popular thinking

A NEW PUFFY IN TOWN: Since Sean Combs has changed his name - again - from Puffy to Puff Daddy to P. Diddy to Diddy, perhaps there is room for a new Puffy to take America by storm.
Enter Puffy AmiYumi.
The Japanese rock duo of Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura have been big in Japan for a decade.
Only in the past year, with the introduction of animated versions of themselves on the Cartoon Network as Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, has the winsome twosome started to become household names among the youth of America. Their five-city U.S. tour stops Wednesday in Somerville.
"It feels as if it's still the same,'' Yoshimura said on the phone from Tokyo, with help from a translator. "It's not really something new. But it is a new challenge for us.''
Especially since they're finding a different fan base here than in their native Japan.
In Japan, they're bona fide rock stars. Their first single, 1996's Asia No Junshin, sold 1 million copies. Their music is peppy and sometimes subversive, with hints of punk, surf, indie rock and power pop.
Their cartoon, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, brought younger fans to their few West Coast concerts this spring.
"It was actually the first time we toured after the cartoon started,'' Onuki said. "We were not sure what to expect. It was a lot of little kids. It was fun to see that.''
After a decade of performing in Japan, Puffy AmiYumi began breaking into American music with a soundtrack contribution to Scooby-Doo 2 and the theme for Cartoon Network's Teen Titans.
Their own cartoon amps up their energy even more, with a crazy manager and madcap antics every episode on their animated tour bus. Each weekly episode also includes brief live-action skits that reveal that Oniku and Yoshimura still have great chemistry after a decade together.
"We're really good friends,'' they said.
They're also well aware that the track record for Japanese idoru (their term for pop idols) in America is - well, there isn't a track record.
"We're not really expecting anything,'' Yoshimura said. "Our main goal is to have everyone listen to our music.''
They sound happy about their success so far.
And who's to say they couldn't be around for years to come?
After all, Godzilla, Japan's biggest import, showed up on our shores for 50 years before allegedly calling it quits this year.
Not that anyone believes that, even Puffy AmiYumi.
"No, it's not going to be final,'' they said of Godzilla. "They're probably going to go back to when Godzilla was born. Back in time.''

Puffy AmiYumi performs Wednesday at the Somerville Theater with Adam Richman opening. Doors open at 6 p.m., music at 7 p.m. Tickets: $20, at the box office or go to www.teapartyconcerts.com