Episode 20: “Rowdyruff Boys” Parts I & II


New Challenger(s) Appear: three juvenile rebels without a cause, The Rowdyruff Boys!
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Mojo must be one proud “mama”
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SERIOUS PWNAGE
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First off, these kids rock for having so much fun with the girls. As to why I have a new-found respect for the three? Simple:


They brought back a blushing Kaoru! God bless those chibi rascals

But the one thing I found strange was Miyako’s reaction to the flip-skirt and mass mooning. She appeared to have enjoyed it, unlike the other two:


Look look, she’s peeking through with a single eye! ;P


And here she is doing it again. What gives?

Now in comes the fan reaction. From what I’ve seen and read from various sites and message boards, it’s apparently clear that the majority were disappointed from this long-awaited episode. And that’s exactly what happens when you place too much hype ahead of something, so when the time comes it can hardly match the opinion of how we thought it would be. The other complaint I hear are the lack of similarities between the Japanese RRB and their American counterparts. Well, that’s to be expected. None of these characters are truly like the original. So it didn’t really surprise me much. Nevertheless, a selected few and I were very much pleased with the end result and are naturally looking forward to the RRB’s inevitable return — maybe pull a prank on Himeko as an added bonus. Hey the more flip service the better ;D

Changing topics here, it seems that their were some new revised episode titles released over the week. They are as follows: *Note that these are all tentative and may change at any given week

  • Episode 21: “プヨプヨアヒルのモンスター!” + “嫌われ野菜の大脱出!” – (“Monster of Puyopuyoahiru!” + “A Dislike of Vegetables!”) Nov 18th.
  • Episode 22: “最凶最悪のカレ” その1&2 – (“The Most Evil of Them All, Him” Parts I&II) Nov 25th.
  • Episode 23: “歌舞伎モンスター、恋の道!” + “昆虫王は誰だ!” – (“Road of Love, Kabuki Monster!” + “Insect King, That’s Who”) Dec 1st.
  • Episode 24: “ケンの友達探し” その1&2 – (“Searching for Ken’s Friend” Parts I&II) Dec 7th.

Also, I’ve been growing concern over the exact episode count of the series. Actually it’s been like this for me since day 1, but now it’s beginning to grow even bigger than before. Several non-japanese sources have made claims that the series is set for 52 episodes originally. However that still seems a bit blurry considering that they might have meant 52 fifteen minute eps — meaning the series only has 26 total. In all honesty, I cannot imagine Toei, or any other studio for that matter, having enough confidence in a project before it becomes a success where 52 — that’s a lot — episodes are produced for broadcast. But anyway, here is the source of my main concern…

From “Shoboi Calendar” :

On Dec 20th, Volumes I & II of the DVD hit stores in Japan — approximately 3 days before episode #26 premieres on TV Tokyo.

There are only three possible interpretations to what ep26 may exactly represent:

End of Season I – Break (Most Likely)

  • Episode #26 will mark the end of the first season of “Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z”. The series will then take a break for awhile. As to how long exactly, no one can say for sure. Maybe a few weeks. Maybe until Spring/Summer/Fall 2007.

End of Season I – No Break (Small Possibility)

  • Episode #26 will mark the end of the first season of the show. However there are no programming changes. The timeslot remains the same. The week after (Dec 30th) marks the beginning of Season II.

End of the Series (Highly Unlikely)

  • Episode #26 will mark the end of the show. There are no plans to continue with the project. The only thing that can maybe save it are a combination of high TV ratings (reruns on AT-X) and popular DVD sales. Merchandising may also play a factor, however there is close to nothing of the sort at the moment.

“Pretty Cure” and “Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime” are both modern successful mahou shoujo franchises that have spawned movies, sequels, TV Specials, spinoffs, video games, and what not; all while producing characters that have become immediate icons in the industry. “Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z” is not up to that level… yet. It may or may not, depending on how successful the series is with Japanese viewers. Will international success play a factor? Hmm, maybe. No one can really say for sure. But lets just all hope for the best…

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