Inu230

Oh shall I count the ways this anime upset me and should upset any potential viewer who cared even a smidge for the original Disney characters from Stitch:

I shall:

• In place of Lilo is Yuuna.
• Yunna introduces herself as Stitch’s best-friend.
• Giant red flag with bells on. Lilo is Stitch’s best friend.
• In place of hula class is karate class.
• Instead of having Moses Puloki teach, Yunna instructs. A beloved voice of reason has been substituted for a very poor tempered child. When things don’t go her way in class she blows up. 
• Her maturity level does not make her students or the audience want to look up to her. Why they continue to take classes where all they really do is sit and recite the rules of the dojo - rather than learning any actual karate moves - is blah to watch.
• In place of understanding is criticism.
• Yuuna is holier than thou right after meeting Stitch. She knows nothing about him yet she preaches about how he should be behaving. If you go to another continent do you tell people which side of the street to drive? If so you’re as brain dead, culturally insensitive and blind to individuality as Yuuna.
• In place of the Disney cartoon plot of finding a place for Stitch’s cousins to belong and benefiting the island and its’ people - especially the working class - is a plot about doing “good” deeds for selfish reasons.
• In regards to character development this has gone backwards. Based on the opening and the mention of Lilo in the first episode Stitch has secured a place for his cousins to belong thus fulfilling hundreds of satisfying good deeds. Now because Lilo has a boyfriend - I’m guessing not Keoni, Stitch has decided to go back to wanting to destroy everything. He says he wants to do good deeds and is told to control his selfish impulses that should already be under control. After 65 episodes {of which this reviewer has seen just about everyone thrice if not more} Stitch’s programming to be a destroyer should be more than under control. 
• He couldn’t go hang out with his extensive family while Lilo went on dates or talked to her about making time for her best friend? REALLY?
• In place of Stitch’s grasp of English are gibberish vocalizations that poorly reflect his time on E-arth.
• While it is important not to forget that Stitch is an alien and he shouldn’t forget his native language having him revert back to understanding English {or Japanese for those with access to that version I suppose} but responding in a language Yuuna has no way of understanding is off-putting. It took Lilo, Nani, and David quite a while to pick up Stitch’s lingo and the audience got used to him being bilingual while leaning towards English responses. For Yuuna to communicate with Stitch he would have to speak slowly and explain with more body language yet he typically just responds in alien. Yet Stitch and Yuuna understand each other well enough in the first episode for her to invite him to stay with her and for him to follow her instead of trying to find a way home. I’d like to see an episode or two in the original Japanese to see if the language barrier is more present. Picking up Japanese after learning English should be more difficult for Stitch. 

Other things that really bugged this reviewer:

• Stitch throws a turtle. He protects a frog in the first movie and now he’s throwing reptiles. 
• What he only likes amphibians?
• The Good Deed Counter prevents Stitch from eating an egg but lets him do a ton of other bad deeds including eating many different animals.
• He’s allowed to eat everyone else's food but when the food he wants to eat is a developing creatures the mystic watch throws a fit? Really? What about the animals that were already dead or that he helped to kill - like the fish? Or how about the Christmas episode where Stitch wants to eat nothing but venison? They aren’t as important?
• Angel comes to visit on more than one occasion but none of the originals even think about catching a ride back with her.
• No one is missing their Hawaiian ohana. That is just so sad and out of character for everyone.
• Stitch flips houses upside down.
• ….so much disregard for realistic Stitch ability. He is strong yes, that has been well established. He cannot rip a house from it’s foundation and flip it and all its contents - and inhabitants - upside down. Especially only using two of his arms.
• Stitch has forgotten Christmas.
• Again the first movie covered this. 
• Yet he still remembers how to say Mele Kalikimaka.
• Jumba resorts to evil genius and spends an episode reverting Stitch back to his destructive programming so he’ll have an evil lackey.
• Character development once again is thrown out the window in favor of having some story to tell; filling the quota over sustaining a story. 
• Jumba left his evil life behind long ago. Yes he’s still a genius and yes he does still create things in his lab on this island but he should not and should never have been written as forcing Stitch to return to destruction.  

Why Japan thought this was a proper way to treat Stitch or a way to introduce people to a foreign character is beyond this reviewer.

Why America decided to create an English dub version when they had their own - which had a  valuable message and represented ohana extensively - is also over this reviewer’s head.

Personally I think the team responsible for this - and it’s sequel and specials/ovas - never actually watched the movie or the two seasons that are supposed to be pre-quells to this in their entirety. If they had I do not believe they could or would have treated Stitch the way they did.

625 says something that sums up this anime in episode 5:

“I wish I was in a coma. Like most of the audience must be if they buy this balloony.”