Kitty Rose (1995 anime)

Kitty Rose (キティローズ - Kiti Rōzu) is a 1995 magical girl/dramedy anime directed by Kenji Kodama and produced by TMS Entertainment and KSS. The series aired for 26 episodes from October 18, 1995 to April 10, 1996 on NHK. It was later dubbed in English by The Summit Media Group, produced and distributed by BKN, A.D. Vision (later ADV Films) and Saban International in 1997. The series was followed by a 52-episode season from 1997-1998.

Summary
In the fictional city of Adrianna, exchange student Hina settles as attacks by a feline alien mafia led by Stray Cat ensue. Hina is then granted the power and magic to become Kitty Rose, a magic-wielding catgirl whose source of power is The Rose of Midnight, a mystical rose. Along the way, she also enlists the aid of three other girls, who harness the power of the other three mystical flowers known to exist. They also gain the ability to turn into cats at will via an incantation, thus allowing them various feline capabilities.

Characters

 * Hina Fukuzawa/Kitty Rose - The protagonist of the series. She is very kind, noble, soft-spoken and brave. She arrived in Adrianna as an exchange student from Japan, but was allowed to extend her stay in order to fight off Stray Cat's mafia. Her mystical flower is The Rose of Midnight and is the most powerful of the four mystical flowers, which establishes her as a leader of her team. Voices: Mayumi Iizuka (Japanese) Tara Strong (English)
 * Kiki Gauche/Kitty Daisy - Hina's best friend, who is pretty shy and anxious yet smart and loyal. Her surname is named after the titular character from Kenji Miyazawa's short story Gauche the Cellist, which is also made clear by her excellent ability to play the cello as well as a proverbial love for Miyazawa's writing. Her mystical flower is The Flower of Sunrise (a sunflower). Voices: Yukana (Japanese) Willow Johnson (English)
 * Sakura Hajikano/Kitty Blossom - The somewhat spunky, cutesy and cat-loving member of the team. However, she uses her hyperactivity and cuteness to her advantage. Her mystical flower is The Blossom of Midday. Voices: Haruna Ikezawa (Japanese) Cathy Weseluck (English)
 * Viola Russo/Kitty Poppy - The red-headed and overzealous yet loyal and brave (somewhat) member of the team. Although she has a tendency to understate challenges and enemies she and her friends face, she has a fiery temper which also comes in handy when she has to defend her friends from harm. Her mystical flower is the Poppy of Evening. Voices: Yūko Miyamura (Japanese) Myriam Sirois (English)

English version
In 1997, The Summit Media Group and BKN acquired the rights to produce an English dub of the series, with Saban International distributing the series outside of North America and Japan and ADV Films releasing the series on video. The dub was also recorded by The Ocean Group in Vancouver featuring their own actors as well as Canadian-American voice actress Tara Strong as the title character. According to Haim Saban, who paid for international rights for and currently owns worldwide rights to the series, BKN was motivated by the popularity of anime at the time.

Although the dub was produced uncut, it was censored for broadcast on the BKN (Bohbot Kids Network) block in first-run syndication in North America from the fall of 1997 until summer 1998 with ADV Films releasing the series on VHS. The uncut dub was later released on VHS and DVD by ADV Films from 2000 until 2001 with a box set release in 2004.

International broadcast

 * United States: BKN, Toonami, Kawaii Box
 * Canada: YTV
 * United Kingdom: CITV, Fox Kids, Boomerang
 * France: France 3, Télétoon+, Gulli
 * Germany: RTL II
 * Italy: Italia 1
 * Portugal: Canal Panda

Video games
The series has spawned a good amount of video games, with some published by KSS, Takara and King Records, released mainly for the Super Famicom, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, Game Gear, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast among other platforms.

The first game, simply titled after the series, was released for the Super Famicom in Japan on December 15, 1995 by KSS. It is a puzzle platformer game in which you play as one of the four protagonists and have to stop Stray Cat in a gameplay environment requiring the player to solve puzzles in each level using platforming skills. The game was later translated and released in Europe in 1996/1997 and North America in 1997 by Natsume.