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Kappa Mikey is an American Animated Television Series created by Larry Schwarz , which premiered on the Nicktoons Network on February 25, 2006, and premiered on Nickelodeon on August 20, 2006. It is MTV 's first global acquisition. In April of 2006, it was picked up for a second season, which is already airing its run as of June 9th . In Canada, the show used to air on the Teletoon channel before being replaced by Cybersix , since they had already shown all of the first season episodes a few times. According to the Teletoon website, the show will return with new episodes in September. ''Kappa Mikey'' is marketed as "the first Anime to be produced entirely in the United States", according to press releases from MTV, Nicktoons Network, and various other sources, as the term ''anime'' in English is generally reserved for animation originally produced for the Japanese market. It uses Japanese animation and culture as inspiration for its concept, rather than being "true" anime. It is produced by Animation Collective in New York City with voiceovers recorded at NYAV Post (sometimes by 4Kids Entertainment in random episodes, mostly like Dan Green ), and animated using Adobe Flash , with some moments of CGI rendered in Maya . TITLE The show's title is a variation on the word Kappamaki , a type of Sushi . It is suggested that it was the inspiration for naming the title character Mikey, and uses the prefix Kappa . Like Mikey, who is a 'fish out of water' in Japan, the kappa creature itself is a water demon who can live on land. The kappas first appeared on this show in the episode ''Mikey, Kappa'', on August 5th, where the origin of the title was explained. Mikey also shares his name with the actor who supplies his voice. PLOT The series centers around Mikey Simon, a teenage actor from Cleveland, Ohio , who embarks to Japan after winning a scratch-off card contest to star in the country's formerly popular Anime series, LilyMu , and in doing this, rockets the show back to the top of the ratings, and becomes Japan's biggest anime star. Segments of LilyMu are seen at the beginning and end of each episode, but the show focuses primarily on the actors' and producers' lives off-set and Mikey's adjustments to the new world he has entered (similar in concept to '' The Famous Jett Jackson ''). The humor comes from the fact that because Mikey is an American, he actually stands out visually from the other cast members. While most characters on the show are drawn in an Anime -inspired style (thin outlines, big, detailed eyes, small mouths, and all ten fingers), Mikey (and all other American characters) is drawn in a retro-inspired American cartoon manner (thicker outlines, single black dot pupil eyes, a larger mouth, and only eight fingers). Each episode starts with the cast filming a LilyMu segment, but the take is ruined (with the exception of the Christmas special), sometimes revealing the conflict that they 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 changed to incorporate whatever lesson was learned during the main story. The show has a large comedic overuse of Face Fault s, such as a character's face and/or body turning into an exaggerated general appearance, or becoming much smaller. The show uses clichés common to anime, including the sweat drop, lines over the eyes or no eyes at all, big heads, flaming eyes, bodies becoming smaller (or Super Deformed ). Sometimes Mikey will try to do these things, which are one of the show's running gags, but cannot, due to being drawn in an American style. The show is fast-paced, irreverent, and contains a fair amount of Gross-out Humor , which are signature elements of Western children's entertainment. CHARACTERS See Also: List of Kappa Mikey characters : Mikey Simon by Michael Sintkerniklaas : Gonard by Sean Schemal : Lily by Anice Moriaty : Mitsuki by Evelyn Lanto : Guano by Gary Mack : Ozu by Stephan Moverly : Yes Man by Jesse Adams These characters are modelled off of American and Japanese cartoon stereotypes, to varying extents. The show also features secondary characters and extras, mostly in crowd scenes, whose designs are directly inspired off of famous anime characters, but who are different enough to avoid copyright infringements. Sometimes this is done to spoof the films and television programs intentionally, such as the character Masaka Masako, whose appearance spoofs Yubaba's from the film Spirited Away . Other times, it is done to continue the show's original concept, without any intention behind it. THEME SONG The Kappa Mikey theme song is called "'' Hey (x2) Look (x2) ''" by Beat Crusaders . LIST OF EPISODES See Also: List of Kappa Mikey episodes DVD RELEASE A Kappa Mikey DVD is scheduled to be released on September 18 , 2007 under Anchor Bay Entertainment . It includes the episode ''Lost in Transportation'' and ''Easy Come, Easy Gonard'', both from the first season, as well as bonus material, including a music video of the theme song, wallpaper, and a How-To-Draw-Mikey tutorial. Since this DVD only includes a few episodes, it is possible that the studio is planning on releasing a series of DVDs, gradually putting every episode on DVD, instead of getting an entire season out at once. REFERENCES References to American Popular Culture
Cultural Errors
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