Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: Difference between revisions

'''''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!''''' is an [[Wikipedia:Anime|anime]] television program which is based on the [[Kirby (series)|''Kirby'' series]]. It was produced jointly by [[Nintendo]] and [[HAL Laboratory]] through a subsidiary company called "Warpstar, Inc." and was directed by Sōji Yoshikawa and Mitsuo Kusakabe, with supervision and the original draft coming from [[Masahiro Sakurai]]. The show originally aired on October 6, 2001 in Japan through CBC Broadcasting and consisted of one hundred episodes aired in the morning on a weekly basis, concluding in September 27, 2003. The show would later be dubbed into English by 4Kids Entertainment, and aired on Fox Box from September 14, 2002 to December 9, 2006 with intermittent pauses and changes in episode ordering. A [[Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box|HD remaster]] on Blu-ray is also scheduled to be released on March 14, 2023.

The story and universe of ''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'' are [[Canon|distinct]] from that of [[Kirby (series)|the main video game series]], with only minor overlap in terms of design choices and character attributes. Most of the story takes place in the kingdom of [[Dream Land (anime)|Dream Land]], which is portrayed as an Earth-like peninsular landmass surrounded by open sea and situated in a tropical climate. The planet which Dream Land is situated on is never explicitly named in the 4Kids dub of the show, but supplementary material confirms it is Planet [[Popstar]];<ref>[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FllOkMBXoAId3HI?format=jpg&name=large May 2003 licensing flier]</ref> in the Japanese version, it is specifically referred to as Popstar by [[Sword Knight (anime character)|Sword Knight]] in Episode 98: [[Cappy Town Down|Takeoff! Battleship Halberd]]. Despite this, the planet is never seen as a whole like it is in the games, so it is not clear if it has the same shape and characteristics. Other planets and locations in outer space are sometimes seen in the show, most notably [[eNeMeE's Fortress]] in the final episodes.

The scenario, events, and character portrayals in ''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'' differ greatly from the main video game series, and as such, are considered to be separate in terms of [[canon]]. The following list goes over the more notable differences between the anime and the video games up to that point, though there are many more smaller differences that are not mentioned here:

**King Dedede is portrayed as much more villainous, haughty, and ignorant than he is in the games. In the games, he often comes to Kirby's aid, with their conflicts usually as a result of a misunderstanding, but in the anime, his intense jealousy of Kirby and his selfishness leads him to be the source of most of the problems in the show, and causes everyone else to despise him to varying degrees.

**Meta Knight is portrayed as a hero and mentor to Kirby, whereas in the games, he is just as often an antagonist with his own diverging motives.

|A retired [[Star Warrior]] who resides on [[Island of Kit Cosmos|a deserted island]]. He is extremely paranoid, and initially believes Kirby to be a monster.

|[[Dark and Stormy Knight]]

|[[Dark and Stormy Knight]]

!Jp

!En

!class=unsortable|English airdate

| <span class="explain" title="Pilot">0</span> || 0

| 2000

| -

|[[Dark and Stormy Knight]]

|[[Ghost Monster]]

|[[Danger]]

|[[Crab Monster]]

|[[Mole Monster]]

As the ''Kirby'' series was still struggling in the west, it was decided that a ''Kirby'' animated series would be a good way to bring in new fans. ''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'' was made as a joint project between HAL and Nintendo, using a newly-created company named "Warpstar, Inc." (which still exists and manages the ''Kirby'' brand in the present day). The main director was a veteran of animation, Soji Yoshikawa. Kirby's creator [[Masahiro Sakurai]] drafted the original proposal and set many of the guidelines for the show.<ref>[https://hicbc.com/tv/kirby/staff/ Nintendo JP page containing the Staff list for the anime]</ref> Many of the difficulties in creating an anime for Kirby were detailed in early interviews with Nintendo.

Sakurai had a few things he wanted and didn't want for the show. Firstly, he didn't want Kirby to speak, and secondly, he didn't want there to be any humans. Nearly everyone involved, including Sakurai, admitted that not having Kirby speak was quite a challenge. In addition, without humans they had to come up with unique species and characters. Yoshikawa compared it to a Finnish children's book series called "[[wikipedia:Moomins|The Moomins]]", which had no humans.<ref>[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0110/kantoku/ Nintendo JP page containing the interview with Soji Yoshikawa]</ref>

Another of Sakurai's intentions was that Kirby would seem "like a pet", until he gains a Copy Ability and can battle, whereupon not only do his powers change, but his personality does as well.<ref>[https://hicbc.com/tv/kirby/great/chara/ Nintendo JP page discussing Sakurai's vision of Kirby in the anime]</ref> His view for Kirby seems to be one of "hidden strength". Yoshikawa, who also served as one of the writers, had great visions for making the series widely accessible, using not only facets of the games, but references to culture and events from outside of the ''Kirby'' series.

