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Di Gi Charat Nyo


areaseven

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Di Gi Charat Nyo ( デ・ジ・キャラットにょ )

Broccoli/Madhouse Studios/TV Osaka/Bandai Visual, 2003-2004, nyo

Bandai Entertainment, 2005-nyo

Directed by Hiroaki Sakurai, nyo (Di Gi Charat, Nanaka 6/17).

Rated 13-Up, nyo. Contains comic mischief and mild language-nyo.

Di Gi Charat (a.k.a. Dejiko) - along with Petit Charat (a.k.a. Puchiko) and Gema - travels to Earth as part of her training to become a full-fledged princess. They crash on a small town in Japan, where they meet the Omocha brothers (who spend most of their time thinking how cute Puchiko is) and Mr. & Mrs. Ankoro (an elderly couple that makes Japanese sweets).

Story: B+, nyo

Like most of the Di Gi Charat titles, there is no real plot-nyo. Instead, Di Gi Charat Nyo relies heavily on puns and childish jokes-nyo.

Animation: B, nyo

It's a Madhouse production, but don't expect state of the art animation-nyo. From the '70s-style opening to the end, Di Gi Charat Nyo is filled with wacky artwork-nyo. Of course, Yoshiki Yamakawa's character designs are as kawaii as ever, nyo.

Soundtrack: A-, nyo

The female vocal group Priere make an impressive debut with the ABBA-esque opening theme "Heartbeat", nyo. If the ending theme sounds familiar, that's because it's the group's remake of the 1989 Ranma 1/2 theme "Equal Romance", nyo.

Cast-nyo

Reprising their roles are Asami Sanada (Chizuko in Mahoromatic, Phil in A Little Snow Fairy Sugar) as Dejiko, Miyuki Sawashiro (Mint in Galaxy Angel) as Puchiko, Kyoko Hikami (Wedding Peach, Dojima in Witch Hunter Robin) as Rabi~En~Rose, and Yoshiko Kamei as Gema, nyo. Joining the cast are Kenji Nojima (Overman King Gainer, Turmeric in Sugar) as Yasushi, Omi Minami (Hyatt in Excel Saga, Ruri in Martian Successor Nadesico) as Kiyoshi, Masami Kikuchi (Tenchi Muyo!, Keiichi in Ah! My Goddess) as Dafuku, and Mika Kanai (Vanilla H in Galaxy Angel) as Kinako, nyo.

The Bottom Line-nyo

Di Gi Charat Nyo is da bomb, nyo!

Links-nyo

TV Osaka's Official Di Gi Charat Nyo Homepage-nyo (Japanese-nyo)

Reference-nyo

Anime News Network-nyo

Edited by areaseven
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I can't believe you watch anime created for small children, nyo.

Di Gi Charat is generally aimed at an otaku audience (excepting probably Panyo Panyo). She is the mascot for Gamers, after all.

Thanks for the review, A7. I'm still waiting on my first volume of Nyo. CD Japan is apparently out of stock. *sigh*

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  • 2 weeks later...

The first DVD finally arrived from CD Japan yesterday, so I'll weigh in with my own opinions on Di Gi Charat Nyo -nyu.

First, it's very obvious that Brocolli is trying to break away from the other TV series -nyu. The previous Di Gi Charat shows were co-produced by TBS and Star Child/King Records -nyu. The new series was co-produced by Emotion/Bandai Visual -nyu. The two areas where the break is most noticible is firstly the lack of a Masami Okui opening song -nyu. The second is that all the characters created for the original TV shows have all been replaced by new characters who look and sound just like them, but with different names and modified roles/personalities -nyu.

The original Broccoli characters all seem to have been left in tact -nyu. The character designs have changed slightly -nyu. They're a bit softer and more rounded than in the first TV series, though they share the same character designer, Yamakawa Yoshiki (not Koge Donbo, who is the creator of the characters, but had little to do with the anime) -nyu. I'm really happy that most traces of Panyo Panyo have pretty much been eliminated -nyu. I'm wondering if Pyocola will be showing up later. Also, as an aside, Puchiko isn't related to Dejiko -nyu.

