Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Kappa Mikey"

I've talked about Nicktoons Network before - in my 2019 review of Corneil and Bernie, to be precise. Since then it's strayed even farther from its original purpose. Currently, the only Nickelodeon cartoon it airs that isn't already still airing on Nickelodeon is the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show. That's it. In fact, if Wikipedia is to be believed, the channel currently only airs seven shows - one of which is live action. I guess one could make the argument that if someone wants to watch those old Nicktoons the channel used to air, they could just use Paramount Plus... but here's the thing: not everyone has Paramount Plus. Not everyone can afford Paramount Plus. Not everyone wants to pay for Paramount Plus just to watch a show that they could once see on TV for free.

But enough of my ranting, let's talk about Nicktoons Network in its heyday. As I've said before, it originally aired some original shows, some of which were made for the network and some of which were acquired programming. And one of those shows, the first half-hour series to premiere exclusively on the network, is one that I usually think of when I think of Nicktoons Network. That show? Kappa Mikey.

Kappa Mikey was the creation of Larry Schwarz. It took the two types of cartoons - American cartoons and anime - and sort of mashed them together. The star was Mikey (voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas), a teenager in America who wins a contest to become the star of a Japanese anime show called LillyMu. His costars are the dimwitted but kindhearted Gonard (Sean Schemmel), who plays the show's main villain, the temperamental diva Lily (Kether Donohue), the shy and polite Mitsuki (Carrie Keranen) who totally has the hots for Mikey, and Pikachu parody Guano (Gary Mack). The show premiered in 2006 and received two seasons.

I think Kappa Mikey's status as a Nicktoons Network-exclusive show (according to TV Tropes, it did air on Nickelodeon itself at one point, but they treated it poorly) is the main reason why it's so obscure nowadays. But I remember liking the show when it was on, so maybe doing a review of it will help it become at least slightly more popular? Maybe? I don't know.

So, which episode do I review? I remember really liking the one where LilyMu becomes a reality show... I'm trying to avoid doing an episode too close to the show's beginning (just in case the show starts out mediocre but gets better as it goes on) but not too close to the show's ending either. How about the twenty-third episode "Uh Oh, Guano"?

What say we get this review started? Or, as they say in Japan, kono rebyū o hajimetara dōdeshou ka? Yes, I had to use Google Translate for that. Please don't judge me.

"Uh Oh, Guano" starts off by showing us an episode of LillyMu. Gonard has captured the good guys and challenged Mikey to a joust, because I guess Gonard is a big fan of medieval times. Apparently, however, he doesn't know that in a joust, both opponents need to have a lance, which Mikey lacks... or maybe he does know that and he just wants to put Mikey at a disadvantage since, y'know, he's the bad guy.

First question in the review: is it ever explained why Gonard has purple skin on LillyMu but a normal skin tone off-camera? Do they just put makeup on him? Do they ever explain it? I don't recall them ever explaining it in any of the episodes I watched... then again, I watched those episodes years ago so I could be misremembering...

"Worst merry-go-round EVER!"

Mikey tricks Gonard into cutting the ropes that bind him with his "cyber-lance", then grabs a signpost to use as a makeshift lance. They wind up charging into each other, then Guano yells "CUT!" and we zoom out to show the camera crew. Mikey complains that he should have a stunt double like his horse.

"DreamWorks wants me to be in that Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron sequel they're
doing? Alright, but tell them I won't do it for less than a billion. And I want only HAY in
my trailer. None of that straw crud they've been pushing my way."

Ozu (Stephen Moverley), the producer of LillyMu, enters and tells the cast that he has wonderful news. "You sold Mikey to a circus?" Lilly asks, her head becoming gigantic as she speaks. I've heard of fame going to your head, but this is ridiculous.

...have I used that joke before?

It's always the blonde girls that are the mean one in these Nicktoons, isn't it? Lilly,
Angelica, Helga, Debbie Thornberry... what do the folks at Nickelodeon have against blondes?

Actually, Ozu's wonderful news is that he is sending the show out for the entire world to see. Finally, people across the entire planet will be able to enjoy LillyMu - and give Ozu their money, of course. "You sold it to every country?!" Gonard exclaims. "South Dakoda? Jupiter? The lost kingdom of El Dorado?" Get it? It's funny because none of those are actual countries (well, maybe El Dorado qualified as one before it went missing, but still).

Ozu says that he's only sold the show to one place - the Republic of Buttstonia. Which in addition to having the word "butt" in its name is also shaped like a butt. And don't worry, they even point this out because subtlety is for ninnies.

"Their main export: fart jokes."

Guano is so excited that his head starts to inflate like a balloon... uh, I don't know why either... only to deflate when Ozu tells him that the show was edited for the Buttstonia audience. Specifically, they redubbed the show to throw in pop culture references.

