Kimi Watanabe-Finster is one of the main characters of “Rugrats” and All Grown Up! and a recurring character in the 2020s series.
Description[]
Kimi Finster met the Rugrats when they were on vacation in Paris, France 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 "Superthing" 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 preteen. 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
Now reimagined as a three-year-old, Kimi Watanabe met the main four Rugrats when they visited the preschool with Betty and Didi for an evaluation. Mistaking them for new kids, Kimi insists on introducing herself to them and wanting to show them around the school. Kimi also comments that she and her mother, Kira, had moved from Paris, France sometime ago. She often is seen calling out and trying to help Angelica correct her lies and misbehaviors, but also learns in Snake in the Grassthat Angelica's lying sometimes does more good than harm. She seems to have an interest in the Cynthia franchise as she is seen winning the contest that Angelica and Begley were trying to win. Kimi also is able to speak some French and enjoys entertaining baby Dil with speaking the language to him in Miss Match. from the CGI series
Summary[]
Rugrats (1991)[]
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, 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 is portrayed as very brave and often stumbles into dangerous situations she is too naïve to recognize, often bringing her new brother, Chuckie Finster , along, which he doesn't like very much. He describes 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.
All Grown Up[]
In All Grown Up!, she develops a crush on Tommy.
Looks[]
Kimi has purplish-black hair tied up in three pigtails on top of her head and wears a pink t-shirt. Over her shirt are yellow overall dress with a blue cat on it. She also wears purple cowgirl boots, frilly pink ankle-high socks and wears a diaper underneath.
In her debut in Rugrats in Paris, she wears a yellow short-sleeved dress with her cat on it but keeps her diaper and boots.
In Rugrats Go Wild, she wears a green overall dress with an orange fish on it, a yellow t-shirt, and her diaper and boots.
In All Grown Up!, she mostly keeps her hair half loose and, in a bun, then in two pigtails, and wears funky, punk, glamour rock and skater girl clothes.
In "All Growed Up", she wears a pink tank-top over a yellow t-shirt, a green skirt, pink socks, and purple boots.
In the first three episodes of All Grown Up!, she keeps her pink top, but her undershirt is white, her skirt has light pink and purple stripes, and she has white socks and brown boots. For the rest of Season 1, she wears a dark green jacket with fur on the collar and cuffs, a blue top underneath, a red tie, green and purple bracelets, an orange skirt, green and purple striped leggings, and her purple boots.
In some episodes, she spawns a green sleeveless top exposing her stomach, and purple jeans with green bear head patterns.
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 stepmother who is married to Hiro. Wanda and Kimi don't meet until the episode "Trading Places".
Chas Finster - Chas is Kira's second husband, making him Kimi's stepfather. However, he eventually adopts Kimi as his daughter, making him Kimi's father.
Chuckie Finster- Chuckie was Kimi's stepbrother until he was adopted by Kira, making them brother and sister. Kimi loves Chuckie very much and loves that he's her new big brother. Chuckie tries to protect her when he can from getting hurt or in danger. In All Grown Up!, Chuckie is still somewhat protective of Kimi as he tries to protect her from Z in the episode called "Bad Kimi". Chuckie also gets upset when the gang finds Tommy and Kimi's initials carved in the wall in "TP+KF" as he tells Tommy that it wasn't cool to Mack on his best friend's sister. The initials carved into the wall cause Tommy and Chuckie to not only break off their friendship but for Chuckie to be suspicious of Kimi.
Kiki Watanabe - Kiki is Kimi's half-sister who she doesn't meet until the All Grown Up! episode "Trading Places".
Tommy Pickles - Tommy and Kimi meet in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie when Kira brings her along. Kimi and Tommy both have adventurous personalities and are always ready for an adventure. In the All Grown Up! episode "TP+KF", Kimi mentions that she had a crush on Tommy after they all find Tommy and Kimi's initials carved in the wall. Tommy and Kimi claim that they weren't into each other, but at the end, it is hinted that they both have a crush on each other.
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.
Appearances[]
Kimi has appeared in many episodes of the original Rugrats series since Season 7, its spin-off series, All Grown Up!, and the 2020s series. Her first appearance is in the second Rugrats film, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie.
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 and not stepsiblings.
- She is the first recurring character of East Asian descent, alongside her mother.
- Watanabe means "ferryside" in Japanese.
- Kimi is the only main character to have a step-brother and a half-sister.
- 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!.
- Kimi is similar to Yumi Ishiyama from Code Lyoko. They are both Japanese immigrants and their families are from Japan although Yumi doesn't have a biological father and a sister, she has a 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 implied that Kimi has a crush on Tommy.
- Throughout All Grown Up! seasons 2-5, Kimi wears a red or green top. Interestingly however, is that they're 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.
- Due to Dionne Quan mostly retiring from voice acting in 2010, Kimi is the only Rugrat voiced by a new actor in the reboot.