Coo

"Coo holds you in his talons, and you direct his flight with the control pad. This way, you can fly and inhale or attack at the same time."

- Description

Coo is one of Kirby's animal friends. He is a playable character in Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby Star Allies. He has also made several cameo appearances throughout the series.

Coo is an owl that can help Kirby fly easier and travel through high wind currents.

Kirby's Dream Land 2
Since he is larger in size, Coo carries Kirby around in his talons. Coo's abilities are very air-oriented. For example, for Burning and Stone Coo will use Kirby to descend quickly and attack enemies, and for Needle and Spark, Coo will stop midair as Kirby releases the respective projectile downward.

Kirby's Dream Land 3
Coo's flying ability provides an advantage in many situations; he is strong enough to fly even in very strong wind, just like Kine is strong enough to swim against fast water currents. For some unknown reason Coo has no friends (or in Pitch's case a mother) like all other Animal Friends have.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
When the player mixes the Stone and Cutter abilities, Kirby gains the mix ability Animal Statues, which lets him turn into statues of any of his past animal friends, including Coo. The weight of Coo's statue works against Kirby in this form as he falls quickly and cannot fly as well as with Stone Pitch. It also doesn't roll when landing.

Kirby: Canvas Curse
Paint Roller draws Coo in the sub-game Paint Panic.

Kirby Super Star Ultra
A statue form of Coo can appear when Kirby uses the Stone ability.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land
A statue form of the three original animal friends together (Rick, Kine, and Coo) can appear when Kirby uses the Stone ability.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Coo appears in the Kirby Fighters sub-game (as well as in the downloadable Kirby Fighters Deluxe). In the stage Coo's Forest, he occasionally flies through doors and attacks the Kirbys with three feathers in a strikingly similar fashion to he and Kirby's Cutter ability. He then proceeds to reenter the door he came from.

Team Kirby Clash Deluxe
Coo will become a resident of the city once the Pyribbit has been defeated. He will occasionally appear flying across the screen.

Kirby Battle Royale
Coo appears as an audience member in the Slam Hockey mode in the Obstacle Arena. He can be seen to the left.

Kirby Star Allies
Coo appears in Kirby Star Allies as a Dream Friend in the game's first update. He works alongside Rick and Kine as a three-in-one Dream Friend, with each character using different elements. In Coo's case, he uses the Bluster element.

In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
Coo appears in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, as a wise owl that helps Kirby out in a few situations, mostly involving other animals of Dream Land. Other than that he doesn't appear in the series very often.

When mentioned by other characters, Coo is often held in high regard for his wisdom and judgment, like a wise old sage. Owls often seem to symbolize knowledge.

Related Quotes
"Coo the owl, [sic] can help Kirby get to those hard-to-reach places. When he has special powers, watch out! While with Coo, Kirby can't swallow and fly at the same time."

- Kirby's Three Friends

Etymology
Coo's name is derived from kuu, a Japanese word for air, which references Coo's skill in the air. It may also be based on the onomatopoeia coo, used to represent the noise an owl makes.

Trivia

 * In the English dub of the anime, Coo has a male voice. In the original Japanese airing, he (said to be a "she") has a female voice.
 * While Coo has bright purple feathers in artwork and the anime, Coo is usually depicted with dull grey feathers in the games. The 3D model in Kirby: Triple Deluxe goes with the former depiction, breaking the trend.
 * In Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards as one of Kirby's stone forms is Coo. He also appeared in Kirby Card Swipe (Kirby Super Star Ultra).
 * Coo appears brown-feathered alongside Rick and Kine on the continue screen of the Kirby Mass Attack sub-game, Kirby Quest, based on the game over screen of Kirby's Dream Land 2.
 * Due to the lack of a sixth, multi-leveled world, Coo is the only Animal Friend lacking a counterpart kindly affiliated with him.
 * Coo appears as a statue alongside Kine, Rick, Waddle Dee, and Kirby himself in Kirby's History hall.
 * Coo makes a cameo appearance in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, along with Rick and Kine, when Kirby is transforming into Kirby Rocket.
 * A rearrangement of Coo's theme from Kirby's Dream Land 2 was used as the music for Deploy the Kirby Tank! in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.
 * Coo, along with Rick and Kine, make an appearance in Team Kirby Clash Deluxe after certain Ordeals are cleared.
 * In the American TV advertisement for Kirby's Dream Land 2, Coo is depicted unusually: In particular, he's given a menacing grin, and also proceeds to lift up and send a biker sliding across a bar table to Kirby.
 * In Kirby Star Allies, fighting Morpho Knight in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! with Rick & Kine & Coo replaces the normal theme with a remixed version of Dark Matter's theme for his second form, referencing the Animal Friends' original appearance in Kirby's Dream Land 2.