Rikit

Rikit (Rikitto) is a Japanese anime series created by Waku Pro.

Plot
Rikit is a Topanto sent by Jacaro's deceased cousin, Mokono Kamiya, from heaven to take care of his cousin Jacaro, an unlucky miserable 10-year-old boy who always get bad grades and is always made fun of.

Characters
Rikit is a topanto with the ability to grant wishes to anyone who wishes for it. He is good-hearted and well-intended but is rather short tempered whenever anything someone wishes for gets misused or when someone wishes for physical harm on someone else. He was created by Hiroshi Fujimoto to take care of Mokono Kamiya, who was killed in a road accident, until Mokono sent Rikit to his cousin Jacaro so Rikit could take care of him.

Jacaro Fujio is a 10-year old boy who is a student of Tezuka Makoto Community School. He is the owner of Rikit which he got from Mokono from heaven (although he chose to keep his a secret from his family). He is really lazy and clumsy but he actually likes to study (despite constantly getting bad grades) and he wants to become a manga artist when he grows up (he once got in trouble when Hakuro-sensei caught him making sketches instead of studing). Jacaro is revealed to be a huge fan of Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko and calls them the reason he wants to be a manga artist and that his favourite manga series is Doraemon.

Yutaka Fujio is a 45-year old man who is the father of Jacaro and the husband Fumiko Mizuno. He can be really sterm to his son whenever he gets any bad grades but he is also supportive to him and hopes he would be a manga artist when Jacaro grows up. Yutaka is revealed to have known Hayao Miyazaki for years since he first met him in high school and has remained friends with him for years,

Fumiko Mizuno is a 43-year old woman who is the mother of Jacaro and the wife of Yutaka Fujio. She is also sterm when it comes to her son's bad grades but she tends to be more calmer than Yutaka. Fumiko met Yutaka when she was on a school tour to the Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum and they got married in the Fujiko F Fujio Museum.

Susie Tezuka is a 7-year old girl who is a student of Tezuka Makoto Community School. She is constantly bullied by most of her classmates for being the daughter of a retired Yakuza, but she is a kind and friendly girl with no interests of becoming a Yakuza but instead wants to be a Composer (she considered becoming a pop idol but reconsidered after learning about what happened to Mayu Tomita). Susie always sees Jacaro as nothing more as a friend although Jacaro seems to have a crush on her. Her best friend is Rikit's sister, Mikit.

Snaco Mizuta is an 11-year old boy who is also a student of Tezuka Makoto Community School. He is a very rich boy but he is actually a nice boy who only brags about his riches once a week. He is the best friend of Gio, whom he known since they were babies, and has a huge love for his mother.

Gio Date is a 12-year old boy who is the enemy (and friend) of Jacaro. He is really harsh and often thinks that violence is the best solution of a certain problem. It is revealed in episode 30 that his real name is Honoka Date (after an Ehine Girls member) due to being misgendered as a girl when he was actually a boy so because of this, his mother nicknamed him Gio so he wouldn't be embarrased.

Hakaru-Sensei is a 55-year old man who worked as a teacher for 19 years. He seems to be calmer than the principal but he often punishes his pupils (mainly Jacaro) whenever they get even one question wrong. His mother was a former solider of Japan while his father was also a Teacher.

Hiroshi-Sensei is a topanto who serves as a teacher of the school Rikit graduated from. He is, as most people and topantos calls, a very peverted topanto with a habit of often sneaking into females bathroom but is netherless a wise topanto who wants to teach his students. He was created by Machiko Hasegawa to be a teacher.

Mikit is a topanto who is the younger sister of Rikit. She is more responsible and more calmer than Rikit but is not afraid to get mad whenever she thinks that someone goes too far. Mikit was created by Hiroshi Fujimoto, who also created Rikit, and stay with him in his home.

Kana is a Mokano who is working as a doctor in Heaven. She loves almost everything but she is not a pushover and would get upset whenever someone treats her and her friends harshly, especially Rikit, whom she known for months. She was created by Shotaro Ishnomori.

