Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is an American animated fantasy-comedy television series created by Sam Register for Cartoon Network. It aired on TV on November 19, 2004 to June 27, 2006 with a total of three seasons and thirty-four episodes, leaving five episodes unaired. Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi follows the adventures of two very cool, but very different, pop stars as they travel from gig to gig or just hang out in their hometown, Tokyo. Being famous rock stars, Ami and Yumi tour the globe in their customized Puffy bus, a veritable condo on wheels with all the major amenities and an ever-changing interior. Ami is the peppy, positive and resourceful one. Yumi on the other hand is the hard-rocking, no-nonsense cynic with an absolutely infallible sense of cool. Together, these superstars take the world by storm with musical talent, trend-setting style and humor, despite occasional misjudgments from their well-meaning but tragically square manager, Kaz. Whether they're jamming with aliens, being chased to the center of the earth by an obsessed fan or getting knocked into a video game by a tsunami, Ami and Yumi always come out on top - dishing out lessons in J-pop justice and the international language of "cool" along the way.

Background

 * Production

According to Register, the target audience of the show is boys and girls from 6 to 11 years old. However, it also has a following of teen and adult fans of the real-life Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura who make up the Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi. Register, a fan of the band, wished to spread its fame to other parts of the world and thus created the cartoon.

The series features the adventures of animated versions of the duo, who have been immensely popular in Japan since making their debut in 1996. The group now has its own U.S. albums, 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 Teen Titans animated series. During production of the series, Grey DeLisle (the voice of Yumi in cartoon form) learned how to speak some Japanese from her co stars Janice Kawaye and Keone Young, since both of them are Japanese Americans and speak the language fluently.

The cartoon was the only one at the time produced entirely in the United States. It used a combination of Macromedia Flash and traditional cel animation.[3] Each program was 30 minutes long (with commercials) and featured three seven-minute segments that borrow inspiration from Japanese animation (such as Pokémon, the Sunbow Productions animated series based on Hasbro properties, and ThunderCats).[4]

The series was officially announced at Cartoon Network's upfront on February 26, 2004. It was originally planned to premiere in December 2004,[5] but was later pushed forward to November 19.
 * Broadcast

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on November 19, 2004.[6] After ending on June 27, 2006 the show continued to rerun until December 22, where it aired in reruns normally, and occasionally, would be one of the few non-Cartoon Cartoons to air in reruns on The Cartoon Cartoon Show before being removed from the network's schedule.

Since Cartoon Network is available worldwide, the show has been dubbed into multiple languages and aired on Cartoon Network worldwide. In Canada, the series premiered on YTV on September 5, 2005. 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 Suta block on October 6, 2005, and started to air on January 8, 2006 on Cartoon Network Japan. The show is still currently airing in Cartoon Network Japan.

On October 2, 2006, the show's crew announced on their blog that Cartoon Network had cancelled Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. This was due to Sam Register leaving Cartoon Network. A fourth season was in the works during this time, but never completed.

So far, Cartoon Network has not mentioned any plans to release the final episodes of the series in the United States, nor has it mentioned any further external support of it in forms such as DVD releases. Later, they removed all mention of the show from their website (except the online games and products in the online shop).

In Japan, all of the final five produced episodes have been televised.

Cartoon Network did not acknowledge the show again until 2012, when Ami and Yumi appeared on the network's 20th anniversary poster.

Plot
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi follows the adventures of two Japanese female pop stars and best friends: Ami Onuki, a peppy optimistic, and cute schoolgirl; and Yumi Yoshimura, a cynical, sarcastic, rough, and tough punk rocker. Both are based off the real Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi, but with different appearances and exaggerated personalities. They travel around the world on their customized tour bus, along with their well-intentioned yet greedy manager, Kaz Harada (Keone Young). From rockin' out at a concert to hanging out in their hometown of Tokyo, the duo take the world by storm with their musical talent, trend-setting style, and humor, dishing out lessons in J-pop justice and establishing the international language of "cool" along the way.

Secondary characters include: Jang-Keng and Tekirai, the duo's pet cats who enjoy tormenting Kaz; Harmony, a six-year-old girl who is the self-proclaimed "Number One Fan" of Puffy AmiYumi and (later) Kaz and constantly stalks them; Eldwin Blair, a sinister land developer who tries to tear down beloved places for his own selfish needs; King Chad, a selfish "bad boy" who is a master of the card game Stu-Pi-Doh! (a parody of Yu-Gi-Oh!); the Talent Suckers, a vampire rock trio from Transylvania; and Atchan, a caricature of Vo Atsushi (lead singer of the pop band New Rote'ka) who speaks in third-person and thinks he is a superhero.

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's room, their equipment, 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 Kaz, Ami, and Yumi are sometimes sitting in the rear cabin of the bus while traveling. Occasionally, the rear door has been opened to receive packages delivered by a boy on a scooter.

During the first season, the show included live-action clips of the real Ami and Yumi making childish commentary (in English and non-subtitled 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 watched television and saw the animated Kaz with the real Ami and Yumi.

The real PUFFY AmiYumi performs the cartoon's theme song (which is also in Japanese, English, and many other languages over the world. Many episodes feature one or more of the duo's songs playing in the background, along with music by their Puerto Rican muse Andy Sturmer.

Though the characters speak English, the script 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.

Theme Songs

 * Opening


 * Hi Hi (Ep 1 - 39)
 * Closing


 * Hi Hi (Instrumental)

Episodes

 * 39

Voice Cast

 * Japanese


 * English
 * English



Trivia
all information on Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi came from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi_Hi_Puffy_AmiYumi
 * When the show first aired on the Cartoon Network, it scored the highest rating ever for a cartoon premiere.
 * It is the only Cartoon Network show that featured real songs by Ami and Yumi themselves.
 * The Skull on Yumi's shirt changes to match her expression. (Example: when she's shocked, it makes a surprised face (O_O), when she's happy it makes a smiling face ("_"), and when she frowns, it makes a sad face or scowl.
 * Kaz is based by Puffy AmiYumi's real manager Kaz Harada.
 * Teasers for the show, seen on some Cartoon Network videos and DVDs, reveal that it was originally going to have a very different look and feel. They show very jerky animation and no shading. Ami has ponytails instead of buns, and Yumi has a fang sticking out of her mouth.
 * The episode Surfs'up was banned in the USA for it's original title "Tsunami AmiYumi". The episode was set for premiere on December 31, 2004 a few days after the Indian Ocean tsunami. Renegade changed the title of the episode and all the references to the tsunami were changed(the word tsunami was changed into wave). The episode was aired everywhere on the world normally, except in the USA were even the edited version was banned. The ban for the edited version can be considered as pointless as the episode was banned only in a country that wasn't effected by the tsunami.
 * The 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. The cartoon is inspired by Japanese animation and people often think the show is from japan and that it's an anime.
 * Ami and Yumi yelling as their mouths are as big as their face was an obvious reference is the Peanuts comic strip when kids yell.
 * The main reason that this show wasn't rated TV-Y, but TV-Y7 is because of Yumi's mischievous comments.
 * The word renegade was seen in three episodes as graffiti in the background. Renegade is the studio that produced Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. In every season there is an episode with the graffiti (Dance a Go-Go, Yumi goes solo, House unkeeping).
 * Episode titles from the first season are animated, those from season 2 & 3 are filmed in the real world and often various Japanese people are holding them. In all seasons the real Ami and Yumi read the titles.
 * The real Ami and Yumi provide their singing voices for their animated cartoon selfs, Instead of Janice Kawaye and Grey Delisle.