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PaRappa The Rapper Wiki

"PaRappa the Rapper (character)" redirects here. For the video game, see PaRappa The Rapper (video game).


I gotta believe!

PaRappa Rappa (パラッパラッパー), alias PaRappa the Rapper and more commonly referred to as PaRappa or Parappa, is a paper-thin rapping dog and the titular protagonist of the franchise. His adventures usually lead to difficult situations which he counters with his catchphrase, "I gotta believe!" and pulls through.

Story

PaRappa the Rapper

PaRappa stars as the main character in his quest to reach his idea of adulthood to prove himself to his crush Sunny Funny, after some inspiration from Joe Chin. He goes to the Fruites Dojo to train with Chop Chop Master Onion, does a test drive with Instructor Mooselini to get his license, gets a job at Prince Fleaswallow's market to raise money after damaging his dad's car, and after Joe Chin causes him to fall onto Sunny's new cake, PaRappa goes on a cooking show with Cheap Cheap to bake a new cake.

Um Jammer Lammy

PaRappa is a secondary protagonist of Um Jammer Lammy alongside Lammy. After completing the main story, an additional story arc is unlocked, starring PaRappa as the player's character. In cutscenes, he is depicted as being enlisted into MilkCan as a helper for everyone else (Lammy, Katy, Ma-san, and Sunny), and later teaming up with his friend PJ in an attempt to start their own rock band.

PaRappa the Rapper 2

Like the first PaRappa game, PaRappa appears as the main character and is the only playable character in PaRappa The Rapper 2. In the game's battle mode, however, player 2 will play as the instructor of the stage currently being played. In the main story mode, he wins a year supply of noodles, but soon grows tired of them. He and PJ Berri go to Beard Burgers to eat burgers, but all the new employee serves them are burgers with noodles, leaving PaRappa displeased. The spirit of the owner of the restaurant, Beard Burger Master appears and encourages PaRappa to rap while he cooks the burgers himself.

PaRappa the Rapper (anime)

In this slice-of-life anime with a lesser degree of absurdity, PaRappa spends time with his friends at school.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

PaRappa appears as a playable character in the fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. In PaRappa's story, he is walking down the street and sees his friends, who tell him they're reading a new comic starring Joe Chin, who is portrayed as a hero. He notices his friends adoring Joe, so he decides to become a hero as well. His moves include training from Chop Chop Master Onion, as well as the aid of Boxy Boy and skateboard. His in-game "rival" is Spike from the Ape Escape series. PaRappa returns to see his friends, telling them that Joe Chin disappeared, saying he wasn't invited to a contest that he was hopeful to appear at. PaRappa begins to wonder and asks them to come to the dance club, eager to show off his new style. Unlike his paper-thin appearance in his own games, PaRappa in PlayStation All-Stars has been slightly redesigned, having a thicker design.

Personality & Habits

PaRappa can be generally described as outgoing, optimistic, and cheerful. He can easily be demotivated, which puts him in an insecure state of mind. To resolve this, he believes in himself, and he feels better again.

Design

PaRappa is a light-beige dog with black ears and a dark brown nose. His orange (sometimes red) beanie which covers his head has a frog symbol on it. He wears big, baggy jeans, a purple (sometimes blue) shirt and red sneakers with a white, wavy stripe on each side.

A running gag involves the top of PaRappa's head which he covers with his beanie, such as in "Hair Scare", where reaching Bad/Awful will cause Hairdresser Octopus to angrily tell him what's inside it.

In the final episode of the anime series, the others saw what was at the top of PaRappa's head when the birds took it off and were freaked out by the appearance. It was covered right until the birds gave him back his hat.

In the Bad and Awful mode of "Stage 6: Taste Of Teriyaki" from Um Jammer Lammy, a skeleton of the frog on PaRappa's hat is shown briefly.

Trivia

  • The name "PaRappa" is a play on Japanese words meaning "paper thin", referring to the game's art style.[1] In media outside of the games, PaRappa is given a more 3D appearance as the flat art style is hard to work with in dynamic artwork.
  • His catchphrase, "I gotta believe!" is said by him in almost every pre-level cutscene. The exceptions include his stages in Um Jammer Lammy, and additionally stage 5 of PaRappa the Rapper and stage 7 of PaRappa the Rapper 2. In the latter stage, the catchphrase is said by Colonel Noodle instead.
Parappa Concept Art

A magazine scan showing PaRappa's scrapped designs (upper section)

  • According to Rodney Alan Greenblat, PaRappa's age would be "probably 18" in the games, and "much younger" in the anime due to attending public school.[2]
  • During the development process for PaRappa, Rodney had considered several designs, including an onion version named "Onion Rappa" and a Godzilla-like version named "PaRappaZilla." Ultimately, he decided to make PaRappa a dog.

Gallery

Main article: LINE Stickers

References

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