Kirby: The Animation

Kirby: The Animation (Also stylized as Kirby the Animation) is a Japanese animated TV show based around the Kirby series of video games. The show is produced by Alpaca Studios, under the supervision of HAL Laboratories and the series' creator, Masahiro Sakurai.
The show follows Kirby's adventures, as to be expected, as he battles evil to protect the planet known as Popstar. The show mainly adapts the games in the series for its story arcs, putting them together into one larger storyline, going from the beginning of the series (Kirby's Dream Land) all the way to the more recent titles (Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot)
The show began regularly airing on Fridays in Spring 2018, being broadcast on Cartoon Network, and continues along with the game series.
==Characters & Cast==
===Main===
	 	
Kirby	The ever hungry and heroic little puffball. When he's not busy saving Dream Land from a great catastrophe, he's most likely gorging himself on delicious cake. 	Japanese & English: Makiko Ohmoto
King Dedede	Dream Land's "evil" king. He starts off as Kirby's arch-enemy, but somewhat becomes friends with him later on in the show. Dedede often tries his hardest to be a tyranical ruler, usually failing miserably in the process. 	Japanese: Kenichi Ogata
English: Ted Lewis
Meta Knight	A lone warrior who leads his crew aboard the mighty battleship Halberd, wielding the sword known as Galaxia against his foes, Meta Knight is a force to be reckoned with. Much like Dedede, he begins as a villain but becomes an ally to Kirby as the series progresses.	Japanese: Atsushi Kisaichi
English: Keith Silverstein
Bandanna Dee	A rebellious Waddle Dee who becomes Kirby's ally in the later episodes of the series. Like all Waddle Dees, he is completely silent and often tries to mime what he means to say. 	N/A
===Others===
 	 	
Rick, Kine & Coo	Three friends of Kirby: Rick is a friendly hamster, Kine is a not-so-bright ocean sunfish and Coo is a smart owl. They all accompany and help Kirby as they go through the Rainbow Islands. 	Japanese: Yasuhiro Takato (Rick), Yuki Kaji (Coo), Ryo Hirohashi (Kine)
English: Jerry Jewell (Rick), David Matranga (Coo), Brina Palencia (Kine)
Dark Matter Forces	A hivemind of creatures made out of darkness, controlled by an unknown force. All that is known about them is that they are manipulative and will do anything for their goals and unseen master. 	Japanese: Mitsuaki Madono
English: Johnny Yong Bosch
Nightmare	A powerful being responsible for all of the bad dreams ever had. He is sealed in the broken Star Rod by King Dedede and released by Kirby, blindly being the hero. However, Kirby fights Nightmare and is victorious, although he destroys part of Popstar's moon to win in the end.	Japanese: Banjo Ginga
English: Andrew Rennells
??? 	TBA 	Japanese: Ryuusei Nakao
English: Steve Blum
More TBA	More TBA 	More TBA
==Plot==
This section will be divided into the different seasons and the arcs that make up their overall plots.
===Season 1===
The story begins with King Dedede stealing all of Dream Land's food from the people, which he calls "tax collecting" to try and hide his evil deeds, but Kirby sees this injustice and rises from his comfortable bed to get payback for the people of Dream Land, by traveling to Dedede's castle and facing the king himself. Kirby goes through a forest, where he battles a sentient tree called Whispy Woods, and then passes by Castle Lololo, where he faces the twins, Lololo and Lalala. High in the skies of Popstar, Kirby battles the airship, Kabula, and the living cloud, Kracko, before he finally arrives at Castle Dedede. Faced with a massive gate, Kirby steps inside and falls into a trap door, taking him to a wrestling ring, where Dedede is awaiting him for their big showdown. Kirby manages to take down King Dedede and takes all the food back to the people below, leaving a small handful for Dedede, out of kindness.
