Robots?

[littlebadwolf]

I noticed that the character are basically supposed to be animal-shaped robots in KNT, a fact that they kind of glossed over in the US version. 

This started to creep me out after a while, because -- where are all the people?  It left visions of Speedy and Bad Bird teaming up to mercilessly slaughter all the actual human beings left on the planet.   

"Hey, baby!  Want to kill all the humans..?"

[felineki]

It's one of those things that's just never really addressed because it isn't relevant to the story. Is this just some alternate universe where humans never even existed? Or is it far in the future of our very own planet, long after humanity has gone extinct? Who knows. How the Animaloids came to be and what might have been there before them is largely a mystery. It's fun to speculate about, at any rate. Mechadon has some pretty interesting theories over in this thread.

I could easily see the Animaloids outliving humanity, even if they weren't the ones actually resposible for humainty's demise. Animaloids are INCREDIBLY resilient (Sukashii barely bats an eye when he takes a tree to the face, Karamaru survives atmospheric re-entry with no long-lasting effects, etc.), so whatever might happen that could kill off humanity might have a much less devastating toll on the Animaloids.

Although there are no traces of humans in KNT (except for the gag when the narrator gets banished and we see his (photographic human) face, which is kind of a 4th wall-breaking thing, so I don't think it counts), there still seem to be plenty of other traditional organic animals about. A few times we also see wild animals that appear to be mechanical or semi-mechanical much like the Animaloids themselves. Wonder how they came about?

[KyoZaber]

Sometimes it's best to just let the world of fantasy run it's course and not ask too many questions. 

However, I just look at it as it's own world.
How'd they come into being? *Shrugs* They just did. While we know that they're made of metal and such, we don't really know what fully makes an Animaloid tick. They evidently have something that makes them living beings. Normal metal doesn't heal itself, nor does a regular robot require actual food.

I'm amazed by them. In some ways they're so alike, and in others they're so different.
Many questions come to mind that I wish I could have answers for.

Oh well... Yay theories!

[Daisensei]

In the KNT46 -  Toki wo kakeru Nyankii episode (or SPC45 - Samurai Savings Time) one can see in the final part, & being chased by a mechanical dino, but the question about if they are in the past or future is left open. In the SPC it's stated that they warped to the past.
If we took the assumption that mechanical dinos existed in the KNT/SPC past, probably humans and organic life forms never existed in such universe.  Therefore I think the series as being located in a alternate universe, where there are no humans.

[littlebadwolf]

Yeah, I noticed that too.  It probably isn't supposed to make sense, but I thought it was kind of funny.  But it is a funny question to think about.

[Violet]

I think it's just that the creators of the show liked drawing animal characters and mecha, and to quote the MST3K theme song:

"If you're wondering how
they eat and breathe,
and other science facts,
Just repeat to yourself,
'it's just a show,
I should really just relax!'"

[NPC]

I think it's just that the creators of the show liked drawing animal characters and mecha, and to quote the MST3K theme song:

"If you're wondering how
they eat and breathe,
and other science facts,
Just repeat to yourself,
'it's just a show,
I should really just relax!'"

CORRECT!

(except for the gag when the narrator gets banished and we see his (photographic human) face

Which episode was this? 

[felineki]

Judging by my screenshots folder, it was in KNT47 "Deta! Nise Kyanki". Haven't watched the SPC equivalent ("Phoney Baloney Cats") recently, so I'm not sure if it remained or not.

Here's a screenshot:

[Violet]

Judging by my screenshots folder, it was in KNT47 "Deta! Nise Kyanki". Haven't watched the SPC equivalent ("Phoney Baloney Cats") recently, so I'm not sure if it remained or not.

How timely for me!  I was just working on a newsletter article about humans appearing in the show, and I completely forgot about this one.
The SPC narrator got off with just a warning

[cartoonking10749]

Since we're on the subject of human presence in Edoropolis/Little Tokyo.
There was an appearance of a human Santa Claus at the end of "The Cheese that stole Christmas".
He was watching the world through a portal/mirror of some kind without actually being there. Like in some different dimension to the SPC.
Was that shown in the KNT version?

[felineki]

Cool, glad I was able to help you remember that, Vi.

Santa does show up at the end of the KNT version of that episode, but I don't remember any of the details, it's been a while since I watched that one.

[D-Mac]

I was weirded out by the moment from Destructo Robots at Popular Prices, during the scene with snooping around under the bridge.



I call him Sunglasses Jones. 

[Mechadon]

Dude! Is that Platypus checking out that girl's ass? 

[Daisensei]

Since we're on the subject of human presence in Edoropolis/Little Tokyo.
There was an appearance of a human Santa Claus at the end of "The Cheese that stole Christmas".
He was watching the world through a portal/mirror of some kind without actually being there. Like in some different dimension to the SPC.
Was that shown in the KNT version?

The picture below was taken from the KNT episode, but there wasn't nothing that resembles a portal or mirror for looking into. In the Japanese version, Santa Claus says that he didn't have any appearence in the show, but anyway wishes a good Christmas ("medetashi").

[littlebadwolf]

I guess Santa can still deliver presents to the animaloids.  Even after they've mercileslly slaughtered all the actual humans left on the planet, they're still on the "Nice" list.  Except for Big Cheese, of course.

[Blackcat]

I guess Santa can still deliver presents to the animaloids.  Even after they've mercileslly slaughtered all the actual humans left on the planet, they're still on the "Nice" list.  Except for Big Cheese, of course.

The humans in the KNT universe are just supposed to be jokes or cameos...

If you ask me, all the humans just died because someone pressed a red button and an Atomic war whipped them from existence.

[Daisensei]

I prefer to believe in animaloids resulting from evolution of mankind. The humans replaced more and more of their body parts by cybernetic devices, until nothing organic are left. They became stronger and gained a longer life. For example, according to Meka Meka Ninpou Hidenchou, is 350 years old.

[Mechadon]

Hey maybe the Humans in SPC aren't desendents of today's humans. Maybe they're animaloids that chose to alter themsleves to a human form. Assuming animaloids can customize their cybernetic parts, why can't they customize their organic parts genetically?

[littlebadwolf]

I figured Guru Lou was so old because of his life-sustaining magical elixir or whatever, but maybe he just gets regular tune-ups.

[Pizzacat]

Though if you watch the KNT version of "All You Need is Love" or the SPC ep, you may notice amongst the party guests at a table is a wrinkly old human politician