Kaitlyn Watanabe: Kawaii Heroine

Kaitlyn Watanabe: Kawaii Heroine
Television show information
Genre	Adventure Comedy
Created by	Ciro Nieli Lynne Naylor
Voices of	Ashley Johnson
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	132 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Rose Marshall
Running time	22 min. (approx.)
Production company(s)	Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Distributor	Viacom Media Networks
Broadcast
Original network	Nickelodeon
Picture format	1080i (16:9 HDTV)
Original release	October 12th, 2007-April 20th, 2013

Kaitlyn Watanabe: Kawaii Heroine was an American animated adventure-comedy television series, being created by Ciro Nieli and Lynne Naylor. It was produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios and it aired on Nickelodeon from October 12th, 2007 until April 20th, 2013.

Synopsis

Kaitlyn Watanabe is a biracial American teenage girl (Japanese from her father's side and Caucasian from her mother's side) who is an anime fangirl as she soon learns that animesque monsters are real as she also learns she has powers and uses them to fight against these monsters.

Characters

Main

• Kaitlyn Watanabe (voiced by Ashley Johnson) - a geeky but feisty teenage girl who learns that she has powers that allow her to fight any kind of menaces, even if she often ends up in several awkward situations due to her lack of experience with them.

Supporting

• Yam-Yum (voiced by Candi Milo) - a wise but adorable magical panda who Kaitlyn finds as he aids her on her missions, serving as her sidekick.
• Hiro Watanabe (voiced by Andrew Kishino) - Kaitlyn's serious yet protective father who is TBD.
• Ingrid Watanabe (née Cliffside) (voiced by Jennifer Hale) - Kaitlyn's eccentric but caring mother who owns a spa and TBD.
• Courtney Maze (voiced by Grey Griffin) - a snarky teenage girl who is Kaitlyn's best friend and is aware of her powers and occasionally aids her TBD.
• Susan Campbell Rice (voiced by Alyson Stoner) - a bratty high school queen bee who every female wants to be and every male wants to date as she has a rivalry with Kaitlyn due to finding her awkward and TBD, even if she occasionally gets along with her.
• Katrina Mulligan (voiced by Hynden Walch) - a gothic teenage girl who is usually a loner, although she is rather TBD to Kaitlyn since she secretly enjoys watching Super Mermaid Princesses! and believes she's a TBD.

Antagonists

• Lord Smashfists (voiced by John DiMaggio) - a vicious and powerful warlord who is hunting for a perfect match and believes that Kaitlyn is his perfect opponent.
• Lady Akuza (voiced by Kari Wahlgren) - a powerful feminine demon who has control over every single demon and tries to take over the world with her demons.
  • Kappa (voiced by John Kassir) - a hunched turtle demon who works for Akuza and TBD.
  • Sierra Miste/Icefists (also voiced by Ashley Johnson) - TBD
  • Kitsune (voiced by Kelly Hu) - a kitsune who works for Lady Akuza and is very deadly.
  • Eel-is (voiced by Khary Payton) - an electricity controlling eel-like monster who works for Lady Akuza.
  • Cranio (voiced by TBD) - an ice-breathing crane who works for Lady Akuza.
  • Kato (voiced by TBD) - a deadly worm-like creature with arms who works for Lady Akuza.

Episodes

See List of Kaitlyn Watanabe: Kawaii Heroine episodes.

Production

Animation

The animation for the series was outsourced to The Answer Studio in Japan.

Gallery

Kaitlyn Watanabe (hero outfit)

Kaitlyn Watanabe (civilian outfit)

Tropes

See Kaitlyn Watanabe: Kawaii Heroine/Tropes.

Trivia

• The series mocks various anime and manga tropes and its artstyle is influenced by those.
  • Kaitlyn's battle outfit is inspired by Son Goku from the Dragon Ball series and Usagi Tsukino from the Sailor Moon series, both coincidentally produced by Toei Animation.
• To mock overpowered anime heroes, Kaitlyn has various powerful attacks, even if she ends up forgetting about them since she has several powers. These include:
  • Speed
  • Fire blasts
  • Psychic shield
  • Flight
  • Strength
  • Shapeshifting
  • Hypnotic stare
  • Ice sword
  • Plasma blades
  • Steel skin
  • Intangibility
  • TBD