Tayo the Little Bus (Hangul: ???? ??; RR: Kkoma-beoseu Tayo) is a South Korean computer-animated television series created by Iconix Entertainment, Educational Broadcasting System and the Metropolitan Government of Seoul. The show was produced with the help of Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration. It began airing in South Korea on EBS in 2010, and an English-dubbed version of the series began airing on Disney Junior (Asia) in 2012, with Disney Junior (Australia and New Zealand) following in 2013. In the United States and Canada, Hulu is the exclusive distributor of the series, though the second season is on Netflix. Each episode in the start, middle, and end features a brief narration.
The series is available in Korean, English, Spanish, Turkish, German and Russian on the production company's Tayo YouTube channel.
Video Tayo the Little Bus
Episodes
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Maps Tayo the Little Bus
Characters
Main characters
The series features four main characters.
- Tayo (Bus 120, blue) is friendly, playful, and sometimes mischievous. He is the third oldest of the four buses. In the fourth-season episode, Who Is The Real Tayo?, it is revealed that he has a clone of his named Star Tayo, which was in one of his dreams.
- Rogi (Bus 1000, green) he is cocky, outgoing, and also mischievous. although the two often get into fights with each other. Funny and mischievous himself, Rogi also has an interest in detective work, as can be seen in episodes like Rogi the Detective! and Prank Call Madness. Both friends resemble a Hyundai Super Aero City. He is the second oldest of the four buses.
- Lani (Bus 02, yellow) She is cute, cheerful, kind, sweet-natured however, she is timid, sensitive, and temperamental. Possessing little tolerance for arguments, she often acts as a mediator between Tayo and Rogi. She is the youngest of the four buses and is often considered the cute one of the group.
- Gani (Bus 1339, red), who is hardworking, warm-hearted, and shy. He is the oldest of the four buses and often acts as the most mature one of the group.
Supporting characters
- Hana is a kind mechanic, who takes care of the little buses and works in the bus depot repair shop.
- Citu (whose original name was Cito), a red double-decker tour bus, serves as a father-figure for Tayo, Rogi, Lani, and Gani. He often reprimands Tayo and Rogi for driving too rough in the garage. However, in the second-season episode, Cito's Secret, it is revealed that he had a boisterous past himself. An old mentor of his, Booba, appeared in this episode.
Frequent supporting characters
- Nuri is a calm and professional female taxi who first met Tayo in the first-season episode, A Day in the Life of Tayo. She is very nice to Tayo and his friends, often visiting them at the bus depot. She is based on a Honda Accord.
- Rookie is a police officer who sometimes goofs up with his job because he is new to it.
- Pat is an experienced police car who is always serious when working. Rookie is Pat's police officer. He is based on a BMW M3.
- Speed (whose original name was Speedy) is a red car who likes to go really fast, and is modelled on a Porsche Targa 4S. Speed has a bit of a crush on Heart, but she is oblivious of it.
- Shine is an overproud and vain yellow car who likes to show off, repeatedly leading to his own embarrassment. Shine is modelled after the Mercedes SLK R171 coupe. Shine is Speed's best friend.
- Heart is Hana's kind pink helper car. In the past, brown is her color in the third-season episode, The New Friend, Heart. Speed has a bit of a crush on her. She is based on an Audi TT.
- Peanut (Bus 03) is an eco friendly tour bus who is good-natured and mellow.
Recurring supporting characters
- Toto is a yellow tow truck who is really responsible with his job.
- Air is a red helicopter who is part of the rescue team.
- Bongbong is a very chipper light blue baby minibus, modelled on the classic VW minibus. First appearance in Tayo and Bong Bong.
- Oli is a very chipper light green baby car. First appearance in the second-season episode, Tayo and Bongbong and named for the first time in the fourth-season episode, Who is cooler?.
- Carry is a vehicle transporter akin to a mother or baby-sitter for Bongbong, Oli, and two other baby vehicles.
- Champ is a turquoise countryside Land Rover, who got praised and follows Cooku's intivation.
- Cooku (whose name was originally Coco) is a white and blue countryside bus.
- Tony is a little truck who obeys traffic laws and likes to teach other cars about traffic laws. In the first-season episode, I Want New Tires, he was so busy teaching other cars about traffic laws that he got late delivering Tayo's new tires to the garage.
- Alice is an ambulance who works in a hospital who likes to work with Frank when there is a fire. She is responsible for taking ill people to the hospital right on time.
- Frank is a fire truck who works with Alice when there is a fire. He is very serious about his job and is responsible for fighting fires and saving people in danger.
- Big is a big container truck who delivers goods to the airport to be sent overseas.
- Billy is a bulldozer who works at the construction site with Poco, Chris, and Max. He is good at juggling.
- Poco is an excavator who works at the construction site with Billy, Chris, and Max. He can rotate himself and spin his chassis around and around.
- Chris is a cement truck who works at the construction site with Billy, Poco, and Max. He mixes up cement for new foundations.
- Max is a dump truck who works at the construction site with Billy, Poco, and Chris. He can dump a huge pile of sand for a job.
