Many Sanrio characters are based on real-life animals, such as puppies, bunnies, and even a red panda. Within the Sanrio-verse, you can even find a handful of human characters, such as Tiny Poem and Minna no Tabo. In addition to all of this though, there are several characters that are a bit of a mystery.
One such character is Hangyodon. This little guy looks like a fish, but he is quite anthropomorphic, making his species a bit of a mystery. Here, we are going to take a look at what exactly what type of animal he is, and a bit of his backstory, since he has been around for a few decades.
What Animal Is Hangyodon?
Rather than being a real-world animal, Hangyodon is described as a «Chinese-born half-fishman». So basically, he is half fish, half human. We learned this from his official Japanese Sanrio page, which also notes that he is good at making people laugh.
In Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Hangyodon runs the comedy club under the sea!
Thanks to Reddit user We_Are_Number_None, we also have the first appearance of Hangyodon in the Strawberry News (this is Sanrio’s monthly newspaper). While the original page is in Japanese, the Reddit user translated the text, so we learn a bit more about Hangyodon. For example, he is a ‘fun cool guy’ with Miss Sayuri the Octopus as his friend.
What Was Hangyodon's Original Design?
Hangyodon originally debuted in 1985, making him an older Sanrio character. Some characters undergo design changes, but it seems that Hangyodon has looked the same since debuting. We found an eBay listing for a Hangyodon sewing set from 1985, showing him with googly eyes. The design of Hangyodon here is surprisingly similar to how he looks now.
Hangyodon was designed by Hisato Inoue, who also designed Badtz-Maru.
