AKA: ヒピラくん (Hipira-kun)
	Genre: Children
	Length: Television series, 10 episodes, 5 minutes minutes each
	Distributor: Currently unlicensed in the United States
	Content Rating: G
	Related Series: N/A
	Also Recommended:
	Notes: Based on a children's book by Shinji Kimura, with art by Katsuhiro Otomo.
	Rating:

Hipira: The Little Vampire

Synopsis

Hipira-kun is different from all the other boy vampires, since he still hasn�t learned how to turn into a bat. This makes an object of ridicule for the other children, so he doesn�t have any friends. But when a mad scientist�s experiment goes awry, Hipira-kun lucks out, finding a unique friend: Soul, a floating, glowing being with a big smile and a bigger heart. These of the adventures of the mischievous Hipira-kun and his best friend Soul in the city of Salta, a world where it�s always night.

Review

The appeal of Hipira-kun is that it is about a boy first, and a vampire second. There�s a great visual gag in its short opening where Hipira menaces the audience, holding his cape just over his nose and cackling, then throwing open his cape to reveal a potpourri of toys hidden inside. That�s his character in nutshell- a rascally young vampire who�d like to think he�s a scary monster, but isn�t that much different from any other human boy. You can easily see him pulling a girl�s pigtails, sleeping in church and refusing to eat his collard greens, or whatever the vampire equivalent could be- perhaps blood collard greens? He�s charming in a way only young boys can be.

He lives in a vampire city beautifully realized by Production IG�s CG animation, which favors a smooth, hand drawn look that could easily be the CG I�ve seen in anime. Not far from there is a gloomy enchanted forest (�It�s so dark and depressing! Isn�t it great!� says Hipira), where fairies and magic frogs live. His best friend is a floating soul, and his mentor is a mad vampire scientist. He may be sad that he still can�t turn into a bat yet like the rest of his friends- an obvious but touching metaphor for puberty- but he has a charmed life that any human eight year old can relate to, and fantasize about.

Each episode is limited to five minutes, so nothing is wasted- in fact, you could say it moves a little too fast in the early episodes in its rush to lay out its premise- and many of its short, self-contained stories of Hipira's mischief fit the format like a soft glove. �Cute� and �charming� are words fans use a lot to describe many recent favorites- Croisee in the Foreign Labyrinth, Squid Girl, Hanasaku Iroha- but unlike Hipira-kun, that charm is otaku and feminine, and becoming so common that whatever made it special is losing traction. Hipira-kun is a refreshing kind of charm- a comfortable, happy, and decidedly boyish fantasy.

An enjoyable kid's cartoon with ample charm and inventiveness. — Bradley Meek

Recommended Audience: Perfect for children; no objectionable content.