Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z

I was a big Powerpuff Girls fan back when originally aired on CN. So, hearing that my much-loved animated series was getting an anime series was great news to me. However, this anime series was a great disappointment.

Story: 6 The storyline was fair. Changes of course had to be done, but the number of changes were a little too much for my tastes.

The main disappointment was just how weak they made the heroines' powers. Having yoyos and barrettes made Powerpuff girls go from an age-less great show to a kiddy show in my opinion.

Art: 10 If there was one thing standout feature about ... this anime series it was the art style. It looked like an anime, but still kept the overall PowerPuff look. Colors were bright and indeed colorful. It was something pleasant to see.

Sound: 5 Don't judge me too much by sound, this is my not my strongest review point. However, the songs weren't too memorable or wouldn't be going in my album of anime songs.

Character: 7 One of the most disappointed thing asides from the story. Half of the characters were so different compared to the original series that it was an annoyance. The worst being the RowdyRuff Boys and Sedusa. Sedusa looked horrible in design, and the boys were changed from strong villains close in age and strength to the series heroines, to younger misbehaved boys.

Enjoyment: 6 The initial excitement of the series quickly stopped once the episodes passed on.

Overall: 7 Overall this could have been a really great show with a very large following, if they had stayed closer to the original series.

Overview:

The United States is constantly getting bashed for producing horrible adaptations and ripoffs of other countries' shows, movies, etc. Many times these criticisms are justified and the American version truly was shit. Other times the the US version is judged unfairly by people who never even saw it. Today's review is an example of a shitty adaptation of an American cartoon. Have you ever wished that some country would take a beloved US cartoon and do to it what the Yanks did to "The Wicker Man?" This is that cartoon!


Background:

The original Power Puff girls was a popular US cartoon during the animation bubble of ... the 1990s. During the 90s, nearly every channel on American TV had a Saturday morning cartoon lineup and over 200 American cartoons were airing in any given year of that decade. In 2015 only 2 channels on US TV are airing cartoons and their are no more than 20 current American cartoons. This was a double edged sword because while the total number of awesome cartoon series was much higher during the 1990s, the average quality was actually lower. There were some BAD cartoons in the 1990s like the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter cartoons made by the USA Channel that would never pass current expectations of quality.
Power Puff Girls (same writers as 4chan's beloved MLP) was one of the top tier or roughly top 10 percent cartoons of the 90s decade.

So what did the original do well?

1. It featured cute character designs that paid homage to and parodied anime, which was a fairly new concept in the US.

2.It had lots of action, much of which was also heavily anime inspired. One of the early fights between Blossom and Princess was directly taken from the first Goku vs. Vegeta fight from DBZ!

3. Power Puff had MUCH younger and more "hip" writers that knew how to make pop culture references that actually hit home for the current generation. An example would be when they did a hilarious spoof on the then brand new 1998 Zelda game "Ocarina of Time" and Navi's extreme obnoxiousness. This was the decade when we had many shows with octogenarian writers like Hey Arnold, Doug, and others making constant references to Peter Lorre, Frank Sinatra, Mickey Mantel, and other 1950s pop culture jokes! Kids literally had to watch with their GRANDPARENTS to get the pop culture jokes in those shows! Power Puff was one of the first US cartoons written by younger writers in their 20s and early 30s for a young audience of kids and teens.

4. It didn't just patronize kids and offered some moral complexity and occasional witty writing instead of REALLY stupid PSA commentaries.

5. It could occasionally be surprisingly dark and wasn't afraid to push boundaries, but it also knew not to take itself TOO seriously and kept a balanced tone.

6. It actually had pretty good music and excellent animation for an American TV cartoon of its time.

7. It was freaking funny! My elder cousin would watch this show with me when he babysat me and my brother. He was a tough guy who was on his college's rugby team and was a bar bouncer and even he laughed his ass off!

Damashita Power Puff Girls Z and why it DIDN'T work!:

1. The Art Design: The character models are changed to be more realistic and less cutesy. This is a show for little kids! What's wrong with cutesy?! The girls in the anime version are WAY too oversexualized and it gives this show a very creepy, pedo vibe. These girls are in KINDERGARTEN for fuck sake! The redesigns of the villains are also just stupid as hell!

