Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z ("And away they go! Powerpuff Girls Z") is a Japanese Anime adaptation of the American cartoon The Powerpuff Girls. It turns Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup into Magical Girl Warriors, complete with elaborate Transformation Sequences that hover somewhere between homage to and parody of the Magical Girl genre. Originally announced on April 1, 2005, which led many fans to believe it was an April Fool's joke, but the show premiered for real on July 1, 2006.

The storyline indicates that this is very much an Alternate Continuity from the American version, starting right from the girls' origin: Professor Utonium's son Ken uses a "Chemical Z" beam to destroy an iceberg that has mysteriously appeared in Tokyo City (as opposed to the original's "Chemical X"), causing an accident that grants superpowers to three unrelated thirteen-year-old girls -- Momoko Akatsutsumi (codenamed "Hyper Blossom" in her powered form), Miyako Goutokuji ("Rolling Bubbles"), and Kaoru Matsubara ("Powered Buttercup").

Many of the original Powerpuff Girls Rogues Gallery make a re-appearance here, although Mojo Jojo is now a normal monkey turned Mad Scientist by Chemical Z, bent on seeking revenge against humanity which mistreated him. Instead of translating the convoluted speech pattern the original character used into a nigh-incomprehensible Japanese version, he has a Verbal Tic and ends every sentence with "Mojo".

The series was made due to the refusal of major Japanese networks to air the original series, which was very popular on cable, since it wasn't produced in Japan.

