Hatsumei Boy Kanipan
Hatsumei Boy Kanipan is a 1998 Japanese anime television series produced by NAS and TV Tokyo, animated by Studio Comet and sponsored by Sega. The series was inspired by the 1994 SNES game Robotrek, developed by Quintet. It was immediately followed by a second season titled Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan. In late 2000, Saban Entertainment licensed the series to air on Fox Kids in September 2001 but it did not air for unknown reasons.
Plot
''Hatsumei Boy Kanipan''
In the future, humans and robots coexist peacefully, now living on the technologically advanced artificial planet Planet Sharaku, built by an inventor named Professor Taishi 200 years ago. All inventors are required to have an inventor's license, which has certain levels depending on the evaluation of the inventor.The story revolves around the life of Kanipan, a young boy who dreams of being a world-level inventor. He comes to Monshiro Town with his Interface Robot, Kid, in order to reach the coveted TAISHI-Level inventor's license. Starting as a fledgling C-Level inventor and initially failing quite a bit, he meets a variety of characters on Planet Sharaku on his quest to be the best.
''Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan''
Five years have passed since the events of the first season, and the citizens' lives on Planet Sharaku have become even wealthier. Kanipan, now a teenager, is still aiming to reach TAISHI-Level status and is currently an A-Level inventor. During the 200th anniversary celebration of Planet Sharaku, a mysterious ship falls from the sky and crashes on a beach. Inside the ship is a girl named Angelica, who has lost her memory except for her name. It is up to Kanipan to help Angelica regain her memory, and in the process he accidentally discovers that his planet is in great danger.Characters
''Hatsumei Boy Kanipan''
;Kanipan;Kid
;Milk
;Igor
;Ravioli
;BK
;Nuts
;Pochi
;Garamu and Masara
;Professor Shu
;Chuross
;Professor Pepperoni
;Galakutta
;Namul
;Secretary
;Garashy
;Maron
;Pasta
;Naruto
;Tapioca
;Yakisoba
;Curry
;Guardian
;Kanburi
;Kanburiyudofu
''Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan''
;Angelica;Borscht
;Kirsch
;Cointreau
;Cassis
;Grand Mariner
;Ginjō and Dobrock
;Professor Taishi
Music
;Opening Themes- "First Time Being In Love, I Knew It Was You"
- :Lyrics by Ohta Shinichirou & Hata Hideki
- :Composition and arrangement by Ohta Shinichirou, Kobayashi Masamichi & Arai Yasunori
- :Performed by BAAD
- "LOVE LOVE Phantasy"
- :Lyrics by Hero Matsui and Keichi Ueno
- :Composition and arrangement by Keichi Ueno
- :Performed by Whoops!!
- "O·K!"
- :Lyrics by Akihito Tokunaga & Terukado Ohnishi
- :Composition and arrangement by XL
- :Performed by XL
- Someday
- :Lyrics by Suzi Kim
- :Composition and arrangement by Hero Matsui
- :Performed by Whoops!!
Media
Musical
A musical based on the series, named Hatsumei Boy Kanipan, was performed at the Ginza Hakuhinkan Theater from December 1998 to early January 1999. The musical had an original story by Yūji Mitsuya, and starred Mizuki Sano as Kanipan, Yuta Enomoto as Salt, Ayako Morino as Nuts, Tetsurō Adachi as Ravioli, Masami Suzuki as Naruto and Mino, Chieko Higuchi as Taffy, and Kanako Mitsuhashi as Milk.Manga
A one-shot manga adaptation written and illustrated by Toshio Tanigami was serialized in the October 1998 issue of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic. It covers the first half of the anime.Another manga, A-kyū Roboto!? Kid-kun, was serialized in color at the end of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comics April 1999 and August 1999 issues. Also written and illustrated by Tanigami, it is not a manga adaptation of the anime series, but an original story with Kid as the main character, and is a short manga with science fiction gags. Kanipan Club, which contained information on the anime and games, was also launched at the same time. It has not been published in book form or republished.
The monthly CoroCoro Comic magazine also published new information about the anime in its March 1999 issue, as well as game advertisements and articles by Sega and Taito from June to October of that year.
Video games
Hatsumei Boy Kanipan was originally planned to be a video game for the Sega Saturn, developed by Quintet from 1997 to 1998 as a spiritual successor to their SNES game Robotrek. However, the anime series was produced instead, and the game was eventually cancelled due to the immediate announcement of Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan.Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan Asonde Kid DCDC is a VMU game released by Sega on April 22, 1999. A tie-in product for the anime, the device is colored translucent green, which is different from the normal VMU, and is a training game featuring Kid, where the player can allocate schedules, raise children, play minigames and play online battles with friends. It can be linked with Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan: Bōsō Roboto no Nazo!?, which would be released three months later. It occasionally appeared in the series as a memory device in the main story.
Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan: Bōsō Roboto no Nazo!? is a creative role-playing video game developed by Quintet, Shade and Zerosystem, and released by Sega for the Dreamcast on July 8, 1999. The game contradicts the series' story and borrows certain elements from the original series. As a C-Level inventor, Kanipan and Kid are hard at work on becoming the best on Planet Sharaku when Kanipan's mentor, Professor Shu, is kidnapped by a nefarious group led by Namul who aim to use inventions for evil, and Kanipan goes to rescue him. On a planet where humans and robots coexist, Namul denies such a reality and uses his means to create another artificial planet where only humans can live.
The game involves players combining parts and materials to create weapons, equipment and other inventions, and using them to search for Professor Shu. Kanipan travels the world while interacting with various characters and objects that will give him hints or ideas for new inventions, some of which are used to interact with the player's surroundings or progress the game, but most are used to upgrade the player's Interface Robots. Players can create all types of items using the Invention System, as well as "Cores", which will give them new frames and increase the number of Interface Robots that they can have. The player will occasionally do battle which they control manually and use items and bombs that they create to fight enemies on a grid. Most grids are littered with obstacles that the player can take advantage of and attacks can be charged to improve damage or accuracy. The player can also discover hidden goods; for example, one item, the Mirumiru Scope, can be equipped to Kanipan to help the player find them). The player can also later use Zenny to procure goods, heal their Robots and partake in various events.
The game is a spiritual successor to Quintet's Robotrek. Original traditional animation is used for the game's opening and cutscenes, and the game is played on a 3DCG field. It is compatible with the Jump Pack and the VMU game, Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan Asonde Kid DCDC , from which players can transfer data and download minigames. Voices were provided by Junko Takeuchi as Kanipan, Rie Iwatsubo as Kid, Kan Tanaka as Professor Shu and Tacos, Kanako Mitsuhashi as Milk, Masami Iwasaki as Igor, Harumi Ikoma as Nuts, Takashi Matsuyama as Pochi and Borscht, Kei Mashima as Professor Pepperoni, Hiroki Takahashi as Namuru, Eiji Takemoto as Nachos and Piroshiki, Takeyoshi Naito as Macaroni, Maaya Sakamoto as Maria, Chieko Higuchi as Popo, Nanaho Katsuragi as Ravioli, Haruhi Nanao as the Secretary, Satoshi Tsuruoka as Morozoff, and Yumi Kakazu as Angelica.
Dreamcast Fan gave the game a score of 21 out of 30. Reviewers said that it was easy to play, the Invention System was unique and they could enjoy collecting hints, they could reconfirm the information that they heard once, which reduced their stress, and fans of the anime could enjoy the game, as well as its "beautiful" animated cutscenes. However, they stated that the process of the Invention System could be long, which they found difficult for people who were not good at RPGs. They wished that it would have been possible to download minigames from Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan Asonde Kid DCDC , called the game's visuals "bland", and were disappointed that the game was released after the anime aired.
Taito released the game for the PlayStation as Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan: Hirameki☆Wonderland. It was scheduled to be released between July and August in 1999, but was postponed and moved to September 30 of that year. Although the title is different from the previously released Dreamcast version, the content is almost the same; character voices are omitted due to hardware limitations, and the graphics and gameplay were poor. Despite this, the game had 2D accents including new sprite animations and particle effects, an improved interface, altered cutscenes, and added areas that were intended to be in the Dreamcast version but did not make the final cut. Famitsu gave the game a score of 23 out of 40.
Home media
From June 21, 1999 to October 1999, Shochiku Home Video released Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan on video in 10 volumes. The volumes were published by Marvelous Entertainment.A DVD box set of the original series containing all 31 episodes, named Hatsumei Boy Kanipan DVD-BOX, was released by E-Net Frontier on January 26, 2007, with a postcard included as a bonus. Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan DVD-BOX, a box set containing all 21 episodes, was released the following month on February 23, 2007.
CD
Marvelous published "LOVE LOVE Phantasy/Itsuka" as a single on January 20, 1999 and March 27, 1999. Since Marvelous was a startup company at the time, distribution and sales were outsourced to Pony Canyon. The song was also included in Whoops!!'s album P on July 16, 1999 and its reissue on March 10, 2006, along with some remixes.On April 21, 1999, Marvelous released the tie-in image album KANIPAN, also distributed by Pony Canyon. The album contains a CD drama named "Kanidora ", based on an original story by Ryōta Yamaguchi; image songs, the songs "Itsuka" and "LOVE IS", and a remix of "LOVE LOVE Phantasy", the "LoVE LoVE €URO PARADE Mix".