While on a trip aboard his Warp Star with his newfound animal buddies, Rick, Kine and Coo, Kirby sees that the Rainbow Islands are no longer connected by the rainbow bridges, he presumes that the evil Dedede is behind this once more and lands on the Big Forest island, where the four of them are cornered by the monsters that lived there, those being Jumpershoot, Efreeti and Blocky, but they are all easily defeated. Kirby and pals find a clearing where they battle Nruff, a hairy creature looking to defend its babies. Nruff is beaten and that allowed the group to proceed to the other islands, Ripple Field, the Red Canyon and the Iceberg. With their big fight ahead of them, Kirby decides it would be safer for his animal friends to stay back as he fought Dedede alone. Atop the Dark Castle, Kirby faces off against King Dedede again, only this time, upon defeat, a dark energy comes out of him and flies into the black clouds above, but with the power of the rainbows, Kirby wields the Rainbow Sword to go out and defeat this creature, known as Dark Matter. Upon destroying Dark Matter, its energy scatters into space and the Rainbow Sword breaks back up into the bridges, leaving Kirby to float back down to meet his friends and go home.
After Kirby finishes off Dark Matter, he tries to sleep but has no dreams, he is then told by Coo that the Star Rod was broken, making it so that nobody ever had dreams in Popstar again, so he has to set off to rebuild the Star Rod, facing off against Whipsy Woods, Paint Roller, the Heavy Mole and the mysterious Meta Knight, sending his forces against Kirby before facing him on his own for the last piece of the Star Rod. With the Star Rod fixed, Kirby fights King Dedede at the Fountain of Dreams, defeating the king for the third time, and allowing him to put the Star Rod back in its place. However, that unleashes an orb with a star pattern, Nightmare, whom Kirby must battle with the power of the Star Rod, eventually taking their duel to the moon as Nightmare reveals his true form. Kirby uses the Star Rod's power to destroy Nightmare (and part of Popstar's moon) and is able to go back and finally have a nice dream. Meanwhile, dark energy approaches Popstar from the depths of space, followed by one massive blob with what seems to be a red eye.
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==List of Episodes==
So far, the show has a single season, with a second one in the works. Below is the listing of each episode of Kirby: The Animation
 	 	
Title 	No.	Description
"Dedede, The Thieving King" 	101	In the first episode, King Dedede steals Dream Land's food overnight and makes his big announcement the next morning, prompting Kirby to set off to Castle Dedede once the news reaches him. Kirby makes his way into the forest and meets up with some critters and Whispy Woods.
"The Deadly Whispy Woods, Heading to Castle Lololo" 	102	Kirby quickly does battle with the living tree, Whispy Woods, and heads to Castle Lololo on his Warp Star, having to get through the mazes and trials set up by the castle's inhabitants, Lololo and Lalala.
"Fortress of Illusions, Castle Lololo" 	103	Kirby enters the seemingly empty small castle and uses a nearby foe's Fire ability to light up the way as he chases down the mysterious giggles within those colorful walls, trying not to be tricked along the way.
"The Mischievous Twins, Lololo & Lalala" 	104	Kirby finds a large room that lights up revealing two small figures up on platforms, Kirby then faces off against the twins that have been following him around the halls, Lololo and Lalala.
"The Terrific Airship, Kabula, Part 1" 	105	Exiting Castle Lololo, Kirby sees a large blimp coming out of Dedede's castle and raining down cannon balls towards the puffball himself, so he stops them from hitting the castle and hops onto his Warp Star to take down the Air Fortress Kabula
"The Terrific Airship, Kabula, Part 2" 	106	After a failed attempt with his Warp Star, Kirby falls down and is surrounded by a Blade Knight and some Bronto Burts, he takes the Knight's sword and grabs onto a Burt's foot, making it head towards Kabula once more.
"Kracko, Guardian of the Skies" 	107	Kabula falls into the sea and Kirby lands on the clouds around Castle Dedede, where he must face one final foe, the living thunder cloud, Kracko, and its army of Waddle Doos.
"Kracko Goes Down, The Final Battle is Near" 	108	Kirby battles Kracko and the Waddle Doos, defeating them with the Beam ability, and with his trusty Warp Star, he heads up the mountain towards his showdown with King Dedede.
"Royal Duel, Kirby vs. Dedede" 	109	Kirby enters the dark Castle Dedede, falls down a trap door and finds himself in a wrestling ring with a hammer and a large shadow before him, he gets the hammer and the lights turn on, as he has to battle Dedede at last.
"Dream Land's Food, Safe at Last" 	110	After a long and tough battle, the two combatants are exhausted but neither has won, Kirby sends Dedede flying into a wall as the king falls asleep, winning and being able to take Dream Land's food back to the people. Meanwhile, in Popstar's orbit, a dark sphere makes its way down to the Rainbow Islands.
