Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (ハイ！ハイ！パフィー・アミユミ, Hai! Hai! Pafī AmiYumi?) is an American-Japanese animated series from Cartoon Network, produced by Renegade Animation. The show was created by Sam Register, who also serves as the series' executive producer.
According to Register, the target audience of the show is boys and girls from six to eleven years old.[1] However, the show also has a following of fans of the real-life Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura who make up the Japanese pop duo PUFFY, known as "Puffy AmiYumi" in North America. Register, a fan of the band, wished to spread its fame to other parts of the world and thus produced the cartoon.[2]
The series features the adventures of animated versions of the duo, who have been immensely popular in Japan since making their debut in 1996. The group now has several U.S. albums to its credit, including a 2004 companion album to this program, and was known to viewers of Cartoon Network in the USA for performing the theme to the Teen Titans animated series.
Though the series only lasted two years, it developed a small cult following for its style and humor.
Concept
The cartoon was the only one at the time produced entirely in the United States. It used a combination of Macromedia Flash and traditional cel animation.[3] Each program was 30 minutes long (with commercials) and featured three seven-minute segments that borrow inspiration from Japanese animation.[4]
During the first season, the show included short clips of the real Ami and Yumi making childish commentary (in English and non-subtitled Japanese) at the beginning and end of each episode. They only performed short clips at the beginning of the show during the second and third seasons. Starting with the second season, the duo was sometimes shown holding title cards introducing the cartoon segments. At the end of the episode "Sitcomi Yumi", Ami and Yumi watch TV and see the animated Kaz with the real Ami and Yumi.
The real PUFFY performs the cartoon's theme song (which is also in Japanese, German, Spanish, and Portuguese in the respective regions), and many episodes feature one or more of the duo's songs playing in the background, along with music by their Puerto Rico muse Andy Sturmer.
The animated Puffy AmiYumi travel all over the world in their tour bus. While appearing the same size as a regular bus on the outside, it appears to have enough internal space to house the girls' rooms (including full-sized beds), Kaz' room, their equipment, and several televisions and computers, among other things. In the episode "Domo", Kaz refers to an upstairs area. It also seems capable of running on autopilot, as many episodes have Kaz, Ami, and Yumi sitting in the rear cabin of the bus while traveling. Several times, the rear door has been opened to receive packages, which a boy on a scooter usually delivers.
Though the characters speak English, the script occasionally intersperses their vernacular with Japanese speech, especially when the characters react to events that they find to be surprising. Calling out "Tasukete!" instead of "Help!" is commonly used. During production of the series, DeLisle learned some Japanese from Kawaye and Young, both of whom speak the language fluently.
Characters
Major characters
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi depicts characters with the same name and profession as the actual PUFFY members but with different appearances and exaggerated personalities:
- Ami Onuki (
/ˈɑːmiː/), the older one of the duo is depicted as a peppy, optimistic, and cute girl with vivid pink coloured hair and eyes. She favors bubblegum pop and wears a 1960's go-go dress, also sporting a flower in her hair and white knee-high go-go boots. As the optimist, Ami always looks on the bright side of things and finds a solution to every situation (being two years older and more mature). Her main signature color is pink. But her favourite colour is rainbow(As Harmony said in the series premiere). Ami is voiced by Janice Kawaye.
- Yumi Yoshimura (/ˈjuːmiː/), the younger of the duo, is depicted as a cynical, sarcastic punk rocker with blue-mauve hair and blue eyes. She dresses in a heavy metal/grunge/goth style with studded necklaces and bracelets, a light purple T-shirt with a skull that has the same facial expressions as she does and seems to have a mind of its own, a black miniskirt, purple bike shorts, and black army boots. Being younger, Yumi is also more impetuous than Ami and rushes headlong into a decision before thinking. However, Yumi has a mature side, too, and sometimes reasons with Ami's childish obsessions. Her main signature colour is purple. Yumi is voiced by Grey DeLisle.
- Kaz Harada is the duo's well-intentioned yet money-grubbing manager, whose successes are usually balanced out by his foolish decisions. Veteran character actor Keone Young provides his voice. He is also a huge fan of sumo wrestling, as seen in the episode "Sumo Kaz".
