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Kuu Kuu Harajuku

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Kuu Kuu Harajuku
The show's logo, and featuring the characters left to right clockwise: Love, Angel, G, Music, Baby and Rudie.
Also known asKooKoo Harajuku[1]
GenreComedy
Animated series
Created byGwen Stefani
Based onHarajuku Lovers brand
by Gwen Stefani
Developed by
  • Steve Aranguren
  • Gillian Carr
  • Madellaine Paxson
ShowrunnerGwen Stefani
Directed byGillian Carr
Voices of
Theme music composerChristopher Elves
Opening themePerformed by Gwen Stefani
Composers
  • Christopher Elves
  • Mark McDuff
  • Keith C. Moore (season 3)
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Canada
  • Malaysia
  • Australia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes78 (116 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Gillian Carr
  • Low Huoi Seong
  • Gwen Stefani
  • Frank Taylor (season 1)
Producers
  • Gillian Carr
  • Shelley Dresden (season 2[1])
EditorSean Morrison (season 2)
Running time22 minutes
Production companies
  • Vision Animation
  • Red Flags Fly
  • Moody Street Kids
Original release
Network10 Peach (Australia)
Release1 November 2015 (2015-11-01) –
28 December 2019 (2019-12-28)

Kuu Kuu Harajuku is a Japanese-influenced animated children's television series created by singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani. It is based on her Harajuku Lovers merchandise brand,[2] and the show doubles as a brand itself, with a line of tie-in products by Mattel. The show follows a teenage girl group called HJ5 and their manager Rudie who live in a fantasy version of Tokyo called Harajuku City. HJ5 is a quintet: the four Harajuku Girls (Love, Angel, Music and Baby) with their leader G. Episodes follow the band members and Rudie overcoming obstacles preventing them from performing.

Network Ten in Australia first commissioned an animated series based on the Harajuku Lovers franchise in 2013, but Gwen Stefani first had the idea to turn it into a TV series as early as 2004, when she introduced the brand. The cartoon is animated using Flash by the Malaysian studio Vision Animation, and it was produced with investment funding from the Victorian government agency Film Victoria. The show's music style was based on Stefani's first two studio albums, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and The Sweet Escape. The American toy manufacturer Mattel launched the Kuu Kuu Harajuku merchandise line in spring 2017.[3]

The series is distributed by the Canadian media company DHX Media (now known as WildBrain).[4] It had its Australian debut on 10 Peach (formerly known as Eleven) on 1 November 2015. A second season premiered on 1 July 2017, and the third premiered on 11 August 2018. DHX Media's Family Channel airs the show in Canada. The series received a mixed reception, as some of the critics disliked the concept's apparent cultural appropriation, which has also been a criticism of Stefani's Harajuku Girls and the Harajuku Lovers brand as a whole.

Overview

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The show follows a teenage girl based on Gwen Stefani,[5] nicknamed G, and her friends Love, Angel, Music and Baby, as they form the up-and-coming band HJ5. HJ5's clumsy manager Rudie works hard to book performances for the band, but their gigs are always interrupted. The band always manages to overcome challenges using their combined strengths: G's leadership, Love's intelligence, Angel's creativity, Music's bravery, Baby's enthusiasm and Rudie's determination.

A villain named General NoFun and his assistant, Commander Bo-Ring, often cause problems for HJ5 as they pursue a world without any entertainment. Other supporting characters include Twisty T, a famous music producer whom Rudie is desperate to impress; Say-Wah, an obsessed HJ5 fan who wants to join the band; Colonel Spyke, a stern soldier who dislikes pop music; and Mauve Madison, a talk show host who reports on HJ5.

Episodes

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Main article: List of Kuu Kuu Harajuku episodes
SeriesSegmentsEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
152261 November 2015 (2015-11-01)13 August 2016 (2016-08-13)
252261 July 2017 (2017-07-01)23 December 2017 (2017-12-23)
3522611 August 2018 (2018-08-11)28 December 2019 (2019-12-28)

