Hatsumei Boy Kanipan
A young inventor dreams of reaching the highest license level.
A 1998 anime, Hatsumei Boy Kanipan was produced by NAS and TV Tokyo, with animation by Studio Comet and sponsorship from Sega. Its inspiration came from the 1994 SNES game Robotrek, created by Quintet. A second season, Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan, followed immediately.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Mecha
- comedy
- romance
Facts from the source article.
Plot
On the artificial planet Sharaku, built two centuries ago by Professor Taishi, humans and robots live together in peace. Inventors must earn a license, ranked from C-Level up to the top TAISHI-Level. The story centers on Kanipan, a boy who wants to become a top inventor. He moves to Monshiro Town with his robot partner Kid, aiming for the TAISHI-Level license. Starting as a failing C-Level inventor, he meets many people along the way. Five years later, Kanipan is a teenage A-Level inventor. During Sharaku’s 200th anniversary celebration, a strange ship crashes on a beach. Inside is a girl named Angelica, who remembers only her name. As Kanipan helps her recover her memories, he stumbles onto a hidden threat to the entire planet.
Characters
Kanipan is a 10-year-old C-Level inventor who wears goggles on his forehead. He dreams of reaching TAISHI-Level because as a child a man claiming to be an inventor repaired his broken toy. He was once promoted to B-Level but demoted after failures, then promoted again for a satisfactory invention. In the final episode he obtains an A-Level license. Despite his age, he has ideas involving electromagnets, static electricity, condensed water, and lava countermeasures. His catchphrases are 'I wonder if something like this could happen?' and 'I have an idea!'. In the second season, Kanipan is 15, lives with Kid, and works as an IT engineer repairing electrical appliances. He meets Angelica at the Taishi Festival and becomes involved in a threat to the planet. He is attracted to Angelica and unaware of Milk's affections. When Ravioli discovers Kanipan living with Ann, he comments on Kanipan becoming a man. In the final episode he appears half-naked wearing gray trunks. He is invited to Nuts and Kirsch's wedding but not told it is also his own; he understands after being sworn in and kissed by Angelica. After solving the case, he obtains his TAISHI-Level license and departs the planet with Kid, but Ann, Milk, Igor and Ravioli stow away. The name Kanipan came from screenwriter Ryōta Yamaguchi seeing kanipan (crab bread) at a convenience store.
Media
A musical based on the series, titled Hatsumei Boy Kanipan, was performed at the Ginza Hakuhinkan Theater from December 1998 to early January 1999. It 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. A one-shot manga adaptation by Toshio Tanigami was serialized in the October 1998 issue of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic, covering the first half of the anime. Another manga, A-kyū Roboto!? Kid-kun, was serialized in color in the April 1999 and August 1999 issues of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comics; it is an original story with Kid as the main character. Kanipan Club, containing anime and game information, launched at the same time. The monthly CoroCoro Comic published information about the anime in its March 1999 issue and game advertisements from June to October 1999. The series was originally planned as a Sega Saturn game developed by Quintet from 1997 to 1998 as a spiritual successor to Robotrek, but the anime was produced instead and the game cancelled. Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan Asonde Kid DCDC is a VMU game released by Sega on April 22, 1999, a tie-in product featuring Kid. It can be linked with Chō Hatsumei Boy Kanipan: Bōsō Roboto no Nazo!? and appeared in the series as a memory device.
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