Stitch!



Stitch! (スティッチ!) is the Japanese anime spin-off of Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise and the successor to Lilo & Stitch: The Series. It debuted in Japan in October 2008. The show features a Japanese girl named Yuna in place of Lilo, and is set on a fictional island in the Ryukyus off the shore of Okinawa instead of Hawaii. The island is called Izayoi. A second arc of the original series, called Stitch! ~The Mischievous Alien's Great Adventure~ (スティッチ! ～いたずらエイリアンの大冒険～) began airing in Japan on 13 October 2009, completing Madhouse's 56 original episodes of the show. A sequel series from the original two-arc anime, entitled Stitch! ~Best Friends Forever~ (スティッチ! ～ずっと最高のトモダチ～) aired on TV Asahi on 6 July 2010, with Shin-Ei Animation taking over production. Then, a TV special, continuing from the sequel series entitled Stitch and the Planet of Sand (スティッチと砂の惑星) aired on 16 June 2012. Following this, three years following the release of "Stitch and the Planet of Sand" and announced on 26 June 2015, a TV special entitled Stitch! A Perfect Memory (スティッチ！パーフェクト・メモリー) aired on August 7, 2015 as part of a "Stitch! New Specials" series (a line that "Stitch and the Planet of Sand" started).

Production
In March 2008, Walt Disney Television International Japan started procuring its own animated shows with their first two debuting at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008, producing Stitch! with Japanese animation studio Madhouse. Seasons one and two of Stitch! were animated by Madhouse, and season three was animated by Shin-Ei Animation.

At the 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair, the pilot for the series was showcased for attendees at the Madhouse booth. Information was also shown around Disney's booth, showing the cast of characters who would appear in the anime. Many of the past characters, such as Jumba Jookiba and Pleakley, appear, as well as five villains: Gantu, Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel, Experiment 625/Reuben, Experiment 627, and a new villain named Delia. In addition, two characters, Experiment 624/Angel and Experiment 221/Sparky, also appear in the anime due to their popularity from the English franchise.

Stitch! started on TV Tokyo and following affiliates at 7:00 p.m. on October 8, 2008, and had an hour premiere of the first two episodes. Afterwards, it aired on every Wednesday after at 7:26 p.m. time slot, essentially replacing Bleach.

Where the Hawaiian culture was featured in the original version, the culture of Okinawa Prefecture and the other Ryukyu Islands is featured. For example, Yuna's karate has replaced Lilo's hula.

The Stitch! anime is influenced by children's manga. It was originally aimed in Japan at young kids aged 4 to 14 years. Most of the main characters are young children ranging from 8–12 years old, including Yuna. However, unlike the movies and American series, the anime contains darker and more mature content.

The series is edited and localized for younger English-speaking and Western audiences and a lower TV rating. Every English-speaking country aired the American English dub.

Main characters

 * Stitch (スティッチ)
 * Stitch (original name: Experiment 626), an alien from outer space, one day ends up falling to an island located on Earth, called Izayoi Island, off the coast of Okinawa. He discovers "The Spiritual Stone" on Okinawa, with the help of his new friend Yuna, and learns it can grant his wish of becoming the strongest in the universe, provided he does 43 good deeds. Thus, with his Good Deed Counter made by Jumba, he is able to keep track of his good deeds, and keep track of his wish of becoming strongest in the universe. However, he has mischievous tendencies that often make him lose deeds due to his overabundance of such things.


 * Yuna Kamihara (加美原ユウナ)
 * Yuna is a young Japanese girl; a tomboy at that, and is a 10-year-old 4th Grade elementary school student (11-year-old 5th Grade elementary school student in Stitch! Zutto Saiko no Tomodachi, albeit with her move to Okinawa New Town) who lives on a fictional island off the shore of Okinawa in the Ryukyus called Izayoi Island. Her personality is sweet and outgoing, while still tough and feisty all in all. Living on Izayoi Island, she learns and studies karate, having learned it from her grandpa. Her grandpa also did the honor of giving her a special type of starsand, as a good luck charm in her study of karate before he left. Yuna lives a rather normal cherished life with her grandma, Obaa. The other majority of her family are elsewhere, her father is out at work a lot as a marine biologist around Okinawa, and her mother died when she was an infant in a typhoon. Her life remained normal yet happy until one day, after a varied coincidence, she meets a strange creature that came crashlanding from the Turo system of outer space, Experiment 626, or as we know him, Stitch. From then and there when they met, the two became best friends and the duo go on various adventures on Stitch's quest in order to be "good". Yuna though, has a strong sense of justice and an overbearing attitude, which make her a tomboy, and that shows throughout the series. The creators of the anime got Yuna's name from the Japanese name of sea hibiscus out in Okinawa (known in Japanese as Yuna). Yuna's birthday is 25 February. It can be assumed that Yuna's favorite animal is a porpoise or dolphin from a few instances in the series. Yuna isn't good at mathematics, often getting low scores on math tests. Yuna's last name, Kamihara, wasn't unveiled until much later, although previous guesses were Chitama, after the dojo and the forest on Izayoi and Hanako, which was Yuna's previous name and design during development of the anime.


