Keko-tan of Hokkairo!

The nameless little boy known to readers by his catchphrase of **"Keko-tan of Hokkairo!"**, or simply **Keko-tan** for short, is a character created by Fujio Akatsuka for Extraordinary Ataro (but is common to both that and The Genius Bakabon).

## Overview

Keko-tan, in a similar vein to Rerere, is a wandering character often seen as an extra touch to outdoor scenes, or can provide a scene transition as he runs along singing. However, compared to Rerere, he is more of a bit player and does not receive significant roles in the plots.

He was believed by readers to be a shout-out to the singer Keiko Fuji, who would hit it big at the time with her musical career, as she hailed from Hokkaido. However, this was merely coincidence but one that only helped his infamy; at the time, Akatsuka's assistant Eiji Sato had a long-distance girlfriend in Hokkaido by the name of Keiko, and Sato's longing pleas of "I want to see you!" each night gave inspiration to Akatsuka to have a character that'd call out a garbled version of ***"Keiko-chan of Hokkaido!"***. The design of this youngster was provided by Kunio Nagatani and steadily refined over the course of his appearances.

Although he may be identified by his catchphrase or as "Keko-tan" in some later Star Sytem character write-ups, his nameless status at the time of the Ataro manga lead to the Toei adaptation using the name "**Darirari**" for him in scripts. Such a name would come from the garbled "Darirariran~" (Tarirariran~) he sings.

## Physical Appearance

This child is a short, bald one with small hairs arranged above his eyes in a "Fuji" style as with Dekapan. His nose is sharp and with visible nostrils in earlier appearances, but eventually becomes round and button-like. Mucus often hangs and streams from this nose as he runs along, and the sleeves on his oversized shirt tend to also drag. The shirt often has swirled or circular patterns on it, and he pairs it with shorts.

Other notable features include the blush swirls on his cheeks, the cleft in his head, and a single bucktooth.

## Personality

"Keko-tan" is an elementary school boy who runs about as he pleases, and has a total of two common phrases that he will speak, with it being rare to hear him say anything else: "Darirariran~" and "Keko-tan of Hokkairo!".

As he has no proper name given, Fujio Pro deems him to be one of the "ultimate fool" characters in the Star System. This may leave him vulnerable but willing to do as others want, when he is not merely going his own way.

## Appearances in animation

### Furious Ataro (1969)

Keko-tan, also known as Darirari, appears from the mid-point as a random neighborhood child seen at different instances in the series.

## Portrayals

* 1969 Ataro series- Masako Nozawa

Keko-tan does not exist in the 1990 adaptation, possibly due to the overlap between him being both an *Ataro* and *Bakabon* character, but is instead replaced by a slightly similar child named Kikuchiyo who lacks the singing and catchphrase.

His cameos in *Bakabon* stories were also removed and replaced for adaptations, likely due to the confusion and overlap of which series his character rights belonged to.

## Trivia

* At the time of Keko-tan's appearances in Weekly Shonen Sunday, a similar-looking character named Kichikichi existed in Fujiko Fujio A's Weekly Shonen Champion baseball gag manga *Madman Army*. While this itself was mere coincidence, children who read both magazines would wonder if there was a blood relation between the the two and urban legends of Kichikichi and Keko-tan being brothers would spawn from this. Ultimately, *Madman Army* would be discontinued in its magazine in a short time, due to it being considered insulting to mental disabilities as well as seen as a rude act against the beloved sport of baseball.

## External Links

* "Keko-tan of Hokkairo!" at Koredeiinoda (Japanese)