2. The Animation: PPG Z is 10 years newer than the original PPG and the animation is FAR worse. Of course this was animated by God Damn Toei, so you know exactly what to expect! The last popular American cartoon that had as low quality animation as 2000s decade Toei was the first few seasons of Ninja Turtles in the mid 1980s!

3. The Writing: Remember how I said the original PPG had generally good writing and was very pop culture savvy? PPG Z has NONE of that! PPG Z makes every character unbearably annoying, takes itself too seriously at times when it shouldn't, and has jokes that either fall flat or induce serious cringing. The Rowdy Rough boys peeing on people? Seriously?! Who green lights this shit!?

4. The Entertainment Value: The original PPG was a fun show that even older audiences like parents could watch with their kids and enjoy. PPG Z is about as entertaining as having your fingernails ripped off one by one. Even for little kids this shit isn't entertaining!

5. The Retcons: An adaptation is free to change things like background, time, etc. However, the changes made here were overwhelmingly for the worse. In the original show the girls were born with super powers and like Superman had to learn how to live among normal people. This was done in an interesting way and provided both laughs and some introspection. In PPG Z the girls are normal students that transform into heroes and are basically like every Magical Girl ever made! The villain backgrounds are changed and none of them are as amusing or creative. The setting is changed to Japan, but doesn't take advantage of this change by integrating any elements of Japanese culture or giving a REASON for the change. It is just a ripoff PPG that happens to be set in Japan for some reason.

Overall:

I can now finally understand the anger that British people feel when watching the American versions of Top Gear! This was just PAINFUL to sit through! Even by the 1990s low standards of a kid's show and assuming I hadn't seen the original it would STILL be a terrible fucking show! This is one the worst adaptations of a children's movie or show I have ever seen! I think that giving it a rating of "2" is being generous!

In a nutshell it was ok. After seeing the whole thing you can see how they stayed true to the original series, partially. They kept the old villains looks, personalities, and motives the same but also introduced some of their own to mix it up.
What bothered me the most were some of the cliches and overall placement of....well everything.
Complicated problems are solved within seconds, Professor Utonium has always built some new invention right on time in order to save the day, and they cram things that should span episodes into about 5 minutes.
Everything seemed small scaled, even the girls powers which if ... you knew the original show they were quite a destructive force. But now its just "Ill steal these bananas then take over the world" or "I'll get this boy to like me". Things dont really pick up until the end.
The overall feeling you get from the entire series is that it's filler and its true, you could remove over half the episodes and still keep what little continuity it had.
Even fans of the original PPG will find it hard to watch. I'd recommend it if you are 14 or under.

So I know what the first comments are going to be, it’s a Powerpuff Girls knockoff. And to that, I would say yes and no. This is a slightly different story as the girls were not created with sugar, spice, and everything nice with a toxic element, but were normal school girls given powers. Yes, they made the Powerpuff Girls into an actually magical girl story with secret identities and such. They even have a ‘transformation’ sequence as the girls turn into superheroes.

Let me go over the storyline, and just to let you know, I only saw the English one so if the Japanese is ... different (Thank god first off if it is) then I haven’t been able to see it. So, the story is that Professor Utonium and his young son Ken were playing around with chemical X, and ended up stabilizing it with a porkbun into chemical Z. When strange weather threatens the world, Ken is quick to shoot chemical Z into an iceberg even before testing it. This sends out black and white Z rays. The black ones hitting many different items and people to make them into ‘evil’ forms of themselves, and the white Z rays hit 3 girls who go to the same school but didn’t know each other really as they protected three kids playing games. These girls turn into the Powerpuff Girls and the creatures turned into their enemies.

This storyline brings up more questions then answers as why a porkbun ended up stabilizing a chemical in the first place, why the z rays turned into two different forms (Though they slightly give a answer to this, it doesn’t make much sense still), and just how the hell the girls got powers from what the children were playing with at the time. Let me explain, Bubbles got a weapon that was a Yoyo from a kid playing with one, Bubbles got a bubble wand from protecting a kid blowing bubbles…. And Buttercup got a hammer from a kid playing with a Daruma Otoshi. For those who have no idea what that is, it is a old game where you stack up pieces and try to knock them out of the tower from top to bottom without letting the pieces fall over. I guess they had to figure out some sort of attack for Buttercup.

