Di Gi Charat

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Di Gi Charat
デ・ジ･キャラット (Di Gi Charat)
Genre	Seinen, Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Manga
Authored by	Koge-Donbo
Publisher	Broccoli Books
Serialized in	from Gamers
Original run	July 1998 –
No. of volumes	4
TV anime : Di Gi Charat
Directed by	Sakurai Hiroaki
Studio	BROCCOLI
Network	TBS TVB Jade
Original run	November 29, 1999 – December 23, 1999
No. of episodes	16
Related works
Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat (2002), Di Gi Charat nyo, (2004)

Di Gi Charat (デ・ジ･キャラット, De・Ji・Kyaratto^?) is a popular anime and manga series by Koge Donbo. The series follows a catgirl named Di Gi Charat Dejiko, for short.

The characters of Di Gi Charat and her sidekick Gema first appeared in July 1998 in From Gamers, a promotional magazine for Akihabara store, Gamers. In August of that year, the two appeared in Gema Gema, a four-panel comic-strip (yonkoma) in From Gamers drawn by doujin artist Koge-Donbo. Dejiko was later adopted as the mascot of Gamers. The original anime series and its OVAs are set in a Gamers store. There are 20 Gamers stores across Japan. Gamers also opened a store in the United States in 2001, Anime Gamers, that is located in Los Angeles.

Further characters gradually appeared in Gema Gema, and were later included in each of the anime series. Several Original Video Animations (OVAs) and movies have been adapted as prequels, sequels and alternate stories. Trading cards and video games are among the many forms of merchandise released for the series.^[1]

The anime is produced by BROCCOLI and released under Madhouse in Japan and distributed by Synch-Point in the United States.

Contents 1 Anime 2 Manga 3 Characters 4 Music 5 Games 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Anime

While continuing to appear in Gema Gema, an animated Dejiko and her sidekick Gema starred in a television advertisement for Gamers, set to the store's theme song "Welcome!" by Hiroko Kato. Dejiko soon starred in her own animated series.

Original series

The Di Gi Charat anime premiered on television program Wonderful in November of 1999. Set in a Gamers store in Akihabara, the original series was sixteen episodes long, with each episode running for three minutes. Light-hearted and relatively cheaply animated, the series follows the story of Di Gi Charat (Dejiko), her new sidekick Petit Charat (Puchiko) and Gema, who arrive in Akihabara, Tokyo. Dejiko dreams of becoming an idol, only to realise that they have no money and nowhere to stay. The manager of a Gamers store takes pity on them, and the series follows their exploits as they work in the shop. The series introduces Dejiko's rival, Rabi-en-Rose, and minor characters Abarenbou, Takeshi, Yoshimi, Takurou and Takurou. All other citizens of Akihabara, including the manager, are (inexplicably) drawn as anthropomorphic fingers. The creative team was given free reign over the content of Di Gi Charat^[2] and it is outrageous at times.

Specials and OVAs

Despite the series' low budget and its status as an advertisement for a games store, sequels for Di Gi Charat , several feature-length Di Gi Charat special episodes and OVAs, followed. Each special was around twenty minutes long. The specials introduce the Black Gema Gema Gang (Black Gema Gema Dan) and Dejiko's rival Pyocolla Analogue III (Piyoko).

Di Gi Charat Summer Special

The Di Gi Charat Summer Special was a four episode series that aired over two days, 22 August 2000 - 23 August 2000.^[3] This was the first series that Piyoko appeared in and the plot involves her attempting to hold Dejiko hostage for ransom.

Di Gi Charat Christmas Special (2000)

The Christmas Special aired in December 2000 and featured Piyoko again attempting to capture Dejiko by inviting all the characters on a cruise.

Di Gi Charat Ohanami Special

The Ohamami Special was four independent episodes with no continuation that aired in Spring in Japan.

Di Gi Charat Natsuyasumi Special

The Di Gi Charat Natsuyasumi Special was another four episode series set in America that aired almost a year after the original series from 2 August 2001 to 3 August 2002^[4]. The young American otaku, Rodoyan, is introduced in this series.

Piyoko Ni Omakase-Pyo (OVA) Piyoko Ni Omakase-Pyo translated to Leave it to Piyoko was an eight episode OVA that was released in 2003.

