Kimi Watanabe-Finster is a main character in the animated television series Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up!. She first appeared in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie in 2000. She is the step-sister of Chuckie Finster; born in a Japanese family, she was the last character to be introduced to the Rugrats character list.
Her mother, Kira, married Chas Finster (the father of Chuckie). Kimi became a regular character on the show after Rugrats in Paris: The Movie. She later appeared in the spin-off series All Grown Up!, and in the second and third Rugrats films. She was voiced by Dionne Quan in the original series and All Grown Up!, and by Charlet Chung in the reboot.
Description[]
Kimi Finster met the Rugrats when they were on vacation in Paris at Euro-Reptarland, where her mother Kira used to work. Now living with her big brother Chuckie in America, Kimi is always ready to use her imagination to lead the Rugrats on a fun-filled adventure. Armed with her favorite toy "Super-Thing" and a big smile, Kimi will be the first one ready to boldly go where no baby has ever gone before. This sometimes puts pressure on Chuckie, who feels he has to look out for his little sister, which can be kind of hard when she's scared of nothing and he's scared of everything! - Rugrats Description from Klasky Csupo
Kimi Finster has grown into a very cool, free thinking and independent pre-teen. She likes bizarre music, dressing funky, and even finds a potential crush in the form of her green haired classmate Z! Still, Kimi is a devoted sister to Chuckie, offering her sibling support in matters of the heart and advice on how he can increase his confidence. But Chuckie can be a bit over-protective of his sister sometimes, a fact that Kimi appreciates but sometimes finds annoying. - All Grown Up! Description from Klasky Csupo
Summary[]
Kimi was the last addition to the cast of Rugrats, making her first appearance in the second Rugrats movie, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie. She is very joyful and brave. She was introduced as Chuckie's new sister, after her mother, Kira Finster, married Chuckie's father Charles, also known as Chas. This marriage and the changes it brought to the Finster family were used in the series to teach the young viewers, by demonstration, about adapting to such drastic changes caused by remarriage.
In Rugrats, the one-and-a-half year old Kimi was portrayed as very brave and often stumbled into dangerous situations she was too naïve to recognize, often bringing her new brother, Chuckie Finster, along, which he didn't like very much. He described her as "another Tommy" not too long upon her arrival. She is just as adventurous as Tommy and cares for her friends. Unlike Tommy, she often takes action first and thinks later. She laughs in the eye of danger and is always looking for an adventure.
Looks[]
Kimi has purplish-black hair tied up in three pigtails on top of her head and wears a yellow overall dress with a blue cat on it, a pink t-shirt, purple cowgirl boots, frilly pink ankle-high socks and wears a diaper underneath.
When she debuted in Rugrats in Paris, She wore a yellow short-sleeved dress with her cat on it, but kept her diaper and boots.
Relationships[]
Kira Finster - Kira is Kimi's mother.
Hiro Watanabe - Hiro Watanabe is Kimi's biological father. Kimi knows about his whereabouts in Japan and Hiro comes to visit her in "Trading Places".
Wanda Yoshida-Watanabe - Wanda is Kimi's step-mother who is married to Hiro. Wanda and Kimi didn't meet until the episode "Trading Places".
Chas Finster - Chas is Kira's second husband, making him Kimi's step-father. However, he eventually adopted Kimi as his daughter, which makes him Kimi's father.
Chuckie Finster - Chuckie was Kimi's step-brother until he was adopted by Kira, making him and her just siblings. Kimi loves Chuckie very much and that he's her new big brother. Chuckie tries to protect her, when he can, from getting hurt or in danger.
Kiki Watanabe - Kiki is Kimi's half-sister who she didn't meet until the All Grown Up! episode "Trading Places".
Tommy Pickles - Tommy and Kimi met in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie when Kira brought her along. Kimi and Tommy both have adventurous personalities and are always ready for an adventure.
Angelica Pickles - In the remake, Kimi and Angelica are classmates. Although Kimi does not appreciate Angelica's bad behavior, she seems determined to think the best of Angelica. She believes that Angelica has a nice side deep down and is willing to show her kindness in the hope of bringing it out of her.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Chas legally adopts Kimi as his daughter in "Finsterella" while Kira legally adopts Chuckie as her son. In a legal sense, that technically makes Chuckie and Kimi siblings.