So let’s see if there personalities make up for the strange storyline… Blossom’s personality is a really annoying and overly whinny. She isn’t like the cool leader in the original show and pretty much made her a nerd that’s into comics and superheroes. She just feels like they exaggerated the worst out of her. The Blossom I remember from the American version was a nerd but book smart, not an over dramatic Superhero lover. Bubbles is way too ditsy as though they took the idea of her being blond to a whole another level. At least with the American version she had the aspect of them being kindergarteners but it’s a different story when the characters are middle school level. Then it just feels like they should know better. Anyway, she grew up in a very traditional Japanese traditional household with her grandmother and a strict background though somehow she has become really into fashion. The only one that seems to be right is Buttercup in that she is the most tomboyish of the group, not really interested in the girly style. Want to know why Blossom and Bubbles wanted to be superheroes? Its not because of wanting to protect the city, its because they want to protect the store Blossom gets her snacks and Bubbles get her outfits… even the original girls were not that conceded. Though they end up wanting to protect everything else later on, they just still end up selfish with their bickering of who is the leader, the concept that when they are at the lab, they can do whatever they please and eat whatever they want, watch whatever they want and so on.

The other thing about this show is that there are a lot of odd transitions. Here is a example, Mojo Jojo is taking over New Townsville (Like it wouldn’t have just been as easy to call it Townsville? It has the same dopey mayor and Miss Bellum.) by throwing little preschoolers into a cage and stealing their candy and the Powerpuff Girls go to take him down. In the middle of the battle, the whole group stops, including the mayor and Miss Bellum who are watching the fight, just to have some ice cream. Talk about a face palm moment. I just feel like my brain is melting because of how stupid this show is half the time and yet I chose to take a look at it on my own. I was a big fan of the original but this show just makes me feel stupid. Can I mention that the story also revolves around them keeping their power a secret from everyone but the professor, his son, their talking dog (I’m not getting into that), the mayor, and Miss Bellum. They always have to make a excuse to leave the classroom, and instead of saying they have to save the world which these countless important people could clarify, the girls say they have a stomachache or they have heartburn of the brain or something even more stupid then that. I would think the teachers would actually tell them no after a while. If the mayor knows and appointed them as heroes, then the whole town should probably know including the school. Something like a mayor order that when people are in trouble, they can go save the day or something. Do we really need these lame excuses? It even goes as far as their teacher wanting to give them more homework because of it so that just seems to be doing the opposite of what they should do. There was even a episode where the principle said that if they left their test, they would be kicked out of school so the professor and his son had to end up saving the day… which the whole matter could probably have been taken care of if they actually told the school everything.

The artwork is actually rather good though very bubbly. Practically everything feels plastic and way to shinny. Actually, the whole anime feels like it’s made for small children and yet a couple of the jokes are ones children won’t understand. I just…. Ugg. It’s sad because the artwork looks so nice and fluid with bright colors, much like a comedy should. Even the outfits they wear have a bit more of a design to them instead of just a dress that looks like a moomoo that was so prevalent in the original. So why can’t they just have this artwork and keep to the well made script.

There are two opening that I listened to. The first being the England version that just sounds like they made a strange instrumental version of what they thought it should be. The other was a really good Japanese version that was really good. So good that I wonder why they didn’t keep it for the episodes. They played the Japanese in episode 21 but more on that later. The English script is so comedic that it’s hard to even understand what the hell is going on. The whole thing is just a big joke. There is just so much stuff crammed into one show that makes no sense. Sometimes there is a moral to the show but then other times they seem to just cram something in like ‘don’t eat to much candy’ or ‘sometimes its good to take a break’ but then they have nothing else about it. It’s just thrown in to be a lesson but it has no base for the whole show The voices are not that bad though, just slightly annoying. The ending songs seem to almost always be different for some reason which makes me wonder just why it is like that. The show isn’t that great that they could put that much more time into having each ending be different, I think I counted like 5 different endings they used. There are a lot of things they could have done to make it better and not waste money on the endings.

