Kappa Mikey

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 ''LilyMu'''s 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

(in millions)

Season 1 (2006–07)

Leila Strachan Chris Reisig Colin Jost & Chris Reisig Scott Crockett & Dave Simons Conrad Klein & Leila Strachan Sangjun Chon Colin Jost & Chris Reisig Sangjun Chon, Scott Crockett & Dave Simons Leila Strachan Sangjun Chon Scott Crockett & Dave Simons Leila Strachan Sangjun Chon, Scott Crockett & Dave Simons Mike Yank Scott Crockett & Dave Simons Conrad Klein & Leila Strachan Chris Reisig Scott Crockett & Dave Simons Chris Reisig Scott Crockett Mike Yank Scott Crockett & Dave Simons Mike Yank & Larry Schwartz Note: This episode was produced as the season finale, but it was aired as the sixteenth episode in the United States. Larry Schwarz Note: Despite being the series' pilot, this episode was the eighth in production order to account for several scenes being reanimated. This episode was also aired very late into the series because of the delay. Mike Yank & Alan Yang Mike Yank Scott Crockett & Ray Alma Colin Jost & Mike Yank Scott Crockett & Stuart Yellin Mike Yank Mike Yank Ray Alma Mike Yank

Season 2 (2007–08)

James Harvey Henry Hilaire Jr. & Katy Shuttleworth James Harvey Michael Wetterhahn James Harvey Robert Berens Katy Shuttleworth Lauren Ceredona Michael Wetterhahn Henry Hilaire Jr. Lauren Ceredona, Chia-Chi Chen, Christina Ghiloni, Lemwell Navera, Bob Rutan, Katy Shuttleworth & Michael Wetterhahn Katy Shuttleworth Sean Boyland Michael Wetterhahn Sean Boyland & Conrad Klein Lauren Ceredona Robert Berens & Conrad Klein Sean Lahey Henry Hilaire Jr. Walt Gardner Hal Forsstrom, Henry Hillaire Jr. & Michael Wetterhahn Walt Gardner Lauren Ceredona & Henry Hillaire Jr. James Harvey & Walt Gardner Katy Shuttleworth Michael Wetterhahn, Lauren Bergholm & Katy Shuttleworth Note: Due to this episode airing out of production order, clips from future-aired episodes are featured. James Harvey & Conrad Klein Lauren Ceredona Ryan Koh Henry Hillaire Jr. Note: This episode was produced as the series finale, but it was aired as the twenty-third episode in the United States. Note: This episode is the first appearance of Mitsuki's father chronologically; due to the episode being aired out of order, several episodes prior feature him in a minor role or cameo. Henry Hillaire Jr. & Christine Kwon James Harvey Lauren Ceredona, Katy Shuttleworth & Michael Wetterhahn Note: Despite this being the final episode to air, as well as being packaged as the final episode on iTunes, "Live LilyMu" was intended to be the finale, going by production order.

''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.

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, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20110219035634/http://www.anchorbayent.com.au/Detail.aspx?ID=STZ1019, and Season 2 (Episodes 14–26) was released on DVD on March 12, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20110219035654/http://www.anchorbayent.com.au/Detail.aspx?ID=STZ1111 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

References

1. Godfrey, Leigh. (May 29, 2002). "Sunbow and Noggin's The N to Co-Develop Kappa Mikey". [[Animation World Network]].
2. Fraser, Fiona. (May 23, 2002). "The N comes onboard Sunbow's Kappa Mikey". C21Media.
3. (2018). "The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows". Rowman & Littlefield.
4. (2019). "Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film". McFarland & Co.
5. (16 August 2018). "Kappa Mikey - Behind The Scenes "Sizzle Reel"".
6. "Sunbow and Rumpus to Produce Kappa Mikey Series".
7. (September 20, 2007). "Cross-Cultural Cartoons: Larry Schwarz and the Animation Collective".
8. (November 4, 2020). "Three Delivery: Nickelodeon's OTHER Obscure 'Anime'". CBR.
9. (January 23, 2008). "Animation Collective Delivers Comedy, Action and Chinese Food to NATPE 2008". Animation World Network.