TV-Series
Description
Hatabō is a recurring character from the Osomatsu franchise, whose most defining physical trait is a small Hinomaru flag, representing Japan, that protrudes from the top of his skull. His name, meaning flag boy, was selected through a reader poll in Shonen Sunday magazine. The character was created by Kenichiro Takai, an assistant to the original manga creator Fujio Akatsuka, who was asked to develop new cast members for the series. Hatabō's origin is unusual, as he was originally the lead character in a separate manga called Hatabō and Wanpei that ran in the Japanese Communist Party's publication Red Flag Sunday, where his flag was a solid red color before being changed to the Japanese flag when he joined the Osomatsu-kun cast.
In his original appearances as a child in the Osomatsu-kun manga and anime adaptations, Hatabō is portrayed as a simple-minded and free-spirited young boy who is not particularly intelligent. He typically wears a one-button shirt with pants in the original manga, while the 1988 anime redesigned him with green overalls featuring a baby chick emblem. His distinctive physical features include a shaggy bowlcut hairstyle that resembles a kappa, a single protruding bucktooth, and vertical lines under his nose that indicate a runny nose, along with whisker-like marks on his cheeks representing dried mucus. His speech pattern often ends sentences with the verbal tic da jo or simply jo.
In the modern spinoff anime Osomatsu-san, Hatabō appears as an adult who is roughly the same age as the Matsuno sextuplets, though he retains a childlike stature and many juvenile mannerisms. He wears green overalls over a light yellow hoodie, and the film continuity clarifies that he has not physically changed at all since his teenage years. His personality in this iteration is typically that of a kind, simple young man who is not very bright, though he can display a more severe or unsettling side depending on the comedic context. He maintains childlike habits such as riding a children's tricycle and expresses a longing for friends and a more innocent existence.
One of the most notable story arcs for Hatabō in Osomatsu-san involves him becoming the wealthy CEO known as Mr. Flag, having amassed an enormous fortune through what is described as selling information, though his success is largely attributed to continued luck rather than any actual skill or intelligence. His employees all wear flags on their heads and address him as Mr. Flag, but they eventually abandon him when they realize that his success was simply luck rather than merit. Hatabō responds to this betrayal with the meaningful observation that they were never friends from the beginning, and he loses his fortune and status due to having no idea how to manage his money or business. After this point, his characterization returns to that of an innocent-minded man, and any unsettling depictions from the early episodes are largely dropped.
His relationships with other characters vary significantly across different adaptations and storylines. He may be portrayed as a follower and friend to the character Chibita, or alternately as someone pushed around by him, and there are even occasions where the two are depicted as outright enemies. The character Iyami sometimes targets Hatabō for his schemes, either specifically or as part of a group of children. Dekapan occasionally serves as a father figure or mentor to Hatabō, and he can be seen acting as Dekapan's assistant in some episodes of the 1988 anime. Throughout his various appearances, Hatabō's relationships are flexible and change to suit the needs of each comedic situation.
In terms of notable abilities, Hatabō's signature trait is the flag embedded in his head, which can be removed at will and has appeared in various forms across different storylines, including the United States flag for an American version, a skull and crossbones for an assassin persona called Joe Hatabō, and a red flag in his original political comic. Despite his generally simple-minded nature, there are depictions where he can boast surprising strength, particularly when cast in less innocent or more anti-heroic roles where he may command subordinates to his advantage. His intelligence level fluctuates across different manga runs, with the Shonen King version depicting him as notably smarter than usual, though the character is generally considered a fool-type by the rights-holding company Fujio Pro.
Alternate universe versions and non-canonical depictions of Hatabō include a future scenario in a beer advertisement where he becomes a famous comedic actor with a nose hair mustache, and a portrayal in the 1989 film Osomatsu-kun: Suika no Hoshi kara Konnichiwa Zansu where he is briefly wealthy. In foreign language dubs, his name has been changed to various puns and adaptations, including Hatabo Metenabo in Castilian Spanish and Gong Baeg-gi in Korean, though the latter only applies to the older Osomatsu-kun adaptation and not the modern Osomatsu-san series.
In his original appearances as a child in the Osomatsu-kun manga and anime adaptations, Hatabō is portrayed as a simple-minded and free-spirited young boy who is not particularly intelligent. He typically wears a one-button shirt with pants in the original manga, while the 1988 anime redesigned him with green overalls featuring a baby chick emblem. His distinctive physical features include a shaggy bowlcut hairstyle that resembles a kappa, a single protruding bucktooth, and vertical lines under his nose that indicate a runny nose, along with whisker-like marks on his cheeks representing dried mucus. His speech pattern often ends sentences with the verbal tic da jo or simply jo.
In the modern spinoff anime Osomatsu-san, Hatabō appears as an adult who is roughly the same age as the Matsuno sextuplets, though he retains a childlike stature and many juvenile mannerisms. He wears green overalls over a light yellow hoodie, and the film continuity clarifies that he has not physically changed at all since his teenage years. His personality in this iteration is typically that of a kind, simple young man who is not very bright, though he can display a more severe or unsettling side depending on the comedic context. He maintains childlike habits such as riding a children's tricycle and expresses a longing for friends and a more innocent existence.
One of the most notable story arcs for Hatabō in Osomatsu-san involves him becoming the wealthy CEO known as Mr. Flag, having amassed an enormous fortune through what is described as selling information, though his success is largely attributed to continued luck rather than any actual skill or intelligence. His employees all wear flags on their heads and address him as Mr. Flag, but they eventually abandon him when they realize that his success was simply luck rather than merit. Hatabō responds to this betrayal with the meaningful observation that they were never friends from the beginning, and he loses his fortune and status due to having no idea how to manage his money or business. After this point, his characterization returns to that of an innocent-minded man, and any unsettling depictions from the early episodes are largely dropped.
His relationships with other characters vary significantly across different adaptations and storylines. He may be portrayed as a follower and friend to the character Chibita, or alternately as someone pushed around by him, and there are even occasions where the two are depicted as outright enemies. The character Iyami sometimes targets Hatabō for his schemes, either specifically or as part of a group of children. Dekapan occasionally serves as a father figure or mentor to Hatabō, and he can be seen acting as Dekapan's assistant in some episodes of the 1988 anime. Throughout his various appearances, Hatabō's relationships are flexible and change to suit the needs of each comedic situation.
In terms of notable abilities, Hatabō's signature trait is the flag embedded in his head, which can be removed at will and has appeared in various forms across different storylines, including the United States flag for an American version, a skull and crossbones for an assassin persona called Joe Hatabō, and a red flag in his original political comic. Despite his generally simple-minded nature, there are depictions where he can boast surprising strength, particularly when cast in less innocent or more anti-heroic roles where he may command subordinates to his advantage. His intelligence level fluctuates across different manga runs, with the Shonen King version depicting him as notably smarter than usual, though the character is generally considered a fool-type by the rights-holding company Fujio Pro.
Alternate universe versions and non-canonical depictions of Hatabō include a future scenario in a beer advertisement where he becomes a famous comedic actor with a nose hair mustache, and a portrayal in the 1989 film Osomatsu-kun: Suika no Hoshi kara Konnichiwa Zansu where he is briefly wealthy. In foreign language dubs, his name has been changed to various puns and adaptations, including Hatabo Metenabo in Castilian Spanish and Gong Baeg-gi in Korean, though the latter only applies to the older Osomatsu-kun adaptation and not the modern Osomatsu-san series.