[[File:E1 Scene 10.png|thumb|200px|In order to save time on the animation process, many characters are often rendered in 3-D rather than the traditional 2-D methods that would be employed otherwise. In this scene, both King Dedede and Escargoon are portrayed using cel-shaded 3D models.]]

A particular emphasis was placed on the show's animation. Yoshikawa spoke of how the Japanese animation industry had reduced itself to shortcuts and cutting corners. He wanted to have animation where things could 'be moved as much as we pleased'. As such, they made the decision to do a mix of traditional 2D and 3D computer graphics animation. In particular, the use of 3D animation allowed the staff to give Kirby a smooth and "squishy" feeling to his movements and expressions, tying in to his appearance in the video games and increasing his cutesy appeal.<ref>[https://hicbc.com/tv/kirby/great/action/ Nintendo JP page discussing Kirby's animation and rendering in the anime]</ref><ref>[https://hicbc.com/tv/kirby/great/anime/ Nintendo JP page discussing the animation techniques and software]</ref>

Because of this, they were able to focus far more on creating lively, smooth animation for the characters. The frame rate of the show is 2-3X higher than most contemporary anime (about 10,000 frames are used in each episode, compared to the 4000-5000 used by most anime on TV).<ref>[https://hicbc.com/tv/kirby/great/kantoku/ Nintendo JP page discussing the animation discussing the frame count]</ref> Even with the length of the series, the animation improves noticeably as it goes on, likely as the animators improve their techniques. This is particularly noticeable for the 3-D renders of characters such as [[Dyna Blade]].

Notably, certain episodes serve to satirize the animation industry, and resort to [[fourth wall]]-breaking jokes and references in order to do so. In [[Cartoon Buffoon]], the main cast of the show are essentially tasked with re-creating the first episode with limited time and experience, lampooning the often cutthroat nature of the industry, and in [[Tooned Out]], issues relating to the use of CGI to supplant traditional animation techniques as well as the issues surrounding [[Wikipedia:Moe (slang)|moe]] and [[Wikipedia:Otaku|otaku]] culture are explored.

The music used for the anime in the Japanese version was largely composed and arranged by [[Akira Miyagawa]], with help from ''Kirby'' series regulars [[Jun Ishikawa]], [[Hirokazu Ando]], and [[Shogo Sakai]]. Most of the soundtrack was recorded with a live orchestra, though there are synthesized pieces as well. Select tracks from the anime's soundtrack can be heard on the album releases ''[[TV Anime Kirby of the Stars Original Soundtrack]]'' and ''[[Kirby & The Amazing Mirror Sound Plus]]''. Many of the songs Miyagawa composed are original to the anime, while Ishikawa, Ando, and Sakai contributed tracks based on earlier ''Kirby'' games, such as ''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'', ''[[Kirby's Adventure]]'', and ''[[Kirby Super Star]]''. Because the anime was still airing during the development of ''[[Kirby Air Ride]]'', many songs composed for the game are also used in the anime, and vice versa. Later games still occasionally use songs from the anime, with an example being [[Mosugaba]]'s theme appearing in ''[[Kirby Mass Attack]]'' and ''[[Kirby and the Rainbow Curse]]''.

In addition, there were several distinct theme songs composed for the anime. In the Japanese version, the songs "[[Kirby ★ March]]" and "[[Kihon wa Maru]]" were used as the opening and closing theme for episodes 1-71, and the songs "[[Kirby! (opening theme)|Kirby!]]" and "[[Kirby ☆ Step!]]" were used as the opening and closing themes for episodes 72-100. In the 4Kids version, the [[Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (song)|"Kirby: Right Back at Ya!" song]] is used throughout the whole series for the intro and outro, which is also the case in most other foreign dubs of the series. The Chinese dub used the same songs as the Japanese version, while the Italian dub had [[Kirby (Italian opening theme)|its own theme song]] during the first half of its broadcast.

Some edits were made to the English version, including changing the background music and the color of King Dedede's [[Armored Vehicle]], the removal of Japanese and many English letters from signs and other objects, turning King Dedede's chainsaw into a laser chainsaw, and removing scenes where guns are fired. Dialogue changes include rewording and altering the Japanese script, and changing the names of several characters and meanings, such as "Fumu" to "Tiff". Notably, Kirby's lines are often left unaltered, but much of his dialogue where he says real words are replaced with more utterances of "poyo". This is particularly notable during battles, as he no longer shouts the names of [[Copy Ability]] attacks as he uses them. Additionally, scenes featuring references to alcohol consumption would commonly be cut from the English airing, as well as many scenes where the child characters are subjected to harm. Lastly, several otherwise non-notable scenes are often cut presumably to shorten the run-time, which tends to cut some incidental characters out of episodes altogether.

