Kuu Kuu Harajuku

Kuu Kuu Harajuku
If you want to watch a show with pop songs in every episode, Gwen Stefani unfortunately will make it harder for you to search for it.
Genre: Comedy Running Time: 22 minutes Country: United States Canada Malaysia Australia Release Date: November 1, 2015-December 28, 2019 (Australia) October 3, 2016-2019 (United States) Network(s): 10 Peach (Australia) Nickelodeon (United States) Family Channel (Canada) Created by: Gwen Stefani Distributed by: WildBrain Distribution Starring: Maggie Chretien Daisy Masterman Emma Taylor-Isherwood Sally Taylor-Isherwood Charlotte Nicdao Danny Smith Seasons: 3 Episodes: 78

Kuu Kuu Harajuku is a Japanese-influenced animated children's television series created by singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani. It is based on her Harajuku Lovers merchandise brand, and the show doubles as a brand itself, with a line of tie-in products by Mattel. The show follows a teenage girl group called HJ5 and their manager Rudie as they live in a fantasy version of Tokyo called Harajuku City. HJ5 is a quintet: the four Harajuku Girls (Love, Angel, Music, and Baby) with their leader G. Episodes follow the band members and Rudie overcoming obstacles preventing them from performing.

Plot

The show follows a teenage girl based on Gwen Stefani, nicknamed G, and her friends Love, Angel, Music, and Baby, as they form the up-and-coming band HJ5. HJ5's clumsy manager Rudie works hard to book performances for the band, but their gigs are always interrupted. The band always manages to overcome challenges using their combined strengths: G's leadership, Love's intelligence, Angel's creativity, Music's bravery, Baby's enthusiasm, and Rudie's determination.

A villain named General NoFun and his assistant, Commander Bo-Ring often cause problems for HJ5 as they pursue a world without any entertainment. Other supporting characters include Twisty T, a famous music producer whom Rudie is desperate to impress; Say-Wah, an obsessed HJ5 fan who wants to join the band; Colonel Spyke, a stern soldier who dislikes pop music; and Mauve Madison, a talk show host who reports on HJ5.

Not So Kawaii Qualities

1. The visuals on season 1 were too bright, as it felt too much on how it looked like it kinda hurts while seeing it. Thankfully it was dimmed with the later 2 seasons.
2. The songs that the show offers in every episode were generic pop songs and felt unfinished on season 1, considering that this show was made by Gwen Stefani, a pop singer, that sounds way too cheesy and cringy. The theme song is probably the worst, since Gwen sings the song, but sounds bored out of her brains while singing.
3. Flat stories in many episodes (in season 1). You got the band always getting into trouble just because they did something wrong, but then realize their mistakes, fix the issue, and it's over. Luckily they stopped doing that same pattern with the later 2 seasons when they finished a concert on it's season premiere.
4. This show is influenced by Japan, yet there is nothing that looks like Japan. Instead, it's all influenced by...wait for it...kawaii. It makes sense, at least. Though it is odd to see kawaii faces all over the buildings like how it was done in season 1.
5. The villains (i.e. General NoFun, Commander Bo-Ring, Phillipa Kropp, Say-Wah, Sammy Starr, Madame Shhh, and Monotone) are also bad and\or have laughable names and have stupid designs in the show as well. Not to mention that the names for the girls themselves aren't much better. But then again, they were just band names based on the Harajuku Girls band.
6. The Flash animation on season 1 is very cheap, choppy, robotic, and stiff, to the point that it gives the Flash animation from seasons 4-6 of Johnny Test a run for it's money.
7. The characters were one-dimensional in season 1. For example:
   • G was a generic leader.
   • Love was a generic nerd.
   • Angel was a generic teenager. (As the later seasons made her focused as a fashion designer)
   • Music was a generic tough girl.
   • Baby was a generic cute girl.
     • Out of all of the characters, Music was the most unlikable due to her abrasive and rude nature.
8. Rudie (despite his humor in the show) was often used as a punching bag, by the girls. Literally, like at the end of one episode, where Music, Baby, and the rest of the girls were furious at him and they used their color guns to shoot him.
9. The plot/writing in many season 1 episodes feels rushed, mean-spirited, or annoying. From the girls' poor treatment of Rudie to the plots being so generic that you could swear they were slapped together in a single afternoon, almost every single episode of the show has one of these issues that is so blatantly obvious just by watching it that it sticks out like a sore thumb.
10. Some bad morals here and there, that's all we can say. For example, the aforementioned scene where the girls attack Rudie with colored guns sends the unintentional message that "if someone annoys you, it's alright to attack them", which is a horrible message to send to anyone, especially young children, who this show is primarily aimed at.
11. The villains (i.e. General NoFun, Commander Bo-Ring, Phillipa Kropp, Say-Wah, Sammy Starr, Madame Shhh, and Monotone) are also bad and\or have laughable names and have stupid designs in the show as well.
12. Unexpected Cliffhanger: It doesn't reveal what would happen when the Tour Bus is arriving since General NoFun had sabotaged the teleportation drive, unfortunately. There were plans for a 4th season according to the crew, possibly resolving the cliffhanger ending, but low doll sales and it's worldwide reception being limited probably led to the show being cancelled. This also lead to Vision Animation, Moody Street Kids, and Red Flags Fly going dormant.

