Kappa Mikey | Unseen Pilot For MTV

Before landing on Nicktoons Network, Kappa Mikey was initially pitched to Nickelodeon's sister network, MTV. A pitch pilot episode was made for MTV, before the series was picked up by Nicktoons Network. The pilot for Kappa Mikey has never been publicly seen.. until now! Sergei Aniskov, the director of Kappa Mikey, released a rough cut version of the pilot, featuring temporary voiceovers and music, on his official YouTube channel! Check it out below!: (Please note, as the pilot was made for MTV, the content in the video is a bit more mature than in Nickelodeon's version of the show.)



I remember I spent a few nights sleeping in the studio putting it all together. It was worth it though. )))

Kappa Mikey follows nineteen-year-old actor Mikey Simon, Japan's biggest anime star. After the Ohio native wins a contest to star in Japan's once-popular TV show, LilyMu, Mikey takes Japan by storm, and the show shoots back to the top of the ratings. But Mikey is still a fish out of water in Japan, and his off-screen antics reflect that fact.

Created by Larry Schwarz, Kappa Mikey was Nicktoons Network's first original half-hour series, bought during the same period as other Animation Collective series such as Three Delivery and Speed Racer: The Next Generation, and is the first anime to be produced entirely in the United States. The series is a homage/parody of Japanese anime.

Kappa Mikey ran for 52 episodes over two seasons between February 25, 2006 and September 20, 2008.

Schwarz conceived the series in 2000, when he was running Rumpus toys, a toy design company in New York City, but they folded before any storyboarding could commence. They resurfaced years later as Animation Collective, and produced an early test pilot for a pitch to MTV Networks, where the character designs and backgrounds resembled more like those found in Adult Swim series Perfect Hair Forever, and the humor was also more adult-oriented. Much of the current cast was voicing their characters even this early in production. MTV declined the deal, and Nickelodeon eventually picked up the project. The series was tweaked heavily in order to be aimed at a younger audience. Voice talents were usually local, and its audio was recorded at Manhattan-based NYAV Post, which Michael Sinterniklaas owns. The series was animated in Adobe Flash, with some moments of CGI rendered in Maya. The show's title is a play on the word kappamaki, a type of sushi.

H/T: ToonZone Forums member PinkiePie97; Additional sources: Wikipedia, Google.co.uk.

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