Introducing Kawaii Jenny!

This sighting is only peripherally related to Sailor Moon. One of the writers on this show (Yoshio Urasawa) wrote the scripts for last summer’s short-lived Bishoujo Celeb Panchanne, which was based on Bishoujo Kamen Poitrine, which served as a major influence on Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor V (and eventually Sailor Moon). But since it looked so hilarious, we had to share it with you all!

One of the more popular shows that we write about on this blog occasionally, Robot Chicken, uses what’s known as Stop-Motion Animation - basically taking several pictures of objects which are moved by hand. For example, say you wanted to make a cartoon involving one of your old-school Irwin Sailor Moon dolls. If you wanted to make it walk, you would take one picture of it standing, then move one leg, take a picture of that one, move the other leg, take a picture, and so on and so forth. It’s no surprise then that the episodes of Robot Chicken are only 15 minutes long, especially given all the "blabbing" or talking effects that they add in addition to moving, and of course, the special effects. In Japan, Yahoo! is streaming a cartoon which uses the same technique called Kawaii JenNy! Kawaii JenNy is about three dolls who are kidnapped by teddy bears while auditioning to become models. They encounter a robotic dog who transforms them into the Sweet Angels, magical girls who have a sweet tooth. And of course, they always save the day! There are a lot of similarities to Sailor Moon in this show. The show is produced by Takara-Tomy, one of Japan's leading toy companies.

This show is too funny and luckily for those of us not in Japan, they are on YouTube (for now). And they are even fansubbed - something that is a little harder to find for live action shows than it is for anime. So here come the links!

Raw Trailer
Episodes 1+2 Part 1
Episodes 1+2 Part 2
Episodes 1+2 Part 3
Episodes 3+4 Part 1
Episodes 3+4 Part 2
Episodes 3+4 Part 3

The doll that they use in this show is the Takara Jenny doll made by Takara-Tomy. Jenny was known as Takara Barbie from 1982-1986, until Takara's partnership with Mattel ended. Jenny is popular in Japan, but not as popular as Takara's other longtime favorite, Licca-chan, Mattel's Barbie, or (surprise, surprise -_-) Bratz. For fans interested in seeing what happens behind the scenes , the official show's blog can be read here.