 * Dr. Jumba Jookiba (ジャンバ博士)
 * Jumba is an "evil genius" scientist, the one who created Stitch and the other 625 experiments made before him. He is assigned by the Galactic Council to watch over Stitch, and lives with Yuna and Obaa. He is more friendly in this series than the original, and has less of a penchant for evil.


 * Agent Pleakley (プリークリー)
 * He is a one-eyed alien working for the Galactic Council and Earth expert. He is Jumba's best friend, and lives with him along with Yuna, Obaa, and Stitch.


 * Obaa Kamihara (Grandma)
 * Yuna's grandmother whom Yuna lives with. She is one of the three characters that believes in the existence of yōkai.


 * Kijimunaa
 * He is a little yokai, who is Yuna and Stitch's friend. He is kind of a coward, but with the help of his friends, he can find the courage to best whatever he can.

Other characters

 * Angel (エンジェル)
 * Experiment 624: A pink female experiment who is Stitch's love interest. Stitch is madly in love with her and she shares the same feeling. Angel travels a lot, but she stops at the island, at times, to visit Stitch and Yuna. It turns out that while Stitch is immune to Angel's song if sung by her, if it is in a different voice it still will turn him evil.


 * Sparky (ステバジー)
 * Experiment 221: A yellow male experiment with electrical abilities who is one of Stitch's cousins.


 * Piko (named Penny in the English dub)
 * A blonde girl, rival to Yuna. Piko/Penny is self-centered, impatient and in some cases, a bit snobby. She often takes great pride to mock and deride Yuna and Stitch in any case, often ending with Yuna and her fighting. There are rare occasions where she and Yuna can get along though. Her father runs the island's pineapple plants and her family runs the highest rated hotels and resorts on Izayoi. There's a habit with Piko/Penny where when she's angered, she'll often end her ranting with a comparison of something akin to pineapples. She is also a black-team karate leader. Piko/Penny may have been idealized after Hawaiian pop song "Pineapple Princess". Piko/Penny dislikes Sae but secretly does believe that she dresses better than her.


 * Sae (named Sasha in the English dub)
 * A young girl about Yuna's age who is introduced in the second season. A transfer student from Koube, she joins Yuna's class amidst the second season. She believes in good fashion and beauty, and is girly in spirit, often talking about fashion, love and all. She's also quite ditsy at times. She believes Yuna has a good fashion sense, and becomes good friends with her; as her fashion sense reminded her of her mother, a tropical fashion designer. Her father is a doctor. She not only has a rather brave personality, like Yuna; but she has a sweet and gentle personality too. Kouji (Kenny) has a crush for Sae, unbeknownst to her, and Piko (Penny) secretly dislikes Sae, but believes that Sae dresses better than she does.


 * Zuruko (named Tigerlily in the English dub)
 * Yuna's mean, bullying cousin who appears mid-way through Season 2. Although she may seem nice at first look, once you get to know her you'll discover that isn't the case. While she's kind hearted to others she is harsh and cruel to Yuna for unknown reasons, and constantly blackmails her into doing all the chores around the house (Although she later claims that she's only trying to do a role-model for Yuna). But when Yuna and Stitch move off to live with her in season 3, she becomes more friendly with Yuna and treats her nicer, although she still forces her to do most of the house chores.


