Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
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Categories: Articles needing additional references from June 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since August 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | Cleanup from October 2007 | All pages needing cleanup | Puffy AmiYumi | 2000s American television series | 2000s American animated television series | 2004 television series debuts | 2006 television series endings | Japanese television series | Animated television series | YTV shows | Anime-influenced animation
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi was an Annie Award-nominated Japanese Amercian animated television series produced by Renegade Animation for the Cartoon Network. 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 sixteen years old. However, the show also has a following of fans of the real-life Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura who make up the J-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.[citation needed] The series features the adventures of animated versions of the band. It has been immensely popular in Japan since making its 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 animated series of Teen Titans comics.
ConceptThe cartoon was produced entirely in the United States (the only series that does this full time) using a combination of Macromedia Flash and traditional cel animation.[1] Each program was 30 minutes long (with commercials) and featured three seven-minute segments that borrow inspiration from Japanese animation[citation needed]. During the first season, the show included short clips of the real Ami and Yumi making childish commentary (in English and nonsubtitled 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 AmiYumi 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. While Kawaye and Young speak fluent Japanese, DeLisle learned how to speak some of the language in the series thanks to both her castmates (this is also evident in the episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy titled "My Peeps"). CharactersMajor charactersHi Hi Puffy AmiYumi depicts characters with the same name and profession as the actual Puffy members but with different appearances and exaggerated personalities as well as the tendency to break the fourth wall:
Minor characters
EpisodesBroadcast details"Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi" premiered in the USA on November 19, 2004. Since Cartoon Network is available worldwide, the show is dubbed into several languages and aired on a variety of international neworks, as well as on YTV in Canada. On October 2, 2006, Cartoon Network terminated the show and took it off the air and the reasons are unknown. In Japan & Latin América all 39 produced episodes have been televised. It is unclear if the five remaining notseen episodes will be seen in the US or if there will be any more external support for the series, such as additional DVD releases. The US Cartoon Network website has removed all mention of the show, though the UK Cartoon Network website has not removed any material. 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 Star block on October 6, 2005[citation needed] and started to air on January 8, 2006 on Cartoon Network Japan.[citation needed] AwardsThe series has been nominated three times for the Annie Award.[2] Two of them came in 2005 and one came in 2006.
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