Characters

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Main

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The main characters (clockwise): Rudie, Music, G, Love, Angel and Baby. The girls are all holding their Monster Pets. As seen in the third season.
  • G (voiced by Maggie Chretien) is the leader of HJ5. She is trustworthy and level-headed, though sometimes she has her doubts. She is the friendly, honest, and kind one of the band. She is the lead singer of the group. She keeps the band together, even through their tough times, and is not afraid of any challenges. Her signature colors are aqua, white and black, and she represents bows. She is based on Gwen Stefani.
  • Love (voiced by Daisy Masterman) is the smartest of HJ5. She is intelligent, smart, and creative, though sometimes she takes on too much. She has a knack for science, and often comes up with inventions, though some of them backfire. Her favorite instrument is the keyboard. Her signature color is red, and she represents hearts.
  • Angel (voiced by Emma Taylor-Isherwood) is the resident fashionista of HJ5. She is bubbly, cheerful, fashionable, and elegant, though sometimes she can be a bit of an airhead. She loves fashion and trends, as well as making people smile with her bright smile. Despite her cheerful personality, she can be very jumpy at some of this point. Her favorite instrument are the drums. Her signature colors are yellow and blue, and she represents stars.
  • Music (voiced by Sally Taylor-Isherwood) is the second-in-command and active girl who is the lancer of HJ5. She is snarky, genuine and strong-willed, though at times she can be easily annoyed. She is the sassy and fierce one of the band, as well as an exceptionally fighter and dancer. Music can be somewhat grumpy or get easily angry at times. Her favorite instrument is the guitar. Her signature color is purple, and she represents musical notes.
  • Baby (voiced by Charlotte Nicdao) is the youngest of HJ5. She is sweet, lovely, and carefree, though sometimes this gets her in trouble. She adores Cute Stuffs, and also loves hug everyone. Her favorite instrument is the bass. Her signature color is pink, and she represents cuteness.
  • Rudie (voiced by Danny Smith) is the manager of HJ5. He works hard to book them gigs; although his bad luck tends to get him and the band in trouble, he deeply cares about their safety. He is associated with checkered-themed colors, most notably in white, black and gray.

Villains

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  • General No–Fun – the short, serious and notorious leader of Nofunland.
  • Commander Bo-Ring – General NoFun's chief assistant and a high-ranking official in Nofunland.
  • Say-Wha – an obsessed HJ5 fan with an auto-tuned voice.
  • Madame Shhh – a woman who wishes to rid the world of music so that she can live in peace.
  • Sammy Starr – a music manager and Rudie's rival.
  • Moods Meow – a cat that was owned by the main antagonist, General No–Fun.
  • Stegosaurus Stan – an old children's show host who then wants to win back glory and revert everybody (including HJ5) back into toddlers.
  • Teen Genie – A rude teenaged genie who wants to use the phrase "whatever".

Recurring

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  • R.O.D. – HJ5's robotic personal assistant who speaks with a British accent.
  • Chewy – HJ5's pet Pomeranian. He is based on Gwen Stefani's pet of the same name. He was originally owned by G.
  • Jimmy – Rudie's nephew and an aspiring photographer.
  • Twisty – a music producer and millionaire. He loves to wear sneakers.
  • Mauve Madison – a popular talk show host and TV personality. She loves the color mauve (hence her name).
  • Zookeeper Smythe – A zookeeper that works at the zoo.
  • Sparkski – A hero virus who helps the HJ5 with the band's problems.
  • Morgan and Macy – A couple of twins that were managed by Sammy Starr.
  • Colonel Spyke – captain of the Harajuku Defense Squad who consists of red, yellow, and blue haired soldiers protecting Harajuku from strange creatures and animals.
  • Brodie – Rudie's younger cousin who works as an intern for the band.

Production

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Kuu Kuu Harajuku is co-produced by Vision Animation in Malaysia, Moody Street Productions in Australia, and Red Flags Fly in the United States.[citation needed] It was produced in association with Film Victoria for the first season and Network Ten for the second. A third season of the series was broadcast in 2018.[6]

Gwen Stefani initially proposed a Harajuku Girls television show or movie after the release of her 2004 studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby.[7] In Stefani's words, she "wanted to do an animated or live-action Harajuku TV show or movie since the conception of my [first] dance record."[7] Almost a decade later, Stefani pitched an animated series based on the Harajuku Lovers brand at Kidscreen's 2013 Asian Animation Summit.[8] In an interview with USA Today, Stefani explained that the show was not meant to represent the real-life Harajuku district: "the show's DNA, its visual ideas, was taken from Harajuku land, or whatever, but the show is definitely not that. It's a make-believe world where anything can happen."[9] During a January 2014 interview with Women's Wear Daily, Gwen Stefani first revealed that the show had been greenlit by Network Ten and that fifty-two episodes were in development.[10] In December 2014, the show was given the working title KooKoo Harajuku.[11]