Now when I got to episode 21, there was a change to the soundtracks. They had the original Japanese opening, and a rather catchy transformation song that sounded so much better. I think the transformation song was Japanese because it had the Japanese pronunciations to their names. This was close to a godsend for me because it was better then what they had placed before. At least it was a little bit more bearable to watch. Sadly, this only happened for one episode and then they went back to stupidity, even going as far as calling Takoyaki a pastry puff. For crying out loud, the place that was making them had octopus on it. What Pastry Puff bakery would have an octopus on their sign? There are other cultural differences that just made this hurt to watch. It feels like it was mostly done by 4kids and not Catroon Network the way they re-dubbed it.

There was one point that I thought was going to save this anime. Episode 46 had a rather intense fight scene with the ‘leading’ enemy,HIM (though he really does not show up much and is normally easy to take out with just a bit of cold), and the girls learning more of how to fight with there weapons. Weapons they have had for the last 46 episodes mind you (and yes, I am counting the one they only had them for a brief time). They should have figured this out before hand but oh well, they wanted to put 46 episodes of filler into the show so by all means, don’t let me stop you. Anyway, they do a really good fight and just when I think they are going to take the show serious, we get the next episode where sadly, it feels like another filler! It is pretty much Mojo Jojo takes a holiday with the girl’s teacher, Miss Keane, who Mojo has a large crush on. Oh ya, I didn’t mention that in any this whole review, huh? That’s because it’s only touched like three times in the span of this show. Just like they only do one episode of where Mojo Jojo is ‘mother’ to the Rowdyruff Boys Z, the girl’s polar opposites. Then the boys vanish from sight till their next time they fight the girls. Every time you see Mojo’s ‘lair’ the boys are no where to be found so I have no clue where they live.

Overall, if you want something that numbs your brain, this might be for you but I know for sure, I didn’t like it. It felt like I was watching something that was for a much younger audience even if some of the jokes were more adult.

Although I not a big fan of PPG I really enjoyed this series. And because it's based the Cartoon Network's Powerpuff Girls, I will compare them too.
The CN's series was an attemt to make a japanese style cartoon in America (just look at it: chibi characters with big eyes, magical girl feeling - schoolgirls turn ito heroes - that's not typical in the US.)
This series is a kind of "We show you a real japanese PPG". So the Aniplex made a franzische with some modifications.
First the changed the situation: to show it's an improvement of the US series, the Chemical X get ... a new ingredient and becomes Chemical Z.
Second: the girls get they power instead of they created by the professor. Also the girls are older now (not kindergarten aged, they go to school). The professor is less clumsy but he has a hasty son who makes up this shortage.
As a typical magical girl anime, the girls have to transform. The robot pet Peach's voice needed to trigger the transformation. They have weapons too (that's also typical) - but less superpowers.
Now the same things: the character names are the same as in the US series, each part is contains two episodes. Naturally the scene is changed to Tokyo.
The music also confirm the feeling that this is an "answer" or parody of the US series: the used music styles give some american feeling. During Blossom's and Bubble's transformation we can hear two typical 70's, 80's disco beat and during Buttercup's transformation I waited Madonna to start singing "Music". XD Even, the first ending is like the "Skater boy" from Avril Lavigne especially the ending's intro like Skater boy's intro
On the whole I really like this series (and the US prequel too)

Powerpuff Girls Z (PPGZ) is the retelling of the homonymous American cartoon (I’ll just call it PPGA), the silly adventures of a trio of supergirls as they protect their world from all sorts of criminals and monsters. Instead of just stopping to a dubbed version for reasons that I only imagine being fan pleasing, Japan decided to have its own PPG series, made from scratch. And boy, did they change a lot…

This is not exactly new in the industry. Since as far as the 80’s America and Japan make their own versions of the same story. Famous examples are Macross/Roboteck, American-only sequels to Voltron Defender ... of the Universe, an American-only OVA conclusion to the Saber Rider and the Starsheriffs, several Japanese-only sequels and spin-offs to the Transformers. The thing is, all those shows were 90% identical or easily recognizable to be of the same franchise. PPGZ is way too different to PPGA to the point it feels as a different show. But I thought it was some what of a good show.

