Haru-ōji

Prince Haru as seen at the end of the film.

Prince Haru is the prince of an unseen land known as the Flower Kingdom, as well as Princess Peach's fiance. He appears in the anime movie The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach.

File:Kibidango.jpg

Prince Haru as Kibidango.

He first appears in the beginning of the movie as a blue dog (strangely capable of speech) named Kibidango (also spelled as Kibedango and named for a type of Japanese millet dumpling). He shows up inside Mario Bros. Grocery shortly after Miss Endless leaves, mauling Mario and stealing his Visionary Jewel from the Country of Treasure. Mario, wishing to have this last remnant of his love Princess Peach back, and Luigi, thinking the Visionary Jewel to be very valuable, chase after Kibidango, following him into some seemingly ordinary pipes. These pipes, though, turn out to be Warp Pipes, and they disappearingly transport Mario, Luigi, and Kibidango to the Mushroom Kingdom. Once the three reach a cave in the far-off kingdom, Kibidango rushes behind the Mushroom Hermit for protection. Mario and Luigi then learn what Bowser did to Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom's inhabitants from the Hermit, and the Mario Bros. eventually decide to embark to Bowser's Castle and save the Princess and her kingdom. After some persuasion from the Mushroom Hermit, Kibidango joins the Brothers on their quest, occasionally offering help and advice to the adventuring pair (and actually pulling his weight in adventuring more than even Luigi, who was depicted in the anime as very greedy and somewhat unreliable).

By the end of the film, Mario and Luigi defeat Bowser and rescue the Princess. The two also lift all of Bowser's curses on the Mushroom Kingdom, which results in Kibidango becoming Prince Haru, who explains that he was turned into a dog by Bowser and reveals (much to Mario's dismay) that he is Peach's fiance and prince of the Flower Kingdom. He and Peach then thank the Mario Bros. for their efforts, and Prince Haru never appeared again.