Kappa Mikey

''Kappa Mikey'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Larry Schwarz for Nicktoons Network. Despite airing on the channel, it was not a Nicktoon, being produced by Schwarz's production company Animation Collective. The series ran from February 25, 2006, to September 20, 2008, with repeats until November 29, 2010, across two seasons. 52 22-minute episodes were produced.

The series was announced in 2002, when it was announced that Noggin's teen block The N would be co-developing and airing the series. '' Animation World Network'' reported that Noggin/The N had signed on as a co-producer. However, the show was moved to Nicktoons Network, a sister channel to Noggin. With the move, it became the first half-hour series to premiere exclusively on Nicktoons.

Plot

Intended as a parody of Japanese anime, the series follows a young American actor named Mikey Simon whose appearance is "rendered in a thick-line, pop-graphic, American cartoon style". He travels to Japan to star in a tokusatsu show called ''LilyMu'', where his anime-influenced co-stars represent common anime clichés.

Each episode follows a specific formula. A typical episode starts with the cast filming a ''LilyMu'' segment, but the take is ruined, sometimes revealing the conflict that the characters 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 rewritten to incorporate whatever lesson was learned during the main story.

Deep into season 2, ''Kappa Mikey'' has stopped showing a ''LilyMu'' sequence at the end of an episode whenever it would make the episode too long, when the characters are in their ''LilyMu'' uniforms enough as it is, or when they successfully film a sequence without any mistakes before the ending.

Characters

* Mikey Simon (voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas) is a 19-year-old American actor who portrays the superhero and main lead, Kappa Mikey. Off the set of ''LilyMu,'' he has a childish sense of humor.
* Gonard (voiced by Sean Schemmel) is ''LilyMus main antagonist, a purple-skinned, blue-haired humanoid set on either domination or destruction. He is an actor who is actually a sweet-natured, if dim-witted, young man with an obsession for sandwiches.
* Mitsuki (voiced by Carrie Keranen) plays the headstrong bad girl on ''LilyMu''. Off set, she’s a sweet and caring young woman with a huge crush on Mikey.
* Lily (voiced by Kether Donohue) is an actress who portrays the damsel-in-distress role. She's also a temperamental and self-centered actress who was the original star of ''LilyMu'' before Mikey was hired.
* Guano (voiced by Gary Mack) is a small purple creature with long pointed ears (similar to those of a rabbit), whiskers, a long thin tail topped with a ball of fur, and a blue crystal on his abdomen. Not only is he an actor on ''LilyMu'', but he's also the show's writer and director. The character is a parody of Pikachu, right down to only saying his name as his dialogue for ''Lilymu''. In the episode "A Christmas Mikey", he is revealed to be Ozu's long-lost son wearing a costume.
* Ozu (voiced by Stephen Moverly) is the often-temperamental owner and producer of ''LilyMu,'' and owns various properties around Tokyo.
* Yes Man (voiced by Jesse Adams) is a hyperactive, overdramatic yes man/servant/scapegoat. He enjoys working for Ozu and is rarely seen away from him.

Production

Larry Schwarz conceived the series in 2000, when he was working at Rumpus Toys, a toy design company in New York City. In September 2001, Rumpus and Sunbow Entertainment partnered to work on the series. In May 2002, the project was picked up by Noggin (a channel owned by MTV Networks) for its teen-oriented programming block, The N. Noggin/The N signed a co-development deal for the series, while Animation Collective retained the series' copyright and distribution rights. By the time animation was completed, The N had shifted more to live-action shows for young adults, so ''Kappa Mikey'' was moved to another MTV Networks-owned channel: Nicktoons Network. The series was tweaked in order to fit Nicktoons Network's younger audience. Voice talents were usually local, and its audio was recorded at Manhattan-based NYAV Post, which Michael Sinterniklaas owns. Larry Schwarz, along with the other executive producers, oversaw all phases of production, but only had writing credits on the pilot episode, "Mikey Impossible" and "A Christmas Mikey". All the episodes were directed by Sergei Aniskov. The instrumental score was composed by John Angier, who also wrote the lyrics to "The Recycling Song", "Ori and Yori's Hits", "Living With Mikey", "How Did We Get Here?" and the songs from "The Karaoke Episode".