 * Takumi (named Hiroman in the English dub)
 * A boy from Okinawa New Town introduced in the third season. A popular soccer player, and love interest of Reika, he often acts cool and calm. He bears a secret of acting as a maid to his sisters, and even dressing up in bishoujo-styled outfits for his sisters' enjoyment. His name is obviously a play on "hero man". It is hinted that he and Yuna have feelings for each other since Yuna often saves him from trouble; in the episode "Dorkifier", it was shown that Yuna blushed at him.


 * Reika (named Jessica in the English dub)
 * Yuna's rival in season 3. She has a crush on Takumi and friends who she bosses around. She, like Piko/Penny from the first two seasons, likes to mock and deride Stitch and Yuna. She also bears a trait of saying rather dull jokes and puns, often met with silent response. She is followed by two girls, Torriko and Makiko.


 * Lilo Pelekai
 * A character mentioned in the English dub, she was Stitch's best friend in the past, but one day she left for college. However, her mention in the English dub is only due to Disney intertwining Stitch! with Leroy & Stitch (and the television series preceding it) for the English dub. The Japanese original bears little to no direct mention of Lilo, though they do mention a "bigger Hawaiian girl" in episode 2 similar to the main character in this series. However, episode 23 of season 3 had Lilo visit Okinawa in cahoots to reunite with Stitch, only for a while though. Lilo is now grown up, and has a daughter who looks like her when she was younger, named Ani.

Villains

 * Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel
 * A villain who was a college buddy of Jumba. Much like the rest of the franchise, he bears a want to defeat Stitch. Hämsterviel also wishes to steal Stitch's Good Deed Counter in order to gain ultimate power. He serves as the main antagonist for the first two seasons, much like in his previous appearances in the franchise, but he is reduced to a supporting antagonist in the third season.


 * Delia
 * An evil alien woman who is introduced in season 3 as that season's main antagonist. She is in a partnership with Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel to get the Neo-PowerChip that is inside of Stitch. Delia altered a majority of the experiments, which had caused them to become physically stronger and evil, and Angel, who is rescued by Stitch. Delia usually calls Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel the wrong name such as Hamu Sama or Hämusta Sama and then, when Hämsterviel's plans go wrong, she eventually punishes him with various machines, explosions or robots.


 * Gantu
 * He works under Dr. Hämsterviel, to steal Stitch's Good Deed Counter. According to the English dub, Gantu was dishonorably discharged from his Galactic Federation job due to bad karaoke singing. He bears an over-obsession to a television drama called "Red Rose Maiden", or "The Young and the Stupid" in the English dub. He has a huge crush on the main character of the drama, Princess Michigo.


 * Reuben
 * Experiment 625: He has all of the same powers as Stitch and works alongside Gantu, but he is lazy and eats sandwiches. Dr. Hämsterviel claims he doesn't do much besides make sandwiches all the time. During the series he isn't much of an enemy to Stitch, even coming to visiting him sometimes. During "Onigiri Rueben", he becomes fond of Japanese rice balls, and even includes them among his sandwich ingredients.


 * Dark End
 * An experiment made by Delia who is designed to be much stronger than Stitch. He is not among Stitch's cousins, as neither Jumba nor Hämsterviel made him.


 * Cyber
 * Experiment 000: He is an evil experiment who looks like a cyborg version of Stitch.

Cast
The original English voice cast from the Lilo & Stitch films and Lilo & Stitch: The Series did not reprise their roles for this anime.

Crew

 * Project Planning/Executive Producer: Masao Maruyama (Seasons 1–2), Eddie Cox
 * Producers: Yasuteru Iwase, Satoru Yoshimoto (Seasons 1–2)
 * Series Composition: Shoji Yonemura, Yuuko Kakihara (Seasons 1–2)
 * Director: Masami Hata (Seasons 1–2), Tetsuya Endo (Season 3)
 * Animation Production: Madhouse (Seasons 1–2), Shin-Ei Animation (Season 3, Special 1 and 2)
 * Production: TV Tokyo (Season 1), TV Asahi (Season 2–3), Dentsu (Season 2–3), Walt Disney Television International Japan (Season 1–3 and Special 1), The Walt Disney Company (Japan) Ltd. (Special 2)

Soundtrack
Stitch!: Original Soundtrack (スティッチ！オリジナル・サウンドトラック) is a collection of opening, insert, and ending songs based on Stitch!. It was released on April 28, 2010.

