grey DeLisle (English)

Kim is another one of Claire's classmates. She is somewhat of a tomboy, but is still seen hanging out with the girls. She is a friend of Jill and is also a friend of Kuromi.

## Media

### Manga

The four-panel comic manga series, written and illustrated by Chiro Yokoshima, originally started serialization in the Japanese manga magazines Ciao and Pucchigumi on November 23 2021 and continued until April 11, 2022. Five tankobon volumes have been released in Japan, published by Shogakukan.

### Anime

A 26-episode anime series adaptation was produced by the animation studio Claire Studios, directed by Romi Yukimura, and written by Motoko Fukuen. It aired in Japan from July 6 2022 to December 28, 2022, with comedian Noboru Maeda from the Hurricanes comedy duo voicing Baku and voice actor Ryusei Nakao voicing Baikinman, and an English dub was later released on Netflix on August 15 2023, with Canadian actor Stephen Ouimette voicing Baku and American actor Jason Michael Kesser voicing Baikinman. Each anime episode usually contains two sub-episodes with separate storylines, ending with 52 sub-episodes by the end of the series. Additionally, there are short animated specials released exclusively on the DVDs which are additional sub-episodes to the series. There will be one special per DVD, ending with six total specials.

The anime's opening theme was "Cute Mystery" (かわいいミステリー) by KeraKera; the single containing the opening theme was released on July 25, 2022 by Lalapop. The ending theme was "Cute Friend" (かわいい友達) by Juju; the ending theme single was released on August 22, 2022, also by Lalapop. The anime's original soundtrack, composed by Korori Aomori, was released on October 10, 2022.

#### Second Season

It was announced that a new season of the show was going to air once the first season ended. The composers and writers returned for the season. The main voice actors would reprise their roles along with new voice actors for the new pet and owner characters for the main cast. The new season would start airing on January 4, 2023. The opening theme will be “A Tapir’s story” (バクーの物語) by Kana Hanazawa, and the ending theme was “I love my pet” (ペットが大好き) sung by Ayumi Hamasaki.