Kawaii Qualities

1. Rudie, Jimmy, Mauve Madison, and some others in this show are tolerable and likable characters.
2. Some good episodes here and there like "Waves of Love", "Candy Blossom Flower Festival", and "Labor of Love" along with many seasons 2 and 3 episodes like "An Imaginary Friend in Need" and "Wacky Wednesday".
3. The villains, despite having laughable names, can be interesting and some of them are actually threatening.
4. Good voice acting.
5. The theme song can be catchy sometimes.
6. Seasons 2 and 3 are an improvement as they switched from Flash to Toonboom, being less robotic and a bit more expressive as it looks a little cuter and less mean-spirited despite some episodes.
7. Some songs are pretty catchy despite being a bit generic.
8. Seasons 2 and 3 made the main characters less stereotypical and manage to be different to be interesting. Not to mention that seasons 2 and 3 brought some interesting additions to the show.
9. The soundtrack is a little interesting as it uses some kind of 16-bit styled music.
10. There are good morals to the series, most notably on the later seasons.
11. The inspiration of the series has some nods to some stuff in the real world, and it is also a breath of fresh air to see something that is inspired by Japanese culture, but not on anime, instead it's on kawaii itself.

Reception

"Kuu Kuu Harajuku currently holds a rating of 3.5/10 on IMDb. It used to have a 6.1/10 rating until it got review bombed. Despite the mixed reviews from critics, the show received overwhelmingly negative reviews from audiences, with CSM (Common Sense Media) giving the show a 2/5.

Trivia

• Kuu Kuu Harajuku, following the shutdown of NickMom, was one of the TV-Y7 shows that aired on the Nick Jr. channel, followed by the Alvin and the Chipmunks reboot, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Regal Academy, Winx Club, Mysticons, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, The Smurfs (2021), Monster High (2022), and several others. And unlike most of those being listed, it was promoted on the Nick Jr. channel as the rest of season 1 and all of season 2 aired there until it was removed on 2018.
• Poland was the only country that managed to air all 3 seasons (besides Australia) on live television.
• On the main Nickelodeon channel, the show aired an hour before The Loud House and Alvin and the Chipmunks (2015), meaning that nobody would even see it. After only one week, the show moved to Nick Jr. and aired new episodes Fridays at 7:30 PM from April 2017 to February 2018.
  • Nickelodeon only aired half of season 1 and then booted the show to the Nick Jr. channel. They also aired the first season out of order, which really confused some people, despite how episodic season 1 was.
• Gillian Carr has also directed shows such as The Eggs, Faireez, SheZow, and Flea-bitten.

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