As a pretty big fan of the Parappa the Rapper series of PlayStation video games (I'm not as down on the sequels as most people seem to be; I thought Um Jammer Lammy, in particular, was an incredibly underrated game), I'd long been curious about the Parappa the Rapper anime series: had the unique, surreal style of the games been preserved in the transition to traditional animation? Was there any rapping? Why hadn't the series ever been picked up for an American DVD release?

Watching this first episode of the series answered most of my questions. The surreal style? Still there, though dulled somewhat by the fact that Parappa and his cohorts are not depicted as 2-D beings living in a 3-D world here; instead, they are given some depth, and their world is shown to possess a bit more consistency and sanity than the bizarre, anything-can-happen musical world of the games. Rapping? None, unfortunately, which seems to me to be a pretty profound oversight considering the title of the show (the toe-tapping opening theme is ridiculously catchy, however, and almost makes up for the show's raplessness).





The question of why the series has never been picked up for an American release (to the best of my knowledge, anyway) is a bit tougher to answer, but I suspect it has something to do with the show's lack of sophistication: the series is very clearly aimed at younger children. This is not to say that the show has nothing to offer adults and teenagers -- it's a fun, cheerful, visually appealing series with lots of likable characters -- but I can understand why a company like ADV, for example, might decide to pass on it; anime series geared towards younger children have traditionally not done very well in the American market (don't yell Pokemon at me; Parappa aims for an even younger demographic than that). The oddball humor and hip feel of the games, moreover, are mostly missing here; the series has a slower pace and an utterly innocent tone that some fans of the games might not appreciate.

I appreciated it, though. It's fun, pleasantly charming stuff, reminiscent of certain Saturday morning cartoons that used to air on the Big Three networks before the advent of cable. As such, Parappa is best watched while eating a big bowl of some kind of sugary, marshmallow-laden cereal.

This first episode follows poor Parappa as he attempts to reconcile two different promises he made to two different friends: he told his buddy PJ (a bear) that he'd play basketball with him on this particular day, but also told Katy (a blue cat) and Sunny (a flower and his wannabe girlfriend) that he'd go with them to Sister Gon's garage sale. The appearance of Gaster, a villianous rabbit who is constantly in danger of being crushed by his own thought bubbles (his greedy visions of stolen money and merchandise are always growing larger and larger) further ruins his day; the miscreant steals Parappa's bike and almost gets away with the money from Sister Gon's garage sale. Meanwhile, we're introduced to two characters (besides Gaster) who are unique to the series: Paula, a kind of pink proto-Lammy who quickly gets into a silly feud with Katy, and Matt, a basketball-loving friend of PJ's from "Club Fun" who appears to be of the same species as Parappa.





None of the rap masters from the first game (Master Onion, et al) make an appearance in this first episode, but some do eventually show up later in the series (Parappa's hangdog father, thankfully, does appear briefly in this ep). The characters created specifically for the animated series, meanwhile (Parappa's heretofore unseen sister Pinto, the evil Gaster, Paula, and Matt) are not very exciting or interesting (Matt's presence in particular seemed pointless to me, and his design is decidedly lacking in imagination) but they don't detract from the show, really, and I doubt many folks will mind them.

All told, it's a pretty good show, with a bright, colorful, optimistic look and many fine qualities (Parappa's sheer coolness alone manages to keep a lot of it aloft), but it's hard to deny that it also lacks the clever sophistication and total melodic insanity that was characteristic of the PlayStation game series.

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