Maja

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Eyes: Black
Hair: Brown
Race: Bee


Occupation: School kid
Marital Status: Single
Base of operations: Buchenwald, Germany


Story: Maja is a young bee, exploring the World.


Continuity: Die Biene Maja
Publisher(s): Bastei
First app.: Books: Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer (1912)
Creator(s): Waldemar Bonsels
Country of origin: Germany


Background notes: Originally Maja appeared in the children's book Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer from 1912. The book was written by Waldemar Bonsels and it was a fable about a girl growing up. The book was apparently a success, and led to a drama documentary about the interactions between bees and other animals in 1926, using Maja as the protagonist. The story for the documentary was written by Waldemar Bonsels and was named Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer, like the book.

In cartoons, Maja appeared in the cartoon series Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken/Die Biene Maja from Japan, where her visual design was done by character designer Susumu Shiraume. The series ran for 52 episodes from april 1975 to april 1976 i.e. once a week for a year. In the original Japanese cartoons, Maja's voice was done by Michiko Nomura, and in the German versions her voice was done by Scarlet Lubowski. A second series with another 52 episode ran from 1978 to 1979. In 1977, an 80 minutes movie version of the first episodes was released. The movie was named Die Biene Maja - Ihre schönsten Abenteuer. The last cartoon so far is the 2001 special named Die Biene-Maja-Show - ein Weltstar feiert Geburtstag.

The cartoon was adapted into comics in 1976. While the series has had a few changes in publisher and a few pauses, it is still published today.

The series has also been transferred to games. The first game was Maya The Bee & Her Friends for Game Boy Color from 1999, and so far, six games have been released.

Maja, along with her friends Willi and Flip, has been a popular character for merchandise, and has been on wide variety of items like figurines, pillows, plush toys, a stamp, and board games.


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