Speaking to Broadcasting & Cable about the inspirations for her series, Stefani stated that she had a history with animation as her older brother and No Doubt founder Eric Stefani worked on The Simpsons and The Ren & Stimpy Show. She said, "I grew up with tons of animation in my own life because my brother is an animator."[12] When asked about her feelings on the renewal of Harajuku for a second season, she said "I still haven't digested that I'm even on Nickelodeon. It was a dream that I had a long time ago that came true later in life. I never thought it could happen."[12]

The art style for the show was inspired by the Harajuku district in Tokyo. Four of the series' main characters (Love, Angel, Music and Baby) were modelled after Stefani's Harajuku Girl backup dancers, with body adjustments in order to give them "a modern update for a younger audience."[9] Also unlike the Harajuku Girls, the Kuu Kuu Harajuku characters were designed as "ethnically ambiguous."[9] Gwen Stefani herself served as the template for the series' lead character, G.[5] The series' theme music was performed by Gwen Stefani and was written to incorporate lyrics from some of her past songs. Other music for the show was produced in a style Stefani describes as "similar to the music on my first two records ... a cross between an '80s video game and pop music."[13]

Gwen Stefani officially announced a second season of Kuu Kuu Harajuku in March 2017.[14] The season had been in development since October 2016. Compared to the first season, the second season was written to include more musical numbers and animated performances.[12] A third season premiered in August 2018 in Australia.[citation needed]

Release

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Broadcast

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Kuu Kuu Harajuku first premiered on 10 Peach (formerly known as Eleven) in Australia on 1 November 2015,[15] and later premiered on ABC Me on 6 December 2016,[16] and on Nick in the US on 3 October.[17] Later, it was moved to the Nick Jr. Channel on 3 February 2017.[18] The series also premiered on Family Channel in Canada on 1 November 2016.[19] The series returned to U.S. streaming on the free live TV application Pluto TV on the Nick Jr. Pluto TV channel, until Nickelodeon lost the rights to air the series.[20] The series also aired on SABC 3 in South Africa from 2018-2020.

Home media

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In February 2017, Shout! Factory signed a deal with DHX Media to secure the North American DVD and Blu-ray rights to Kuu Kuu Harajuku.[21]

Region 1
DVD title Season(s) Aspect ratio Episode count Total running time Release date(s)
Music, Baby![22] 1 16:9 7 154 minutes 13 June 2017
Super Kawaii[23] 1 16:9 6 132 minutes 26 September 2017
Girl Power[24] 1 1.78:1 7 154 minutes 20 February 2018

Reception

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Critical response

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Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave Kuu Kuu Harajuku a mixed review upon its U.S. debut. She praised Love and G as positive role models, stating, "Love stands out for her can-do attitude and her bevy of ideas to solve all kinds of problems, and G is known for her coolness under pressure." In summary, however, Ashby called the cartoon "pretty mindless, and there are better choices for role models for this age group, but it's entertaining nonetheless."[25]

Erica Russell of PopCrush argued that Kuu Kuu Harajuku's setting "is not Japan, but a culturally-empty, messily regurgitated Westernization of it. It's a whitewashed 'kawaii' fairy tale."[26] Rae Alexandra of KQED criticized the decision to portray the Harajuku Girls as racially ambiguous, suggesting that "it seems Stefani (or network executives) thought the best way to deal with the overt cultural appropriation was simply 'let's not have them be Asian anymore.'"[27] Likewise, Teresa Jusino of Dan Abrams' The Mary Sue called negative attention to the characters' races, writing, "I notice that the Harajuku Girls are all different colors. Points for diversity, I guess, except that it seems that they appropriated Japanese culture only to just about erase it from this series."[28]

