Once, there was an island where it was always spring... 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.
(Source: myanimelist.net)
- The manga started in 1979 and currently has 84 volumes.
- A 49 episodes anime series ran between April 8, 1982 and May 13, 1983 called "Boku Patalliro!"
- There is also an animated movie produced in 1983 called "Patalliro! Stardust Keikaku".
- A Spinoff anime series called "Patalliro Saiyuki!" with 26 episodes run between 2003 – 2005.
- X Japan rhythm guitarist Tomoaki Ishizuka's stage name "Pata" comes from the main character's name.
Patalliro! provides examples of:
- Anything That Moves: Patalliro, who has the bad habit of groping people no matter their gender. He also makes numerous sexual innuendos, taking advantage of the fact that he is only 10.
- 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.
- Bishōnen: Bancoran qualifies. He even wears blue eyeshadow. Several of Patalliro's enemies also qualify. Maraich is considered a bishonen in the story, but could also be considered a "trap".
- Boys Love: One of the earliest and long-running satirical manga (1979 ? 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 Shōjo (Demographic). - 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.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: DUH.
- Children Are Innocent: Averted. His Highness is everything but innocent.
- Completely 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 alone tells a small story with a lovely song that fits the main plot. It's worth a watch.
- 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.
- Deranged Animation: The anime tried to follow the same "feeling" as the manga art. The result was quite... unusual.
- Double Entendre: Many.
- Drugs Are Bad: Bancoran will not tolerate drugs or drug dealers. (Chain smoking and drunk driving at 9 a.m., however, are perfectly fine).
- Everybody Do the Endless Loop: Every time that Patalliro goes to "Who Killed Cock Robin" mode (usually followed by his "Onions").
- Cute Kitten: The OP has dancing cats, flying cats... for no apparent reason.
- Evil Is Sexy: Especially Marion.
- Expressive Hair: His Highness's head occasionally sprouts flowers—usually when he's embarrassed.
- Expy: Bancoran is rather unsubtly based on James Bond.
- Faking the Dead: Episode 12.
- Flower Motifs: Roses everywhere, especially when Bancoran is present. Sometimes, Roses Mean Love, sometimes Roses Mean Death.
- Hurricane of Puns: All the time. Making the series notoriously difficult to translate.
- 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's 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.
- Ill Girl: Koko.
- Impoverished Patrician: Part of Bancoran's Back Story.
- Jerkass: Patalliro acts like this towards everyone, and the feeling is mutual.
- Knife Nut: Maraich's Weapon of Choice.
- Just Between You and Me: Marion had to explain the whole plan to Patalliro.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Too many to count.
- Manipulative Bastard: Somielle.
- Master of Disguise: Maraich. Sort of. Patalliro also thinks he is one.
- May-December Romance: Maraich and Bancoran are a borderline case, at 18 and 35—ahem, 27—respectively.
- Medical 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.
- Memetic Sex God: MI 6 agent Jack Bancoran can literally shoot sexy beams out of his eyes—and he knows that◊. No wonder he is called "The Bishonen Killer". Some of his "seduction techniques" are... quite amusing.
- But everyone is Bancoran for Maraich.
- Mr. Seahorse: Twice in the manga. Never explained.
- Names to Know in Anime: Patalliro is Katz Kobayashi and Mirai Yashima, Bancoran is Commander Wakkein, Maraich is Eris.
- New Old Flame: Damian.
- No Export for You: It was released on DVD, only in Japan.
- Parody Episode: Patalliro Saiyuki is an entire series based around the concept of a parody episode, recasting the characters in a theme of Saiyuki or Journey to the West, usually with hilarious results.
- Peek-A-Bangs: Maraich's are frequently the subject of ridicule from Patalliro.
- Plucky Comic Relief: The "Onions".
- Rape Is Love: This is how Bancoran conquers Maraich, and, as he says, "successfully persuaded him◊" to leave The International Diamond Syndicate.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Small red fur balls that appear everywhere.
- Royal Brat: His Highness Patalliro.
- 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.
- Smoking Is Cool: Bancoran smokes, and uses this to increase his charming appearance.
- Spoiler Ending: 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.
- Time Travel: Episode 14.
- Title Theme Tune: A real Ear Worm with Title Drop. (pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa, po pe pu pi pa... patallilo!)
- The Syndicate: The International Diamond Syndicate.
- Ugly Cute: The title character.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Bancoran and Etrange, weirdly.
- 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: Madame Etrange.
- What Do You Mean, It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Nothing in the entire series makes any sense. At all. That's kind of the point.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: Marion.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Maraich, who always wears high heels and is also voiced by a woman.
- Wimpification: An in-series example—Maraich becomes increasingly stereotypically effeminate and decreasingly useful as the series goes on.
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