Badtz-Maru is a male penguin with spiky hair. His birthday is April 1 (April Fool's Day). He is one of the few Sanrio characters that is marketed to both males and females. In Japanese, "badtz" (batsu) is a term for "X", the cross signifying a wrong answer. "Maru" means circle or "O", and signifies a correct answer. Thus, his name figuratively means "wrong-correct," and is frequently represented by "XO". Badtz-Maru has many different facial expressions and poses, but a common expression is of pulling one eye down and sticking out his tongue, a gesture equivalent to blowing a raspberry.
Badtz-Maru also has a few friends such as Hana-Maru, a friendly white seal. Hana-Maru is very kind in nature and is very helpful to all. Badtz-Maru also has another friend called Pandaba, a girl panda who wears a red bikini skirt and likes Badtz-Maru. Badtz-Maru also has a 'watch dog' named Pochi, but instead of having a real dog, Pochi is in fact, an alligator.
Badtz-Maru has gone through many product lines since his release at Sanrio in 1993. While he has far fewer releases than Hello Kitty, he has been a staple character found in almost all stores worldwide. He has been portrayed as an astronaut, motorcyclist, DJ, camouflage monster, basketball player, boxer, and others. His products range from typical stationery supplies (e.g. pens, notebooks, erasers, pencil cases, etc.) to more novel items (e.g. CD players, guitars, license plate frames, etc.).
Badtz-Maru was the official mascot for the 2006 FIBA World Championship of basketball, which was held in Japan.
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