Anime: Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z 5zt2c

This is so wrong…

Seriously, making an adaptation to another culture is a hard thing to do. Especially one which was originally a parody of the exact culture it is adapted into.

Powerpuff Girls Z (PPGZ) is the retelling of the homonymous American cartoon (I’ll just call it PPGA), the silly adventures of a trio of supergirls as they protect their world from all sorts of criminals and monsters. Instead of just stopping to a dubbed version for reasons that I only imagine being fan pleasing, Japan decided to have its own PPG series, made from scratch. And boy, did they change a lot…

This is not exactly new in the industry. Since as far as the 80’s America and Japan make their own versions of the same story. Famous examples are Macross/Roboteck, American-only sequels to Voltron Defender of the Universe, an American-only OVA conclusion to the Saber Rider and the Starsheriffs, and several Japanese-only sequels and spin-offs to the Transformers. The thing is, all those shows were 90% identical or easily recognizable as part of the same franchise. PPGZ is way too different to PPGA to the point it feels like a different show. And, unfortunately, it is far-far worse as well. I will explain why by comparing both shows to one another in each section.

ART (PPGA: 8, PPGZ: 5)
PPGA was using a rather simple to draw and animate artwork which looked very 2-dimensional. It was also made to be a tribute to both the pop-art movement, superhero comic books of the 60’s, as well as a parody to several Japanese anime stereotypes. That made it look special and unique in a way, even if there are several series that were made the same way, like South Park, Dexter’s Laboratory or Ying Yang Yo. It was still somewhat different from the typical cartoon, which packs a lot more animation, 3D effects and lip-synch.

PPGZ on the other hand looks way too typical. If you have watched several anime, you can easily see how average its animation is, with its jerky motions, frozen s and repeating transformation clips. I’m pretty sure it costs more to create 3D effects and fluid animation but at the same time it looks far less captivating. It has no in-jokes to comic books and the anime jokes are not working that well, since mahou shoujo parodies are abundant in Japan but not in America.

I don’t blame studio Toei for animating it like this, since it follows their recipe on how to make a nice children’s show to the letter. It’s just that it was too safe to be given to them and not to, let’s say GAINAX or SHAFT, which would definitely have done a lot more experimenting and would have produced a far more uncommon result.

SOUND (PPGA: 8, PPGZ: 5)
In a somewhat similar fashion we have the music score and the voice acting. Although both versions have perky voices and funky beats, it is again the American version which brings out better the humorous feeling of the setting. The dialogues felt a lot more childish and stupid in the Japanese version, while the pop song opening is just preparing you to see a mediocrity.

STORY (PPGA: 3, PPGZ: 3)
Although both shows are based on short stand alone missions, it was the variety of the American version that made it look slightly better. It was at moments quite ingenious in what was going on with the scenario, dealing with some rather heavy to the mind ideas. For example, in the American version Mojo Jojo would create doomsday devises or hoards of ugly mutants would invade the city. In the Japanese version Mojo’s plans would be totally retarded and wouldn’t go further than stealing candies from little kids, while most monsters are way too silly looking. Then again it was PPGZ which had a sense of progress, as the story seems to have a loose plot that heads towards somewhere. That makes both cases to be equal, although the show was never serious and thus in need of an overall plot to begin with. In fact, it was the short 15 minute missions of PPGA that were going too fast to become tired, while the dragged to double or more in duration episodes of PPGZ were easier to get bored of, without really being more complicating or captivating than the American version.

CHARACTERS (PPGA: 7, PPGZ: 3)
Here is were the most drastic changes were made and shows how far inferior this version is. Here is a quick reference:
PPGA: Created by a chemical accident, kids, very powerful, don’t need to transform in order to fight, hand to hand battles.
PPGZ: Given powers by accident, teenagers, not too powerful, need to transform in order to fight, using weapons in battles.

In all aspects, the original is better. Being created makes them feel not human and thus excuses their huge eyes and hardship in fitting with society. Being kids brings out their innocence and how easy it is to be tricked all the time. Being very powerful means that the villains would need to use cunningness in order to escape or win, making the story more intelligent. Not in need of transforming means that their powers are part of who they are and not some cheap gimmick anyone can easily steal or suppress. Fighting hand to hand means that they are not defined by their accessories and the story focuses more on their personalities.

The remake takes a different approach and makes the whole thing feel less special. Being normal girls who are given powers means that they are not any different than any other mahou shoujo show and takes away the unearthly feeling of their nature. Being teenagers means that they are now wasting a lot of time on hitting on boys or running away from them, becoming objects of lust and not of affection for their kind hearts and will to help their world. Being not very powerful means that the villains could use anything to escape or win, making the story less in need of strategy on part of the bad guys (on the other hand the girls need to smarten up for the same reason but we don’t see that much since most villains are just idiots who steal candies from babies). Being in need of transforming and weapons means that their powers are gimmicks, just extras anyone can easily steal or suppress. Fighting with weapons means that they are mostly defined by their accessories and not their personalities.

