Mega Man: Upon a Star

Mega Man: Upon a Star, known as Rockman: Hoshi ni Negai wo (ロックマン 星に願いを) in Japan, is a 3-episode OVA made by Ashi Productions and Capcom in 1993. The episodes were released on DVD in Japan by Capcom in 2002, and in North America by ADV Films on January 4, 2005. The Mega Man characters are from the "game world", and they can appear in the "real world". Dr. Wily manages to exit the game world and tries to conquer the real world, and Mega Man has to stop him, learning about Japan while searching for Wily.

Episodes

 * Episode 1: Appearance in Japan
 * Episode 2: Wishing Upon a Star
 * Episode 3: Future Beware

Japanese culture
This OVA contains educational content about Japan, including places and events.

Episode 1

 * Bullet trains. (真剣線)
 * Mentions to samurai and ninja. (侍塾, 忍者)
 * A little about the education in Japan. (学校)
 * Cram school (judo and piano) (塾卯)
 * Mount Fuji: Wily attacks from here. (藤山)
 * Geography in Japan (like Okinawa) (沖縄)

Episode 2

 * New Year's Eve/Day (大晦日/お書月) (31 December to 1 January): Akane calls Yuuta downstairs to commemorate, but Yuuta is playing Mega Man 6 and gives trouble to go. Akane and Yuuta argue and hit the NES. Mega Man gets booted to the real world, and he gets to commemorate with them in the New Years greetings. He learns about otoshidama (お年玉) - money given to children in envelopes - and that they commemorate on New Years' to make the new year a great year.
 * Setsubun (節分) (3 February): This is a holiday to scare off oni. This also celebrates the arrival of Spring. Mega Man, Yuuta, and Akane are watching TV, and they learn that an Oni Robot has been seen attacking. Also known as Risshun (立春)
 * Hinamatsuri (ひな祭り) (3 March): Roll and Akane celebrate this festival with friends. Also known as "Girls' Day" (桃の節句). Dolls are placed on a special stand and Girls' Day crackers are served.
 * Children's Day (子供の日) (5 May): Also known as "Boys' Day" (端午の節句), Yuuta and Akane celebrate this holiday with Mega Man, Roll, Proto Man, and their friends. This festival involves Koinobori (鯉のぼり), flags looking like carp hung up to make sure boys grow up like the Koi Ponds. Kintaro (金太郎) statues are also placed on windowsills.
 * Tanabata (七夕) (7 July): Citizens traditionally wish upon stars. They write down their wishes and hang it up on the tanzaku (短冊) before watching the stars. Yuuta, Akane, and Roll celebrate this event with their friends.

Episode 3

 * Japanese festival (盆祭り): This festival is where Mega Man and Roll get taken to by Yuuta and Akane. This festival contains fancy dresses called yukatas (浴衣), toys, shops, dancing, rides, food (わた菓子), a parade (お神輿), games (もぐら退陣) and a fireworks display (花火).
 * Otsukimi (お月見): Moon viewing event. Dango (だんご) is served at this event.
 * A school athletic meeting. (体育の日)
 * Shichi-Go-San (七五三): At the Japanese festival, Roll makes a promise with Akane that she will wear a kimono on this event. Families who have kids ages of seven five and three pray to the gods to make sure their kids will grow up big and strong.
 * Christmas (クリスマス): Dr. Wily and Mega Man deliver presents to everyone on this event. Roll asks Yuuta and Akane if people in Japan celebrate Christmas, too. Then they get their presents.

Trivia

 * While the American Mega Man animated series is considered to be the first Mega Man cartoon, Mega Man: Upon a Star was technically first. These shows were produced in 1993, a year before the American episodes were aired.
 * These three shows may have been pseudo pilots for what would become the 1994 Mega Man series, as there are similarities between them.
 * The producers of the American series also served as the U.S. production consultants on these episodes, which would certainly add more credibility to the above theory.
 * Terry Klassen is credited as "Telly Klassen" in the opening credits of Appearance in Japan.
 * The credits in Appearance in Japan are only in English, while the other two episodes have credits in both Japanese and English.
 * One of Mega Man's buster shot poses in the third episode has a striking resemblance to the one constantly shown in the Ruby-Spears cartoon.
 * Scott McNeil and Jim Byrnes (who voiced Dr. Wily and Dr. Light on the American series) also provide their voices in this series.
 * While Dr. Light sounds the same, Dr. Wily's voice is different. He does not have a German accent. Scott also voiced Beat, who sounded like Eddie does in the American series.
 * Terry Klassen (who voiced Cut Man in the American series) actually voices Rush in the first episode.
 * Kathleen Barr (who voiced Roll in the American series) does not voice as Roll, because Roll is much younger here. However, Kathleen did supply the voice of Yuuta and Akane's mom in the first episode.