Synopsis
One day, a star-shaped spaceship fell onto the planet Popstar. Kabu, an ancient stone sage, made a prediction that it was a "legendary warrior". Coming out of the spaceship was a plump and round, pink figure named Kirby. "What? This is the legendary warrior?" The people of Popstar were surprised. At the very moment King Dedede's pet octopus grew bigger real fast. Kirby copied its fire power, and faced to fight the monster. Can Kirby save Popstar from Nightmare and his minions? As the show progresses, Kirby grows up in Dreamland, and gains more experience, up to the day of his final confrontation with Nightmare.
Cast
| Character's name | Japanese voice actor | 4Kids voice actor | Sonic counterpart | MLP counterpart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirby | Makiko Ohmoto | Makiko Ohmoto | Sonic | Pinkie Pie |
| Fumu/Tiff | Sayuri Yoshida | Kerry Williams | Amy Rose | Fluttershy |
| Bun/Tuff | Rika Komatsu | Kayzie Rogers | Tails | Rainbow Dash |
| King Dedede | Kenichi Ogata | Ted Lewis | Dr. Eggman | Discord |
| Escargoon | Naoki Tatsuta | Ted Lewis | Snively | Trixie |
| Meta Knight | Atsuchi Kisaichi | Eric Stuart | Shadow | Shining Armor |
| Memu/Lady Like | Yūko Mizutani | Kayzie Rogers | Vanilla | Mrs. Cake |
| Parm/Sir Ebrum | Takashi Nagasako | David Lapkin | Vector | Mr. Cake |
| Knuckle Joe | Minami Takayama | Knuckles | ||
| Sirica | Tomoe Hanba | Veronica Taylor | Rouge | |
| Hohhe/Iroo | Makiko Ohmoto | Chris Thorndyke | ||
| Iroo/Spikehead | Chiro Kanzaki | Charmy | ||
| Honey | Madoka Akita | Cream |
- Nightmare/eNeMeE - Banjou Ginga (Japanese), Andrew Rannels (English)
- Customer Service - Banjou Ginga (Japanese), Dan Green (English)
- Waddle Doo - Yuko Mizutani (Japanese)
- Tokkori - Takimoto Fujiko (Japanese), Kevin Kolack (English)
- Rick - Makiko Ohmoto (Japanese)
- Coo the Owl - Chiro Kanzaki (Japanese)
- Kine - Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Darren Dunstan (English)
- Whispy Woods - Osamu Hosoi (Japanese)
- Kabu - Nobuo Tobita (Japanese)
- Lololo/Fololo - Chiro Kanzaki (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English)
- Lalala/Falala - Madoka Akita (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English)
- Mayor Len - Takashi Nagasako (Japanese), Mike Pollock (English)
- Hana - Chiro Kanzaki (Japanese)
- Chief Borun/Bookem - Atsuchi Kisaichi (Japanese)
- Sato/Buttercup - Madoka Akita (Japanese)
- Prof. Curio - Takashi Nagasako (Japanese)
- Mabel - Yuko Mizutani (Japanese)
- Samo - Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Mike Pollock (English)
- Tago/Tuggle - Mizuki Saitoh (Japanese)
- Gangu/Gengu - Mizuki Saitoh (Japanese)
- Chef Kawasaki - Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Adam Blaustein (English)
- Gus - Osamu Hosoi (Japanese), Eric Stuart (English)
- Moso/Melman - Nobuo Tobita (Japanese)
- Dr. Yabui - Sekine Kazunori (Japanese)
Descriptions for guest characters can be found at Kirby's Rainbow Resort, first seen on July 18, 2005, along with the monsters summoned by Nightmare Enterprises, first seen on October 18, 2006.
Production timeline
As you all know, the Kirby anime took production entirely in Japan, which means it occurred about one year before they appeared on television in the U.S. After the pilot episode was released in 2000, sketches were drawn for the final version of the anime, finalized in this order:
- January 19, 2001: The first raw sketches for Kirby and King Dedede
- January 24, 2001: The first raw sketches for Meta Knight
- February 10–21, 2001: More sketches for the character Kirby
- March 5–6, 2001: Sketches for Tiff and Tuff's heads
- April 6–7, 2001: Sketch of Castle Dedede
- April 11, 2001: Sketches for Escargoon's head
- May 29, 2001: Sketches for Sword Kirby
- May 30, 2001: Sketches for King Dedede's head
- June 19, 2001: Sketches for the Star Warrior army
- June 22, 2001: Sketches for select monsters
- June 23, 2001: Full body sketches for Tiff, Tuff, and several other characters
- July 4, 2001: Maps of where the anime takes place
- August 15, 2001: The wasps from Episode 10 (which aired on December 8, 2001)
- August 30, 2001: The bats from Episode 12 (which aired on December 22, 2001)
- September 13–October 17, 2001: Sketches for Episode 18 (which aired on February 2, 2002)
- November 22, 2001: Sketches for Escargoon's mother from Episode 25
- November 24–26, 2001: Sketches for Episode 26 (which aired on March 30, 2002)
- March 4–20, 2002: Sketches for Episode 38 (which aired on June 29, 2002)
- November 13, 2002–April 19, 2003: Sketches for Episode 97
- January 9, 2003: Sketches for Episode 82
List of episodes
Broadcast history (original Japanese version)
| August 21, 2001 | Unveiled online[1] |
| September 29, 2001 | 30-second preview for Episode 1 aired on CBC (Channel 5) at 7:57 a.m. |
| October 6, 2001 | Episode 1 aired at 7:30 a.m. on CBC (Channel 5) |
| April 6, 2002 | Episode 27 aired with Version 2 of Opening and End Credits |
| March 1, 2003 | Episode 72 aired with new Opening and End Credits theme songs |
