This is review number one hundred and fifty four. It’s part of the Spring 2011 lineup and it’s a short one. It’s Happy Kappy, a five minute anime about kid’s stuff. It’s a twenty five episode anime about a magical pet that helps people and some other form of cute sh*t like that. Let’s just read on.

Story

I’m Kappi. I’m a prince from the kingdom of Kappimeshia. When the stone of Guri-chan’s scrunchie bracelet comes into contact with me, I transform into Prince Kappi. I can then cast magic!!!

Taking the Pants Off

I’m entering the darker side of the Spring 2011 lineup. I’ve almost done with all the twelve and twenty five episode anime in the list the remaining anime are either super long like Sket Dance, or super out of my range, like this anime. This is a kid’s show. It’s literally catered for kids and I just don’t how to approach this damn thing. I love a challenge though so here’s my shot at reviewing a kiddie anime. Happy Kappy is about a girl and her magical pet creature. It’s certainly a different anime for me and I suppose this is where I confess to how much I love this anime because I always say it when I review anime. Kiddie anime is too “normal” for me though. Between the fluff stories and the borderline pedo nature of the anime, I dunno, it’s just really different for me. The anime is decent though, I won’t deny that. Something about its fluff nature will certainly appeal to some.

The anime is about the everyday lives of this little girl named Suguri Kinoshita. Her life is not so normal though because she lives with a magical pet named Kappy that has magical powers. The anime mostly revolve around normal everyday stuff like baking, cleaning or playing in the park and it has normal everyday problems like a balloon stuck in a tree, doing your chores or having fights with your friends. These problems are resolved though by having Kappy use his magic powers. The anime usually ends with a happy note after Kappi saves the day but other times, some trouble brews because of his interference. There is nothing groundbreaking in the anime though. The story is simple, there is no strong conflict and the flow of the events is predictable. It’s just a very bright colored five minute anime about fluff episodes.

As the anime progresses, it introduces new characters with magical powers. The episodes usually involve the new characters, magical as well and related to Kappi, stirring up trouble and having Kappi use his powers to save the day. Once again, there is nothing really huge. It’s light hearted and cute. I can’t really expect much from a kiddie show that runs for five minutes.

The characters in the anime are all fluff as well. They’re friendly and nice and caring like what you’d expect from a kiddie anime. Some characters are a bit unruly but the cuteness still dominates. The two main characters are pretty bland. Suguri is the typical girl that happens to have a magical pet. There is just enough of her personality to fill in the gaps of the five minutes. The same goes for Kappy. He’s laidback, cute, funny, and loves to eat donuts. That’s basically it and they remain the same from start to finish.

I do admire how much the anime has achieved in the span of five minutes. Including the OP and ED, there is actually a decent amount of story in the episodes. There’s a conflict and a decent resolution to them. Don’t expect much though because the anime caters for kids. Everyone in the anime is friendly and the anime is predominantly made of cakes and butterflies. There’s also something oddly borderline about Kappi asking Suguri to hug her. This is just my own dirty mind working though but it does raise some red flags for me. I watch too much Ecchi.

I also admire the childlike innocence of the show. It is its main appeal and it is nicely done. You can get a baby to watch this show from its sickeningly bright colors to its fluff episodes that involves happy characters being happy. Every episode ends in a happy note and the theme of friendship is spread across the anime like a happy little rainbow. I do ask myself countless of times as to what the f*ck I’m doing watching this show but, I’ve finished it, and it was great. I’m saving this anime in the darkest portions of my hard drive so my three year old son can watch it someday and be freaked out at the weird looking characters and the retarded dance Kappy does. Seriously, it’s bad.

Sight and Sound

The character design is pretty simple. You have the bug eyes characters with big heads and you have the cute characters that have magical powers. I have seen the illustration in the manga and the anime was much more visually appealing. I do love the details on the faces of some characters and other are pretty wildly made with a tons of imagination behind them. The mailman looks pretty funny and Suguri’s dad is just weird. I like how Suguri’s face looks though. She has this blush work on her face that makes her look very childish. It’s pretty nice. There is something odd about the anime though. The animation is a bit weird. I think it’s a cross between 3D and 2D which looks really awkward.

I love the bright colors of the anime and the watercolor like effect of the scenes. There is some white space in some of the colors that really looks childish and cute. The background is also surprisingly clean. There are a lot of scenic shots and the settings all have nice clean lines to them. Again though, the animation is weird. You can tell by the way the characters stand that they are made of CG. They have this slightly robotic look to them and they often don’t blink. The way the characters speak and their movements are also a bit awkward. At first, I was weirded out but I now realize that the show nicely married 2D styling with CG. It’s pretty impressive because the movements are pretty smooth and the frame rate is high. Yeah, they look awkward but they still have a clear motion to them that I really admire.

There is a lack of consistency though in some of the scenes of the anime. Some characters are heavily detailed while others are sloppily made. Suguri is full of details from her blushy cheeks to her overall but you look at her friend’s bother and he was just awful looking. No hint of CG, doesn’t move a lot and barely even talk. There are also some scenes that are full of details like this aerial shot of Suguri’s house but then there also cheaply made scenes like the grass work in the earlier episodes.

The anime has no ED song. It’s just the preview after the anime ends. It then enters a segment where Kappi introduces some of the characters in a few short words before the preview hits. The anime’s OP is Happy Kappi Donuts by Kappi (Emiri Kato) & Suguri (Rumi Ohkubo). It’s a very cute song sang by the two main characters. It’s also very catchy and seriously, I had to stop watching the anime for a while because the song was stuck in my head. The OP sequence is just the two main characters acting all cute and the rest of the characters introduced. It ends with a very awkward scene of the magical creatures and Suguri with her parents in a circle holding hands. Yeah.

Overall Score

3/10 “The animation will certainly catch you attention but there’s nothing about the anime to keep you watching….unless you like mega cute things.”

It’s a decent show but it’s still catered for kids so if you enjoy simple anime with very little conflicts, a lot of cute stuff and the theme of friendship dominating every episode then you might like this one. The animation is a bit weird but you’ll get used to it after a few episodes. After all, five minutes isn’t a huge waste of time.