Anna Daniels
While it can feel like all animated productions come from either Japan or America, that’s of course far from the truth. The popular children’s series Winx Club that aired on the Disney Channel, for example, was produced in Italy, and yes, Green was on it as the character Sky. That same studio, run by Italian animator Iginio Straffi, also produced a short-lived series from 2009 entitled Huntik: Seekers and Secrets– a magical-realism adventure story that’s something like The Librarians as a children’s cartoon. On it, Green plays the character Montahue, the best friend of principal character Dante. Both are Seekers, people with a magical gift that allows them to perform spells and summon creatures called Titans from the titular spirit world of Huntik. Huntik: Seekers and Secrets was cut short after just two seasons (as is the fate of many animated series), but is available on Netflix.
This submission might feel a little strange to include since it’s a show aimed at pre-school and elementary-age children, but it has its own surprising importance. KikOriki — originally entitled Smeshariki in its native Russia — is a children’s series featuring stylized animals experiencing the typical moral journeys you would expect of most programs like it. At its heart is the blue rabbit Krosh, whom Green voices as part of the English localization of the original series (he doesn’t reprise the role for the feature-length films). You may not have heard of it, but this is an incredibly popular cartoon where it comes from; the series’ official YouTube account has over 2 million subscribers and many more millions of hits. It’s such a big deal, Russian and Chinese governments formed a trade deal involving it. That’s one heck of a culturally important orb-rabbit.
Written by: Looper
