Kirby Comes to Cappy Town

Kirby Comes to Cappy Town is the first episode of the anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. It is notable for the first appearances of many of the main characters, as well as the first appearance of the Fire ability. This is one of the episodes in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition.

Synopsis

King Dedede orders an octopus-like monster, waking the young Star Warrior Kirby and bringing him to Dream Land. After being accused of being the monster Kirby saves the life of young Tiff and gains some trust. Meta Knight also trusts him and brings him out to the final confrontation with the evil octopus.

Characters

Kirby (debut)
Tiff (debut)
Tuff (debut)
King Dedede (debut)
Escargoon (debut)
Fololo & Falala (debut)
Sir Ebrum (debut)
Lady Like (debut)
Cappies
- Hana (debut)
- Mayor Len Blustergas (debut)
- Chief Bookem (debut)
- Buttercup (debut)
Customer Service (debut)
Nightmare (debut, voiceover)
Octacon
Kabu (debut)
Sword Knight (debut)
Blade Knight (debut)
Meta Knight (debut)
Tokkori (debut)

Episode summary

The episode starts out as a night on Planet Popstar and all of the sheep are sleeping peacefully. However, a giant octopus named Octacon appears and eats them all in just a matter of seconds. The sheep farmer hears the ruckus and runs outside, shocked at the sight of the herd's bones being flung at him. The massive octopus then flies away and into King Dedede's castle.

After the introduction, the scene switches to space, where a Warp Star starship is flying by. Inside of it is the young Kirby, sleeping soundly. However, the Warp Star detects the presence of a monster on Planet Popstar and goes to "Warp" mode, alarming our pink hero. Kirby awakens and wonders what is going on, just as the starship automatically encloses him within the cockpit, preparing to jump into hyperspace. The star then warps into the abyss of space at light speed towards the Popstar star system. When it comes to a stop Kirby sees a strange light; the glow of the fabled planet, much to Kirby's amazement.

In Dedede's castle, Escargoon is neglecting the presence of a monster in Dream Land toward a mob of Cappies within the king's throne room. A Cappy informs the snail that there really is a monster which is big and scary and eats everything in sight. Taking a golden spear from a Waddle Dee, Escargoon smacks the villager with it and sarcastically exclaims, "That's King Dedede!", trying to drive them out of the castle in a hurry. Tiff and Tuff, along with their parents, accuse Escargoon of lying to the villagers. The two's parents start to agree that a monster is likely something that Dedede would want, just when Escargoon yells at the family to remember their place in society. The portly king, who sitting nearby eating his dinner, starts laughing and shows his pet (Octacon in small its form), and doesn't believe it could be a huge monster. Only Tiff suspects it, especially as it glares back at her with luminous green eyes.

In Kabu Valley all of the villagers gather and seek advice from Kabu. Kabu tells the villagers about the monster who had started living on Popstar, that it's indeed Dedede's, it came from someone far more powerful than him, and that their land will be destroyed. They then remember the legend that the Star Warrior named Kirby of the Stars comes to help them. Dedede and Escargoon drive in, suspecting Kabu knows the truth and intends to shoot at Kabu (who predicts he won't), when a bright light occurs and something falls from the skies over Dream Land.

Kirby Comes to Cappy Town — Tiff tries to stop King Dedede

Kirby, who has awakened 200 years before schedule, hasn't matured yet and doesn't know how to properly control his ship. Therefore, he crashes lands on the mayor's sheep farm. Villagers gather around Kirby's ruined spaceship in curiosity. When it opens a pink ball falls from inside, alarming the crowd of Cappies. Kirby notices his name when Tiff mentions it, making sure that he is the legendary Star Warrior who came to help. Learning that the mighty Star Warrior is merely a pink marshmallow, Tiff, Tuff, her mother and father stand in shock at the sight of Kirby, who stands in his iconic happy pose. Dedede doesn't want that someone to defeat his monsters and intently hits Kirby with his hammer, sending him flying into a canyon, to the regret of the Cappies.

Tiff and Tuff venture down into the canyon to try to save Kirby, who hazily rests at a ridge. Suddenly, a loose rock breaks under Tiff's foot and she falls down! Kirby, hearing her scream, puffs up and quickly floats to Tiff, saving her from being impaled by a stalagmite at the bottom of the canyon. Tuff, Lololo and Lalala are highly impressed. Tiff, on the other hand, who is not impressed, says that warriors are big and strong, not pink and puffy.

