Kappa Mikey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kappa Mikey | |
|---|---|
 Characters from left to right: Lily, Ozu, Mikey, Gonard (behind Mikey), Yes Man, Guano, Mitsuki |
|
| Genre | Animated sitcom |
| Creator(s) | Larry Schwarz |
| Starring | Michael Sinterniklaas Stephen Moverley Annice Moriarty Pete Zarustica Sean Schemmel Gary Mack Jesse Adams Evelyn Lanto Dan Green |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 26 (ordered for the first season), 52 in total, 23 aired as of March 24, 2007) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes approx. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nicktoons Network |
| Original run | February 25, 2006 – present |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Kappa Mikey is an American animated television series created by Larry Schwarz, which premiered on the Nicktoons Network on February 25, 2006, and premiered on Nickelodeon on August 20, 2006. It is MTV's first global acquisition. In April of 2006, it was picked up for a second season, which is deep in the middle of production. In Canada, the show used to air (before being replaced by Cybersix) on the Teletoon channel. According to the Teletoon website, the show will return with new episodes in September.
Kappa Mikey is marketed as "the first anime to be produced entirely in the United States" (without any overseas animation), according to press releases from MTV, Nicktoons Network, and various other sources, as the term anime in English is generally reserved for animation originally produced for the Japanese market. It is produced by Animation Collective in New York City with voiceovers recorded at NYAV Post (sometimes by 4Kids Entertainment in random episodes, mostly like Dan Green), and animated using Adobe Flash, with some moments of CGI rendered in Maya.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The series centers around Mikey Simon, a teenage actor from Cleveland, Ohio, who embarks to Japan after winning a scratch-off card contest to star in the country's formerly popular anime series, LilyMu, and in doing this, rockets the show back to the top of the ratings, and becomes Japan's biggest anime star. Segments of LilyMu are seen at the beginning and end of each episode, but the show focuses primarily on the actors' and producers' lives off-set and Mikey's adjustments to the new world he has entered (similar in concept to The Famous Jett Jackson). The humor comes from the fact that because Mikey is an American, he actually stands out visually from the other cast members. While most characters on the show are drawn in an anime-inspired style (thin outlines, big, detailed eyes, small mouths, and all ten fingers), Mikey (and all other American characters) is drawn in a retro-inspired American cartoon manner (thicker outlines, single black dot pupil eyes, a larger mouth, and only eight fingers.
Each episode starts with the cast filming a Lilymu segment, but the take is ruined, sometimes revealing the conflict that they deal with through the rest of the episode, with a minor subplot running beneath the main plot. After the problem is resolved, the LilyMu segment will be shot again and successfully completed the second time, often changed to incorporate whatever lesson was learned during the main story.
The show has a large comedic overuse of face faults, such as a character's face and/or body turning into an exaggerated general appearance, or becoming much smaller. Clichés common to anime include the sweat drop, lines over the eyes or no eyes at all, big heads, flaming eyes, bodies becoming smaller (or chibi as referred to in anime fandom). Sometimes Mikey will try to do these things which are one of the show's running gags, but cannot due to being drawn in an American style.
[edit] Characters
The main characters in Kappa Mikey are:
- Mikey Simon, portrayed by Michael Sinterniklaas
- Gonard, portrayed by Sean Schemmel
- Mitsuki, portrayed by Evelyn Lanto
- Lily, portrayed by Annice Moriarty
- Guano, portrayed by Gary Mack
- Ozu, portrayed by Stephen Moverley
- Yes Man, portrayed by Jesse Adams
[edit] Theme Song
The Kappa Mikey theme song is called = "Hey (x2) Look (x2)" by Beat Crusaders
[edit] List of episodes
[edit] References
[edit] References to American Pop Culture
- In Easy Come, Easy Gonard, the countdown clock shown is from the American television series 24.
- In the episode Sumo of all Fears, the Lilymu episode is almost identical to the climax to the first Spider-Man film.
- In the episode Lost in Transportation, when Mikey is in the coffee shop with the bikers, he tries to "dance his way out", so he jumps up on the counter and does a dance very similar to the Pee Wee Herman dance. The scene is a reference to "Pee Wee's Big Adventure".
