Hoshi No Kaabii Anime Episode 6

Took a small break, but back to Kirby!

The basic gist is that Dedede is suddenly giving out free TVs to everyone in Pupu Land, and Fumu (Tiff) suspects Dedede's up to something and refuses to watch. Her hunch is right, when Dedede tries to use his broadcast to spread false information by filming a giant monster attack to scare people and hypnotizes the Cappies to attack Kirby.

First of all, this episode is surprisingly relevant today on how people just believe everything in our society, especially with the internet. So it is a good message even today. That said, some people these days also use it as a lazy way to dismiss things when the truth is shown on TV. We're coming up on the second year of this pandemic, and there are still plenty of people who refuses to believe it, or heed the advice of experts because they think they're smart, but I digress.

The episode is very enjoyable with more savage humor. One of the Cappy kid asks his mom if she liked comedies, and her reply in the English dub was: "I married daddy, didn't I?" The Japanese version has more Japanese TV parodies (I only know this thanks to the subtitles) but they kept a surprising amount of American show parody titles, too.

This episode also addresses something I never mentioned. A lot of the characters are actually enemies in Kirby games. The Cappies were some of the earliest enemies in the first Kirby game. The Cappies here are just regular folks in the show, but after being put under hypnosis, they turn on Kirby. So they still managed to sorta serve as enemies while also being harmless folks living their life. Kirby manages to spoil the TV broadcast in the most adorable way that only Kirby can. No power ups at all in this episode. The monster is just Escargoon in a suit.

What I think a lot of people take issue with is Fumu's attitude in this episode about television being stupid and rotting your brains. I think the episode, whether in Japanese or English couldn't decide on Fumu's attitude being against TV cause she's too good for it, or that she's suspicious of it since it's ran by Dedede. The show kinda implies both, but I feel like they should have focused on the latter. It would make more sense seeing as how up until this point, no one has seen a television before. Like how would she know watching too much TV is bad for you?

On the side of cuts and changes, I also didn't notice anything was missing. I did find it interesting that Curio's name remains the same in both English and Japanese. I am surprised that they kept the part with Dedede firing a gatling gun even in the English dub. Also, this is the first time we hear Waddle Doo speak, and oh god... his voice is hilarious for all the wrong reasons in the English dub. He is cute and squishy sounding in the Japanese original. It fits. The English dub makes his sound like some 40 year old truck driver from Brooklyn. It's so wrong, but so hilarious. I think that's what they were going for with that voice. At least I hope so.

Again, for a series without an overarching plot, there is continuity, and TV will continue in some way in future episodes of the series. Also, the English dub has Escargoon mention his mom. Not sure if that's intentional either, but she is a character in an upcoming episode.