"The Rainbow Bridges Have Been Stolen!" 	111	During a relaxing trip over the skies of Popstar, Kirby sees that the Rainbow Islands are no longer interconnected by the rainbow bridges, so he must take action against Dedede again, as he assumes he is the culprit.
"Keepers of the Forest, Nruff and Nelly" 	112	Arriving at a clearing with large trees, Kirby and his animal friends battle the wild Nruff and its equally savage babies, using teamwork to take down their opponents.
"Ripple Field's Hungry Residents" 	113	Making their way to Ripple Field, the flooded island, Kirby and co. have to make their way through the underwater caverns, avoiding any dangerous predators and facing off against the horrific creature keeping them from the exit, Sweet Stuff.
"When Celestial Bodies Attack, Mr. Shine & Mr. Bright"	114	Kirby and friends make it to the Red Canyon and are attacked with deadly sun and moon beams, so they must shelter from the assault until they have a way to defeat the evil Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright
"Two Against Two, Battle Over The Canyon" 	115	Coo the owl and Kirby fly up into the air, Kirby wielding the Spark ability from a nearby Sparky, and they fight Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright, with Kirby just barely defeating the two of them once Coo is shot out of the air.
"Traversing the Frozen Island" 	116	The team reaches the Iceberg and have to survive a treacherous journey to the top, while Kine has no way of staying warm and Coo has an injured wing.
"The Cave of The Ice Dragon" 	117	After an exhausting climb up the Iceberg, Kirby and Rick have to take down the Ice Dragon for the last rainbow they need to get to Dedede, so they give it their all to finally get out of that frigid place.
"The Dark Castle, Dedede Awaits" 	118	Finally making their way to the Dark Castle to face off against King Dedede, Kirby enters alone to fight the king again. He succeeds in beating him, but the skies grow darker and darker as a black aura leaves Dedede, Dark Matter has decided to show itself.
"Dark Matter, The Puppet Master" 	119	Upon finally seeing who truly broke the rainbow bridges, the power of the rainbows form a sword that drags Kirby upwards to face off against Dark Matter and save Dream Land once more.
"Sleepless Popstar, No More Dreams?" 	120	After defeating Dark Matter, Kirby and friends return home to sleep and find that they had no dreams. Apparently, the Star Rod at the Fountain of Dreams was broken by none other than King Dedede, so Kirby sets off to save the day again.
"Rematch Against Whispy Woods" 	121	With the help of Rick, Kirby fights Whispy Woods once again for the first piece of the Star Rod, and afterwards, he sets a course to a very artistic island in the distance.
"Onwards, To Ice Cream Island!" 	122	Kirby sets off to Ice Cream Island with the help of Kine, only to be attacked by a gang of evil knights with tridents and axes, lead by an odd masked fellow.
"Art Comes To Life, Battle With Paint Roller" 	123	At Ice Cream Island, Kirby faces off against Paint Roller for the next piece of the Star Rod, avoiding his living paintings all around his massive workshop.
"Into The Underground, The Destructive Heavy Mole" 	124	Upon Paint Roller being defeated, the ground breaks apart and engulfs Kirby, making it so that he must go after a large digging tank, the Heavy Mole, which just so happens to have the next Star Rod piece.
"Deep Under The Surface, A Duel Rages On" 	125	Kirby gains the Hammer ability and uses it to try and smash Heavy Mole to get the next piece of the Star Rod, but without light, he must find some way to win.
==Copy Abilities==
A signature ability of Kirby's is copying his enemies' powers by eating them, and despite this not being present in the first Dream Land game, Kirby is able to copy in the first arc, based on that game.
===Season 1===
*Episode 3: The Fire ability is used as Kirby's guiding light through the halls of Castle Lololo.
*Episode 4: The same Fire ability is used against Lololo and Lalala in Kirby's fight against them.
*Episode 6: Kirby gains the Sword ability and uses it to cut up Kabula's balloon, destroying the airship.
*Episode 8: During the fight with Kracko, Kirby uses the Beam ability against the cloud monster, and takes it with him into Castle Dedede.
*Episode 9: Dedede outright gives Kirby the Hammer ability for them to fight on equal grounds, like in Super Star Ultra's "Revenge of the King"
*Episode 11: Kirby defeats Jumpershoot to take the Parasol ability and proceeds to defeat Blocky to use the Rock ability against Efreeti.
