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Once, there was an island where it always sprang... An island somewhere in the South Seas, with green forests and wide lakes. And mountains, let us not forget the mountains. Tall mountains with deep roots, filled with one of mankind's most precious treasures: diamonds. The name of this island is Malynera, and its king is only a child.

Patalliro VIII, king of Malynera, is 10 years old. From the day he was born, everyone knew he was... unusual. He is a hyper boy, with flashes of genius, moments of thoughtless cruelty, and the ability to make a bad pun out of anything. Smart, but only a child and so he often does very stupid things.

Patalliro! is his story.

He lives in a world very similar to our own, but where the bizarre is commonplace. He manages to get into all kinds of trouble, from international terrorists to space aliens to accidental time travel. His first challenge as king is to stay alive when a group called the International Diamond Syndicate decides that it wants control of the Malynera diamond mines. This is how he meets Major Jack Bancoran, who was assigned to be his bodyguard during a trip to Britain. It's also how they meet Maraich, who was one of the assassins sent by the IDS.

Patalliro is almost always accompanied by his army of Tamanegi ("Onions", so called because of their onion-shaped wigs). The Tamanegi all wear identical masks, wigs and glasses, and are known only by numbers. They are Patalliro's protectors but protect the world from him just as much as they protect him from the world.

The manga started in 1978 is still going, currently has 98 volumes and has been adapted into various media:

  • A 49 episodes anime series that ran between 8th April 1982 and 13th May 1983 called "Boku Patalliro!"
  • An animated movie produced in 1983 called "Patalliro! Stardust Keikaku".
  • A Spinoff anime series called "Patalliro Saiyuki!" with 26 episodes, running between 2003 – 2005.
  • A stage play in 2016 with a follow-up in early 2018, with a movie adaptation of the first play released in 2019.


Patalliro! provides examples of:

