Kappa Mikey – A Flash Out Of Water
‘Kappa Mikey,’ the first anime series created and produced 
entirely in the US, is set to bow on the Nicktoons Network on February 25th. According to the press release, this Flash-animated show takes “place on and off the set of LilyMu, a fictional Japanese TV series starring an unknown American actor named Mikey Simon. Kappa Mikey contains many pop-culture references and jokes for kids and adults alike.”
Click below to see the title sequence for ‘Kappa Mikey.’
John Conning, an animator at Animation Collective, recently posted a few thoughts about Flash animation on the official ‘Kappa Mikey’ blog.
By using Flash, an animator can cover a lot of ground in a day.
ItÂs a wonderful way to work because you can see your animation grow as you create it. You could never get this close to your work when you animated with pencil and paper. Besides Flash for animating, we also use Maya to build props and background settings. Then the work of finishing the episodes is done with programs like Final Cut and After Effects. ItÂs pretty amazing to think that if wanted to, you could actually make an entire TV show on your laptop using this software.
Read more from John’s comments over at the ‘Kappa Mikey’ website.
February 14th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
I love your site, but your videos never play!
February 14th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
the video doesn’t play because it’s protected in some way (probably needs a cookie or something) I did a little digging and got this error: “This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender’s friend request.”
February 14th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
It seems to be playing now. Thanks for joining the tech-team. I need as much help as I can get.
-Aaron
February 14th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
I’d appreciate it if the show looked more like the image you have on the top… THe whole thing is a great idea, but it’s ruined by terrible character design, and lack luster animation…
February 14th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
wow, that is an awful, generic character design for the main character. yucksville!
…and I don’t know if you can call the premise a ‘great idea’ but it could be fun. or not.
February 14th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
I wish i was there when they recorded the voices, too bad they re-schedualed the voice record when i went down to the studio. The guy who plays the big purple guy sounds like the guy who plays Goku un dragonballz. Prob same person.
February 14th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Hello Aaron !!
Thanks for make this site, It’s good !!
This serie is horrible !! it’s a waste of time and money !!
Bad designs, bad animation…. and non original !!!
February 15th, 2006 at 4:56 am
Wow – the critics came with sharp pencils today. We’ll see how ‘Kappa Mikey’ fares at launch on February 25th. A gorgeous-looking show does not equal success, and unappealing character designs can be cancelled out by snappy writing and strong direction. We’ll just have to wait!
-Aaron
February 15th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Wait and see all you want, just don’t hold your breath.
On second thought, holding your breath might be a good idea – ’cause this one’s gonna STINK!
February 16th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
it won’t stink as bad since they redid wil’s crap animation.
February 17th, 2006 at 12:49 am
“Anonymous” = Coward. A talentless coward, at that.
February 23rd, 2006 at 6:12 am
“….”
February 27th, 2006 at 3:15 am
This cartoon over does the anime look and its not that well animated. Mikey’s animated ok, but the japanesse characters arent animated like real anime characters. Animation collective is lazy with getting in-betweens cause its.. its hard to explain, but its not like you see every frame of them turning their heads or bodies, its like keyframes of it, and like when they turn their head left or right, its the face front then immediatly left or right, no in-betweens. I dont like it that way, and they should animate how japanesse anime is animated if thats how the show is suppost to be. They have to many colored backgrounds and the angry/emotional faces are way over done!
-Steve
March 1st, 2006 at 8:31 am
My problem with this show is that the main character is supposed to be “drawn” in the “American” style – but he isn’t.
With the exception of raised eyebrows, Mikey has ZERO facial expressions. American cartoon characters do “takes”, they react PHYSICALLY to things, they’re supposed to be funny to LOOK at, not just spew inane dialogue from a script.
Ironically, the animé characters in the show are the ones who have exaggerated facial expressions and physical humor and that’s because they’re drawn by hand. Mikey isn’t actually drawn at all, he’s a collection of digitally generated clip art. It makes a huge difference.
If the creators of the show had ever bothered to study the American cartoons they’re trying to artificially emulate, they’d understand the qualitative and comedic impact of real drawings as opposed to the computer generated graphics they use for the main character.
Imagine if the art direction for the main character had been given the same consideration it had for the animé characters. What if Mikey actually LOOKED and MOVED like Dexter, The Fairly Oddparents, or Billy and Mandy, etc. According to the show’s creator, Larry Schwarz, that’s the kind of character he’s supposed to be.
Instead, the main character (for whom the show was named) has been relegated to being a second-class, cheap imitation of the “Thick Line American Pop Graphic Style”.
By the way, if you guys really “redid all wil’s crap animation”, then why did you use it in the opening sequence and in over half of the first 2 (or will it be 4 or 5) episodes? Maybe it’s because you’re lying. Maybe you’ve been over budget and behind schedule since August and the last thing you have time for is retakes.
That’s not to say that WIL BRANCA is proud of ANY of the work HE did there, quite the contrary, WIL BRANCA quit after 3 months because HE was ashamed of doing what was REQUIRED of HIM by a bunch of ignorant hacks.
P.S. – You gettin’ all this, Mike Gold?
June 14th, 2006 at 3:14 am
Nice,I love you’r site!
August 16th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
COMING SOON TO http://www.kappamikeyfans.net
Our new exclusive interview with the creator of Kappa Mikey, Larry Schwarz. Check out: episode photo captions, fan art, fan fiction, and stop by our forum to discuss the Lilly Mu gang.
March 11th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Love this ahow, its really fun and it is getting really popular!
June 12th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Is this supposed to be good?
I don’t know what’s beautiful or ugly in cartoon animation anymooore!!!!!!!!!