Ken Kitazawa

Ken Utonium
	; '
Japanese Name	None
English Name	Ken
Age	8
Japanese Voice	Unknown
English Voice	Cathy Weseluck
First Appearance	Powerpuff Girls to the Rescue
Signature Color	White

“

Papa...I mean Professor Utonium

”

—Ken

Ken Utonium is an exclusive character inside the anime version of The Powerpuff Girls. He is a young boy genius and the 8 year-old son of Professor Utonium who is somewhat responsible for turning the girls into the Powerpuff Girls Z and numerous other characters into villains using Chemical Z. He is voiced by Cathy Weseluck.

Appearance

Ken wears a white lab coat and shirt and tie, and his head is circle with carefully parted black hair and big eyebrows. His shoes are leather with socks in it.

Section Hidden

Experiment Chemical Z

Ken is serving some tea for his father, the honored Professor Utonium. Poochi appear to get some bun too. It was so fun until Poochi overreacts and accidentally throws a bun. Soon, they where shocked when they saw the color changing into a light one. Professor Utonium experiments in their computer about a compound known as Chemical X. The computer replies: Chemical X needs a new name. The Professor calls it Chemical Z. When a tragedy happened throughout the world, Ken said he needed to use Chemical Z to change the weather, only to be denied by his father, saying that it needed to be experimented on. However, Ken disobeyed his father and targeted the iceberg, triumphantly destroying it and saving American New Townsville, their home.

Personality

Ken acts more mature than the PPGZ, but sometimes he can be a bit more bossy. Ken can seem to get a bit annoyed sometimes. Ken doesn't go to school because he already finished all school levels from Kindergarten to University. He is an only child and is, in his heart, longing for his mother.

Role

He used it to blast a glacier in order to set the weather back to normal, but the impact resulted in the explosion of several lights, which affected all those who came in contact with it. Despite being younger than the girls, he acts a lot more mature and the education he receives from his father is considered more advanced than what the girls learn in their school, earning his PhD at an early age. Ken, in a later episode, attended school in order to gain social skills and make friends. While he considers grade school life boring, he has made several friends, including Joey (who was originally his rival) and Kasey (Blossom's little sister). Ken sees the girls as older sisters and has to often put up with them, though he still cares for them deeply. Ken interchanges between calling Professor Utonium Dad and Professor. During a serious situation (such as a monster attack or investigation) he will try to refer to Utonium as "Professor," but in less serious situations (like packing a lunch) he will call him "Dad." Ken often corrects himself, because he usually uses the wrong honorific (e.g. "Dad, I mean, Professor"). In Episode 26, it is revealed that Ken's mother works on a space station, therefore making her very busy and unable to be with Ken. Thanks to the girls and Santa Claus (whom he believed did not exist at first based on a 70% possibility), he was able to see her and is now able to communicate with her clearly on the lab's monitor. In episode 37, when the Powerpuff Girls Z are "grounded" from using their powers for a day when they have to take a test in school, Ken fills in for them, donning a superhero suit consisting of a black bodysuit, a white cape, white gloves, white boots, a red vest with gold shoulder pads and a yellow "Z" on it, and a blue helmet with the yellow letters "KK" on it, while brandishing a blue polearm with a yellow "U" at the end, and calling himself "Kamikaze Ken Z". Despite having no powers or attacks, he uses traps [disambiguation needed] and other props [disambiguation needed] as weapons when he defends their lab from the Gangrene Gang (Parody of "Home Alone"), ultimately driving them off by tricking them into drinking bottles of hot sauce (thinking they were the containers of Chemical Z). Ken's pre-production art bares a strong resemblance to Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, even the current incarnation. However, in one of the special edition DVD booklets, it is explained the design originated from Kid Utonium from the original series.

History and Christmas

When Ken was young his mother was always by his side. One day his mother was going to work in space and he didn't want to be separated from his mother. But he had no choice but to accept that his mother was gone.

In Christmas season, he wrote a letter to Santa that someday he wished to see his mother. Santa forgot to read Ken's letter and Ken thought he was being rejected by Santa. Ken waited too long to make his dream come true by Santa Claus. But he never came. When Ken was 8 years old, in Christmas season again, the girls were busy decorating the Professor's lab. Ken said that the PPGZ were just wasting their time and that Santa would not come. The girls argued, saying that Santa made their dream come true. Ken disagreed and left, with his father telling the girls that Ken doesn't believe in Christmas.

Meanwhile, at Blossom's house, Blossom asks her sister about what she had got her for a Christmas present. Kasey told her that she had gotten her some striped socks. Blossom angrily said she wanted a galactic man action figure. Shocked and angry at her sister, Blossom reminded Ken what he said. At Bubbles' house, her grandma told her that her parents sent a note to her. She then asked what Bubbles wanted for Christmas; Bubbles said it was a secret. She then left to go to Ken's place.

Mojo eventually managed to "rule" Christmas, but thanks to the girls, Christmas was saved. The girls and the Professor showed Ken a monitor in which he could talk to his mother from Earth. After that, Ken said he believed in Christmas and that he had "Christmas spirit".

Power and Weapon

Just like his dad, Professor Utonium, he has a lot of knowledge. He is an eight year old "super-genius" with a PhD. He manages to tell the girls what to do, although he does not have a specific weapon of his own.

Gallery

Trivia

Ken's attitude is very similar to the original Blossom in Powerpuff Girls.
He acts more mature than the girls.
He is much smarter than a regular kid.
In the American version, Ken is voiced by Cathy Weseluck, who would eventually co-star with Bubbles' original voice actress Tara Strong in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.