Introducing Kawaii Jenny!

This sighting is only peripherally related to Sailor Moon. One of the writers on this show (Yoshio Urasawa) wrote the scripts for last summer’s short-lived Bishoujo Celeb Panchanne, which was based on Bishoujo Kamen Poitrine, which served as a major influence on Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor V (and eventually Sailor Moon). But since it looked so hilarious, we had to share it with you all!

One of the more popular shows that we write about on this blog occasionally, Robot Chicken, uses what’s known as Stop-Motion Animation – basically taking several pictures of objects which are moved by hand. For example, say you wanted to make a cartoon involving one of your old-school Irwin Sailor Moon dolls. If you wanted to make it walk, you would take one picture of it standing, then move one leg, take a picture of that one, move the other leg, take a picture, and so on and so forth. It’s no surprise then that the episodes of Robot Chicken are only 15 minutes long, especially given all the “blabbing” or talking effects that they add in addition to moving, and of course, the special effects. In Japan, Yahoo! is streaming a cartoon which uses the same technique called Kawaii JenNy! Kawaii JenNy is about three dolls who are kidnapped by teddy bears while auditioning to become models. They encounter a robotic dog who transforms them into the Sweet Angels, magical girls who have a sweet tooth. And of course, they always save the day! There are a lot of similarities to Sailor Moon in this show. The show is produced by Takara-Tomy, one of Japan’s leading toy companies.

This show is too funny and luckily for those of us not in Japan, they are on YouTube (for now). And they are even fansubbed – something that is a little harder to find for live action shows than it is for anime. So here come the links!

Raw Trailer
Episodes 1+2 Part 1
Episodes 1+2 Part 2
Episodes 1+2 Part 3
Episodes 3+4 Part 1
Episodes 3+4 Part 2
Episodes 3+4 Part 3

The doll that they use in this show is the Takara Jenny doll made by Takara-Tomy. Jenny was known as Takara Barbie from 1982-1986, until Takara’s partnership with Mattel ended. Jenny is popular in Japan, but not as popular as Takara’s other longtime favorite, Licca-chan, Mattel’s Barbie, or (surprise, surprise -_-) Bratz. For fans interested in seeing what happens behind the scenes , the official show’s blog can be read here.

Robot Chicken Strikes Again!

Hey Moonies, I’m sure you all remember the last time Robot Chicken did a Sailor Moon parody back in season 1 (If not, you can read about it in this post.) The latest episode contains another throwback to season 1. In the same vein as the sketch starring Michael Moore reporting on the whereabouts of action figures such as the Thundercats, He-man and Cobra Command from GI-Joe; this sketch sees the return of Michael Moore reporting on dolls from the same era. Jem, Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake and yes, Sailor Moon! Her time in the spotlight is much shorter this time around, but it is still nice to see her included in such a group of American cartoons.

Due to the nature of the sketch, it should only be viewed by our older readers.

Sailor Moon Robot Chicken Sketch

2005 marked the debut of a legendary cartoon. Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken uses stop motion animation to create some of the most hilarious shorts on everything pop-culture you can imagine ! Sadly each episode is only 15 minutes long (but they are jam packed). In the episode “Joint Point” , our favorite superhero, along with a certain red-headed evildoer made their debuts on this show! And umm, they put an evil henchman in a very awkward situation. I was very surprised at the accuracy of the background sequences used in the Sailor Moon henshin scene – they were very close to the original!

Cartoon Network (or perhaps Adult Swim?) has placed streaming versions of every sketch featured on the show on their official website and we encourage fans who haven’t seen this show to watch a few sketches! Without further ado, for fans who haven’t seen or wish to see the sketches, here they are!

WARNING THESE VIDEOS MAY BE A LITTLE NOT SAFE FOR WORK (NSFW).

Fans can purchase the entire first season (which this episode comes from) on DVD and season two should be out sometime this fall. Season three is slated to begin in the fall of this year but keep your eyes peeled for a Star Wars Special June 17th! Canadians can catch the show on Teletoon every night from Monday to Friday (but there is no word on whether the special will hit our airwaves soon).

EDIT: And I thought it was just me. Some (or all) may not work in your browser of choice. We can’t alter the code Adult Swim has given on their site, but we can give you some links. To make matters worse, even we have noticed that sometimes the videos themselves don’t load on Adult Swim -_-.
Part 1: Sailor Moon is Hot
Part 2: Queen Beryl is Hot
Part 3: Queen Beryl’s Evil Plan