Almost all further dubs of the show, such as the Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese dubs, uses the 4Kids English dub as the base for both visuals and audio, and as such feature the same changes from said dub. The sole exception to this is the Chinese dub, which uses the Japanese visuals and audio as the base.

[[File:Nintendo Power 158 July 2002 32.jpg|thumb|200px|''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'' was a main focus of the official Kirby "megasite" kirbygames.com]]

''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'' was initially aired on CBC TV in Japan from 2001 to 2003. The English 4Kids version was aired in North America on Fox Box from 2002 to 2006. Over the course of its initial run-time in Japan, the United States and Canada, several collections of episodes were released on VHS and/or DVD. In Japan, all 100 episodes were released on VHS across 34 volumes, with the first 36 and episode 49 also available on DVD. In the US and Canada, only 23 select episodes were released on DVD with 14 of them seeing VHS releases. The most notable North American home video release is that of ''[[Kirby: Fright to the Finish]]'', which comprises the last five episodes of the show into a feature-length production.

The ''[[Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box]]'', an HD remaster box set of the series on Blu-ray, was announced at the [[Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Festival]], and is scheduled to be released on March 14th, 2023.<ref name="HD remaster release date">https://twitter.com/HAL_Laboratory/status/1603587202591911936</ref> All episodes have been remastered in HD for the box set, but have not been modified otherwise (i.e. they are still presented in full screen).<ref>[https://twitter.com/Kirby_JP/status/1557674125149491200 Kirby JP Twitter announcement]</ref> Pre-orders opened on December 15th and ended on January 23rd, 2023. The first print run sold out so quickly that a second print run began during the pre-order period, set to ship in late April 2023. The box set is planned to include all 100 episodes spread across 10 Blu-ray discs, a 100-page booklet filled with anecdotes about the anime's production, all of the storyboards for episode 1, the English version of episode 1, the original [[Kirby of the Stars Pilot]], textless versions of both sets of opening and closing animations, the [[Kirby 3D]] episode, all of the "Pupupu Tsushin" segments aired during the original broadcast, and an acrylic ''Kirby'' series calendar as a pre-order bonus.<ref>https://www.valuemall.jp/SHOP/KBXI-00015-24.html</ref>

KRBaY Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box main box.jpg|Main box from the ''[[Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box]]'', which holds the smaller disc boxes

KRBaY Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box disc box 1.jpg|First disc box from the ''Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box'', which holds discs 1 through 5

KRBaY Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box disc box 2.jpg|Second disc box from the ''Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box'', which holds discs 6 through 10

KRBaY Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box disc set 1.jpg|First disc set (discs 1 - 5) from the ''Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box''

KRBaY Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box disc set 2.jpg|Second disc set (discs 6 - 10) from the ''Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box''

KRBaY Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box special booklet.jpg|"Special Booklet" from the ''Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box''

KRBaY Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box storyboard book.jpg|Storyboard book from the ''Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box'', containing all the storyboards for [[Kirby Comes to Cappy Town]]

KRBaY Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box acrylic calendar.jpg|Acrylic calender from the ''Kirby of the Stars HD Remaster Version Whole Complete Box'', included as a preorder bonus

*Music from the anime would later be used in ''[[Kirby Air Ride]]'', and would appear more sparingly in later games, most particularly ''[[Kirby Mass Attack]]'' and ''[[Kirby and the Rainbow Curse]]''.

*Meta Knight's signature sword [[Galaxia]] was introduced in the anime, though it has been re-designed somewhat since then.

*[[Escargoon]], the [[N.M.E. Sales Guy]], [[Chef Shiitake]], [[Captain Waddle Doo]], and [[Max Flexer]] would later cameo in some of the ''Kirby Mass Attack'' [[Sub-Game]]s.

*Banjō Ginga, who voices [[eNeMeE|Nightmare]] in the Japanese version, would go on to voice [[Parallel Nightmare]] in ''[[Super Kirby Clash]]''.

*Likewise, Meta Knight and Knuckle Joe retain their Japanese voice actors from the anime in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' and subsequent games in that series.

*[[Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (song)|The English theme song]] for the show is an unlockable song in ''[[mariowiki:Donkey Konga|Donkey Konga]]'', and the Japanese version likewise includes the second Japanese theme song, "[[Kirby! (opening theme)|Kirby!]]"