  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Patalliro, Maraich, and Bjorn receive this treatment.
    • Patalliro's hair varies from blonde to white in the manga. He has white hair in the anime (with inexplicable brown/red tips) but is blonde in the stage plays.
    • Maraich is blonde in the manga, strawberry blonde in the anime, and has orange hair in the stage plays.
    • Bjorn is blonde in the manga, anime, and stage plays, but has white/silver hair in the Stardust Project OVA, along with his identical twin Andresen.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: The anime and stage plays have Bancoran's love for Maraich be more obvious along with eliminating Bancoran's habit of cheating on the younger man.
  • Age-Gap Romance: Maraich and Bancoran are 18 and 35—ahem, 27—respectively.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: Larken.
  • Author Avatar: In both the anime and manga, a chibified Mineyo Maya pops up occasionally. His amusing little avatar even got a few mangas of its own, which were actually quite funny.
  • Big Eater: His Highness Patalliro, of course.
  • Boys' Love: One of the earliest and long-running satirical manga (1978 ? ongoing!) and a rare example of a shounen-ai series by a male mangaka. Also, one of the first BL-flavored anime to be produced for television (in 1983-84). According to The Other Wiki [1], the demographics adopted by the manga publishers is Shojo.
  • Britain Is Only London: Most of the time. Occasionally averted, Bancoran is revealed to be from Manchester and one chapter sees the cast visit Edinburgh.
  • Cast Full of Gay: Expected in a BL story. Most prominently Bancoran and the long list of his lovers.
  • Character Title: Patalliro is the name of the young king of Malynera.
  • Cheshire Cat Grin: Patalliro’s default look is a toothless version of this.
  • Children Are Innocent: Averted. His Highness is everything but innocent.
  • Comically Missing the Point: In episode 06, Bancoran is challenged to a Sword Fight by the villain. Patalliro's comment: "This is a man's romance!"
  • Creative Closing Credits: The credits for the first 21 episodes tells a small love story with a lovely song that fits the main plot. It's worth a watch. The rest of the episodes features Patalliro leading everyone on his "Cock Robin" dance number.
  • Culture Chop Suey: It's hard to say where exactly Malynera is located, but we can tell that it mixes eastern and western cultural elements and a lot of Schizo Tech.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Etrange has purple hair and purple eyes.
  • Cute Kitten: The OP has dancing cats, flying cats... for no apparent reason.
  • Deranged Animation: The anime tried to follow the same "feeling" as the manga art. The result was quite... unusual.
  • Drugs Are Bad: Bancoran will not tolerate drugs or drug dealers. (Chain smoking and drunk driving at 9 a.m., however, are perfectly fine).
  • Enfant Terrible: Patalliro himself, and judging by his family they were all like that in their childhood too. When they grow up they’re bound to be more mature, if not less eccentric.
  • Everybody Do the Endless Loop: Every time that Patalliro goes to "Who Killed Cock Robin" mode (usually followed by his "Onions").
  • Expressive Hair: His Highness's head occasionally sprouts flowers—usually when he's embarrassed.
  • Expy: Bancoran is rather unsubtly based on James Bond.
    • It's been suggested that Sailor Moon has expies of Bancoran/Mariach in Kunzite/Zoisite note .
  • Eye Catch: Noteworthy because as the series progresses it goes from Patalliro goofing off with a Super Deformed Bancoran to the two of them trying to kill each other with explosions.
  • Faking the Dead: Episode 12.
  • Foreshadowing: During the second stage play, Maraich suddenly becomes nauseous hinting towards his pregnancy from later parts of the manga.
  • Flower Motifs: Roses everywhere, especially when Bancoran is present. Sometimes, Roses Mean Love, sometimes Roses Mean Death.
  • Four-Fingered Hands: Sometimes Patalliro is depicted with only four fingers.
  • Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Etrange is a reigning king's mother and a Proper Lady. In the anime version, she wears purple clothes and has purple hair and eyes.
  • Grand Finale: The Stardust movie, for the 80s anime. The manga itself is still ongoing.
  • Hurricane of Puns: All the time. Making the series notoriously difficult to translate.
  • I, Noun: From the second season, the title of the anime adaptation is Boku Patalliro! (I, Patalliro!).
  • Identical Grandson: Patalliro the Eighth's... unusual appearance (bar slight variations such as hairstyle) seems to be shared by other members of the family who also share the name. There have also been appearances by an ancestor and a (presumable) descendant of Bancoran who share his distinctive looks as well, right down to the hair and eyeshadow.
  • Impoverished Patrician: Part of Bancoran's Back Story.
  • Jerkass: Patalliro, though he does have a small heart of gold and can, at times, be a comedic Jerkass Woobie.
  • Just Between You and Me: Marion had to explain the whole plan to Patalliro.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Too many to count.
  • Long Runner: The manga started in 1978 and is still going!
  • Manipulative Bastard: Somielle.
  • Master of Disguise: Maraich. Sort of. Patalliro also thinks he is one.
  • Missing Mom: Patalliro's mother is alive but her poor health makes it so that she can't live in Malynera with her son.
  • Mister Seahorse: Mariach twice in the manga. Never explained. The first instance ended with a miscarriage, while the second has him give birth to Bancoran's son Figaro.
  • Mood Whiplash: The whip gets torn up on how often this show switches between comedy, drama, romance, adventure, intrigue and occasional horror, often in the space of a heartbeat.
  • New Old Flame: Damian.
  • Only Sane Man: Bancoran, to the point of skepticism. Though technically in this story he’s the sanest person and sometimes not even he can avoid going along with Patalliro’s stunts.
  • Parody Episode:
  • Plucky Comic Relief: The "Onions".
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Small red fur balls that appear everywhere.
  • Royal Brat: His Highness Patalliro.
  • Running Gag: Patalliro will do his Cock Robin dance routine any chance he gets. He says it relieves stress, and as irritating as Bancoran and Maraich find it even they can't resist doing it at times.
  • Screw Yourself: Patalliro has molested and been molested by nearly identical Patalliros of the distant past and future. Presumably, they are both ancestors and descendants of the main Patalliro. Let that sink in.
  • Spoiler Opening: Considering that Maraich's first appearance is only in Episode 05...
  • Special Guest: Rashanu, Prince of India, who has his own series, makes a quick appearance in episode 05.
  • Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Some of Patalliro's enemies seem to suffer from this condition.
  • The Syndicate: The International Diamond Syndicate.
  • Techno Babble: Since His Highness has diabetes, there's a lot of medical babbling about medicines and his health condition. One of the villainous plots takes advantage of this.
  • Time Travel: Patalliro gains the ability to travel between different eras.
  • Title Theme Tune:pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa, po pe pu pi pa... ''patallilo!''
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Bancoran and Etrange, weirdly.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Patalliro can’t help throwing insults at people, and Bancoran generally can give back as good as he gets. But despite their banter, they appreciate and value each other and will stand by each other in times of trouble.
  • We Want Our Jerk Back!: When an illness turns the normally hyperactive and annoying Patalliro into a gentle and kind person, everyone in Malynera, including Bancoran, is so unsettled by this that they force a cure on him even if it makes them sick themselves.
  • We Will Not Use Photoshop in the Future: His Highness sends a photo of himself to Bancoran for identification purposes. The photo is highly altered so it doesn't resemble Patalliro at all. Hilarity Ensues.
  • What Beautiful Eyes!: No young man can resist Bancoran’s eyes. An infatuated youth described them as looking into the eyes of a tiger.
    • Patalliro's mother Etrange stands out as having beautiful violet eyes.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Marion.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: A Tamanegi guard goes on a time-travel adventure, arriving in the French Revolution and taking the alias of Marie Antoinette’s lover Hans Axel von Fersen. Hans already exists, and as history can’t accept the same person existing twice, a Cosmic Retcon occurs that erases one of them... the real Hans. The Tamanegi has to stay in France to preserve history, and can never come home again.

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