Naoki is a topanto with a PHD in wish granting. He is egoistic but he cares deeply about his friends, especially his creator, Osamu Tezuka. Naoki secretly has a crush on Mikit but as a running gag, he would always deny it whenever it gets brought up.

Hico, Paku, Koto, Pina, Miku, Mayu and Ruki are a group of topantos who are agents of heaven. They are often getting into arguments (especially with their occacial 8th member Rikit) but they are still best of friends and are always working together. Hico, Paku and Koto are created by Fujio Akatsuka while Ruki, Pina, Miku and Mayu are created by Yusuko Chūsonji. They only appear in the manga spin-off series written by Akira Toriyama, The Topantos.

Ceecee is a city fox who lives in a local park. She is the girlfriend of Rikit and often visits secretly when he's not taking care of Jacaro. She mostly thinks she is a cat due to her being raised by cats after her birth parents were killed by hunters during a hunting game.

Mokono Kamiya is a boy who is the deceased cousin of Jacaro. He was killed in a road accident when he was 10. Mokono is just as naughty as Jacaro but he cares about his friends. He is currently living with Hiroshi Fujimoto and Mikit in Heaven.

Japanese Cast
Wasabi Mizuta: Rikit

Yumiko Kobayashi: Mikit

Makiko Ohmoto: Jakaro Fujio

Kaito Ishikawa: Yutaka Fujio

Tomokazo Seki: Hakaru-Sensei

Wataru Takagi: Naoki

Shigeru Chiba: Hiroshi-Sensei

Gen Hoshino: Gio Date

Masako Nozawa: Susie Tezuka

Motoko Kumai: Mokono Kamiya

Yumi Kakazu: Kana

Chisa Yokoyama: Fumiko Mizuno

Osamu Hosoi: Snaco Mizuta

UK Cast
Yaniko Waku: Rikit

Hetty Baynes: Kana, Jacaro Fujio, Mikit

Will Hislop: Gio Date, Hakaru, Hiroshi, Yutaka, Snaco, Naoki

Dwan French: Fumiko, Susie, Mokono Kamiya

US/Canadian Cast
Monica Rial: Rikit

Natalie Rial: Mikit

Tress MacNeille: Kana

Johnny Yong Bosch: Jacaro, Gio, Naoki, Mokono

Miguel Rial: Hakaru, Hiroshi, Yutaka

Bryn McAuley: Fumiko

Susan Egan: Susie

Billy West: Snaco

Production
During Super Animals's run, Waku Pro created Rikit as a request by Makoto Tezuka for another anime series. Waku Pro didn't know what to created and began thinking about an animal with wings of a bird, oval-shaped fangs and two different tails and ears of a cat and dog. Makoto didn't know what to choose so he decided to put them all together and developed Rikit. The name "Topanto" came from an Instagram account and the Topanto Rikit was named from a common Tatalog word from the Philippines.

Brodcast
Japan: TV Asahi

United Kingdom: Jetix, Boomerang

United States: Disney XD

Canada: YTV, Teletoon

India: Disney Channel (English), Pogo TV (Hindi)

Philippines: Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon

Mexico: Canal 5

France: M6

Spain: Boing

Italy: K2, Rai Gulp

South Korea: Animax

Germany: Disney Channel

Brazil: TV Globo

Portugal: Cartoon Network

China: CCTV

Controversy
This Anime was temperally banned in India and Italy due to complaints about the characters behaviours that they thought could have a negative effect on children. In response, Waku Pro, the copyright holder of Rikit, criticized this as hypocrisy, as most Indian and Italian shows have a lot of contents they describe as "a negative effect on children".

The episode "Benesse doesn't really like kids", an episode that ridicules Japanese company Benesse, was banned after airing twice due to the negative portrayal of Benesse and other preschool show creators as pedophiles and child groomers.

Trivia

 * Originally it was supposed to be a series of OVAs but Waku Pro did not like it so it was made an Anime instead.