‘Hi Hi Puffy’ ready to rock

In the grand tradition of “The Beatles,” “The Jackson 5” and “The Osmonds” -- the cartoon shows, I mean, not the actual human musicians who inspired them -- comes “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi,” Cartoon Network’s entry into the world of rock-a-mation. What mainly distinguishes this series from its forbears, and even from “The Archies,” is that you are far, far less likely to have heard of the poppy-punky Puffy AmiYumi, who, though they are superstars back home in Japan, with their own action figures, shoes and variety show, are but a cult item in the less-fortunate West. In most other respects -- musical interludes, kicky graphics, wacky adventures the living models would never have -- it’s pretty much right in line. It is modern, in its retro, Asian-tinged way -- in other words, right in line with the Cartoon Network aesthetic -- but nothing new.

While their show premieres tonight -- at 7:30, in the children’s hours, significantly, and not the late-night, irony-and-anime reaches of CN’s “Adult Swim” -- the duo already have a network presence, having recorded Andy Sturmer’s excellent theme to Cartoon Network’s “Teen Titans.” Their own show also has an excellent theme, also written by Sturmer, formerly of the band Jellyfish and a Team Puffy member since the word go. The credits, which offer glimpses of the band in action, are exciting in a way that the show that follows never really tries to be. Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura -- the AmiYumi in Puffy AmiYumi -- appear in live action as themselves, and they are no less animated than their cartoon counterparts, to whom they give way too soon. As in “The Beatles,” they do not voice their own characters, which is a shame, really, but understandable, given the accents. (They do read the names of each episode.) Ami is voiced by Janice Kawaye and Yumi by Grey DeLisle, who plays Frankie on “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” and who, appropriately, has a recording career of her own.

As is the way with such things, Ami and Yumi are each reduced to a single, instantly graspable quality: Ami is the Soft One and Yumi is the Hard One. Ami is pink, Yumi blue. Ami wears a flower in her hair, Yumi a skull on her T-shirt. In Powerpuff terms, Ami is the Bubbles, Yumi the Buttercup. (There is no Blossom.) They have also been -- apart from the occasional burst of Japanese dialogue, a love of photo booths and the anime/manga influences on the production design -- strangely deracinated. (With their big heads and straight little bodies they are also de-sexed and of indeterminate age.) Their impulsive little manager, Kaz (Keone Young, Mr. Wu on “Deadwood”), who drives their hot-rod tour bus and mismanages their careers, does look and sound Japanese, however. At one point, they call him “Wasabi-breath.”

“Being a rock star rules!” is more or less the theme of the show, but with time out for bullfighting, baby-sitting, vampire-besting and working the candy line (in an episode that steals from both “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “I Love Lucy”). The stories, such as they are (and they are much better in week 2 than in week 1), give the animators ample opportunity to play with shapes and colors. With the half-hour divided into three seven-minute episodes, everything has to move fast -- a little too fast, as regards the musical numbers, which pass in seconds-long snippets. It’s disappointing, given that the show is to some extent predicated on the energy of the singers. Still, it is bright and loud and sensational, like a Japanese department store, and if not the cleverest show on the block, as clever as it needs to be, given that its target audience is age 7 to 11.

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‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’

Where: Cartoon Network

When: 7:30 tonight

Rating: TV-Y7. Directed to older children.

Ami Onuki...Puffy Ami

Yumi Yoshimura...Puffy Yumi

Executive producers Tramm Wigzell, Sam Register. Creator Sam Register. Writers Robert Lamoreaux, Michelle Lamoreaux, Dave Watson, Ken Segall, Steven Banks, David Slack, Adam Beechen. Voices, Janice Kawaye, Grey DeLisle.