*Episode 13: In the battle with Sweet Stuff, Kirby accidentally freezes the water with the Ice ability, giving them a time limit in their fight.
*Episode 15: Spark Kirby teams up with Coo to take down Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright in the skies of the Red Canyon.
*Episode 16: In order to not feel so cold in the Iceberg, Kirby acquires the Ice ability, giving him a cute hoodie to be warm in.
*Episode 17: Kirby tries to use the Ice ability against the Ice Dragon, only to have to ditch it.
*Episode 19: For the battle with Dark Matter, Kirby makes use of the Rainbow Sword, much like in the game.
*Episode 23: Kirby defeats Paint Roller with the Paint ability, taken from the painter's own bucket.
*Episode 24: The Light ability is used to, well, light the dark tunnels Heavy Mole left behind.
*Episode 25: In the Heavy Mole fight, Kirby makes use of the Hammer ability, only seen previously in the first battle with Dedede.
==Differences from the Games==
Due to being adaptations of video games, the arcs will change certain things for them to be more viable than in a platformer world, or to have better continuity with later games' arcs.
===Season 1===
Click "Expand" to see the list.
*Kirby's dome-shaped house is shown from the beginning, despite only appearing in the series later on.
*All of Kirby's copy abilities use their updated, modern designs rather than just being represented by different colors.
**The only exception is the Ice ability, which uses its Freeze design from Nightmare in Dream Land and Air Ride.
**The Light ability never had a revamped design, so it was made to be Kirby with a lightbulb on his head.
*Lololo and Lalala are both fought at Castle Lololo, instead of being separated at first.
*Kabula was originally fought with the Mint Leaf power-up, but as it's not present here, the airship is fought in two different ways (Warp Star and later Bronto Burt + Sword ability)
*Kracko appears in his full form from the start and doesn't just summon enemies to fight, he actually has a small army of them.
*The way Kirby meets up with Dedede for their showdown is completely different.
*Rather than Dedede being flung out of his castle and Kirby becoming a balloon, Dedede is left defeated in his castle while Kirby and the Waddle Dees take the food back down.
*The first arc in general is more akin to Kirby Super Star's Spring Breeze game than the original Kirby's Dream Land, although they are mainly the same.
*After Kirby's duel with Dedede, the subsequent Dream Land 2 arc is foreshadowed with Dark Matter descending from space, when nothing of the sort happened in the original game.
*2 of the Rainbow Islands are cut from the Dream Land 2 arc, due to not having unique bosses in the original (Whispy Woods in Grass Land and Kracko in Cloudy Park)
*Blocky has his modern Triple Deluxe design rather than the original, simpler design.
*The Ice Dragon and Mr. Shine & Mr. Bright are fought in reverse order, with the latter coming first.
*Kirby's animal buddies are with him at all times, except for his final duel with Dedede and Dark Matter.
*The events of Kirby's Adventure happen after Dream Land 2 in this game, meaning the animal buddies make appearances in this arc (although they are relatively smaller)
**One example is that Coo the owl is the one to give Kirby the news about the Fountain of Dreams.
**In the very next episode, Kirby fights Whispy Woods alongside Rick the hamster.
**Kine is used by Kirby to go to Ice Cream Island.
*Ice Cream Island is themed around art rather than just being a tropical paradise type place.
*Much like with the Dream Land 2 arc, areas in the Adventure arc were cut from the anime, to make the journey shorter and a bit more seamless.
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==Trivia==
*CaptainCat had the idea to make a new Kirby anime during a conversation about the original Kirby: Right Back at Ya anime, where he claimed it would be great to have a Kirby anime by a big animation company and that had game-based story arcs.
*The idea of story arcs based on games is somewhat inspired by Sonic X, which had arcs about the two Sonic Adventure games.
*Much like in the original anime, Right Back at Ya, the Fire ability is the first to be shown in use.
*In Kirby's fight with Kabula, his idea to use a Bronto Burt to fly after the air fortress is a reference to Kirby 64, as Bronto Burts could be held up and used to fly.
*Some voice actors featured in the show also worked on other popular anime and media, for example, the trio of Rick, Kine and Coo were voiced by the people who did Principal Nezu, Minoru Mineta and Shoto Todoroki in My Hero Academia, respectively.
Category:Kirby (series)
Category:Anime
Category:Animated Series