Kirby: Right Back at Ya

Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Year
2000

Kirby: Right Back at Ya

By Eric
19th May 04

Kirby is what I call a "Pseudo-anime." It looks like anime, but there is a lingering suspicion that it didn't actually come from Japan. Nonetheless, it's close enough to justify being reviewed.

Let me first point at that I am not at all biased against Kirby himself. In fact, I actually like the little guy and own a few of his games, which are fun to play. The score reflects not upon his image, but simply upon the quality of the show. First of all, it's rather hard to make a show about Kirby in the first place. He never says a word, his only goal is to save the world from whatever trouble arises and then just go back to his normal life, and there aren't really any imporant reoccuring characters other than Meta Knight, Kirby himself, and King Dedede.

How did they deal with this problem? Made up a bunch of new characters, and I'm sorry to say that they suck. They're either complete imbeciles, annoying know-it-alls, or sniveling whiners. Outside of the three characters already well known, the entire cast is aggravating. Also, Fox is not known for its ability to pick quality voice acting for its kids' shows, and this is no different. Everyone either talks too fast, too slow, or is going through puberty. �To make matters worse, King Dedede and Meta Knight themselves sound absolutely horrendous. It brings to mind the voice acting on that awful Donkey Kong show from years ago. Kirby, on the other hand, doesn't speak anything beyond cute little exclamations, grunts, sighs, or other noises. Since he was never intended to talk, this isn't a problem. Although, it's also a bit of a shame, as his voice is the most appropriate.

Like all other pseudo-animes, Kirby doesn't have any real continuity. While most respectable animes follow a continuous story flow, Kirby is the kind of show where you could take out any episode you wanted, and 99% of the time you wouldn't be confused about anything when you watched a later episode. Most of the time King Dedede acts like a Power Rangers villain and orders a monster to take out Kirby. While some people won't be bothered by this, hardcore anime fans tend to like actual storylines.

A show about Kirby isn't doomed to failure because of the limited source material. It's possible to make a very good one, but they'll have to try a little harder than this. Maybe the problem was trusting Fox to make a good ANYTHING. Stick with the Simpsons, guys.

6/10

-- Eric 19th May 04

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