Unlike other cartoons produced at the turn of the 21st century, the property was owned by the studio instead of an agency, the animation was not outsourced and the episodes were written by full-time staff. After producing Internet-based projects and television spots, the series became Animation Collective's first television series. The series was produced in New York City; pre-production began in 2002 and animation started in the summer of 2005. Production wrapped in September 2007.

The series was animated in Adobe Flash, with some moments of CGI rendered in Maya. To further emphasize the contrast in animation styles, one group of animators was assigned to the anime characters, and another group was in charge of Mikey and the other American characters. The vehicles on '' LilyMu'' and around Tokyo, as well as the weapons, the Gonard balloon, Pirate King's ship, the Karaoke Genie Machine, etc., were created in Maya and exported into Flash using the Toon Filter. The backgrounds were modeled in Maya, and texture, details, and clouds were added in Photoshop. Some of the backgrounds were inspired by actual locations in Tokyo. The show's anime-style characters perform with large comedic overuses of face faults, such as a face and/or body turning into an exaggerated general appearance, or becoming much smaller. This allowed animators to have more control over how a character looks and acts than in many other Flash shows, and they did not always have to be on-model. The show uses clichés common to anime, including the sweat drop, lines over the eyes or no eyes at all, big heads, flaming eyes, and bodies becoming smaller. Sometimes Mikey will try to do these things, which was one of the show's running gags, but cannot due to being drawn in an American style.

Episodes

Note: All episodes of the series were directed by Sergei Aniskov.

Series overview

Season 1 (2006–07)

Season 2 (2007–08)

''Dancing Sushi''

''Dancing Sushi'' is a spin-off series based on the brief bumpers within the series. The series features four sushi characters – Salmon, Larry, Roro, and Meep – who all want to become the world's biggest pop stars. Unlike the main series, ''Dancing Sushi'' lacks any dialogue. The sushis were "voiced" by individuals involved in the original ''Kappa Mikey'' series including John Angier, the composer of the series, and director John Holt.

''Dancing Sushi'' was produced from October 2007 to December 2007. It was intended as a way to continue offering fans of ''Kappa Mikey'' more of the same kinds of characters in the same universe, and also to keep animators working on the transition between the studio's two major shows; '' Speed Racer: The Next Generation'' was in production soon afterwards. At one point, there was consideration to reprise some of the ''Kappa Mikey'' characters into this series as well.

Home media

A Kappa Mikey DVD was released on September 18, 2007 under the Starz Home Entertainment brand, and includes the episodes "Lost in Transportation," "Easy Come, Easy Gonard," and "The Man Who Would Be Mikey," all from the first season, as well as bonus material, including a fictional music video of "I'm Alright" taken from the episode "Battle of the Bands," wallpaper, an interactive game parodying '' Hollywood Squares'', and a How-to-Draw-Mikey tutorial.

In 2008, the Animation Collective site advertised a second DVD that was scheduled to be released sometime later that year. However, the announcement was removed from the website, leaving the exact release date unknown. The DVD was intended to include the first season in its entirety, with DVD extras, and would have been considered more of an "official" volume than the last one. No further announcement has been made as the status of this DVD. As of 2009, this release is shelved.

Season 1 (Episodes 1–13) was released on DVD on September 12, 200

and Season 2 (Episodes 14–26) was released on DVD on March 12, 200

by Anchor Bay Entertainment in Australia.

The soundtrack for "The Karaoke Episode" is available as a downloadable album on iTunes. Both seasons of the show itself were also available for download from iTunes before they were later taken down from the online retailer.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
{{Portal bar, Television, United States, Tokyo, Cartoon, Anime and Manga

Kappa Mikey,
2000s American animated comedy television series
2000s American children's comedy television series
2000s American satirical television series
2000s American superhero comedy television series
2006 American animated television series debuts
2008 American television series endings
American anime-influenced animated television series
American children's animated action television series
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated comedy television series
American children's animated fantasy television series
American children's animated superhero television series
American English-language television shows
American flash animated television series
American teen animated television series
Japan in non-Japanese culture
Nicktoons (TV network) original programming
Satire anime and manga
Teen superhero television series
Television shows set in Tokyo
*
Works by Len Wein