If you think about it, the American version is using all the elements that made Superman very famous in his early career (in fact they are a parody of him). He was the first superhero to be born with powers and not from Earth and that alien feeling is what made him special when compared with others of his era. So ok, I like Batman more but that he was more of a silly clown during the 50’s (Adam West anyone?) and it was only after his new persona as the Dark Knight kicked in (which was closer to his original conception of the 30’s but oh well) that made him far more interesting. Superman’s interest as a character was a plus while he was so alien in origin and all the other heroes were blunt archetypes, but as soon as they all started to have darker sides to themselves (Watchmen anyone?) and Superman remained stuck to his usual self, they are now more interesting than him.

And here is where the remake failed. Making the girls more humane in nature without making them more humane in character. They feel equally silly as their American counterparts but way less interesting as characters… As well as more pedo-bait; I mean they are cute looking girls doing cosplay while looking at you all perky. I could never see the American looks of the girls as sexy with the silly way they were drawn (and don’t show me the fanfics because I have seen those as well; I find them disturbing and not sexy).

VALUE & ENJOYMENT (PPGA: 7, PPGZ: 1)
Bottom line, the original is special and unlike anything else ever made in America. You can’t confuse it with another cartoon, even other works the same team made. The remake on the other hand is a carbon-copy of a thousand other similar shows; place it next to them and you might as well be looking for Waldo. At the same time, the humor worked just fine in the original because the combo of visuals, comic-book looks and anime parodies was unique, whereas the remake is one of the same old stuff we have been watching since Sailor Moon (and with even far less context than it). Thus PPGZ is a poorly made series that has nothing to offer to the fans of the original and is hardly anything new to the natives of the Rising Sun.

AVERAGE SCORES: (PPGA: 6.5, PPGZ: 3)

p.s. American derived Madhouse works suck and Marvel trying to anime-ize its heroes sucks harder.

OK, I've only seen the first 9 episodes (all that's out now), so the story rating may differ once the series has completed (I will revise then)

Warning! If you don't like cute, you WON'T like this series!

Animation:
Very smooth, and for some reason fits perfectly with the Powerpuff Girls theme. I saw plenty of the original American series, but wasn't particularly impressed with the american slide-plate style of it. This, on the other hand (aside from being insanely shoujo) is very nice. It has a nice blend of older styles akin to Astro Boy, but much more refined; as well as aspects of the original Powerpuff series (structures, the ppg's eyes, etc.)
The only gripe i have is that they over-use the secretary's clipboard to hide her face. The sailor-moon-esque transformations would annoy most people, but they are often cut very short and mixed up to break them from pure monotany.

Sound:
I'll have to say, if this series was any cuter, my head would have exploded on the intro. The music couldn't get any more cute and happy if they highered an army of shoujo anime pop artists. The techno transformation music is an interesting touch, not sure if it fits, but it's an interesting touch. The voice actors seem very well suited to all the characters, so I have no complaints there. Basicly, as far as being cute, the series gets an AA+.

Story:
Well, it has alot more story than the original at this point. Still, it's not by any means the strong point of this series. the events are slightly less isolated than original ppg, but they still have a similar theme. It was nice, however, that they combine the cute randomness of the original with the over-the-top anime randomness rather flawlessly. Not much else to say about it at this point; could summerise it in one sentence.
Then again, i can accurately summarise Shakespear's Julius Ceasar in 2 sentences, so i'm not sure if a simple story is always bad.


Character:
Well, i was disapointed by the mayor. I like his new character, but he's just not quite Mr. Mayor anymore; he doesn't have his hat and he doesn't quite seem like a short old man anymore.....
Also, the addition of a son for the prefessor was a bit odd and having the Powerpuff Girls themselves not be actualy created by the Professor. Mojo doesn't seem quite as evil either. However, their new characters seem almost as good, just not quite as fitting as the originals were. Though, the addition of weapons was nice, and I do like Buttercup in this one (though the shoujo-ai reference was rather odd to see in something like this...). Overall, characters are somewhat shallow in depth, but the series doesn't try to make them 'deep' characters, or even particularly realistic. That isn't the point. Because of this, the series doesn't get much knocked off of on my rating of the characters.

Value:
I would watch it again not realy because it's incredably entertaining, but because there isn't an ounce of seriousness in it, and it's a good stress reliever for me (yes, i'm an odd person). I'll probably keep it arround for that reason as well as shock value (it's hillarious to shove it at someone who doesn't like cute things and watch their reaction)

Enjoyment:
Well, I like it (much to my friend's dismay). I'm one of those people who actualy likes a well-done transformation and several of the more humorous moments were quite good. I had to stop the first episode 4 times while watching so as to not let the cute-ness of it drive me insane, but by the second episode i had adapted.

Well, hope I don't get flamed for a review before the series is finished, but I felt it was improperly represented with a 6/10 rating and no descriptiion on it's main page.