| September 27, 2003 | Episode 100 (series finale) aired |
| October 2005 | Fansubs released at Kirby's Rainbow Resort; lasted for 3 years |
| June 28, 2007 | Premiered on Tokyo MX (Channel 14) on reruns every Thursday at 6:00 p.m. |
| May 21, 2009 | Last episode aired on Tokyo MX (Channel 14) |
| June 2009 | Episodes released on the Wii no Ma through October 12, 2010[2] |
| April 30, 2012 | No longer available in Japan as of this date |
Broadcast history (U.S. version)
| May 10, 2002 | Confirmed to air on the Fox Network |
| June 25, 2002 | Unveiled; originally set to have 52 episodes[3] |
| September 14, 2002 | Aired on FOX with two episodes every Saturday morning at 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.[4] |
| December 7, 2002 | First rerun, aired at 11:00 a.m. ("Labor Daze" aired at 10:00 a.m.) |
| January 4, 2003 | Only aired once as a rerun, at 9:00 a.m. |
| February 8, 2003 | "The Kirby Derby" (parts 1 and 2) aired at 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. |
| February 15, 2003 | Again, one new episode at a time aired at 9:00 a.m. |
| March 22, 2003 | Timeslot moved to 9:30 a.m. |
| July 5, 2003 | Timeslot moved to 9:00 a.m. |
| August 30, 2003 | Did Not Air due to The Fight for the FoxBox |
| September 6, 2003 | Returned to its regular timeslot at 9:00 a.m. |
| March 6, 2004 | 9:00 a.m. timeslot remains, 11:30 a.m. timeslot added |
| May 1, 2004 | Reruns aired at 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. |
| May 8, 2004 | 9:00 a.m. timeslot remains, 8:30 a.m. timeslot removed |
| May 15, 2004 | Moved to 10:30 a.m. |
| June 26, 2004 | Moved to 8:30 a.m. |
| July 10, 2004 | Moved to 11:30 a.m. |
| September 18, 2004 | Moved to 11:00 a.m. |
| January 1, 2005 | Last rerun before the show's first hiatus |
| May 28, 2005 | Returned to 4Kids TV at 11:30 a.m. |
| July 9–16, 2005 | Did Not Air |
| August 13, 2005 | Second hiatus begins |
| July 8, 2006 | Returned to 4Kids TV at 10:30 a.m. |
| July 29, 2006 | 8:30 a.m. timeslot added; 10:30 a.m. timeslot remains |
| August 19, 2006 | 8:30 a.m. timeslot remains; 10:30 a.m. timeslot removed |
| August 26, 2006 | Did Not Air |
| September 2, 2006 | Moved to 9:00 a.m. |
| June 21, 2008 | Aired at 11:00 AM during the entire remainder of the 4Kids TV block |
| December 27, 2008 | Last broadcast on the 4Kids TV block |
| June 6–27, 2009 | Episodes 1–4 reran on The CW4Kids at 7:30 a.m. |
| July 4–11, 2009 | Episodes 5–6 reran on The CW4Kids at 11:00 a.m. |
| September 12, 2009 | "Fright to the Finish" aired on The CW4Kids from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. |
According to the 2004 Annual Report for 4Kids Entertainment, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'s merchandise licensing, television broadcast and home video rights worldwide outside of Japan (and possibly a few other countries close to Japan) were scheduled to last through the end of September 2009.
The show would later return to Europe via the Kirby TV Channel on June 23, 2011, now fully licensed by Nintendo.
Only the first half of the complete series were last available in 2012, while everything after that up to episode #70 was last available at 4Kids.tv in October 2009, along with episodes 71, 73 and 83 on 4KidsTV On Demand. Episodes 72 was last available on the video game Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition in 2012, and the rest of the series (episodes 74-100) only aired between October 2, 2004 and January 6, 2007, in which most of the episodes never got a rerun.
On August 11, 2022, a Blu-ray Disc release of the complete series was announced, and will occur in the 2022-23 season.
Home video timeline
- Main article: Kirby: Right Back at Ya! DVDs and Videos
Gallery
Wallpapers (1024x768)
Wallpapers (800x600)
Comics
Screenshots
See also
| Kirby series | ||
|---|---|---|
| Video Games | Generation I | Kirby's Dream Land (1992) • Kirby's Adventure (1993) • Kirby's Pinball Land (1993) • Kirby's Dream Course (1994) • Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995) • Kirby's Block Ball (1996) • Kirby Super Star (1996) • Kirby's Star Stacker (1997) • Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997) • Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000) • Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (2001) |
| Generation II | Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002) • Kirby Air Ride (2003) • Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (2004) • Kirby Canvas Curse (2005) • Kirby Squeak Squad (2006/2007) • Kirby Super Star Ultra (2008) | |
| Generation III | Kirby's Epic Yarn (2010) • Kirby Mass Attack (2011) • Kirby's Return to Dream Land (2011) • Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition (2012) | |
| TV Shows | Kirby: Right Back at Ya! | |
| Soundtracks | Kirby Theme Song (2001) • Kirby of the Stars: Original Soundtrack (2001) • Kirby! / Kirby * Step! (2003) • Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition (2012) | |