Track list:
 * 1) "Minamikaze to Taiyō" (南風と太陽) by Mongol800
 * 2) "Rodeo star mate" by The Pillows
 * 3) "SMILE" by Kimaguren
 * 4) "Ichariba Ohana" (イチャリバオハナ) by Begin
 * 5) "Aoi Arashi" (アオイアラシ) by All Japan Goith
 * 6) "TOMODACHI" (Friends) by Glean Piece
 * 7) "HERO" by Kiyotaka Ishikawa
 * 8) "Hitori Janai" (ひとりじゃない) by Bless4
 * 9) "Number One" by LoversSoul
 * 10) "Kagen no Tsuki" (下弦の月) by Chihiro Kamiya
 * 11) "Stitch is Coming" (スティッチ・イズ・カミング) by Bless4
 * 12) "Stitch Eisa" (スティッチ・エイサー) by LoversSoul
 * 13) "Izayoi Yoi" (イザヨイヨイ) by Begin featuring Kanako Hatoma

Stitch! (Season 1)

 * Opening theme:
 * "Ichariba Ohana" (イチャリバオハナ) by Begin
 * Ending themes:
 * "Izayoi Yoi" (イザヨイヨイ) by Begin w/ Kanako Hatoma (ep 1 - 13)
 * "Stitch is Coming" by Bless4 (ep 14 - 26)
 * Insert themes:
 * "Hitori Janai" (ひとりじゃない) by Bless4

Stitch! ~The Mischievous Alien's Great Adventure~ (Season 2)

 * Opening theme:
 * "SMILE" by Kimaguren (ep 1 - 10)
 * "Rodeo star mate" by The Pillows (ep 11 - 19)
 * "Minami Kaze to Taiyou" (南風と太陽) by Mongol800 (ep 20 - 29)
 * Ending theme:
 * "Stitch Eisa" (スティッチ・エイサー) by LoversSoul


 * Insert Song:
 * "Waning Moon" by Chihiro Kamiya
 * "Number One" by LoversSoul
 * "Tomodachi" by Gleam Piece
 * "Aoi Arashi" by All Japan Goith
 * "Hero" by Ishikawa Kiyotaka

Stitch! ~Best Friends Forever~ (Season 3)

 * Opening theme:
 * "Minna no Yume" (みんなのゆめ) by Mariko Kojima featuring Chihiro Ozawa


 * Ending theme
 * "Minna Stitch Tomodachi!" (みんなスティッチともだち!) by SYUHEI (Disney Channel Japan Only)

Broadcast
The series airs on Seven Network, 7mate, 7Two, and Disney Channel in Australia, on Disney Channel in Singapore and India, on TV3 and TV2 in Malaysia, on TV5 in the Philippines, on RTÉ Two in Ireland, and on Disney Cinemagic in the United Kingdom.

The first season began airing in English on the Australian Disney Channel on 4 December 2009, and later on Disney Channel Asia 19 December 2009. The first season premièred on Disney Channel Latin America on 2 May 2010, in the American Spanish dub. The second season aired on Disney Channel Latin America on 6 June 2011. The third season aired on Disney Channel Latin America on 20 August 2012.

The first season also aired on Finland's Disney Channel 7 June 2010, subtitled in Finnish with English dub. The anime has also aired in other Scandinavian countries on The Disney Channel, on Disney Cinemagic in the UK, and on Toon Disney in Italy. The Dutch version aired on Disney XD Netherlands and Disney Channel Netherlands as well as on the Disney Channel in Belgium. On October 24, 2011, the series began airing on Disney XD in the United States, but was removed from the schedule five days later due to unknown reasons, leaving the series unfinished in the country. As a result, it has only five episodes aired in the U.S.

Official Japanese sites

 * Disney's Stitch! website
 * Disney's Stitch character page (Hawaii)
 * Disney's Stitch character page (Okinawa)
 * Official TV Asahi page of Stitch! ~Zutto Saikou no Tomodachi~
 * Official TV Asahi page of Stitch! ~Itazura Alien no Daibouken~
 * Official TV Tokyo page of Stitch!

International sites

 * Official site from Disney Channel Asia
 * Official site from Disney Channel Taiwan
 * Official site from Disney XD (Netherlands)
 * Official Korean site
 * Official Cantonese site

Others

 * Stitch! on SaveLiloAndStitch.org
 * Haisai Stitch (unofficial news source)
 * Haisai Stitch (unofficial news source)