Okay, I see what this is. This episode is a satire of the English dubs given to anime in the 2000s. Is anybody here familiar with 4Kids Entertainment?

You might remember them as the guys who made the Viva Pinata show. Their biggest claim to fame is taking anime and giving them English dubs and airing it on American TV stations. Anime fans do not like their dubs, with reasons ranging from clumsy censoring to replacement of the original music to "Americanization" of references to Japanese culture. Eric Stuart, the voice of Brock from Pokemon, explained at a convention that this was due to American culture having different sensitivities regarding content compared to Japanese culture and the original Japanese production companies wanting their shows to be distributed worldwide and international audiences to relate to the shows easier. I'm afraid I can't comment much on 4Kids' dubbing practices myself since the only anime I've ever really watched is Pokemon. I don't recall their dub of that ever making references to Catherine the Great and Star Wars, though.

The LillyMu cast's reaction to what Buttsonia did to their show is this:

"THEY VIOLATED MY ARTISTIC VISION!" Guano roars - I should've mentioned this earlier, in addition to being on the show he's also a writer for it. And then he's suddenly wearing a diaper. It's a comfort thing.

If he's embarrassed now, just wait until he finds out what "guano" actually means...

So what do Mikey, Gonard, Mitsuki, and Lilly get for being international superstars? They get the native currency of Buttstonia - BUTTS! It's like money, but it's shaped like butts! Butts, butts, butts, butts, butts!

"Ever heard of 'paying through the nose'? Well, now you can pay through the BUTT!"

How much are butts worth in Yen? Nothing, it turns out. The good news is, Ozu is going to sell LillyMu to America next - which means that all of Mikey's friends back home will see what a huge star he is. Apparently, he tried to tell them before, but they didn't believe him because of his long history of lies and deceit immediately demonstrated by his calling up somebody and claiming that he invented doors.

Then we cut to this...

After that, Gonard tries to spend the butts he received on stuff like a camera and a baby. Lilly has to tell him that people in Japan don't pay for things with butts, but Gonard doesn't quite get it. "Touch them! Touch my butts!" he shouts. Butts are funny, right? Please laugh.

Fortunately for Gonard, he then runs into this guy from Buttstonia. You can tell he's from Buttstonia because he has a huge butt. And yes, I am indeed going to give you a screencap of it. Sorry...

Sir Mix-a-Lot would love this guy...

The Buttstonia guy is so impressed by Gonard's having so many butts that he offers to become Gonard's servant. Could we please go back to the 4Kids satire? I find that much more interesting than the countless butt jokes.

Meanwhile, Mikey is sitting down with Mitsuki, Lilly, and Guano to watch the American version of LillyMu. Guano sobs over the fact that his work was butchered by people who think references to Star Wars are automatically hilarious. This must be how Kaja Blackley and Vanessa Chong (Google 'em) felt when they watched Monkeybone.

Also, I should mention this now... Mikey looks like Phillip J. Fry. Not identical, but the hairstyle is very similar.

"Shut up and take my money!"

To Mikey's dismay, America re-edited the show as well - to make it seem like Guano is the star. They renamed it Mighty Go Go Guano and everything. Must be because he's the cute animal-esque character and everybody loves cute animal-esque characters. And just like Buttstonia, they even redubbed the dialogue, though they resisted the urge to add pop culture references.

"How could they do this?! I'm not even in the show anymore!" Mikey moans. Actually, it turns out, he IS still in the show... as a Tinker Bell knockoff in pointy elf shoes. Well, it could've been worse... they could've shoehorned in an obnoxious stop-motion monkey voiced by a presumably desperate for money John Tuturro. Seriously, what was Henry Selick thinking?

Some screencaps really don't need captions. They just speak for themselves.

And sure enough, the reason why they made Guano the star is because they want to sell Guano dolls. "Why must you be so marketable?" Mikey asks Guano, who says that he's mad too because they mutilated his show. Ozu enters the room and says that Guano is going to be on a talk show in one hour - and he better not blow it.

"WHERE DID YOU HIDE MY NOSE, GUANO?!"

Mitsuki and Lilly check in on Gonard and find the Buttstonia guy washing his feet. He fills them in as to what's going on, and Mitsuki protests that he can't exploit some poor guy and make him his servant. "You're just jealous 'cause I put my butts to good use," Gonard claims.

Oh, no, Guano hid Mitsuki's nose, too.

Lilly, meanwhile, decides to turn the Buttstonia guy into HER servant. I do hope this leads to a moral about how exploiting foreigners for personal gain is wrong.

And now, another weird transition!