Tropes used in Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z include:
  • Adapted Out: The manga adaptation had only Mojo Jojo and the Princess, the resst of the villains were removed.
  • Alpha Bitch: Princess, obviously.
  • Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The English dub theme song differs from the Japanese theme.
  • Artificial Human: Alpha and Beta in the manga.
  • Ascended Fangirl (Momoko/Blossom, thrice over)
  • Balloon Belly: The girls after eating too much ramen in episode 15.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness (This is how the Genre Savvy Blossom and Mojo first realize that they're supposed to be enemies)
  • Between My Legs: Blossom in episode 13.
  • Bokukko: Kaoru/Buttercup
  • Bowdlerise: The dub version of Powerpuff Girls Z has plenty of examples, the most notable being the episode where the Rowdyruff Boys make their debut:
    • While in the original the Boys climb on a roof and take a piss on people's heads, in the dub they are completely re-drawn, showing them holding a garden hose and wetting people with it.
    • When the Boys start attacking the Powerpuff Girls, they flip their skirts. This was cut in the dub.
    • They then proceed to humiliate them further by taking off their pants and mooning them. Guess what happened to the scene in the dub.
    • One dub change that didn't involve the Rowdyruff Boys: Turning Snake of the Gangreen Gang into a woman named Ivy. Note that even anyone familiar with the American original Powerpuff Girls series would know that that's supposed to be a guy...
    • The villain Great Michel is an extremely effeminate campy hairdresser guy in the original. In the dub he's turned into a woman.
    • Sakurako transforms into Sedusa because she wants to be 'sexy like Miss Bellum' and make her love interest notice her. In the dub of course this motive is removed. Later, she finds her boyfriend chatting with his college teacher. She turns into Sedusa because she thinks he's cheating on her with said teacher. In the dub, she simply thinks that he found a new friend and that he no longer wants to be her friend.
    • In the original, Bubbles' childhood friend Taka has been isolated in a hospital for 7 years over a chronic, potentially lethal heart condition. In the dub (where he's renamed as Cody), he only goes there over a minor injury.
    • They also have long white socks/stockings digitally added in the English dub.
    • Fuzzy Lumpkins marks his territory by hand-printing all over it. After falling in love with Ms Bellum, he dreams of smacking her butt, marking it this way to "claim" her. In the dub that scene was cut.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Powerpuff Girls, we need you!!!!!" Or, in the Japanese version, "Powerpuff Girls Z da wan!!"
  • Calling Your Attacks
  • Canon Foreigner: Ken Utonium
  • Christmas Episode
  • Clothes Make the Superman: Some of their powers come from their outfits, and when the professor tries on Bubbles outfit, he is mistaken for Bubbles.
  • Code Name
  • Composite Character: Poochie is combination of The Talking Dog and The PPG Hotline.
  • Continuity Nod: Outside of "Powerpuff Kids," you have several nodding to the original Powerpuff Girls including whole episodes referencing plots from the original series.
    • One had the girls fight due to Him's possession of Octi much like "Octi Evil" and another had monsters rampage freely throughout Tokyo City, similar to the plot of "Bought and Scold" where Princess makes all criminal activity legal.
    • Then you have the 2nd opening which contains numerous allusions to the original series, particularly the Liberty Bell, Harmony Bunny, and Mange suits from Super Zeroes, Blossom's ability to use her bow as a weapon, Bubbles' ability to talk to animals, Buttercup's ability to roll her tongue, Utonium's Powerprof. suit, and a mecha much like D.Y.N.A.M.O. The professor's suit, Blossom's bow attack, and D.Y.N.A.M.O. eventually make it into the series.
    • And if that wasn't enough, one episode has the girls briefly drop into Townsville where the original Powerpuff Girls are fighting off a monster.
  • Crazy Prepared: Ken and/or the Professor have, for no readily explainable reason, a ray that fires Chemical Z and another ray that reverses its effect, despite the fact that Chemical Z was just invented earlier that same day, cameras already positioned all over Tokyo and the world that just happen to be compatible with the Powerpuff's magical belt... things, and a rocket loaded with French dressing just in case the girls ever have to fight sentient vegetables... etc. Not to mention all those crazy steps that Keene took to keep the girls in class.
  • Dark Magical Girl: Princess and Sedusa are given brief transformation sequences of their own. Princess' sister Duchess also gets her own alter ego.
  • A Day in the Limelight: Episodes that focus more on the villains and make them seem fairly sympathetic. Most have their own Freudian Excuses, or at least redeeming qualities.
  • Evil-Detecting Dog: Peach/Poochie
  • Evil Redhead: Himeko/Princess, although less on the actual evil and more on the jerk, albeit a sympathetic one.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: Buttercup, Bubbles, and Blossom.
  • Freudian Excuse: Three noteworthy ones:
  • Fingerless Gloves: Probably as a nod to the original PPG's lack of fingers.
  • Genre Savvy: Momoko/Blossom
  • Girlish Pigtails: Miyako/Bubbles
  • Gratuitous English: Their transformations are invoked with English phrases.
    • You also have the Great Michel. He seems to especially love the word charisma.
  • Hair Colors
  • He Who Must Not Be Named: As with the original series, "Him" is the only designation that is safe to describe Him with. When Ken asks why, Utonium tells him Him's real name. You can't hear Utonium's voice during the scene, but Ken's expressions says it all.
  • Humongous Mecha: Mojo Jojo's creations
  • Hyperspace Mallet: Buttercup. It's actually one of her superpowers.
  • In the Name of the Moon: "Fighting Love, Science Legend! Powerpuff Girls Z!"
    • Let's not forget "Fighting Love Knowledge Legend! Oedo Chaki Chaki Girls"
  • Jumped At the Call: Blossom.
  • Even Heroes Have Heroes: Blossom, again.
  • Laying On a Hillside
  • Lighter and Softer: Compared to the original, anyway.
  • Magical Girl: And how.
  • Megaton Punch: 4 year oldPreteen Blossom packs a wicked haymaker that can send an evil monkey from the surface down to the underground rail lines.
  • My God, You Are Serious: It wasn't an April Fool's joke.
  • No Export for You: This has aired in other countries (dubbed), but not in the US.
  • "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase
  • Pinky Swear: Happened to Miyako/Bubbles and Takaaki/Cody.
  • Playing Against Type: In the English dub of the TV series had a very surprising example of this trope with Richard Ian Cox as Big Billy. Out of all the Gangreen Gang members Richard Ian Cox played Big Billy, granted he does try to do a different type of voice though. (But of course this could belong to What the Hell, Casting Agency?.)
  • Plot-Relevant Age-Up: The original Powerpuff Girls were kindergartners. The PPGZ girls are specifically said to be in Middle School.
  • Power Trio
  • Race Lift: Basically everyone goes from being White to being Asian.
  • Rogues Gallery: Mostly borrowed from the original series.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Princess and her family.
  • Science Marches On: This is a 2006 series. Why is the major, obviously on the breaking edge of chemistry, scientist still using FLOPPY DISKS?
  • Sealed Evil in a Can
  • Sentai
  • She's a Man In Japan: Snake/Ivy of the Gangreen Gang. Odd considering how the dub tried to make the show more like its CN counterpart. Then again, considering what the anime did to Snake's character, the result could have come off like a Drag Queen. This is inverted with Little Arturo, who is a girl in the anime, and yet keeps the original male name. The dub of the series reverted Arturo back to being a boy, though he retained a feminine voice and his dress.
  • Sixth Ranger: Mojo Jojo mistakenly believes that Shirogane Z is one.
  • Snap Back: Episode 43 ends with Momoko's exile from Earth.
  • Spoof Aesop: The second half of episode 43 involves Momoko's attempts to impress Himeko by pretending she has a boyfriend. It escalates to a point where she claims it's an alien being oppressed by his parents just as a passing space ship fitting her description passes by, leading to a chain reaction that causes the entire world to cheer for them to be reunited. When she goes on international television to admit that it was all a lie, she gets chased off Earth by an angry mob. The episode ends with her sitting on a meteor pondering her options as text and audio saying "don't lie" appear just before the fade.
  • Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish: Bubbles's counterpart shocks her teammates when she starts talking to puppies while they're trailing Him.
  • Superhero
  • Super-Hero Origin: The pilot.
  • Theme Naming: Princess and her older sister Duchess, at least in the English dub.
  • Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe
  • Transformation Sequence
  • Transformation Trinket: The girls' belts and compacts.
  • Verbal Tic: Mojo Jojo with "mojo", Fuzzy Lumpkins with "de mon da", Peach with "da wan".
    • Mojo Jojo lampshades this in the dentist episode, where he is able to suppress this habit, however briefly.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: Takaaki/Cody to Miyako, of course.
  • Weapon of Choice
  • What Could Have Been: The prototype is Darker and Edgier; the characters are older, it's more action-y, and the personalities are more similar to the source cartoon.
    • Apparently the voice actors for the original series have expressed interest in making their own dub of this (with Craig McCracken's approval).
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: X,K and Z are cooler than all the other letters, but clearly Z is still cooler than X.
  • X Meets Y: The Powerpuff Girls meets Pretty Cure.
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