Movie

In 2001, the Di Gi Charat movie Gekijouban Di Gi Charat: Hoshi no Tabi (デ・ジ・キャラット]　星の旅) was shown in Japan. The twenty minute animation follows the adventures of Dejiko, Piyoko and Gema as they use the spaceship from the first episode to travel back to Dejiko's home, Planet Di Gi Charat.

Di Gi Charat Nyo!

Main article: Di Gi Charat Nyo!

An alternate story to the original series, Nyo! (デ・ジ・キャラットにょ) aired from April 6, 2003 until March 28, 2004. There were two stories for each of the fifty-two twenty minute episodes. It is a series that retells Di Gi Charat as a proper children's anime instead of its original promotional randomness. Nyo! included the concept of the riddle cellphone which was used several times throughout the series.

Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat

Main article: Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat

A prequel to the original story, Panyo Panyo (ぱにょぱにょ　デ・ジ・キャラット) aired from January 5, 2002 until September 29, 2002. The characters are drawn in chibi style to look much younger. Princess Dejiko and Puchiko wish to escape castle life to help people of Planet Di Gi Charat achieve happiness. Pyocola Analogue III and hologram Deji Devil try to stop her. In this series Dejiko, Puchiko and Gema also meet friends Meek and Rinna.

Panyo Panyo was arranged into five minute mini episodes. This was indended to make it feel like classic four panel manga. Panyo Panyo did not, however, have the wide open endings which the original series had.

Digi Charat - Winter Garden

This series is a new spinoff that takes place 10 years into the future. Dejiko is now around 20 years old and Puchiko is now around 15. They no longer wear their usual signature outfits with the cute cat hats and tail, no more "mekara-beams" or "eye-beams" and are no longer adding "nyo" and "nyu" to the end of their sentences. They also have a new and more mature look. Gema however, still looks the same.

The Di Gi Charat anime promotional video premiered at Anime Expo this year during the Di Gi Charat panel sponsored by TBS, PONYCANYON and Broccoli. Apparently there are only two episodes but no release date has been announced. Unlike the usual Di Gi Charat animes, this is more of a love series. The series starts from Christmas of a certain year and day and Dejiko seems to be working (or rather learning) at a cake shop.

Relation of Anime - Canon

Relation of each series to the original Di Gi Charat anime series

Name	Type	Relation	Length	Year
Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat	TV	Prequel	48 x 5 mins	2002
Di Gi Charat	TV	Original	16 x 3 mins	1999
Di Gi Charat nyo	TV	Alternate	52 x 20 mins	2004
Summer/Xmas	TV	Sidestory	8 x 20 mins	2000
Ohanami	TV	Sidestory	4 x 20 mins	2001
Gekijouban Di Gi Charat	Movie	Sidestory	20 mins	2001
Piyoko ni omakase pyo!	OVA	Sidestory	6 x 20 mins	2003

[edit] Manga

A Di Gi Charat manga began at around the same time as the anime.^[5]

Broccoli Books in the US is currently publishing the Di Gi Charat Theater series, which contain a number of Di Gi Charat manga by Koge Donbo and several doujin artists. The comic strip Gema Gema, which still runs in From Gamers, is also republished in these volumes. Broccoli Books have stated that all the manga will be translated and released^[6]

Current Di Gi Charat Manga released in the US:

Broccoli Books

• Di Gi Charat Theater - Dejiko's Summer Vacation (also a limited DVD release by Synch-Point)
• Di Gi Charat Theater - Piyoko is Number One!
• Di Gi Charat Theater - Dejiko's Adventure
• Di Gi Charat Theater - Leave it to Piyoko (also an DVD release by Synch-Point)

Viz

• Di Gi Charat Anthology v. 1 - 4

Defunct graphic novel publisher Studio Ironcat also published a Di Gi Charat series - Di Gi Charat Champion Cup.

Comic Di Gi which is a bimonthly magazine that issued by Broccoli, included Di. Gi. Charat comic called GemaGema Theater by Koge-Donbo.

[edit] Characters

Origins

Most of the characters of Di Gi Charat originally debuted in the yonkoma Gema Gema, and later appeared in the anime series.

Speech idiosyncrasies

Across all of the Di Gi Charat series, each catgirl ends their sentence with a cat sounding suffix, such as Dejiko's Nyo. The four DVDs of the series Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat are named after each of the four catgirl's onomatopoeia. Piyoko also talks in a similar manner.

