Another anime series spotted on UK TV

[Turtleheart]

While at a relative's house earlier this week, I happened to notice that Ukkari Pénélope (Careless Pénélope), an animated series by Nippon Animation based on the French series of picture books Pénélope tête en l'air (Head-in-the-Clouds Pénélope), has been showing in a British-dubbed version as simply Penelope on the UK children's channel CBeebies. This makes it, as far as I know, the only anime other than Yu-Gi-Oh! currently available on UK terrestrial TV? The series' entry in the Anime News Network encyclopaedia is http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=8947 and its section on the CBeebies Web site is http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/penelope; the 5-minute episodes of it are broadcast as part of the longer programme Show Me Show Me, which is shown at 10:00 AM and again at 13:30 (1:30 PM) every weekday on CBeebies. The original books have been published in English translation in the UK by Bodley Head Children's Books, though this was some years ago and they may now be out of print.

This may not be the first time that CBeebies has shown anime: I remember years ago glimpsing on the channel an animation made of water droplets on a plane of glass with CGI eyes (the main character had a large and distinctive orange nose), the credits of which seemed to consist of primarily Japanese names. However, I cannot claim this for sure as I didn't have my glasses on at the time and, either way, I've never seen it again nor been able to discover its name. My brother, who has seen other episodes, has confirmed that it is indeed a series rather than a one-off, but that is all I have to go on: though it's a long shot that anyone here would know (as I was the first to notice Pénélope) any help I can get in identifying this series would be appreciated.

 

[unellmay]

Meh

 

[KingJimmeh]

Meh

Such an insightful comment there.

That being said, the fact that an anime is being shown on CBeebees doesn't really give any help against the argument of "cartoons are for kids" and really, I doubt this show will appeal to the broader range of anime fans. I would say "Better than nothing", but in this case, I think nothing would actually be better =/

 

[unellmay]

Meh

Such an insightful comment there.

That being said, the fact that an anime is being shown on CBeebees doesn't really give any help against the argument of "cartoons are for kids" and really, I doubt this show will appeal to the broader range of anime fans. I would say "Better than nothing", but in this case, I think nothing would actually be better =/

I doen't actually mean anything
it doesn't even look like anime if someone didn't tell me I'd be none the wiser

In fact I still have my doubts

 

[ConanThe3rd]

I'm sorry, what? I'm watching what I want to watch on VOD sites now.

So much easier.

 

[Turtleheart]

That being said, the fact that an anime is being shown on CBeebees doesn't really give any help against the argument of "cartoons are for kids" and really, I doubt this show will appeal to the broader range of anime fans.

And yet, another current thread is lamenting "why anime is next to the porn section in HMV" and I'm at least as concerned about the stereotypes of "anime consists solely of pans and generic-looking people standing still while their mouths flap up and down" and what we could get with Yu-Gi-Oh! and Duel Masters as the sole representatives: that anime exists only to market collectable games to pre-teen boys.

Regardless, the way I've always seen it is that things like Pénélope, the home-grown Charlie and Lola and, of course, My Neighbour Totoro are family entertainment: adults can find them enchanting and beautiful, not merely a baby-sitter for the children. The true kids shows are things like Duel Masters, Bakugan Battle Brawlers and their ilk, which appeal to pre-teen boys who call things of the former category "babyish" but which actual adults find annoying to the point of nerve-racking (and which I, being somewhere between those two, find highly amusing for their genericness and general cheapness, the live-action ones like the Super Sentai franchise even more so). So while it's not as if Haibane-Renmei is being shown subtitled on UK TV, I think it pretty clear that Pénélope's inclusion in the schedules is an improvement over the alternative.

it doesn't even look like anime if someone didn't tell me I'd be none the wiser

In fact I still have my doubts

I expect that was meant in jest, as that's equivalent to suspecting someone of not being French because they're not wearing a beret and a white-and-dark-blue striped shirt. :wink:

The Nippon in Nippon Animation rather gives away the nationality of the studio. They're known for their adaptations of Western literature, of which Pénélope is a recent addition, but have also done a fair number of original and manga-based programmes (HUNTER×HUNTER, The Wallflower and Antique Bakery among them). They have also done outsourced animation for foreign producers (most famously, what we British will know as Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds and Around the World with Willy Fog) which they have included rather indiscriminately amongst their own productions on their Web site, but from all that I can find on ANN and Japanese Web sites (which admittedly isn't much), their Pénélope is at most a co-production with a French company and possibly even done on solely Japanese initiative, then sold back to France, as it were, as has it has been to other countries. As I pointed out earlier, if in passing, there's a lot more to Japanese animation than the lip-flap and ŌTSUKA Yasuo-money-shot cel stuff that now makes up the bulk of it.

 

[Rui]

This may not be the first time that CBeebies has shown anime: I remember years ago glimpsing on the channel an animation made of water droplets on a plane of glass with CGI eyes (the main character had a large and distinctive orange nose), the credits of which seemed to consist of primarily Japanese names. However, I cannot claim this for sure as I didn't have my glasses on at the time and, either way, I've never seen it again nor been able to discover its name. My brother, who has seen other episodes, has confirmed that it is indeed a series rather than a one-off, but that is all I have to go on: though it's a long shot that anyone here would know (as I was the first to notice Pénélope) any help I can get in identifying this series would be appreciated.