- Many of the "Kappa Mikey" episodes are parodies of famous movies, books, & more. For example,
- The Sumo Of All Fears - The Sum Of All Fears
- Mikey Impossible - Mission: Impossible
- The Fugi-Kid - The Fugitive
- Easy Come, Easy Gonard - Easy Come, Easy Go
- The Good, The bad, and the Mikey - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
- In the episode Ship of Fools The Videogame has graphics straight from Donkey Kong.
- Lily tends to frequently use the Internet-lingo term, "OMG"... so much that her friends have started saying it out of habit as well.
- Many of the characters like to say "w'ever" instead of whatever. Lily refers to this as "the dumbest thing in the world". Mikey's catchphrase is w'ever when he becomes bad in the episode, "The Good, The Bad, & The Mikey". He uses it frequently in the succeeding episodes.
- Lily's Punchbug's name comes from the children's game "slug-bug" or "punch-buggy", in which one child yells out "slug-bug!" and hits another in the shoulder or arm when they spot a VW Beetle. This is usually played as a car game (that is, played in a vehicle driven by an adult).
- Socky may be a parody of G4's ED the Sock's Night Party
- During the theme song, there is a scene where it shows Mikey dancing in a white, button-up shirt, his underwear, socks, and sunglasses accompanied by a pair of Dobermanns. This is a scene taken from Mikey Impossible, and is likely a reference to Tom Cruise in Risky Business.
- In A Christmas Mikey:
- The title is a parody of the movie "A Christmas Story" (or A Christmas Carol). The story parodies both It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol.
- Mitsuki's performance in the mansion scene is a parody of Gloria Swanson's role as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Also in A Christmas Mikey, Mitsuki has a monkey named Professor Bobo, likely a reference to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 character of that name.
- Lily's career doing voice-over work (to Mikey's and a passerby's disgust) is a meta-reference on the show itself.
- Guano as a chimney sweep with a British accent may be a reference to the chimney sweeps in Mary Poppins - he is in fact whistling "Chim Chim Cherrie" when he first appears in this role.
- When Mikey is upset over Ozu not giving him a new contract, Gonard says, "Don't worry, we'll get you that monkey assistant," and he puts on a yellow hat, which is a reference to Curious George.
- The instructor in The Lost Pilot greatly resembles Simon Cowell. Also in the episode, the audition LilyMu has for a new actor is reminiscent to the Idol series. (Pop Idol, American Idol, Australian Idol, etc.)
- In the episode Lilymeow Yesman says "four legs good!" This is a reference to Animal Farm a book by George Orwell.
- In the episode Big Brozu, Brozu says that he has to "Trump" his younger brother and fire him. This is reference to the reality show The Apprentice in which Donald Trump uses the catchphrase "You're fired" to eliminate contestants on the show.
- Part of "The Man Who Would be Mikey"'s plot is based on The Sword in the Stone.
- Mikey has an almost identical hairdo to that of Fry from Futurama.
- Mikey's Orb in LilyMu appears to be based off of the sentinel sphere from the Phantasm movies. It can fly around with no explainable means of propulsion other than having been thrown into the air (although it is possible that its saw blades act as lifting rotors of some sort). It also appears to have a limited intelligence, allowing it to do things like hover, navigate itself to cut multiple targets, and return to Mikey after it has served its purpose.
- In the episode "The Good, The Bad, And The Mikey", the song played during the battle between Captain Impressive and Bad Boy Mikey is a parody of "Beat It" by Micheal Jackson.
- In the episode "Uh oh, Guano" Mikey's horse is named Sea Cookie which is a spoof off of "Seabiscuit" an American movie
- In the episode "Uh oh, Guano" Gonard says "My kingdom for a Guano" this is a reference to Shakespeare's play "Richard III" When King Richard III says "a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse."
[edit] References to Japanese Pop culture
- The show's title is a variation on the word kappamaki, a type of sushi. It is suggested that it was the inspiration for naming the title character Mikey, and uses the prefix kappa, which is a Japanese water demon, though, the demon has not been referenced in the show as of yet.
- In the theme song, a character resembling Gō Mifune from Speed Racer is driving the limousine that Mikey, Ozu and Yes Man are joy-riding in. In The Lost Pilot, it was revealed that he is the Lily Mu limo driver.
- Sean Schemmel (Gonard) is one of the many English voices of Goku and miscellaneous characters from Dragon Ball Z, which Gonard's [off-set] design is deliberately spoofing. His character's appearance on the "LilyMu" show is also a spoof of the typical demon-like characters Goku and his friends constantly fight against in Dragon Ball Z. Gonard's love of food may also be a spoof of Goku's large appetite.
