Miffy in her trademark short dress
Miffy (or in the original Dutch nijntje (pronounced "nein-chu") shortened from "konijntje" which literally means "little rabbit") is a long running series of young children's books drawn by Dick Bruna starring the title character. First published in 1955, Miffy has sold over 85 million books worldwide in over 40 languages. Bruna retired in 2014 and the rights to Miffy are not being transferred. No more Miffy books will be written as Bruna stated that even after his death the rights were not to be sold. Bruna passed away on February 16, 2017.There have been three television adaptations:
- Dick Bruna's Miffy Storybook Classics (1992, traditional cel animation)
- Miffy and Friends (2003 - 2007, stop motion animation)
- Miffy's Adventures Big and Small (2015, CGI animation)
A fourth television adaptation is in the works, set to be released in 2025
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A full length animated movie was released in cinemas in 2013.
Extremely popular in its home country, with dedicated shops and part of the Centraal Museum in Utrecht permanently dedicated to the franchise. There's even a section of the Rijksmuseum gift shop dedicated to Miffy merchandise (plush toys, books, etc.) that can't be purchased anywhere else.
This series provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: Aggie and Winnie are absent in Miffy's Adventures Big and Small due to them looking identical to Miffy, albeit with different colored clothing.
- all lowercase letters: the miffy books are written in lowercase. miffy's original name "nijntje" is almost never written with uppercase letters. even the official website only sparingly uses uppercase letters. downplayed outside of dutch-language material.
- Art Evolution: Very gradual: the character design from 1955 is nearly the same as the one used in the last books. See here◊. The very early version is slightly different as at this point Miffy was supposed to be a stuffed toy rather than a "real" rabbit.
- Baffled by Own Biology: In one book, Miffy doesn't know why she feels weak and has a sore throat. She eventually ends up having to go to the hospital.
- Bunnies for Cuteness: Miffy is a bunny. As you can see, she is very cute.
- Cheerful Child: Miffy and her friends are portrayed as pleasant children across the franchise's many adaptations.
- Crying Critters: The bunnies sometimes cry, with one of the books even being titled "Miffy is Crying".
- Dub Name Change: Miffy herself was originally called "nijntje" (usually spelled with lowercase letters) in Dutch. Further, Miffy/nijntje used to have many different names around the world, such as "le petit lapin" in French, "Usako-chan" in Japanese, and "kleintjie" in Afrikaans.
- Additionally, nijntje's family in the original Dutch has the "pluis" (meaning "fluff") surname, absent from English versions.
- For other characters: Auntie Alice's original name is "tante trijn", Melanie is "Nina", Poppy Pig is "betje big", and Posie/Grunty Pig is "knorretje".
- Long Runner: Miffy celebrated her fiftieth birthday in 2005. The last book was released in 2011 for a fifty six year run.
- No-Dialogue Episode: Miffy's Dream. The book version is a more straightforward example, while the Storybook Classics adaptation only has one line at the beginning, apart from the title name ("One night, Miffy had a dream").
- No Name Given: Miffy’s parents and grandparents were not given a name in the books or other media.
- The One Guy: Amongst Miffy's group of friends, Dan is the only male between her, Melanie and Grunty.
- Pen Pals: Miffy and Melanie are pen pals in the book 'Miffy and Melanie'.
- The Perfectionist: Even though each book contains only 16 illustrations in a simple line style and sixty four lines of text, it took Bruna months to write and illustrate each one, and there have been less than thirty overall.
- Status Quo Is God: Gradually subverted: new characters were occasionally introduced over the series run and in 1996 the series had a permanent change when the death of Miffy's grandmother was the subject of a book.
- Played straight in the animated adaptations where Miffy's grandmother is alive in the adaptations' entire runs.
- Title Theme Tune:
- Dick Bruna's Miffy Storybook Classics: "Miffy, Miffy, we love, you always know just what to do...."
- Miffy and Friends: "Miffy! A sweet little bunny! Miffy! A smart little bunny! Miffy! A cute little bunny! Miffy, and Friends!"
- Vocal Dissonance: In the 2013 film, she's distractingly voiced by an adult female voice actor, instead of a child. Same case with the Dutch dub, although, unlike the English version, the actress who voices her attempts to sound like a child. Averted in Miffy's Adventures Big and Small, where Miffy and her friends are voiced by actual children.