I'm also happy that the same wackiness that borders on the psychadelic is still present -nyu. The episodes are fun and we get to see a lot of the character interaction -nyu. I'm not so sure I like some of the new characters, but they aren't bad -nyu. I also wish they'd introduced Rabi~en~Rose a bit sooner, as the bits between her and Dejiko are really good in this series, so far -nyu. The animation is as surprisingly sophisticated as ever (most people are distracted by the simple designs and lack of backgrounds and miss how good the animation really is) -nyu.

The problems I had with this show center mostly around the music -nyu. It's really not that good, especially the opening -nyu. I guess I was spoiled by the great Makkun openings which not only had some really catchy tunes, but some fun lyrics as well -nyu. The background music mostly sits in the background, which is okay, but still disapointing -nyu. The closing song's only redeeming quality is it's novelty as a Ranma 1/2 cover, which wears out really fast -nyu. As for other problems, the length of the episodes should've been shortened (maybe not as short as the original 3.5 minute originals, but definitely shorter than the 12 they have in this series), and I miss some of the TBS characters, notably Abarenbo and Kimataku -nyu.

As for the Japanese release, Broccoli really knows how to treat their fans -nyu! The DVD came with a second disc of bonus material (interviews, a concert video, and some short radio play bits set to stills) -nyu. It came with a card case and the first set of playing cards (the rest will come with the other volumes) -nyu. It also came with a head band and one of those short kimonos (big enough for me to actually wear, amazingly enough) -nyu! 8,800 yen is what it cost, but well worth it -nyu.

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  • 1 month later...

I just finished watching episodes 5-6 today-nyo. And I had a few thoughts on the series-nyo:

1. Somehow, I still don't believe Di Gi Charat Mama is voiced by Noriko Hidaka (Noriko in Gunbuster, Akane in Ranma 1/2)-nyo. I've gotten so used to her as Noriko and Akane-nyo (I haven't seen much of Inu-Yasha, so I don't know what she sounds like as Kikyo-nyo.).

2. Prière make their appearance on the ending credits-nyo. What a surprise-nyo.

3. JELEINEN, would you happen to know why Broccoli opted to use TV Osaka/Bandai instead of TBS/King Records for this series-nyo?

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I love DiGi Chara, Gemma! **points to my Digi Charat miniposters and wallscrolls**

-BEN-MAN-

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I just finished watching episodes 5-6 today-nyo. And I had a few thoughts on the series-nyo:

1. Somehow, I still don't believe Di Gi Charat Mama is voiced by Noriko Hidaka (Noriko in Gunbuster, Akane in Ranma 1/2)-nyo. I've gotten so used to her as Noriko and Akane-nyo (I haven't seen much of Inu-Yasha, so I don't know what she sounds like as Kikyo-nyo.).

I can't remember who played her in the movie or if it's the same person in Nyo -nyu.

2. Prière make their appearance on the ending credits-nyo. What a surprise-nyo.

Yeah, there's a music video bit showing them on the DVD -nyu. Cute girls, but definitely stereotypical idol singers -nyu.

3. JELEINEN, would you happen to know why Broccoli opted to use TV Osaka/Bandai instead of TBS/King Records for this series-nyo?

I honestly don't know the answer -nyu. The feeling I'm getting is some sort of falling out, but nothing concrete -nyu. I know we'll never see the original shorts released in the US because licensing issues are really messed up -nyu.

I'm sort of in the middle of moving, so I haven't had a chance to get the next couple of discs for Nyo -nyu. Have you been getting digisubs or are you getting HK source stuff -nyu? I'm looking for a script source I can borrow, and was wondering what was any good -nyu.

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I can't remember who played her in the movie or if it's the same person in Nyo -nyu.

I checked out A Trip to the Planet and noticed that Noriko is also credited as the voice of Di Gi Charat Mama-nyo.