Could this help?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... e_Palette/

Dead but there's still a picture there.

I don't have TV so it's interesting to hear of new stuff turning up, even if it's not something I'd watch myself.

R

 

[unellmay]

it doesn't even look like anime if someone didn't tell me I'd be none the wiser

In fact I still have my doubts

I expect that was meant in jest, as that's equivalent to suspecting someone of not being French because they're not wearing a beret and a white-and-dark-blue striped shirt. :wink:
.

Nay it was not a jest unless you were to research it which the vast majority
won't you would never know it was

I assume it has no voice work?

 

[chaos]

it doesn't even look like anime if someone didn't tell me I'd be none the wiser
In fact I still have my doubts

I expect that was meant in jest, as that's equivalent to suspecting someone of not being French because they're not wearing a beret and a white-and-dark-blue striped shirt. :wink:
.

Nay it was not a jest unless you were to research it which the vast majority
won't you would never know it was

I assume it has no voice work?

I get what you mean by it doesn't look anime and all that, but isn't it a pre-conception from you as well?

Japanese call everything animated anime. Therefore on a list of greatest animes of all time you could see tom & Jerry.

We in the west call anything japanese made anime (and some non japanese made, such as wonderful days).

There is surely a japanese style school, which is pretty obvious in many shows, but this is just style, not the rule. For example, no one ever wrote that to be anime, characters needed big round eyes.

 

[unellmay]

it doesn't even look like anime if someone didn't tell me I'd be none the wiser
In fact I still have my doubts

I expect that was meant in jest, as that's equivalent to suspecting someone of not being French because they're not wearing a beret and a white-and-dark-blue striped shirt. :wink:
.

Nay it was not a jest unless you were to research it which the vast majority
won't you would never know it was

I assume it has no voice work?

I get what you mean by it doesn't look anime and all that, but isn't it a pre-conception from you as well?

Japanese call everything animated anime. Therefore on a list of greatest animes of all time you could see tom & Jerry.

We in the west call anything japanese made anime (and some non japanese made, such as wonderful days).

There is surely a japanese style school, which is pretty obvious in many shows, but this is just style, not the rule. For example, no one ever wrote that to be anime, characters needed big round eyes.

almost Every one in the world would believe this to be the case
I personally prefer anime looking anime

 

[KingJimmeh]

"Anime" as a general rule to me is any animation from Japan. As such, I wouldn't consider a US show like 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', which borrows the style , to be anime. On the other hand 'Ukkari Pénélope', a show animated in Japan, I would consider to be anime.

 

[unellmay]

"Anime" as a general rule to me is any animation from Japan. As such, I wouldn't consider a US show like 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', which borrows the style , to be anime. On the other hand 'Ukkari Pénélope', a show animated in Japan, I would consider to be anime.

Same the only
example i'm not sure about is afro samurai its like fake anime made in Japan

 

[KingJimmeh]

"Anime" as a general rule to me is any animation from Japan. As such, I wouldn't consider a US show like 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', which borrows the style , to be anime. On the other hand 'Ukkari Pénélope', a show animated in Japan, I would consider to be anime.

Same the only
example i'm not sure about is afro samurai its like fake anime made in Japan

Considering it's based of a manga and animated by a Japanese company, i'd pretty sure its anime.

 

[unellmay]

"Anime" as a general rule to me is any animation from Japan. As such, I wouldn't consider a US show like 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', which borrows the style , to be anime. On the other hand 'Ukkari Pénélope', a show animated in Japan, I would consider to be anime.

Same the only
example i'm not sure about is afro samurai its like fake anime made in Japan

Considering it's based of a manga and animated by a Japanese company, i'd pretty sure its anime.

I know but English dub only blergh

 

[unellmay]

Then again
one of my favourite styles is

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oE02C9YlWhs&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oE02C9YlWhs&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>


And that's not clearly anime

or is it?

 

[Jaymii]

Nah. That's Cartoon Network Animation. Anime isn't a style, its just a loan-word, which we used to mean animation from Japan. Romeo x Juliet is anime, even if the story, mostly, isn't Japanese. There'll never be that apocalypse people seem to think will come when we can't distinguish what's produced in Japan, and what isn't. Then again, is Batman: Gotham Knight anime? HO HO HO!

 

[unellmay]

Nah. That's Cartoon Network Animation. Anime isn't a style, its just a loan-word, which we used to mean animation from Japan. Romeo x Juliet is anime, even if the story, mostly, isn't Japanese.

You misunderstood that is from japan

Its a one of my new favourite shows called Bakemonogatari

 

[Jaymii]

You misunderstood my obvious sarcasm. Why in hell would Cartoon Network produce a show with such a troublesome name and Japanese credits?

 

[unellmay]

You misunderstood my obvious sarcasm. Why in hell would Cartoon Network produce a show with such a troublesome name and Japanese credits?

To confuse people?

Teen titans has Japanese singers singing the opening
sometimes in Japanese!!!!!!

And come to think of it
why do we call Japan
Japan anyway?

I could swear they call it something else?

I also want to show the opening to the show I mentioned to illitrate its awesomeness

<object width="580" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YG3aTCBt2gY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&hd=1&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YG3aTCBt2gY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&hd=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object>

 

[chaos]

I could swear they call it something else?

nihôn (pronounciation vaguely resembles 'nee-rom')