- Jang Keng and Tekirai are Yumi's and Ami's pet cats, respectively. Jang Keng (sometimes called "Jengo") is a black cat and Tekirai ("Teki" for short) is a fluffy white cat. The girls adore their cats, but Kaz is a constant victim of their mischief. Janice Kawaye voices Tekirai while Grey DeLisle voices Jang Keng.
Minor characters
- Harmony is the self-proclaimed "Number One Fan" of the girls and of Kaz by the end of the episode "Dis-Harmony" and in "Fan Clubs". She is a six year old psycho girl who is so obsessed with the duo that she follows them around the world and finding it almost impossible to think of other things, annoying Ami and Yumi to no end. At the end of her first appearance, she becomes obsessed with Kaz's singing and this becomes a running gag in some episodes, appearing from nowhere and telling Kaz she is his #1 fan(Number 1 villager in It's Alive). The character is voiced by Sandy Fox.
- Timmy (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is the brown-haired boy who was a brat from Brat Attack.
- Eldwin Blair is a sinister land developer, and the antagonist in the two episodes in which he appears. He usually tries to tear down beloved places for his own selfish needs. Blair is voiced by Nathan Carlson.
- King Chad is "a bad boy super hunk", as once described by Ami and Yumi. He is obsessed with the card game Stu-Pi-Doh! (a parody of Yu-Gi-Oh!) and thinks highly of himself. In "Janice Jealous", he had a girlfriend named Janice who shared his interests in video games, yo-yo tricks, and comics. True to his name, King Chad wears a fur-lined cape and gold crown, and sits on a beautifully adorned throne. In the episode "Janice Jealous", the character King Chad goes out with is based on Janice Kawaye, Ami's voice actress. She also voiced the character Janice. Chad is voiced by Katie Leigh.
- Wally is a hulking yet slow-witted man hired by Kaz as the girls' bodyguard. He is overprotective, pummeling anyone with whom Ami and Yumi attempt to make contact. Kaz later hired him as a bouncer for a party he was throwing and, more recently, Ami had him try being a roadie. He is voiced by Will Ryan.
- Domo is Kaz's dog. He looks much like his owner, even sharing a similar style of glasses (Kaz is the only one who doesn't see the resemblance). Like Kaz, he is constantly in conflict with the cats, especially since he enjoys eating their food. Domo is also voiced by Keone Young.
- The Talent Suckers are a vampire rock trio from Transylvania who first appeared in the eponymous episode, "sucking" Ami and Yumi's talent from them. They returned in two other episodes. The straight man of the trio is Vlad (Nathan Carlson), a tall vampire who speaks with a Transylvanian accent. The second band member is a short vampire, Nicolai (Corey Burton), who is easily made nervous. (A running gag has Vlad slapping Nicolai back to his senses.) The third Talent Sucker is Mitch (also voiced by Nathan Carlson), a vampire who does not talk, but instead grunts and groans.
- Atchan is a character Ami and Yumi met at Camp Youwannasushi. He thinks he is a superhero. He is based on Vo Atsushi, the lead singer of the pop band New Rote'ka. In fact, Vo Atsushi actually appeared in a live-action segment dressed up as Atchan in the series finale. Atchan always refers himself in the third person. Before becoming a superhero, Atchan's face resembles Mac from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. After he declares himself a hero, his looks change to look more like Kamen Rider's. He has a painted star over his right eye resembling that of Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley. His costume seems to be based on his manga idol, Mungbean Man as shown in Secret Origins. He is voiced by Rob Paulsen.
- Julie is Yumi's friend in the episode "Julie AmiYumi", which was not aired in the United States.[citation needed] She is a former band member whose signature colour is green. She plays a keyboard guitar. She treats Yumi kindly, but is always mean to Ami. In the episode, she tries to take out Ami and Yumi as revenge for their stealing the stardom which she believed to be rightfully hers. She could not remember Ami's name and thus called her Andy, Annie or Arthur. At the end when she is standing in the rain, still swearing revenge. Julie wears her hair is a green messy ponytail. Her signature outfit consists of a white shirt, black jacket, blue jeans, and high black boots. She is voiced by Lara Jill Miller.
