| Genre: | Animation Children's series Comedy Educational Preschool |
| Director: | Kim Min-sung |
| Presenter: | Rar Sae-Ha |
| Starring: | Meara |
| Voices: | English:
|
| Narrated: | Heather Madill |
| Opentheme: | "Hey Tayo" by Enhypen |
| Endtheme: | "Vroom, Vroom, Vroom!" |
| Country: | South Korea |
| Language: | Korean English |
| Num Seasons: | 7 |
| Num Episodes: | 182 |
| Runtime: | 10-11 minutes per episodes |
| Company: | Iconix Entertainment Educational Broadcasting System Seoul Metropolitan Government |
| Channel: | EBS Disney Junior (Asia) |
| Related: | Titipo Titipo |
Tayo the Little Bus is a South Korean 3D computer-animated television series. The series is produced by Iconix Entertainment for the Educational Broadcasting System in collaboration with the Metropolitan Government of Seoul.[1] The show was produced with the help of Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration.[2] 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,[3] though the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons are on Netflix. In Indonesia, the series is distributed by RTV, Indosiar, and Mentari TV.[4]
The series is about four buses in a city, based in Seoul, South Korea, populated with anthropomorphic vehicles: Tayo (Bus 120), Rogi (Bus 1000), Lani (Bus 02), and Gani (Bus 1339).[5]
Each episode in the start, middle, and end features a brief narration, and it has six seasons. A spin-off series of Tayo, known as Titipo Titipo, premiered between the main series’ fourth season and fifth season. Titipo focuses on the titular character named Titipo, a young passenger train the show is named after along with all his friends, who are also trains. After the end of Titipos first season, Tayos fifth season premiered for English-speaking audiences on October 22, 2018. Titipo Titipo was greenlit for a second season. Titipos second season premiered for English-speaking audiences starting November 19, 2020. In late 2020, Tayo the Little Bus 10th anniversary spinoff Tayo and Little Wizards (ko|마법버스 타요|label=none) was released.[6] This spinoff premiered on Netflix on September 17, 2021.[7] The sixth season aired on September 1, 2021.[8] [9]
The series is available in Korean, English, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Turkish, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, German, and Russian on the production company's official YouTube channel for the series.[10]
The series features five main characters. Each of the four original characters (Tayo, Gani, Lani & Rogi) is based on the four actual colors and types of Seoul Buses.
TBA
Tayo the Little Bus received mixed reviews from critics and audiences.
Melissa Camacho of Common Sense Media gave the show four stars out of five, stating that the "Animated charmer features positive messages -- and farts."[11]
At a Vietnamese seminar for addressing the struggles of the Vietnamese animation industry, Korean animators named Tayo the Little Bus, a series that has been "dominating" the Korean market. These animators also noted that the series is popular in China, Thailand, and Vietnam.[12]
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 the wake of this success, it was reported that the local governments of other cities in South Korea were considering adopting the campaign.[13] Officials for the city of Seoul initially opposed this on copyright grounds,[14] but they consented in April to let other cities use the characters for non-commercial purposes.[2]
Jaeyeon Woo of The Wall Street Journals 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.[2]
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.[15]
In late 2018 there was a Tayo bus phenomenon in Indonesia due to its theme song, often used as a joke or prank by many people.[16] It becomes one of the 15 top trending searches in Google in Indonesia in 2018.[17] Two bus systems in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, BRT Banjarbakula and Trans Banjarbakula, are informally called "Tayo bus" due to its size and color.[18] [19]
Tayo's Sing Along Show is an animation program that aired on EBS in the first season from July 5 to September 27, 2013, and the second season from July 3 to September 25, 2015. It is an extra work of Tayo. The program is a new type of animation in which children's friend, Tayo, the Little Bus, decorates an exciting song with various car friends.