Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi - TV-Y
TV Rating: TV-Y
Network: Cartoon Network Cast: Janice Kawaye, Grey DeLisle, Ami Onuki, Yumi Yoshimura
Genre: Children, Cartoons, & Animation
Available on: 
DVD
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this series is based on the real Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi, but that's where the similarity ends. The girls are opposite with their moods, one eternally happy and the other a gloomy rocker chick. It's a smart premise, but with weak writing and little depth, few valuable lessons are added to the series.
Families can talk about the life of pop stars -- inparticularly young ones. Do your kids have any desire to be pop icons? Do kids like the look of the show? Are they fans of the real group, or have they become fans after watching the show?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Joly Herman
HI HI PUFFY AMIYUMI is based on the real Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi. The animated version follows two tiny popstars, Ami and Yumi, who weather the storm of being typcial teens with a popstar persona.
Clips of the live band's performances are shown briefly, which may be the biggest bonus of the series. The cartoon draws heavily on other plots and ideas, making for a slap-dash production with little value. This series may be disappointing to fans of Japanese pop culture since it's essentially nothing more than a poor attempt to replace real creativity with rubbish.
There are good elements to the look of the cartoon: the band, the tour bus, the adventures, the music, and the Japanese culture. But the characters are very simplistic foils of each other -- Ami is the cheerleader, while Yumi is forever the grump. Kaz, their manager, plays the father figure, but he has no authority over the girls' decisions or behavior.
Young audiences will like the show's rock-star element and the fact that the girls kick it in their cool tour van. But unlike other cartoons with people chilling in cool vans (Scooby-Doo comes to mind), no compelling plot drives the action. An over-zealous fan might follow the girls, or Ami might moonlight as a circus performer, but the typical junk television formula of lots of flash and no substance is the norm here. Too bad, since the music of Puffy AmiYumi -- the real band --is compelling and unique.
Kids looking for sassy girl power in their toons might check out The Life and Times of Juniper Lee or As Told by Ginger instead.
Rate It!
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ViolenceYumi is a jaded, volatile girl who reacts violently to the least provocation. |
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LanguageLots of yelling for no particular reason. |
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Social BehaviorContrary to Yumi's behavior, violence is never the answer. |
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CommercialismThings are trashed and never accounted for. The band manager is greedy to the point of making bad decisions. |
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