ART (PPGA: 8, PPGZ: 5)

PPGA was using a rather simple to draw and animate artwork which looked very 2-dimensional. It was also made to be a tribute to both the pop-art movement, superhero comic books of the 60’s, as well as a parody to several Japanese anime stereotypes. That made it look special and unique in a way, even if there are several series that were made the same way, like South Park, Dexter’s Laboratory or Ying Yang Yo. It was still somewhat different from the typical cartoon, which packs a lot more animation, 3D effects and lip-synch.

PPGZ on the other hand looks way too typical. If you have watched several anime, you can easily see how average its animation is, with its jerky motions, frozen panels and repeating transformation clips. I’m pretty sure it costs more to create 3D effects and fluid animation but at the same time it looks far less captivating. It has no in-jokes to comic books and the anime jokes are not working that well, since mahou shoujo parodies are abundant in Japan but not in America.

I don’t blame studio Toei for animating it like this, since it follows their recipe of how to make a nice children’s show to the letter. It’s just that it was too safe to be given to them and not to, let’s say GAINAX or SHAFT, which would definitely have done a lot more experimenting and would have produced a far more uncommon result.

I think that was the only problem or thing I hated about this series. But anyway I thought the storyline was better then the original.

The Powerpuff Girls is a beloved cartoon made in the United States and was aired on Cartoon Network. Which had recieved an anime adaption in Japan.

Story 8/10:
It's a pretty enjoyable story which has maybe 1 or 2 episodes that fell flat from the rest. Powerpuff Girls Z is significantly different from the original PPG because story wise although there is a plot it tends to shift away from it for about 10-15 and then decides to return to the real problem at hand which it kind've turns into a slice of life anime, but to completely disregard the plot and adding slice of life just ... so that the story can get dragged out to last for a longer duration is not a good look. I loved how they knew exactly when and how to make the story threatening and create a certain level of suspense.

Art 10/10:
The character designs were executed beautifully and the Powerpuff Girls still kept their signature hairstyles, colours, eyes etc. Sedusa however changed drasrically and for the worst, her character design really stood out to me due the fact that I could barely recognize her until she said "I'm Sedusa". The atmosphere was bright, bubbly and aesthetically pleasing.

Characters 8/10:
I would've given it a 10 but what happened to the RowdyRuff Boys? They went from being the PPG sworn enemies in the original but in the anime they are just annoying, spoilt little boys. The scene where they took their pants off and farted in the girls faces was a big no, I thought it was an adaption for the PPG not Teen Titans Go! With those fart jokes and just behaving in an obnoxious manner led to the comedy feeling extremly forced at times. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup had the same personalities and styles but their interests changed, honestly not much of a bother it was pretty fun with some interesting character development especially from Buttercup.

Music 8/10:
All the openings and endings were absolutely amazing. Reason behind losing 2 points was mainly caused by the fact that those are the only songs that stood out and their battle song, the rest of the songs were either forgettable or just down right basic.

Voice acting 10/10:
They did what needed to be done. There's no debate, the voice actors just delivered in the original japanese and english dub. (I watched the anime more than once in English and Japanese)

Overall 10/10:
Is what it deserves, watch the show because apparently unlike Powerpuff Girls (US), Powerpuff Girls Z doesn't appeal to everyone as much.

The animation had a rushed quality to it as if the episodes needed to be pushed out as soon as possible. A few scenes were reused a bit too much, excluding the transformations of course. While the story was tedious, overly goofy, and some episodes felt like barefaced copies of previous ones, it did manage to keep me amused. If it weren't for those more entertaining moments, though, it would have been a very "meh" series. The main attraction here is the immature playful comedy. I would suggest staying away from Powerpuff Girls Z if you are particularly critical with plot. (80% of the awesome ... is in the last three episodes. That's a bit taxing in a fifty-two episode long series, no?)

So, me and my little sister (Me 13, she 5) watched this. After the first few episodes, my sister pretty much summed up the flaws. The ppg powers are greatly reduced, ("I don't like how they can ONLY use yo-yo's and stuff)...also, the voices are horrible. This anime is ALOT like Sailor Moon, but with the ppg storyline. In Sailor Moon, I was forced to watch the subbed version, due to the fact that I couldn't STAND the voices. Same with this. My sister can't read, so she was forced to watch the dub, she also hated the voices.