Kirby merrily skips to the hill where he can see Cappy Town for the first time, the kids following him. Kirby clumsily bumps into Tiff, who snobbishly brushes up her hair and introduces herself. Kirby repeats her name, much to her surprise. Tuff introduces himself as well along with Lololo and Lalala. Suddenly, Dedede and Escargoon come in at high speeds and start shooting at Kirby, who runs off, now knowing who Dedede truly is. Kirby gets hit with a lucky shot and is sent flying into the midst of a watermelon patch. When he lands to the watermelon field Dedede pursues him with Escargoon, but Tiff and Tuff throw watermelons in their faces, halting the pursuit. Tiff, seemingly changed, defends Kirby from the king's intentions- who uses his political status as king to defend himself. Escargoon whispers to Dedede something (presumably about Kirby's spaceship) and they drive away. Tiff and the others start looking for Kirby and find him eating watermelons, much to their surprise.

Dinnertime — Dinner celebrating Kirby's arrival.

In the evening, everybody gathers at Mayor Len Blustergas's house to have a dinner celebrating Kirby's arrival. After the mayor's celebration speech, an impatient Kirby inhales everything from the table, leaving all staring to nowhere. Tiff then gets angry at Kirby, who runs away childishly. Tiff, Tuff, Lololo and Lalala pursue Kirby to the sheep field, where every single sheep has been eaten! They suspect Kirby has eaten them and hide in the shed to interrogate an answer from him. Kirby doesn't know how to answer them and stands clueless.

Metaknightappears — Meta Knight's first appearance. Sword Knight at left and Blade Knight at right.

Tiff hears sounds from outside and instantly hides Kirby in a sack, with her and her brother blocking it from sight. Sword Knight and Blade Knight break in the shed, saying that they're looking for someone named Kirby. Tiff and Tuff say that they are too but he isn't there. Meta Knight senses that Kirby is in the sack and steps in, as Sword and Blade Knight make way. He pulls out his sacred sword, Galaxia, and swipes the sack off. When he sees Kirby he gets the first connection with a Star Warrior since the great war against Nightmare, just as Meta Knight huffs out of the shack.

Everybody steps out to hear explosions from the castle. Kirby notices that explosions are coming from his starship and starts running towards the castle, where Dedede and Escargoon are investigating the starship, with the latter being tasked with repairing it. Dedede suddenly notices some kind of box inside the machine, curiously taking it and opening it. Inside they find Kirby's power source, the real Warp Star, which shines brightly. Dedede, immaturely, takes it as a "decoration" and walks away. Escargoon, jealous, of him, says that he is just greedy before seeing Kirby and screaming in alarm. Kirby instantly notices that his Warp Star has been taken and pursues Dedede.

Dedede, impatient, complains to Customer Service that the monster he ordered, Octacon, is a "shrimp" instead of an octopus. Customer Service explains to give it some time and he will "grow on him". When Dedede goes to see Octacon again he is revengefully hypnotized by him and starts to chase Kirby, who has just entered the throne room, with his hammer. Kirby is walloped by the King multiple times, in which our Star Warrior has no ways of defending himself against Dedede. King Dedede then angrily crashes into a pillar, dropping the stolen Warp Star, just as Tiff and her family enter the room, curious of all the hubbub. While Tiff and Tuff are staring at the odd star, Meta Knight saves her from a falling stone pillar; thus Tiff realizes that Meta Knight is on their side. King Dedede regains consciousness just in time to see Octacon grow huge, exclaiming "Holy Calamari!" before ordering for Escargoon to contact Customer Service and fetch his pocketbook so he could demand a refund for the monster. Octacon starts to grow rapidly until he is half the size of the castle. Octacon then starts to wreck the castle and chase after Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby. The massive mollusc then summons smaller versions of himself to attack the trio, as he has lost sight of them throughout the castle. Kirby is attacked by the little, much more agile, octopi and starts to turn grey; a sign that he is losing power. Meta Knight realizes that Tiff has the Warp Star and tells her that it is the source of Kirby's power, Tiff darts off. Kirby runs away from the Octacon minions up one stairwell, with Tiff following him a separate route up the castle.