- Farmer Zeke is Ami and Yumi's friend who owns a farm. Edwin Blair, the land developer, tried to take his failing farm, Happy Acres, and turn it into a parking lot, but Ami, Yumi, and Kaz come to Zeke's aid and play music to help the farm prosper again. Zeke wears brown boots, overalls, a white shirt, and a red baseball cap.
Episodes
Broadcasting
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on November 19, 2004. Since Cartoon Network is available worldwide, the show is dubbed into several languages and aired on Cartoon Network worldwide, as well as on YTV in Canada.
In Japan, the show began airing on Cartoon Network in English with Japanese subtitles in 2005. A dubbed version began airing on TV Tokyo's Oha Suta block on October 6, 2005 and started to air on January 8, 2006 on Cartoon Network Japan.
On 22 December, 2006, Cartoon Network ended the show. In Japan, Latin America, Philippines, Germany, Canada(On YTV, not Cartoon Network) and Australia ( on GO!, not on Cartoon Network), all thirty-nine produced episodes have been televised. Thus far, Cartoon Network has not mentioned any plans to release the final episodes of the series in the United States, nor has it mentioned any further external support of it in forms such as DVD releases. However since Cartoon Network websites in the United States and the UK(except the online games and products in the online shop) have removed all mention of the show, though the rest of the world have not.
The online blog of the show (puffycrew.blogspot.com) had its last new post about this show, after the last produced episode aired in Japan and wrote this: "So I guess in Japan the Puffy Show aired the final episode last week. Being that the only reason we started this blog was to get feedback on what fans wanted from the show in the future, this seems like a good time to end posting. If anything happens with the show in the future, we'll add more then. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by and all your comments! Here's some boards done in Flash from my final episode, which has never been produced."
In Germany the show airs everyday, although late at night, on Cartoon Network Germany with all episodes. It premiered in 2005 on the Cartoon Network's block of Kabel eins. The show stopped airing there after two seasons in 2006. The reason was that Cartoon Network Germany launched and most of the shows moved there.
In Australia the show stopped airing on Cartoon Network Australia in November 2008. The third season was never shown. In August-November 2009 the Australian channel GO! showed the last season. The show is now airing on Kids' WB Australia.
Awards
The series has been nominated three times for the Annie Award.[5] Two of them came in 2005 and one came in 2006.
| Year |
Result |
Award |
Category |
| 2005 |
Nominated |
Annie |
Character Design in an Animated Television Production for Shakeh Haghnazarian |
| Production Design in an Animated Television Production for Michael Giaimo (for first episode) |
| 2006 |
Nominated |
Annie |
Best Production Design in an Animated Television Production for Michael Giaimo |
Merchandise
CD
DVD
- Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Let's Go!|Let's Go! (2005)
- Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Rock Forever!|Rock Forever! (2005)
Video games
Marketing tie-ins
- A "falloon" (a float with balloon elements) of Puffy AmiYumi's cartoon tour bus (complete with the supporting characters in puppet form), the cartoon version of Puffy AmiYumi as a balloon, and the real PUFFY appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2005. A video of this Macy Parade Float in Chicago can be viewed on SUMO.tv.
- A line of toys intended for girls was produced by Mattel (makers of the popular Barbie doll and Hot Wheels cars) and released for the 2005 Christmas season.
- Two DVDs, Let's Go! and Rock Forever, featuring various episodes of the show, were released on November 29, 2005.
- In September 2005 console, handheld and PC games based on the show were licensed to D3Publisher of America (D3PA). Currently a Game Boy Advance game called Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Kaznapped! has been released. A Nintendo DS game titled The Genie and the Amp was released on June 27, 2006. Kaznapped! has also been released in Japan.
- The American costume company Rubie's produced a line of Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi costumes and accessories for girls for Halloween 2006.[6][7]
In March 2009 The first two seasons were released in japan with English and japanese audio along with thailand which they released all three seasons.
See also
References
External links
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