The characters a rewritten a bit;

... Blossom is still the self appointed leader, but she's a bit boy crazy. She also doesn't enjoy doing homework as much, and moral stand's have dropped from the original Blossom.

Buttercup is the most athletic girl in school, and is barely even a girl. She hates wearing skirts (Unfortunately, when they transform, they transform, short skirt is a big part of the costume...*cough* Sailor Moon *Cough*) But she's not THAT much different.

Bubbles is the cute one. She is CONSTANTLY getting love letters and date requests, but she's also the dumb one. Go Figure.

If you hated Sailor Moon (Like me) then you MIGHT hate this...I recommend watching the first 3 episodes, then judging for yourself. If your a ppg fan, this is definitely a step down, but it is most certainly a step up from Sailor Moon.

Wish you the best, In your Anime Quest ^.^
-Drumming1997

I feel like this is the kind of series that you would enjoy so much more just by not taking it seriously. Clearly the writers weren't taking it seriously. But seeing as this has the beloved cartoon's name attached to it, of course it's going to receive a lot of hate. The point is, I think that if the producers wanted to make a joke series, they shouldn't do it with an already existing franchise that lots of people love.

Story: 4/10
Where do I begin? I'm not going to pretend that anything made sense; like I said, if I turn off my very logical mathematical mind ... I can follow this about as much as I can follow a lesson on adding apples and oranges. A.K.A. You simply don't. You sit back and watch. With the exception of a feel mediocre add-ins like Takaaki and Miko, the last four or so episodes is the only point that anything begins happening. And even then not any of it gives off a feeling of being preplanned past a couple previously seen fan service shots of an Edo era PPG. If I completely abandon the idea that any form of structural writing went into it, it becomes a simply decent storyline about black and white lights terrorizing the city. So I gave it the 'decent' rating.

Art: 3/10
Now with a 95% chance of a derp shot with every episode. You can tell Toei made this. The recycled animation shots aren't nearly as abundant as the final season of Pokémon BW, but whenever we do get new content the characters almost always look like they just came out of a broken washing machine that squirts out the mutagen from TMNT. This is sadly disappointing as there are moments where the show is genuinely well (not outstandingly) animated. Some examples include the opening and ending songs, the final few episodes, the transformation sequences, and the few and far in between darker toned plots. The design of the characters are sub-par at best and leeches off the creativity that the original had. With the exception of possibly Princess, these "brand new" designs actually dull the initial quirkiness the old ones had down. You never want a show called Powerpuff Girls to do that.

Sound: 9/10
The music is quite literally the best part of the show. What a loss it is that the dub cut out the original openings and endings as those were the only real parts I can still to this day show to friends in hopes of getting them into anime. One grip I have with them here is the blatant last second edit of the second opening that showcased how disorganized this entire series was. They weren't even bothered to spend a few minutes shading Momoko in until a couple episodes after the opening originally released. It's this pure laziness that is a shame also transverses into the one strongest saving graces of this show.

There is also the issue of misconception. The openings, endings, and some OST's give off the perfect vibe of friendship, coming of age, and happiness in a way that the show itself never fully reaches. I've heard countless comments how if only the show were as touching as the OST it was gifted with. And seeing feedback that the series itself felt detached from the music is never a good thing.

Characters: 6/10
-2 for Momoko freaking Akatsutsumi. Anime is great, it's one of my passions to watch. But she's one prime example of how it can also be an awful abomination. They changed everything that made her character in the original: her leadership, her intelligence, quick wit, and ability to get the other girls to listen to her, just for the sake of catering to the moe ditzy love obsessed audience. She does have moments where her quick thinking is what saves the day, but ultimately the poor execution and lack of character development makes those moments become a complete one-time lucky break more than anything. Miyako is slightly infuriating at first but her complete detachment from real life soon becomes a character trait that you can at least appreciate for being consistent. Kaoru is probably the least damaged out of all the girls; and she brings some of the funniest moments. So what's going on? Shouldn't the score be higher?

