Cartoon Network’s Boldest Spinoff Turns 20 — And It Never Hit U.S. Screens

Cartoon Network is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the wildest detour its brand ever took… and the strangest part is it never actually aired in the U.S. Toei Animation has kicked off a birthday salute to 'Powerpuff Girls Z,' the anime remix of 'The Powerpuff Girls' that reimagined pretty much everything and then some.

Wait, what is 'Powerpuff Girls Z'?

The anime launched in Japan in July 2006 as a collaboration between Cartoon Network, TV Tokyo, Aniplex, and Toei Animation. It was developed without input from original series creator Craig McCracken, and you can feel that from the jump. Director Iku Ishiguro ran the show, with 'Cutie Honey Flash ' designer Miho Shimogasa giving the girls a full makeover. The result: not a tongue-in-cheek superhero cartoon, but a flat-out magical girl series with transformations, new backstories, and a different tone.

The big switches

• Setting and setup: Professor Utonium now lives in Tokyo City and has a son named Ken. He is not trying to create the perfect little girl; he is experimenting with a souped-up version of Chemical X called, naturally, Chemical Z.
• How they get powers: When a crisis hits, Ken fires a Chemical Z-infused beam into an iceberg, which ricochets into the sky and tags three eighth graders. They can transform into superheroes on command.
• New names, new looks: Momoko Akatsutsumi becomes Hyper Blossom, Miyako Gotokuji becomes Rolling Bubbles, and Kaoru Matsubara becomes Powered Buttercup. Their ages, designs, and abilities are all different from the Cartoon Network originals.
• Villains, remixed: A darker variant of the Chemical Z blast hits animals and people around town, spawning anime versions of Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins, the Gangreen Gang, and a bunch of new baddies to keep a 52-episode run busy.

So why have you probably never seen it?

It had a solid run in Japan and even got an English dub in the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. But in the United States? Nothing. No broadcast, no streaming, no proper home release. There has never been a clear explanation for why Cartoon Network kept it off U.S. airwaves, and there is still no high-quality release of the show or its English dub floating around officially. If you missed it back then, it has basically been a rumor you heard from a friend who swore they watched a very different Powerpuff show one summer.

How the 20th anniversary is being marked

Toei is putting episodes online for a limited time as part of the celebration, but the access is restricted to Japan. Which is very on-brand for the series at this point: widely discussed, weirdly elusive.

Does the reinvention work?

As an experiment, it is fascinating. It pushes the concept so far that the show is almost unrecognizable compared to the original Cartoon Network series. That is part of the fun and part of the problem. With yet another 'Powerpuff Girls' reboot reportedly percolating, 'Powerpuff Girls Z' is a handy case study in how far you can stretch a great idea before it snaps.