I honestly don't know the answer -nyu.  The feeling I'm getting is some sort of falling out, but nothing concrete -nyu.  I know we'll never see the original shorts released in the US because licensing issues are really messed up -nyu. 

That's too bad-nyo. I just wonder how ADV will do with releasing Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat-nyo. But in most cases, I'll have to take their licensing with a grain of salt-nyo.

I'm sort of in the middle of moving, so I haven't had a chance to get the next couple of discs for Nyo -nyu.  Have you been getting digisubs or are you getting HK source stuff -nyu?  I'm looking for a script source I can borrow, and was wondering what was any good -nyu.

I've been getting the fansubs from NYO Coalition-nyo. They're just pretty slow on releases-nyo (only up to eps. 5-6 while the series is already in the mid-50s-nyo).

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I checked out A Trip to the Planet and noticed that Noriko is also credited as the voice of Di Gi Charat Mama-nyo.

Guess I'll have to rewatch that and listen closer -nyu. Never did care for that translation of the title; it sounds so inane -nyu. I prefer the one I came up with: Star Trek (Hoe meaning "Star" and Tabi meaning "journey" or "trek") -nyu.

That's too bad-nyo. I just wonder how ADV will do with releasing Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat-nyo. But in most cases, I'll have to take their licensing with a grain of salt-nyo.

Not a fan of Panyo Panyo, myself -nyu. I'm more interested in Synch Point's release of the movie and "Pyoko ni omakase -pyo!" -nyu. I'm also excited that someone else besides Viz got the Dejiko's Champions Cup manga -nyu.

I've been getting the fansubs from NYO Coalition-nyo. They're just pretty slow on releases-nyo (only up to eps. 5-6 while the series is already in the mid-50s-nyo).

I may have to find them or see if I can borrow the scripts (not likely given how egotistic most digisubbers are) -nyu. Thanks -nyu!

Edited by JELEINEN
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I may have to find them or see if I can borrow the scripts (not likely given how egotistic most digisubbers are) -nyu.  Thanks -nyu!

Download Di Gi Charat Nyo here-nyo.

Thanks. Now if I could get that bit torrent thing to work on my computer...

Hmm... Interesting news. It appears Broccoli got bought out by Takara. I wonder what effect this will have on things.

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Hmm... Interesting news. It appears Broccoli got bought out by Takara. I wonder what effect this will have on things.

Yeah, I was wondering about that -nyo. Especially since Bandai Visual has the current video rights -nyo.

BTW, I checked out the official site, and Piyoko is in the current series along with Rik, Ky and Coo -nyo.

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BTW, I checked out the official site, and Piyoko is in the current series along with Rik, Ky and Coo -nyo.

Not terribly surprised -pyo. Koge Donbo did the designs for all four of them before they showed up in the TV series, but you never know when it comes to IP stuff -pyo. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Black Gema ema Dan has in store -pyo!

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  • 7 months later...

The series ended in Japan weeks ago -nyo. Did anyone catch the last few episodes -nyo?

BTW, Bandai Entertainment made it official that they're releasing Di Gi Charat Nyo in the U.S. either later this year or early next year -nyo. I'm looking forward to seeing it on DVD -nyo.

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Yeah -nyu. I heard that a couple months back -nyu. What really surprises me though is that Synch Point is releasing the original shorts and TV specials -nyu. Last I checked, those were lost forever in licensing hell -nyu. Not that I don't already own most all of it on DVD already -nyu...

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

Hey A7, have you had a chance to see Winter Garden? It's a 2 part special that re-imagines Di Gi Charat. The story is pretty bog standard, but it's a lot of fun picking up all the little references they threw in (they got Sakurai to come back and direct it).

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Hey A7, have you had a chance to see Winter Garden? It's a 2 part special that re-imagines Di Gi Charat. The story is pretty bog standard, but it's a lot of fun picking up all the little references they threw in (they got Sakurai to come back and direct it).

No, I haven't seen it yet. Haven't had a chance to watch any new anime over the past month.

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