Main characters

• Di Gi Charat (Dejiko for short)

Dejiko is the main character of the story. She is also known as Chocola but despite this alternate name implying she likes chocolate, she prefers broccoli. Dejiko has a Type A personality and can be aggressive at times.

Dejiko dresses up as a catgirl and is the princess of Planet Di Gi Charat. She is ten years old when she comes to Earth with hopes of becoming an idol singer. She has green eyes and green hair and her maid-like uniform consists of a white and navy blue dress with big cat bells tied to her hair with navy blue ribbons. On the very top of her head are her cat ears, which are white with pink inside and have a set of large, non-functional yellow cat eyes. She always wears white gloves and boots (with the exception of her sleeping outfit) and she has a white tail.

She has the ability to use her eye-beam weapon called the Me kara BEAM!. Voiced by Asami Sanada, she ends each sentence with nyo.

• Petit Charat (Puchiko for short)

At the beginning of the story it is explained that Puchiko, also known as Capuccino, is Dejiko's five year old sidekick and is also a catgirl. Her relationship to Dejiko is not explained in the original series, but Gema states that she is also a princess in the Di Gi Charat Movie and it is also seen that she lives with Dejiko in the castle in Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat. However, according to Di Gi Charat Complete 2002, Dejiko saved her by pulling her out of a hole, and so Puchiko followed Dejiko to thank her.

Puchiko is quiet and has a Type B personality. She has the ability to use an eye-beam similar to Dejiko's but is often too docile to conjure the aggression required to perform such a feat.

Puchiko has brown hair and dark brown eyes. She wears a schoolgirl-type uniform plus cat bells in her hair, though they are much smaller than Dejiko's. She also wears gloves, boots and has cat ears but hers are yellow. Her tail is also yellow. Voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, she ends each sentence with nyu.

• Rabi~en~Rose (real name Hikaru Usada)

Rabi~en~Rose is revealed to the viewer to be Dejiko's rival. Her name may be a play on La Vie en Rose from Gundam 0083 or the common French saying "La Vie en Rose" which means "life in pink", considering that Di Gi Charat is largely aimed at Otaku, and Japanese doesn't have a "V" sound, often substituting a "B" in its place (the full Japanese pronunciation being "ra-bi-en-rozu"). Her name also may be a pun on pop singer Hikaru Utada (best known in the West for her theme songs for the Kingdom Hearts series), or rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel(Ready Steady Go, from Fullmetal Alchemist).

In the original anime, she is seen as a normal girl who uses dice to transform into her bunnygirl outfit: a pink, white and red dress with large white rabbit ears and a large round cotton tail. Her parents left her to live on her own in an attempt to help her become an idol. Voiced by Kyoko Hikami, she does not end her sentences with a rabbit sound (typically pyo in anime) and is the only character with kemonomimi animal traits in the Di Gi Charat franchise not to do so.

• Gema

Gema is explained to be the guardian of Dejiko and Puchiko. Essentially it is a floating yellow balloon that is always upside-down with very small eyes and mouth. Creator Koge Donbo once joked that Gema was the best character because anyone can draw him. He ends his sentences with gema. He can shoot darts out of bamboo sticks; however, they have little effect on anyone.

Black Gema-Gema Gang

• Piyoko (full name Pyocola Analogue III) who is eight years old is shown to be the leader of the Black Gema Gema Dan and hails from the planet Analogue. In the anime it is unclear whether she is the princess of Analogue. Piyoko, a panda-girl, is voiced by prolific seiyū Megumi Hayashibara. Her costume is similar to that of a nurse's uniform. She ends her sentences with pyo.
• Rik Heisenberg General. He plays the role of the veterinarian of the doctor trio. He takes pride in his profession and loves animals. The brains of the group and the oldest.
• Ky Schweitzer Lieutenant General. He is a dentist and always worries after Piyoko. Ky makes sure that Piyoko practices proper dental hygiene. The second-oldest of the group.
• Coo Erhard Major. The physician of the group. He is Piyoko's childhood friend and is closest too her. Sometimes if food flies through the air he will jump up and catch it in his mouth in a doglike manner.
• Nazo Gema, Gema's counterpart in the Black Gema Gema Dan. It has large spooky eyes and red lips.

