Pucca

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Pucca / Pucca Funny Love [Hangul:뿌까] is an online Macromedia Flash/computer-generated imagery animated series from the South Korean company Vooz and Jetix.

The main character is Pucca (Puc-Ka), the youngest daughter of a Chinese noodle house owner. Pucca is in love with the traveling ninja whose name is "Garu" (Gaa-roo) , who tries desperately to avoid Pucca's advances. Although further research has found that Pucca and Garu are actually in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, Pucca is a bit too amorous for Garu's taste, and therefore tries to avoid any "unnecessary" affection from her, often resulting in failure.

Many greeting cards and flash episodes center around comical antics by Pucca to steal a kiss from Garu and the competition at times between the two characters. While Garu is a skilled ninja, Pucca always seems to best him in combat, unintentional competition, and simply by sheer wit. There is little to no dialogue in these flash cartoons so that fans all over the world can enjoy them. The most popular place for westerners to access the Pucca Funny Love cartoon series is Puccaclub.com.

The characters are quite popular in Europe and Asia, with TV animation in cartoon channels in Europe and South America. These animations are compiled into a DVD, available in Germany. An UK children's book publisher (Hodder's) has also published a series of Pucca children books. In Israel, a Pucca branded snack was launched on May, 2006.

There is also an on-going manhwa series in Korean, and translated into Chinese and German, of Pucca and Garu travelling around the world.

The animated series have recently arrived in the United States and are now shown on Toon Disney's Jetix line-up on Monday and Friday nights.

1 Voice Acting Cast
2 Episodes
3 Characters
4 Awards
5 Books
6 Trivia
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Voice Acting Cast

Actor	Character
Shannon Chan-Kent	Chief
Louis Chirillo	Clown
Michael Daingerfield	Chang
Brian Dobson	Uncle Dumpling
Michael Dobson	Ho
Brian Drummond	Garu
Bill Mondy	Clown
Richard Newman	Master Soo
Tabitha St. Germain	Pucca
Chantal Strand	Ching
French Tickner	Santa
Lee Tockar	Dada/Tobe
Dave 'Squatch' Ward	Muji
Dale Wilson	Linguini
Issam Arif	Abyo

[edit] Episodes

See List of Pucca Episodes

[edit] Characters

[edit] Pucca

Pucca

Pucca is the daughter of the Guh-Ryong Chinese restaurant owner. She's aged 10 and her birthday is July 7th. A rebel tomboy, she has mastered Kung-fu and created the lovely chopstick dance. She loves jjazzangmyun noodles and pickled radish, but most of all she loves Garu. In the TV series, she does not talk at all, but rather continues to using the sounds from her flash cartoons (giggles, cooing, and kissing)

[edit] Garu

Garu

Age 12, birthday December 2nd, he is the descendant of ancient Ninja, and aims to restore his family to their rightful crown position. But since the realization of Pucca's love for him, Garu is torn between family and his relationship with Pucca. (even though he does not show much of his affection). Like Pucca, he does not talk at all in the TV series, continuing to only use the sounds from the flash cartoons

[edit] Secondary Characters

Mio: Garu's pet cat and partner-in-crime. It'll tell the time only by looking at its eyes. Likes Yani, a pink cat who doesn't seem to interest him.

Abyo: A friendly rival of Garu, whose appearance is so much like Bruce Lee, it's almost scary! A running gag with Abyo is he constantally rips off his own shirt when doing a move. Abyo is the son of the police chief of Sooga. In an episode, he is unintentionally kissed by Pucca when she was really supposed to kiss Garu.

Ching: A friend of Pucca who has a chicken named Won. Won is almost always riding on her head and, when scared, Won lays eggs. Ching has huge feelings for Abyo.

Santa Claus: First appeared in a Christmas story, but later began to appear frequently, showing what he does while it is not Christmas. He is mainly used for comic relief.

Tobe: A ninja who wants to defeat Garu at all costs. He has a league of ninja at his beck and call, but their intelligence is quite lacking. Tobe is barely able to defeat Garu however, much less Pucca.

Master Soo: A deity-like man who is always surrounded by beautiful handmaidens. He acts as a being of all knowledge, and is often seen riding on a cloud.

[edit] Awards

^[1]

Year	Result	Award	Category / Recipient(s)
2006	Nominated	Leo	Best Overall Sound in an Animation Program or Series: Marcel, Duperreault, Todd Araki, Jason Frederickson, Kirk Furniss
2006	Nominated	Leo	Best Screenwriting in an Animation Program or Series: Colin Yardley, Larry Raskin
2006	Nominated	Leo	Best Direction/Story Boarding in an Animation Program or Series: Greg Sullivan, Jayson Thiessen, Dallas Parker

[edit] Books

Title	Publisher	First Released
Pucca's Most Wanted	Vooz	18 November 2004
Pucca and Garu: First Meeting	Vooz	18 November 2004
Pucca: Hands Off My Dumplings!	Vooz	19 May 2005
Pucca's Fishy Tail	Vooz	19 May 2005

[edit] German Books

Title	Written By	First Released	Translation
Pucca und Garu: Wir gehören zusammen	Martin Stabno	31 October 2005	Pucca and Garu: We belong together
Pucca: Das bin ich	Martin Stabno	31 October 2005	Pucca: That is me

[edit] Photo Frame Books

Title	Publisher	First Released
Pucca Photo Frame Book 1: Various Kissing Ways	Vooz	13 January 2005
Pucca Photo Frame Book 2: Making Sweet Music	Vooz	13 January 2005

[edit] Key Chain Books

Title	Publisher	First Released
Chopstick Dance with Pucca	Vooz	17 March 2005
Ninja Training with Garu	Vooz	17 March 2005

[edit] Trivia

The UK also has pencil cases/tins, stationary and notebooks/diaries.
Many of the episodes are play-on-words:
- Puccahontas - Pocahontas
- Sooga Size Me - Super Size Me
- Catnapped! - Kidnapped!
- Unfortunate Cookies - Fortune Cookies
In the episode 'Tobe's Nighttime Troubles', Pucca contacts aliens using her odango atama hairstyle.
Out of the three chefs, Ho seems to be the only one to talk about Pucca's feelings for Garu.
In the episode 'Slam Bam Birthday Bash', Garu out of pity blows Pucca a kiss in which he didn't seem happy about.
It is revealed that Master Soo can control the weather.
Pucca has been used as a mascot for the online shop Opane since 2000.
In the TV Series, Pucca and Garu are the only human characters who was never given the opportunity to speak, but instead gave them giggles, grunts, and other various sounds.