- Met is a subway train who knows about everything - even in the first-season episode, Rogi's Hiccups, he showed this by helping Rogi to stop hiccupping. If anyone feels down, Met will know what to do.
- Nana is a bus living on the countryside with Ractor, Cooku, and Champ. She idolises Tayo. She first appeared in the second-season episode, Nana Visits the City.
- Wondie is an old blue-and-beige bus who was scrapped a year before the first season.
- Ractor (whose name was originally Larry) is a red tractor who lives in the countryside with Cooku, Champ, and Nana.
- Rubby is a cleaning truck who likes to clean up garbage. He first appears in the third-season episode, A New Playground!.
- Iratcha is a pick-up truck. He's been making mistakes, now he knows that he is more careful, and runs on time, like Toni show him how.
- Booba is an old bus. He used to keep scolding Citu for causing lots of trouble, when he was a young bus.
- Ms. Teach is a car with a white-and-purple livery. She always teaches the other vehicles in school.
- Trammy is a tram who is very shy.
- Kinder is a Kindergarten school bus.
- Sky is a tower.
- Duri is a cheery boy who lives where Jerry used to live. He is one of Tayo's best friends.
Guest characters
- Joey is a magician who appears in the first-season episode, Joey the Magician.
- Fire Ball is a superhero who appears in the first-season episode, Nuri Is a Superstar. He is also disguised as the Car Thief.
- Princess Ray is the princess of Planet Clover and is always being chased by Bully. Tayo is always here by her side to lend a helping hand. She appeared in the first-season episode, Tayo's Space Adventure, the second-season episodes, Tayo's Space Adventure Part 1 and Tayo's Space Adventure Part 2, and the third-season episodes, Tayo's Earth Defense Plan 1 and Tayo's Earth Defense Plan 2.
- Quick is a red space car who looks like Speed.
- Noah is an orange space taxi who looks like Nuri.
- Bully is a space pirate and the main antagonist of the show. he appeared in the first-season episode, Tayo's Space Adventure, the second-season episodes, Tayo's Space Adventure Part 1 and Tayo's Space Adventure Part 2, and the third-season episodes, Tayo's Earth Defense Plan 1 and Tayo's Earth Defense Plan 2. He also has a son called "Woolly" and some henchmen.
- Woolly is a young space pirate who appears in the third-season episodes, Tayo's Earth Defense Plan 1 and Tayo's Earth Defense Plan 2.
- Jerry is a boy who loves the magic show. He started as a naughty boy, then reformed after Gani had a plan, until it was time for him and his mother to go to a new home in another country where his father was waiting for them. He only appeared in the second-season episode, Gani's Present.
- Reo is a superstar car who has many fans. He first appeared in the third-season episode, Gani the Superstar. He reappeared in the third-season episodes, Tayo's Earth Defense Plan 1 and Tayo's Earth Defense Plan 2.
- Andy is a painter that paints flowers on the bus route list. He is the main scribbler painter, but in the end he painted on the buildings. He first appeared in the second-season episode, The Perfect Duo, Rookie and Pat. He reappeared in the fourth-season episodes, Rogi's Junk Treasure and A present for Hana.
- Asura is a little wizard who comes from the magic world. He also started as a naughty wizard akin to Jerry, but then reformed after the little buses show him kindness. He only appeared in the fourth-season episode, Asura the little wizard.
- Star Tayo is a space bus, who looks like Tayo, but has a solid star instead of a solid circle, and is turquoise instead of blue. He only appeared in the fourth-season episode, Who is the real Tayo?
Reception
At a Vietnamese seminar for addressing the struggles of the Vietnamese animation industry, Korean animators named Tayo the Little Bus as a series that has been "dominating" the Korean market. These animators also noted that the series is popular in China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Cultural impact
In 2014, the Seoul Metropolitan Government commissioned buses designed as the characters Tayo, Gani, Rogi, and Lani, to run around the Gwanghwamun Square area of the city. This was done as part of an initiative to teach children how to use the bus. The initiative was a massive success, drawing crowds of over 40,000 in a single day. People from all across the country came to see the buses. Although the buses were originally set to run from March 26 until Public Transport Day at the end of April, their popularity led to an extension until Children's Day on May 5. The number of buses was also expanded from the original four to 100. In wake of this success, it was reported that the local governments of other cities in South Korea were considering adopting the campaign. Officials for the city of Seoul initially opposed this on copyright grounds, but they consented in April to letting other cities use the characters for non-commercial purposes.
Jaeyeon Woo of The Wall Street Journal's blog Korea Real Time, speculated in an April 2014 article that the success of this initiative led both of Gyeonggi Province's gubernatorial candidates, Kim Sang-gon and Nam Kyung-pil, to adopt public transportation issues as a key part of their campaign platforms. Seoul-mayor Park Won-soon, who began the initiative, has been criticized by some of his political rivals, who feel that he took credit for the series, even though the series was begun by his predecessor's administration.
On October 16, 2014, a South Korean group called the Teen Astronauts, launched a space balloon designed as the character Tayo from the Space Science Park in Korea's National Science Museum.
References
External links
- Official website
- Tayo the Little Bus at EBS
Source of article : Wikipedia
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