Dinner at Jam's

When I was in Kumagaya, a popular hang-out for all the foreign teachers was Jam's American Diner. As one of my Yankee coworkers explained to me, "This is where you go for a burger when you get sick of McDonald's." It was the USA-themed bar and grill. We were having the welcome party for one of our new Yankee teachers there. When she walked in, she stared in awe at the juke box in the corner, the Harley-Davidson on the stage, and the walls covered with pictures of Elvis. I turned to her and said, "Kinda weird to see your own culture filtered through another, isn't it?" And she nodded.

So, it's in the spirit of Jam's, that I bring to you this video.







If you're thinking to yourself, "Wow. That looks like The Powerpuff Girls remade as an anime," you'd be right.

Back on July 1, Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z debuted on Japanese television. A co-production of Toei Animation and the Cartoon Network, it is The Powerpuff Girls re-invented as an anime...more specifically, the "magical girl" kind of anime, of which the best example is still Sailor Moon.

To answer your first question, Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken had nothing to do with this. Those responsible are the entire creative team responsible for Sailor Moon. Seriously.

The revised origin goes like this. Ken Kitazawa is the son of the renowed Professor Utonium. One day, while experimenting with "Chemical Z" (a more potent form of his father's Chemical X), Ken lets loose the Chemical Z on a glacier, in an attempt to stop a weather machine. The resulting explosion unleashed several balls of light. Those who embraced the Dark Light became super-villains...several of which are anime re-creations of the Powerpuff Girls rouges gallery.

And three teenaged girls embraced the White Light. Given awesome superpowers, these three girls took the superhero names Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, and use their powers to fight crime and the forces of evil...mainly, those who embarced the Dark Light.

Ya know what? For how everything got re-invented, and the new characters and all that, I'll just point you to the show's entry at Wikipedia, which has all that good stuff.

The long term plan is for the Cartoon Network to dub this some day and show it in North America...but if you can't wait that long, there's a whole slew of fan-subbed episodes up on YouTube.

But I just had to share this.

ooo! Before I go, it's just not an anime without a transformation sequence!