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Recipients and nominees Result Refs
2016 Asian Television Award Best 2D Animation Programme Vision Animation, Network Ten, Eleven (now 10 Peach) Nominated [29]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Upcoming Production Report" (PDF). ScreenAustralia.gov.au. Government of Australia. July 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2015.
  2. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (12 April 2015). "Gwen Stefani's 'Kuu-Kuu Harajuku' Unveiled". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 December 2016.
  3. ^ Michalik, Maddie (6 October 2016). "Mattel to launch Gwen Stefani Kuu Kuu Harajuku fashion doll line". ToyBook.
  4. ^ "Kuu Kuu Harajuku Kicks Off Global Tour". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b Tran, Khanh (26 September 2016). "Gwen Stefani reflects on her whirlwind year and success in fashion, music and TV". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 November 2017. She served as the template for G
  6. ^ "Projects: Kuu Kuu Harajuku". Moody Street Productions. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017.
  7. ^ a b Brzoznowski, Kristin (17 September 2015). "Gwen Stefani Talks Kuu Kuu Harajuku". WorldScreen.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. I've wanted to do an animated or live-action Harajuku TV show or movie since the conception of my dance record Love. Angel. Music. Baby. It was one of the first things that I wanted to do{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ Fisher, Daniela (13 April 2015). "DHX to sell Gwen Stefani-driven toon globally". Kidscreen. Brunico Communications. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017. First pitched at Kidscreen's Asian Animation Summit 2013, the 26 x 22-minute toon has since been commissioned by Network Ten in Australia
  9. ^ a b c McDermott, Maeve (4 October 2016). "Gwen Stefani's new cartoon 'Kuu Kuu Harajuku' is 'God's timing'". USA Today. McLean, Virginia: Gannett Company. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017.
  10. ^ Medina, Marcy (6 January 2014). "Gwen Stefani Offers New Take on Pants". Women's Wear Daily. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017. We are doing a cartoon for Harajuku Lovers, which is a 52-episode girls cartoon that is insane
  11. ^ "Seven Projects Benefit from Assigned Production Investment Funding". film.vic.gov.au. Film Victoria. 19 December 2014. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Seven Victorian film and television projects have received government funding ... They include a second season of KooKoo Harajuku{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ^ a b c Umstead, R. Thomas (13 March 2017). "Empowering 'Voice' for Young Girls Renewed". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017.
  13. ^ Blake, Liza (30 September 2016). "Gwen Stefani Talks New 'Kuu Kuu Harajuku' Nickelodeon Series & Potential No Doubt Reunion". Billboard. Eldridge Industries. Archived from the original on 19 November 2017.
  14. ^ Steinberg, Brian (2 March 2017). "Nickelodeon Rouses SpongeBob, Gwen Stefani to Spark 'Upfront' Dollars". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017.
  15. ^ Jenny (27 October 2015). "'Kuu Kuu Harajuku' Premiering in Australia Nov. 1 (Updated)". Beacon Street Online. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.
  16. ^ Kuu Kuu Harajuku (2 December 2016). "Hello Australia!". Facebook. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018.
  17. ^ "Nickelodeon to Premiere New Animated Series Kuu Kuu Harajuku from Global Superstar Gwen Stefani on Monday, Oct. 3, at 4:00 p.m. (ET/PT)". Business Wire. 13 September 2016. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017.
  18. ^ "Nick Jr". Screener. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  19. ^ Kuu Kuu Harajuku (1 November 2016). "Hello Canada!". Facebook. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018.
  20. ^ Bouma, Luke (1 May 2019). "Nick, Nick Jr., MTV, Comedy Central, Spike, & More Are Now Live on Pluto TV". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  21. ^ Foster, Elizabeth (7 February 2017). "Shout! Factory stays home with Stefani's Harajuku". Kidscreen. Brunico Communications. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017.
  22. ^ "Kuu Kuu Harajuku: Music, Baby!". Shout! Factory. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018.
  23. ^ "Kuu Kuu Harajuku: Super Kawaii". Shout! Factory. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018.
  24. ^ "Kuu Kuu Harajuke: Girl Power". Shout! Factory.
  25. ^ Ashby, Emily (31 October 2016). "Kuu Kuu Harajuku". Common Sense Media. Archived from the original on 30 April 2017.
  26. ^ Russell, Erica (30 September 2016). "Kuu Kuu Harajuku: On Growing Up with Gwen Stefani, Japan Street Fashion + Cultural Appropriation". PopCrush. Townsquare Media. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017.
  27. ^ Alexandra, Rae (16 September 2016). "Does Gwen Stefani's 'Harajuku' Cartoon Really Have Zero Japanese Characters In It?". KQED. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017.
  28. ^ Jusino, Teresa (13 September 2016). "Gwen Stefani's Kuu Kuu Harajuku Series Brings Her Cultural Appropriation to Nickelodeon". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017.
  29. ^ "Full List: Winners, Asian Television Awards 2016". Rappler. 3 December 2016. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017.
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