Stitch! (Anime series)
Stitch! (スティッチ!, Suticchi!) is a Japanese anime television series. It is a spin-off of Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise, serving as the franchise's second television series after Lilo & Stitch: The Series. The anime series aired in Japan from October 2008 to June 2011, later receiving additional television specials in 2012 and 2015. It features a Japanese girl named Yuna Kamihara, who takes the place of Lilo Pelekai as the best friend of the titular Stitch, and is set on a fictional island in the Ryukyus off the shore of Okinawa called Izayoi for its first two seasons, replacing Kauai, Hawaii, then moving to a fictional Okinawan city called New Town for its third season.
The first arc of the series, which serves as the first season outside Japan, was produced by Madhouse and aired from October 8, 2008, to March 25, 2009, with a post-season special on June 26, 2009, also known as "Stitch Day" in reference to Stitch's experiment number (626). A second arc of the original series, called Stitch! ~The Mischievous Alien's Great Adventure~ (スティッチ! ~いたずらエイリアンの大冒険~, Sutitchi! ~Itazura Eirian no Daibōken~) aired in Japan from October 13, 2009, to June 29, 2010, with another post-season special on August 8, 2010, completing Madhouse's 56-episode run. A 29-episode sequel series from the original two-arc anime, entitled Stitch! ~Best Friends Forever~ (スティッチ! ~ずっと最高のトモダチ~, Sutitchi! ~Zutto Saikō no Tomodachi~), was produced by Shin-Ei Animation and aired on TV Asahi from July 6, 2010, to March 8, 2011, with a post-season special for this season on June 19, 2011. Shin-Ei then produced two more TV specials, known as Stitch! New Specials, that continued from the series. The first special, Stitch and the Planet of Sand (スティッチと砂の惑星, Sutitchi to Suna no Wakusei), aired a year later on June 16, 2012. The second post-series TV special, Stitch! Perfect Memory (スティッチ!パーフェクト・メモリー, Sutitchi! Pāfekuto Memorī), was announced 3 years later on June 26, 2015, and aired 2 months later on August 7, 2015. No further specials were produced after Perfect Memory, as Stitch! would be succeeded in the franchise by the Chinese animated series, Stitch & Ai, 2 years later in 2017.
Production[edit | edit source]
In March 2008, Walt Disney Television International Japan started procuring its own animated shows with their first two debuting at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008, producing Stitch! with Japanese animation studio Madhouse. Seasons one and two of Stitch! were animated by Madhouse, and season three was animated by Shin-Ei Animation.
At the 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair, the pilot for the series was showcased to attendees at the Madhouse booth. Information was also shown around Disney's booth, showing the cast of characters who would appear in the anime. Many of the past characters, such as Jumba Jookiba and Pleakley, appear, as well as five villains: Gantu, Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel, Experiment 625/Reuben, Experiment 627 (in a second season episode), and (in the third season) a new villain named Delia. In addition, three of Jumba's genetic experiments, Experiment 624/Angel, Experiment 221/Sparky and Experiment 010/Felix, also appear in the anime's first season due to their popularity from the American series, although the latter two would appear less frequently in subsequent seasons while more experiments, both returning from the original series and its finale film, and new experiments made for this show, appear.
Stitch! started on TV Tokyo and following affiliates at 7:00 p.m. on October 8, 2008, and had an hour premiere of the first two episodes. Afterward, it aired every Wednesday after at 7:26 p.m. time slot, essentially replacing Bleach.
Where the Hawaiian culture was featured in the original version, the culture of Okinawa Prefecture and the other Ryukyu Islands are featured. For example, Yuna's karate has replaced Lilo's hula.
The Stitch! anime is influenced by children's manga and originally aimed at young Japanese kids aged 4 to 14 years. Most of the main characters are young children ranging from 8 to 12 years old, including Yuna. However, unlike the American series, the anime contains darker and more mature content. The series was edited and localized for younger international audiences, especially those in the Western world and the Anglosphere, and a lower TV rating. The series's English dub used an American English-speaking cast that differed from the original cast of the previous films and Lilo & Stitch: The Series.