Minor characters

• Takeshi - One of the two self-confessed "fans of Dejiko".
• Yoshimi - Takeshi's friend and the other half of the "fans of Dejiko".
  • Bukimi - In the original series, Dejiko misreads the kanji for Takeshi and Yoshimi's names as "Bukimi" (meaning 'weird'/'unpleasant smell') and refers to the pair collectively as "Bukimi" for the remainder of the series.
• Takurou Minagawa (Minataku for short) - A boy who comes into the store to buy some trading cards and falls in love with Rabi-en-Rose. Enjoys melonpan. Not related to Kimura, though they share the same family name.
• Takurou Kimura (Murataku for short) - A rich and long-haired man infatuated with Puchiko's cuteness. Not related to Minagawa.
• Abarenbou - A rowdy creature seemingly made of water. His appearances in the series are always incredibly random and crazy.
• Rodoyan (Rod Young)- An excitable American fan of Di Gi Charat.
• The Manager - A thoughtful finger-person who runs Gamers and sends Dejiko on errands.
• Hokke Mirin - A cat who is Puchiko's sidekick. It can walk sideways and has five kittens; Sa, Shi, Su, Se, and So.
• Majin Gappa - A small green creature likened to a kappa, is Rabi-en-Rose's sidekick.
• Henna Ikimono (変な生き物 lit. "Strange Creature") - A mysterious, tiny, yellow bear. Its face always appears to be angry, crying, depressed and laughing all at the same time. It always remains in its box and is always seen as being completely still. On one side of the box, 'Take whatever you want' is written in Japanese.

[edit] Music

Main article: List of music from Di Gi Charat

A great number of Di Gi Charat albums have been released, including soundtracks to the anime as well as collections of original songs sung by the main characters. Some of these albums include drama CDs which expand the Di Gi Charat story.

[edit] Games

Di Gi Charat Fantasy

A game titled Di Gi Charat Fantasy was released for the Sega Dreamcast. It's a visual novel style game, in which the player takes on the role of a boy with a crush on Dejiko who, along with Dejiko, Puchiko, and Rabi-en-Rose, gets sucked through a dimensional vortex into a fantasy world. The player finds himself alone with Dejiko in a forest, and she's lost her memory. In this game, players are given a very different view of Dejiko, as the amnesia makes her innocent and shy.

Di Gi Charat: Di Gi Communication I & II

Di Gi Communication is a game series for the Game Boy Advance. On October 25, 2002 the first game was released by Broccoli, the sequel a year later. The games are based on money management. Choosing any of the three main characters of the anime, the player takes the role as the manager of the store with the objective of running the store on the little money available. The game takes many aspects of the anime into it's gameplay including character art and an instrumental music score of popular songs from the anime composed by Manabu Namiki for the games. The two games were released only in Japan, and, as of yet, have not received any English translations.

Glove on Fight

Dejiko appeared as a selectable character in the 2D fighting game Glove on Fight for the PC. The game contains several popular anime characters from well known anime such as To Heart and Shingetsutan Tsukihime.

[edit] See also

Related anime

Other anime series have been known to reference Di Gi Charat and the characters make appearances in:

• Broccoli-created anime Galaxy Angel and Aquarian Age
• Pita-Ten like Di Gi Charat, a Koge Donbo creation.
• Cromartie High School - Piyoko and Dejiko can be seen.

Other

• A parody of Di Gi Charat appeared in Megatokyo. In two comics (51 and 109), Kimiko is dressed as Dejiko, while Erika is dressed as Rabi-en-Rose. Later, the mysterious antagonist Miho appears dressed as Piyoko, which has been suspected to be a clue about her relationship with the other characters, but this suspicion is likely unfounded. Additionally, in 89 Piro puts on a hat resembling Puchiko's head, and Erika attempts to force him to put on the rest of the costume in 100.
• There is also a parody of Di Gi Charat in episode 23 of Excel Saga, in which Excel's secret fighting technique turns baddies into "cute" versions of themselves, which look like Dejiko.

[edit] References

Di Gi Charat
Anime: Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat, Di Gi Charat Nyo!
Characters: Dejiko
Episodes: List of Di Gi Charat episodes
Music: List of music from Di Gi Charat

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) Di.Gi.Charat Official website
• (Russian) Di.Gi.Charat Russian fansite
• (English) Asian-Stuff.com - Di Gi Charat Review

• Di Gi Charat (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia