Discussion
Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi is such a strange show, I'm not really sure who it's for?
Is it an attempt to get idol culture to catch on in America so Warner Music could expand that market? Well, not really - it has live-action idol promo video-esque segments, but viewers mostly seemed confused by them.
Is it an attempt to court anime fans like Teen Titans did? Then why bother using it to promote a real band at all?
The choice to use a real band is especially weird, given the cartoon designs don't look much like the real musicians, and the plots are all unrelated standard cartoon hijinks. It's really jarring when the live-action promo videos play, because the difference between Ounuki-san and Yoshimura-san's cartoon personas and real life selves is so drastic.
I'm not sure what Register saw in Puffy, either - their music is pretty decent, but nothing particularly exceptional in the sea of idol talent in Japan. Rock-focused idols are at least a little more unique than pop-focused groups, but not by THAT much, especially in the 2000s when idol music greatly expanded in genre.
@QuestForTori I also got kind of confused by Puffy AmiYumi versus Panty and Stocking for a while there. I didn't have cable during the period those two shows aired and was confused about whether they were one show or two shows.
Sam Register even said outright that WB thought the market wasn't there yet like it was for anime. He also implied that it was mostly happenstance that he learned about the band when seeing them interviewed on TV while he was visiting Japan, and he thought a girl-rock show would bolster CN's female viewership (Likely while riding the coattails of the Japanophillia boom, but he didn't say that outright).