Strangely, I'm SURE I covered this prior to making a standalone anime blog. Powerpuff Girls Z is, as the name implies, an anime based of the classic Cartoon Network hit: The Powerpuff Girls. I was skeptical at first, and plenty of the online fanbase deemed it horrible compared to the original. But alas, throgh very litte videos made dealing with them, it has a fanbase of some sort. I'll admit, even I caught on to it.
The premise isn't THAT much different from its American counterpart, but there are some noticeable changes, but I'll get to those later. The story takes place in Tokyo City, though over here, it's called New Townsville (I guess to keep in line with the PPG lore.) In this town, PPG's Professor Utonium has a son named Ken Kitazawa, who despite his age is incredibly smart (and his stature is a cross between young Utonium and Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory.) Using a new form of energy based on Chemical X, Ken fires a beam to break a glacier, the substance known as Chemical Z. Now in the original, some freak accident gave birth to 3 heroes: the titular Powerpuff Girls. Albeit different, another freak accident happens. In this case it would be black and white rays triggered by Chemical Z's impact. The black rays caused various individuals to turn evil, while the white ones, obviously, fell and came into contact with three girls: the sweet-loving Momoko Akatsutsumi, the gentle animal communicator Miyako Gotukuji, and the gutsy tomboy Kaoru Matsubara. Respectively, they transform into Hyper Blossom, Rolling Bubbles, and Powered Buttercup. Rectifying Ken's mistakes, they work together to stop these powered up villains before havoc ensues.
Debuting in mid-2006, both the anime and the 2-volume manga has aged little. Even so, the differences are plenty. For starters, as opposed to being a mere superhero action/comedy, it retains the latter 2 genres, tossing in more of a Magical Girl theme this time around. Second, as with the protagonists themselves, the cast in this are generally designed significantly different from the American cartoon. The other difference is its creation. Naturally, as it was Japanese made, series creator Craig McCracken (who made the American cartoon and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) was not directly involved with this project. It was co-produced by Cartoon Network Japan and animation studio Aniplex (who are known for works like Fullmetal Alchemist.) As far as actually animating it, the credit goes to Toei Animation, who also had under the name Sailor Moon and the Dragon Ball franchise. In fact, Miho Shimogasa, who was the anime director for Sailor Moon's 4th and 5th seasons (SuperS and Sailor Stars), did the character designs for this title.
In length, there are 52 episodes. Oddly enough, while it didn't see airtime in the US, all episodes are dubbed in English, thanks to the Ocean Corporation (who did English work for some of the Gundam metaseries as well as Dragon Ball Z's first 2 seasons.) As of now, there is no word when, nor IF this will be licensed for the UK and US. Never the less, Momoko is voiced by Nicole Bouma, Miyako by Maryke Hendrikse, and Kaoru by Kelly Metzger. Should you want to find it, your only bet is to hope and pray for a DVD copy in the Philippines, which is where the dub debuted. Alongside these two, a Japanese-exclusive Nintendo DS game was also made, published by Bandai/Namco Bandai Games.
PPGZ may not be everyone's cup of tea, and granted there are a few things in the anime that can cripple it, but I don't dislike it. Could have used more, but I'll give Japan credit: apart from the artist Bleedman, I never thought someone would come up with their own rendition of The Powerpuff Girls. I'll call it a 7 of 10. Not the greatest, but all the same, it's not mediocre in my opinion (though the dub is another story...)
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