Looking past what the characters are like in the first few episodes, the fact is that none of them. Ever. Change. There were attempts to explore Momoko and Miyako's characters by introducing love interests (though short-lived in Momoko's case) for them. But while Momoko's lack of taking anything seriously ruined her chance, Miyako's lack of any real conclusion past, you guessed it, the fourth ending song, completely derails whatever chance at developing they have into a mud hole. Kaoru's probably the only character I don't mind too much didn't change as she was the most solid thing in this series, but having something be average just doesn't cut it anymore. I would score this lower if the friendship between the three wasn't downright heartwarming at times.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Myself, I was part of the entourage which tuned in week after week, with PPG Z wallpapers and avatars littering my every being. Having something be your muse for a while doesn't boost how good the show actually is; so my enjoyment unfortunately doesn't affect my final score much. But hey, if it can get some people into it, it must have SOMETHING, right? Once you get past the dubbing down and utter embarrassment this can be to the original, it does become a fun show to follow every Saturday morning.

Overall: 6/10
Watch this show if you're looking to kill some time, or possibly want to sit through a couple nice tracks playing through a train wreck of a series. That's really it. If you're a fan of the original, I think it's more likely you'll end up hating it than loving it. But since there's a chance you won't hate it, then give it a shot.

I usually don’t write reviews, but this will be an exception because... nostalgia.
I was 11 when I found out about this series back in 07’. I was already a huge PPG fan during my early childhood, so watching this series was so much fun. Years later, it has aged. I still have an appreciation for it.

If you’re already a fan of the original series, you’ll enjoy it just fine. It’s not perfect, but it’s durable. Be mindful of some of the changes made in the anime (the girls not being related is a prime example and are 13 instead of 5. Slight changes to some ... characters’ personalities).
In the long run, at least this series respected the original source material more than the 2016 reboot..

TL;DR: Powerpuff Girls Z is a blast of nostalgia from my personal childhood and a fun show to watch when you have nothing else.

L;DR
First and foremost, I've given this show the rating I did out of pure nostalgia. I never watched the original Powerpuff girls as a kid the way that my friends did, and instead I grew up on... this. It's what probably introduced me to anime and what bonded my older sister and I- hours in front of the phone watching this show. I also remember watching it dubbed, and from my vague childhood memory it wasn't that bad.

In this review I can't ... exactly comment on comparisons to the original Powerpuff Girls, as I have no experience with it. However, several years and about a thousand anime episodes later, I have more experience with the field of anime in general.

It's pretty much a magical girl show. Three girls are hit with a chemical that suddenly give them... new outfits and superpowers, I guess. They have to hide their secret double life while attending school and saving the world. There's even transformation sequences to boot. The best word to describe it is fun. It's really, really, fun. If you can suspend your disbelief for a while to watch this zany magical girl anime rendition of a classic, you won't regret it. Powerpuff Girls Z is objectively and technically not amazing, but absolutely positively a good time.

Most people mocking this anime with Sailor Moon for a reason, but unlike all the mahou-shoujo genre, it comes from the already popular much more brutal and regular non-anime Powerpuff Girls from Cartoon Network. However the story itself is nicely done however not faithful to the original story at all, but has many potential to continue the story in manga, even if the anime itself gained far from enough popularity than expected from the English and other asian Cartoon Network channels from the 2000s. The artstyle tastes simple and touches Scott Pilgrim in many ways. The transformation of the girls were pretty much unnecessary and ... Mojo's height is disturbing. The rest of the villains look okay and still faithful to the original CN version. The story is enjoyable and tries to remain as family friendly as possible which deserves to be watched by kids unlike the CN version which has really brutal and disgusting episodes. I actually managed to have a different type of Powerpuff girls I really wished for even if I cannot highlight most things about it as it's as average as possible. Glad PPGZ eventually happened to customize the anime arsenal even more for it's release and the lenght of the series is healthy on top of that. I recommend the series to people who likes the CN version and really into mahou-shoujo as this PPG is really made to become a mahou-shoujo.

now this may seem to be just a knock off of power-puff girls but the story is completely different than the one that appeared on CN the story line is different and the show is more of a magical girl anime it even has a transform sequence and the girls have secret identities and everything.
the character design is really nice as well and the animation for the transform sequence is by far one of my favorite things in the show. the sound was ok when i first watched it but thats because i watched it on YouTube sadly so i ... don't recommend you watching it there id find a better place.
over all i enjoyed the show a lot its one i would recommend to newer watchers of anime sense its simple and a quick watch i enjoyed it a lot and so did my friends who have watched it.

