Radcliff (1998 anime)

***Radcliff***, also known in Japan as ***Bikkuri! Vermillion-kun*** ( びっくり！ 朱色ーくん, literally "***Surprise! Vermillion-kun***"), is a children's anime series that ran from September 25, 1998, to November 27, 1999 and produced by Toei Animation. Only 70 episodes have been aired. The anime was licensed by 4Kids Entertainment in 1999 and dubbed into English. This dub aired in GBS Kids in late 2000 to 2001, but never made it to home video and DVD. Despite being faded to obscurity, merchandises continue to appear until in mid-2006.

A revival of the series was announced in March 2019, with a two-season order, to be produced in conjunction with Toei Animation and the English dubbing company Rabbit Entertainment, with producer Genesis Supernova and new voice actors are hired to join the collaboration. It premiered on October 12, 2022, on TV Tokyo and GBS Kids, with a second season premiering on July 12, 2023. A third season has since been ordered. Since the reboot's popularity, works inspired by Radcliff include the K-pop song "Go Radcliff!" by BTS and *Super One-Hit Kid*.

In 2023, an upcoming crossover spinoff called *Viorel and Friends* will set to air on GBS Kids in January 31, 2023. The spinoff focuses on Viorel and his gang going on random misadventures, and Radcliff and his friends will be reduced to supporting appearances.

## Plot and Details

Somewhere on Luck Planet, there is a city called Bright Town, which is inhabited by colorful, furry creatures called "Cheeries" ("Ukkichis" in the Japanese version) A scarlet-colored Cheeri named Radcliff tries to aim his way to become the most greatest hero just like his famous idol, Blaze, and defends Bright Town from an evil, violet-colored Cheeri, Viorel.

The cast in the original version boasted a star talent in a major role, this time in the form of the Japanese comedian Ken Shimura, who was known for his "Bakatono-sama" character, as the voice of the villainous Viorel, as well as the various residents of Bright Town. To show how the series was mocking the often rushed animation style of the *Anpanman* series, the character known as Iris was always left with the design construction lines still showing out of deliberate neglect.

Japanese (and Western in the dub) pop culture references were found in abundance in many of the episodes and in the characters. Viorel himself is based on Proto Man from the *Mega Man* series, Amethyst in the meantime is based somewhat on Roll.

## Characters

### Heroes

**Radcliff** / **Vermillion-kun**
**Voiced by:** Hekiru Shiina (Japanese); Kerry Williams (English)
The main character of the anime, who is scarlet-colored Cheeri who wanted to be a hero like Akakuma. Living in the undisovered treehouse, Radcliff has a wonderful time going out to discover stuff. He is a wanna hero who tries to protect Bright Town with a power of peace and justice. Similar to Popeye and his spinach, Radcliff powers up whenever the character hugged him. He has a blue star on his torso, which lights up whenever he is huggged.

**Ruby** / **Akako**
**Voiced by:** Satomi Kōrogi (Japanese); Lisa Ortiz (English)
A friend of Radcliff's, who is the breed as him, and is capable to copy one's powers. She had a soft spot for boys and is carefree on her own. Akako is the one that recently hugged Radcliff a lot. She sometimes hangs around with Sam. She has a light blue heart on her torso.

**Sam** / **Isamuchu**
**Voiced by:** Rica Matsumoto (Japanese); Amy Palant (English)
Another friend of Radcliff's. Sam is somewhat a laid-back, white Cheeri who wanted to be a photographer like his mother. He's somehow capable to turn into an angry, mouse-like monster whenever someone pronounced his name wrong.

**Curio** / **Fushiko**
**Voiced by:** Ikue Ohtani (Japanese); Nathan Price (English)
One of Radcliff's friends who constantly had a habit to forget things. Despite his cowardly nature, he's very kind to plants, animals, and other creatures he meets.

**Cyrus** / **Hiroshiko**
**Voiced by:** Miina Tominaga (Japanese); Jason Griffith (English)
One of Radcliff's friends. Hiroshiko is a brown-colored, handsome Cheeri who is somewhat narcissistic. His job is to bring goodies to schoolchildren whenever he's not with Radcliff. He's sometimes brave and has to protect Radcliff from severe threats. He has a punch that is extremely powerful when it connects, but fails to connect more than often. Amethyst has a crush on him.

**Infinite** / **Mugen**
**Voiced by:** Yūji Ueda (Japanese); Dan Green (English)
A green-colored Cheeri who has two split personality modes: A green-colored Goodness Mode and, thanks to Viorel, a black-colored Evil Mode. He is a loner who wanders around Bright Town and always trigger Bad Mode whenever he sees Radcliff and his friends with an exception of Ruby, who knew him since they were babies. Infinite also packs a huge strength, which makes him the strongest of the Cheeries. He has an aqua-colored X symbol on his torso.

**Blaze** / **Akakuma**
**Voiced by:** Toshiya Ueda (Japanese); Matthew Mitler (English)
A founder of Bright Town and Radcliff's grandfather and idol hero. Although Blaze is very intelligent and wise, he is hot-headed on the surface. In rare cases, when hugging doesn't give Radcliff a power Blaze utilized an energy beam shot from his hands, gaining Radcliff more extreme power than the latter does when being hugged. A running gag has Blaze being a fond of his cotton candy.

### Villains

**Viorel** / **Murasaki**
**Voiced by:** Ken Shimura (Japanese); Billy Beach (English)
The violet-colored, implike villainous Cheeri and Radcliff's rival who loves being cool on himself and wears a pale yellow scarf and black sunglasses. His goal is to get rid of Radcliff and takes over Bright Town, but he's very content to play tricks on other Cheeries and bullies them. In one episode, it is revealed that he and Radcliff share the same birthday. There are some cases where he doesn't fight against Radcliff. He constructs machines and use them to counteract Radcliff's strength. In one episode, he has a crush on one of the Cheeri fairies from Starfall Woods. Every episode has him being defeated or eliminated. He has three famous catchphrases: His evil high-pitched giggle, "Aiyeeeeeeee!" and "We're blasting off again!", which he utters out whenever he's sent flying by Radcliff or another character. He has an upside-down, pale yellow triangle on his torso.

**Amethyst** / **Violet**
**Voiced by:** Kazuko Sugiyama (Japanese); Tara Jayne (English)
Amethyst is a pale yellow-colored Cheeri and Viorel's female parter in crime. She may be friendly and sweet, but she is very hot-tempered. Much like Ruby, Amethyst is the same breed as Viorel. She likes to show her sweet side, as demonstrated by her crush on Cyrus. She has a violet-colored triangle on her torso.

**Spectron** / **Ghost**
**Voiced by:** Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese); Philip Bartlett (English)
A ghost-like Cheeri who is the intelligent of Viorel's group. He seems to be more evil than Viorel himself. He seems to dislike girls, as shown in one episode. He has a true form, which constantly has a menancing appearance and a glare that turns whoever looks at him into a stone.

**Kovidar** / **Kisaimura**
**Voiced by:** Katsuhisa Hōki (Japanese); Eric Stuart (English)
Viorel's uncle who lived inside the mobile home in Bright Town and often carries a magical staff. A friendly yet emotionless Cheeri who seemed to be having a great side of rivaling Blaze for years. He as a left-sided, orangish yellow triangle on his torso.