- She is the first recurring character of East Asian descent, alongside her mother.
- Kimi is the only Rugrat to never have the camera viewed from inside her mouth, not even in All Grown Up!. Though she is seen looking at the camera in someone's mouth, such as Fluffy in "Cat Got Your Tongue?", Harold in "Angelica's Assistant", and an imaginary snow leopard in "The Bravliest Baby".
- Kimi only cries in "Cuddle Bunny", "The Big Sneeze", "Cynthia Comes Alive", "Who's Taffy?", and "Three Jacks and a Beanstalk"; she cries on her own in "The Big Sneeze" and "Cynthia Comes Alive".
- Kimi has only gotten her diaper changed in two episodes: "Finsterella" and "Daddy's Little Helpers".
- Although there is no episode for it, Kimi has been seen as a 3-year-old and possibly a 7-8 year old in the All Grown Up! episode "Truth or Consequences".
- Kimi is the only Rugrat toddler not to be seen as a "baby baby" (meaning a baby between the ages of birth up to age one to the Rugrats, who refer themselves as "big babies") and is the only baby not to tell how she walked for the first time.
- Her biological father is Hiro Watanabe.
- Watanabe means "ferryside" in Japanese.
- Kimi is the only main character to have a half-sibling.
- The episode "Kimi Takes The Cake" was aired production wise on October 5, 2002, therefore Kimi's birthday is presumed to be that day. It also possible this is Kimi's birthday as the episode focused on a Haunted looking castle that Taffy was performing at, which could give hint that Kimi's birthday takes place around Halloween. However, the episode didn't premiere in the US until June 8th, 2004, which could also be Kimi's presumed birthday.
- Kimi is the last Rugrat to be added to the cast.
- Because of her Japanese heritage, Kimi's full name would be Kimiko as Kimi is short for said name in Japanese.
- Though there was no episode for it, Kimi was seen being potty-trained. It was picture seen in the All Grown Up! episode "Petition This!".
- She was raised in Paris, France.
- Kimi is similar to Yumi Ishiyama from Code Lyoko. They are both Japanese immigrants and their families are from Japan, although while Kimi lives with her mother, (step-)father and (step-)brother, her biological father lives in Japan with his second wife (Kimi's step-mother) and his youngest daughter (Kimi's half-sister).
- By contrast, Yumi lives with both of her biological parents (who are married rather than divorced) and Yumi also only has sibling (in her case, a younger brother).
- In All Grown Up!, Kimi wears more stomach-bearing outfits than any other girl in the show. Susie is a runner-up in second for her Season 1 look, while Lil is in third, with only purple PJs, blue PJs, and a genie costume.
- In "TP+KF", it is revealed that Kimi has a crush on Tommy.
- Throughout All Grown Up! seasons 2-5, Kimi wears a red or green top. However, the clothes are in a Chinese cheongsam style, while she's Japanese.
- Z was able to get Kimi to like a new genre of music called "Underground Nouveau Retro Fusion Music", as mentioned in "Bad Kimi".
- It is revealed in "Trading Places", that Kimi has been receiving gifts from her father every year during Children's Day.
- Kimi is very fond of animals. She is an advocate of animal welfare.
- In All Grown Up!, Kimi is never seen in any gym classes.
- Despite being such a prominent character in the later years of Rugrats, Kimi did not appear in the Boom! Studios comic.
- in "Mutt's in a Name", she mentions that she was named after her grandmother.
- In the reboot series, she is voiced by Charlet Chung as her original voice actor Dionne Quan retired from voice acting.
- Her reboot version has quite a few differences from her original counterpart:
- In the reboot, she isn't Chuckie's stepsister. Though she wasn’t his stepsister at the start of Rugrats In Paris either.
- She has been aged up to be around Angelica's age and attends preschool with her.
- She has an existing relationship with Angelica, but no existing relationship with the babies until they visit Angelica's preschool for the first time.
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