This....is honestly terrible.

I watched it for the cute transformations. I'm a sucker for magical girl anime. However, this "anime" is a prime example of why cartoons shouldn't be made into anime. Or at least this particular cartoon lol.

The story is all over the place. There's no character development. In fact, every episode it's almost the same thing happening over and over again. I got bored after the first two episodes and resigned to the rest of the series being "background noise" while working.

The only thing I can compliment is the art style. I did quite enjoy the art and, as mentioned above, ... the transformation scenes. They were cute, as were the characters. But other than that...just no.

Let's get right into it. I'll be blunt; this is one of the most appalling pieces of shit that I've ever seen. To pass this off as the result of adaptations in shows typically going wrong would be the understatement of the entire series, as this show has gone out of its way to be sadistic and torture its audience as much as possible. One forum commenter also apparently agreed, stating it took them two years to finish and they only did it for nostalgia and the soundtrack. (this poor poor soul....) The show's "overarching plot," if you will, is so loosely tied together that ... at a glance it seems completely random with no elements of foresight whatsoever. The reason for this is likely due to the overwhelming monster of the day element; Him releasing the black particles would be fine as a normal monster of the day element. To use it as an excuse to have the EXACT SAME PLOT for more than 80% of the series (This was happening ever since the villain after Mojo was introduced) is completely inexcusable, especially considering the lack of any sort of lore or buildup the show would've been able to have. Aside from their relevance to the lore, the Chakichaki girls are COMPLETELY irrelevant and serve almost no purpose in the entire story whatsoever; the same can be said for the American PPG cameos, although they actually were only on-screen for less than 1/4 of a second flying into the air. This ruins the entire point of the Easter egg by COMPLETELY denying the viewer any interaction with them, let alone SEEING them outside of glowing colorful trails. At least the when AMERICAN Powerpuff Girls included crossovers (to other shows, namely Dexter's Lab) they at least had the courtesy to SHOW the characters on-screen outside of a blur. The show also features an overwhelmingly aggressive amount of abuse towards Mojo that surges to uncomfortable moments where it's clear someone on the writing staff absolutely hated Mojo and wanted to abuse him as much as possible, as seen when they try to rob him of as many moments as they can get away with. Nearly every character on this show has been written in such a way that they were even more unlikable than the American version. The Powerpuff Girls Z themselves suffer from overwhelmingly poor characterization which results in character moments that come off as UNBELIEVABLY forced and stiff especially when coming from the original series for reference. This wouldn't be a problem if this was an ADAPTATION, meaning anyone here is AUTOMATICALLY from the American series by default and knows how these girls should be acting and behaving, and the like for the villains. I could rant about this show and everything wrong with it for hours, but instead I will leave you with some memories of the worst episodes by far of the entire show; a dung beetle falling in love with a female dung beetle (who almost dies in a single episode), a bowl of ramen wanting to correct everyone for not eating ramen "properly," Buttercup not just falling in love with a man because he's handsome, but becoming willing to change her entire personality and wear girly skirts and dresses just because of this, the Powerpuff Girls literally abusing Mojo when he's sick in the hospital...these are a FEW OF THE HORRID, NUMEROUS MOMENTS IN THE SERIES. This series has been incredibly painful and under no circumstances would I recommend watching this show unless you have a masochistic tendency to watch your favorite characters be completely dismantled and worn down into hated versions of those of whom you've known. Another example would be Miss Keane, who I have an intense aversion towards now; due to her abusive behavior towards Mojo, I'm unable to find myself liking her, at least in this version. I'll need to cut it short here but in essence: NEVER watch this show whatsoever, unless you have severe masochism for ruining your childhood. This show scraped past a 1 (just barely), with a total 2/10.