Musti (character)

Musti by Ray Goossens

Musti is a cartoon character, created by Flemish graphic artist Ray Goossens in 1945.^[1] Musti is a little cat, living with his mother and father in a little house in a rural village, surrounded by a large garden with animals and trees.

Television series

In 1968, Musti was developed into an animated series. In every episode, a specific story is told in a couple of minutes. The subjects are always linked to the world of small children, combining anthropomorphic animals and realistic situations. In the 1990's a different series was made, with a white background, with Musti's original pronouncation (Muh-sti) now pronounced as Moo-sti. In total, 156 episodes have been made, airing in Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Turkey, Japan, Portugal, and 18 other countries.

In 2007, a new television series has been created. Instead of the flat 2D images with a white background, the new series are entirely rendered in 3D. The new series will be airing in Belgium, The Netherlands, Israel, Norway, Japan, Croatia, Portugal and the United States. Al-Jazeera will be airing the series throughout the Arabic world.^[2]

Musti was first broadcast in 1968, on Flemish television. The original narrator was Rachel Frederix. Since 2007, her successor is Kristel Van Craen.

In the Netherlands, Musti appeared on television in 1980. The narrators were Arnold Gelderman and Marijke Merckens.

Books

The Flemish publisher Standaard Uitgeverij carries an extensive portfolio of Musti children's books, targeting children 3-6.

Another publisher Dupuis, printed a number of Musti children's comics in French, based on its appearances in the magazine Bonne Soirée.

Software

Recently, a number of educational software programs were developed with Musti as the lead character. They are currently only available in Dutch.

Musti, Miffy and Hello Kitty

In 2004, a Japanese blogger started a vivid discussion on whether the popular cartoon character Hello Kitty was a mere rip-off of Musti. Hello Kitty, created in 1974, has a close resemblance to Musti. Miffy creator, Dick Bruna, also claims that Kitty is a copy of his character, ironic since Miffy bears closer resemblance to the Musti character, down to the X shaped mouth. Given the very minimalistic style of all three, there are certain to be similarities.

External links

• Official Musti website
• Musti books and software (Dutch)
• Discussion about the resemblance between Hello Kitty and Musti

References

1. ^ Kinder TV waar je voor op mocht blijven
2. ^ De Standaard Online - Avonturen van Musti binnenkort te zien op Al Jazeera