Octagon — Octacon being subdued by Kirby's flame

Kirby is surrounded by the octopi as he reaches a balcony, but luckily Tiff appears with the Warp Star, causing Kirby to regain power as well as vigor. With his newly regained power, Kirby manages to suck up all the mini octopi. Octacon, feeling overpowered, summons more mini octopi, but this time they're on fire. Kirby takes out the first batch using fancy footwork (which is odd, since he lacks the Fighter Copy Ability). Octacon summons even more but Kirby sucks them up, this time granting him the Fire Copy Ability's Spin Kick attack. Meta Knight then explains to Tiff and Tuff that Kirby can copy an enemy's attack just by inhaling it. Octacon spews fire at Kirby, but this proves worthless as Kirby just sucks it up. Kirby spews the fire back at Octacon, causing him to catch fire. Octacon grows even more but Kirby darts behind him and spews a strong burst of flame from his mouth. Though Octacon struggles to hold on to the castle he is sent out of the planet's atmosphere by Kirby, presumably killing him. Meanwhile, the hero's celebrate their victory against the giant beats, while the king of Dream Land bemoans of losing his refund. It turns out Kirby's starship is "fixed" and he is just about to leave to go home. While Kirby is taking off into the air King Dedede and Escargoon blow Kirby out of the sky using a plunger detonator linked to Kirby's starship, totalling the spacecraft. Little did they know that Kirby's ship was above them! The ship falls on King Dedede's Tank, causing both of them to explode. Kirby is knocked out of his ship and King Dedede blames the whole thing on Escargoon, who he starts chasing he snail with his hammer. Tiff then tells Kirby that he might be staying in Dream Land after all and that he could stay with them. The episode ends with Kirby triumphantly saying "Kirby, Kirby ....Kirby!".

Changes in the dub

The Japanese version has original music and remixed versions of songs from the Kirby games like Castle Lololo and Green Greens from Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy. 4Kids completely replaced all the background music of the series with synthesized themes they create. There are none of the original Japanese background music used, heard, and remaining in the 4Kids dub.
4Kids completely replaced some of the Japanese sound effects with new sound effects they have created. Some of the sound effects from the original Japanese version have been retained while some have been replaced, and some of the new American dub sound effects 4Kids are made and created from the original Japanese sound effects of the original Japanese version and some of those new American dub 4Kids sound effects are made to sound like the sound effects from the original Japanese version.
The usual standard 4Kids text edits from Yu-Gi-Oh! are performed as well, because of the complete replacement of the background music score and some of the sound effects in the dub. Despite nearly all the visible text on the show being English, both instances of Japanese and English text are digitally airbrushed out or replaced with meaningless symbols. Even the made-up language used in the original, Pupupumoji, despite being unreadable without knowledge on how to decode it, is replaced. However, most of the English writing is kept. The title card is completely removed (the theme song in its place) and isn't even translated for the English version. Also, the background of the Customer Service screen (which originally had a board with green text "Holy Nightmare" on it) is replaced with a purple evil-hallway-like background.
4Kids did replace some of the dialogue with new dialogue that contains extra lines, jokes, puns and humor, as well as removed all the profanity from the original Japanese version. However, despite the Galaxy Soldier Army references being removed, a good deal of the scripts was translated and sometimes said in a different manner that still relates to the specific situation.
The scene where Kirby encounters Popstar and the scene where the monster first appears and eats the sheep are switched, most likely to attract more viewers (a commercial break immediately follows the theme song).
While Escargoon asked Dedede to give trespassers the death penalty in the Japanese version Escargoon simply threatens a 2-week stay in the dungeon in the dub, presumably to remove all references to death.
Kabu's explanation about Nightmare and his evil corporation were completely removed, replaced with Kabu just saying the monster was "called here by our own King Dedede".
The portion of a scene with the citizens of Cappy Town proposing a toast with cups of wine was removed due to alcohol references. However, it appears in a flashback scene from the episode The Pillow Case.
The colors on King Dedede's vehicle in the Japanese version have military colors. This was airbrushed out due to military and gun references.

Comic Adaptation

The magazine Nintendo Power adapted this episode into a comic.

Trivia

In the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! comic adaptation for Nintendo Power, the second part of this episode had Dedede talking to Customer Service. In the background, it says "Holy Nightmare", which is the Japanese name for Nightmare Enterprises.
When Tiff gasps in shock upon seeing Kirby's actual appearance her Japanese voice is heard.
- Tiff's Japanese voice can also be heard during the scene when Kirby inhales everything on the dinner table.
When Kirby kicks away the small fiery Octacons, he acts a lot like Fighter Kirby, even though he has no ability.
A preview for this episode aired on September 29, 2001, after the final episode of the preceding TV series, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children.
This episode is one of three episodes to be included in the "Kirby's History" section of Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition, the others being Crusade for the Blade and Waddle While You Work.
If one looks closely on the NightMare Enterprises intro, one can see in the dub that the original background flashes on for one frame before turning to the purple one.
In the scene where the Cappy Town citizens confront Escargoon and King Dedede for being associated with the giant octopus monster, a single differently-colored Waddle Dee can be seen for the entirety of the scene. This Waddle Dee, however, is never seen again in the series, nor is it ever referenced by any other character.
When Kirby appears to be low on stamina, he begins to flash different shades of green. This is never shown again in the anime series.
This is the only episode in the series where Kirby does not say "Poyo," as instead, he makes baby noises, occasionally speaking coherently when pronouncing names. However, this type of speech only occurs in this episode.