Curling Up With Anime ‘Hamtaro’

The anime invasion of American television continues today with “Hamtaro: Little Hamster, Big Adventures,” which will play twice each weekday on the Cartoon Network (7 a.m. and 4 p.m.). It’s an English-language adaptation of “Tottoko Hamtaro” (Hamtaro the Hamster), a TV series aimed at small children that aired in Japan two years ago.

With his outsized round head, huge eyes, big ears and tiny limbs, Hamtaro is another relentlessly cheerful, hyper-cute character in the tradition of “Hello Kitty” and Pikachu. Hamtaro’s owner, Ritsuko, was only 5 years old in the original series. She’s been renamed Laura and is clearly supposed to be older here, but her skinny limbs and large head suggest a young child’s proportions.

In the opening episode, “Hamtaro, Please Come Home,” Laura and her parents move to a new house in a scenic suburb. While they’re unpacking, Hamtaro sneaks out to explore and starts making friends. He meets a nervous, apologetic Hamster named Oxnard from a nearby house, and Boss, a “field hamster” who lives in a tunnel. Together, they serenade Bijou, a girl hamster Boss admires.

Oxnard, Boss and Bijou are clearly just the first of what will be Hamtaro’s many friends (the opening titles show dozens of hamsters). And Laura meets one of her new classmates at a local stationary store when they both reach for a writing tablet with a hamster on it. The neighborhood is apparently overrun with the little rodents.

“Hamtaro” is a harmless enough entertainment for pre-schoolers, but their older siblings will dismiss it as saccharine and sappy.