- The phrase "Oh, Mikey!", which is said several times in the show, seems to be a nod towards the Japanese television show Oh! Mikey, which also has the premise of Americans moving to Japan.
- Masaka Masako could be a play on Nozawa Masako, Japanese seiyuu best known for voicing Goku in the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z.
- In the episode "Battle of the Bands" mostly all the guitars are blue rickenbacker Model 4003 basses, similar to Haruko's bass guitar in FLCL. Also, in this episode, Rock stars Yori & Ori Are similar to the cartoon version of Puffy AmiYumi from the Cartoon Network Tv Show, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
- In "Big Trouble in Little Tokyo" Dr. Igor bears a resemblance to Vash The Stampede of Trigun.
- In the auditions in The Lost Pilot, one of the auditioners looked exactly like Mega Man, or also, Astro Boy.
- One of the background characters in The Lost Pilot was an almost perfect lookalike of Kakashi Hatake from Naruto, complete with a face-covering mask and a forehead protector (though it was engraved with a picture of fish bones instead of the familiar Leaf emblem).
- Character Dr. Takashi Katashi also looks similar to Kakashi Hatake from Naruto. Also, his office has four well-known anime character's portrait (the first three becoming references), whom Dr. Katashi claimed to be his works are:
-
- Black Jack by Tezuka Osamu (who had his facial scar removed)
- Chii from Chobits by Clamp (got a new head implant, to make her look more robotic), and
- Daisuke Niwa from D.N.Angel (unknown just by an appearance; he just smiles).
- Kosuke Ueki from The Law of Ueki (appeared in the office's background, he is noticeable by the spiky green hair, clothes and what seemed to be Tenko on his left arm).
- In the episode "Reality Bites", in the crowd, mild parodies of three anime characters - Kagome Higurashi and Shippou from InuYasha and Chii from Chobits - can be seen.
- In the episode "Saving Face" spoofs of a few well known anime characters appear:
-
- Shampoo (Ranma ½) from Ranma 1/2 appears in 'chibi' form. (She also can be seen very briefly in the opening sequence.)
- Kakashi Hatake from Naruto as a doctor who is supposed to remove Mikey's pimple.
- A picture of Chii from Chobits on the Kakashi's spoofs wall.
- Kagome from Inuyasha appears in the background of Socky's group when he goes to mock Lily.
- Batou from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is also in Socky's group, but in the front.
- Princess Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicle appears on a billboard in the background.
- In the episode "The Lost Pilot", a character that looks like a cross between Kakashi Hatake from Naruto and Franky from One Piece can be seen at the airport.
- In the episode "Ship of Fools", there is Conan Edogawa from Detective Conan (without glasses) wearing Mikey's costume and Chun Li/Lady Myao from Ran the Samurai Girl in red dress.
- In The Lost Pilot one of the characters in the background at the airport looks just like Mega Man X but he has green armor instead of blue armor.
[edit] Cultural errors
- Since the show is made in, and for, the United States, nobody in the show talks in Japanese, and the main characters all have American accents, with the exception of Ozu and Yesman. There are even minor characters who have accents from other countries, like Pierre the waiter (French), even though they are clearly supposed to be Japanese citizens.
- In the episode Ship of Fools, the video game boxes for the Lily-Mu video game have a rating of "E for Everyone" from North America's Entertainment Software Rating Board rating system rather than a rating from Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization rating system.
- Often times, books will appear in western style left-to-right format, while other times they appear in Japanese right-to-left format. Strictly speaking, this is not entirely in error, as some Japanese books do have the cover on the right, but this is not common. This may be a spoof on the practice in early dubs to heavily edit the animation to the point of various frames being flipped to give the impression of a show being set in America (ex. flipping books, cars on the right side of the road). Sailor Moon relied on this heavily, as well as extreme zooms (to cut off foreign text), reassigning gender, names, locations, etc.
[edit] External links
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characters: | Mikey Simon · Gonard · Other characters | |||
| Notable Episodes: | The Lost Pilot · The Switch · Mikey Impossible · Ship of Fools List of Kappa Mikey episodes |
|||
| Other topics: | LilyMu Towers | |||