Guano is freaking out before his big interview because he has a serious case of stage fright. "Everyone will be watching me! Judging me! Smelling me!" he whimpers. We get a fart joke (I was wondering how long that would take seeing as we've gotten, what, seventeen butt jokes so far?), and Guano laments that he's terrified of being in the public eye - even more than he's terrified of lightning, feathers, or antique furniture. He begs Mikey to do the interview for him.

"HELP ME, MIKEY! I'M BEING STALKED BY A KID WHO WANTS TO PUT ME IN
SOMETHING CALLED A 'POKEBALL' AND MAKE ME FIGHT MONSTERS!"

Mikey says that he's got an idea that'll solve both their problems. But before we can find out what it is, we cut to Gonard and Mitsuki finding out about Lilly making the Buttstonia guy HER servant. Mitsuki calls them out for exploiting the Buttstonia guy, but they (of course) ignore her.

"I should've taken up that job with Yu-Gi-Oh..."

So what was Mikey's plan to help Guano not have to go on the talk show and have everyone in America see how cool he is? He dresses up in a Guano costume and easily charms the studio audience by beatboxing and scatting. It's a good thing this wasn't a live interview or else everyone probably would've wondered why Guano was so large.

Incidentally, that's a pretty impressive costume. Its mouth moves when Mikey talks. Even Disney had difficulty perfecting that technology.

I'm guessing that guy is supposed to be a caricature of someone, but I don't know who
it is...

About halfway through the interview, Mikey takes off his Guano head and reveals himself to the people of America. He claims that HE'S the actual star of LillyMu, not Guano, and that Guano is a recluse who would never "come on this show and charm it up".

"Why, yes, I did indeed skin Guano to make this costume. And I'm not ashamed of it at all!"

Mikey's plan backfires - the host of this talk show is intrigued by Mikey's claim that Guano is "so mysterious" and wants to know more about him. He doesn't even remember Mikey's name.

And how's Guano doing? Well...

After having a chat with Gonard and being trampled by paparazzi, Mikey discovers that Guano has gone completely insane. Then it's revealed that Mitsuki has also made the Buttstonia guy her personal servant. What a hypocrite. On the bright side, thanks to their exploiting of him, the Buttstonia guy is now the richest person in Buttstonia, and he's heading back home to buy a castle, leaving Gonard, Mitsuki, and Lilly without a servant. Wah wah wah wah waaaaaaaaah...

As for Guano, he slowly becomes less and less sane by the second, but Mikey assures him that he's got a plan to get the reporters off his back. That plan is to throw him into the hot air balloon that the Buttstonia guy is using to leave Japan. "He's going to live a life of solitude in the caves of Buttstonia!" Mikey tells the reporters. "He just wanted his peace, and YOU drove him MAD! I hope you're HAPPY!" They'll just have to get a new Guano for the show... how about the Guano who just so happens to be having a picnic nearby, and who promptly earns the reporters' scorn by beatboxing?

Okay, wait, wait. I'm confused. How did Guano get down from the hot air balloon so fast?

Or is this Guano an imposter?

Mikey explains once the reporters leave that the Guano he threw into the hot air balloon was a decoy - specifically, Ozu's wacky assistant Yes Man (Jesse Adams) in a Guano costume. Now he's off to Buttstonia... at least until he's knocked out of the hot air balloon and lands in the ocean.

So Guano doesn't have to worry about the paparazzi anymore. There's no mention of what happens to LillyMu in America now that everyone's rejected the "new Guano", but I assume it gets cancelled. So now Mikey doesn't have to deal with the humiliation of being made into a Tinker Bell knockoff. Or maybe he just has to suck it up, I don't know.

What's the Verdict?

This episode is a mixed bag. There are a lot of jokes here that are indeed very, very funny. Whenever Guano screams, in particular, is hilarious, and I liked the satire of how America treated anime in the 2000s. But for every joke that works, there's a joke about butts. Way, way too many jokes about butts. Maybe the writers' visions for the episode conflicted? Like, one of them wanted satire and the other was all "More butt jokes!"?

But as a whole, there's more good here than bad. The voice actors all do a good job, I liked the characters, and the animation is... okay. Not great, but not awful. I don't regret watching this at all, in fact I now want to seek out more episodes of Kappa Mikey. I just hope the other episodes don't have as many jokes about butts.

Side note, a major complaint I've seen about the show is that it doesn't do much with the "putting an American cartoon character in a Japanese anime" idea. And, yeah, I can understand that. I don't recall them ever actually putting much focus on the fact that Mikey is American compared to the rest of the characters' being Japanese, nor is much fun poked at anime characters. So I'm not sure if I would recommend the show to a lot of anime fans. But if you want to watch Kappa Mikey for yourself, you can find episodes on YouTube. Hurry, though - you never know when Viacom might take 'em down.