7.8 /10 1 Votes
7.8/10 IMDb Final episode date 27 March 2004 | 7.1/10 MyAnimeList 8.6/10 TV First episode date 5 April 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre Fantasy, magical girl, music, comedy-drama, romance, tragedy Main characters Lucia Nanami, Kaito Dōmoto, Seira Characters Lucia Nanami, Kaito Dōmoto, Seira, Hanon Hōshō, Rina Toin Similar Ashita no Nadja, Ojamajo Doremi, Futari wa Pretty Cure, Kamichama Karin, Mirmo Zibang! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch (マーメイドメロディーぴちぴちピッチ, Māmeido Merodī Pichi Pichi Pitchi) is a shōjo manga and anime series created by Michiko Yokote, with artwork by Pink Hanamori. The manga was originally published in the monthly shōjo manga anthology Nakayoshi. There are 32 chapters published (including two special stories) and are compiled into seven volumes issued by Kodansha.
Contents
A 91-episode anime series was produced by TV Aichi, divided into two seasons, aired in Japan from April 2003 to December 2004. The first season is composed of 52 episodes, while the second, entitled Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure, lasted for 39.
Plot
Lucia Nanami, the mermaid princess of the North Pacific Ocean, sets out to land to find the boy she saved from a tsunami wave seven years before the beginning of the story, to whom she fell in love and had entrusted her pink pearl. She eventually finds the boy: a surfer named Kaito Dōmoto. However, Kaito does not recognize Lucia in her human form. She cannot directly tell Kaito who she really is; otherwise, according to mermaid legend, she would turn into bubbles. Lucia tries to convince Kaito into figuring out who she really is (since the legend doesn't say anything about the other person discovering a mermaid's true identity by himself).
At the same time, Lucia has been told that a group of water demons have invaded the sea world and she must gather six other Mermaid Princesses and their pearls to bring back the legendary goddess Aqua Regina to stop them. To fulfill this, she joins forces with Hanon and Rina, the Mermaid Princesses who came up to dry land, use their pearls, turn into singing teen idols, and use their voices as an offensive power. After the water demons fail, the Black Beauty Sisters show up to steal the show. The Mermaid Princess believe in themselves and believe they can defeat the Black Beauty Sisters, which they do.
Manga
The original manga, created by Yokote with illustrations by Hanamori, began serializing in the September 2002 issue of Nakayoshi. There are a total of 32 chapters, with final one published on the April 2005 issue of the said magazine (released March 2005). There are a total of seven tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, the first six containing five chapters each and final one having two. They were released between March 20, 2003 and April 30, 2005.
Del Rey Manga acquired the rights to publish the manga for the North American audience. It began releasing the manga on April 2006 under the title Pichi Pichi Pitch: Mermaid Melody. The English translations of the seven volumes were released from April 25, 2006 to October 30, 2007. The seventh volume, aside from the final two chapters, also contains two preview chapters from other manga.
Anime
An anime adaptation produced by TV Aichi, We've, and Tokyu Agency, animated by Actas and Synergy Japan, and directed by Yoshitaka Fujimoto aired in Japan in two seasons. The first season, simply named Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch and covers manga chapters 1 to 20, aired between April 5, 2003 and March 27, 2004. They were compiled into 14 DVD volumes. The second season, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure, which adapts events from chapters 21 to 30, was aired between April 3 to December 25, 2004. Unlike the first season, Pure was compiled into two DVD box sets containing a total of 11 discs.
ADV Films acquired the license to the anime on June 2004 for its North American release, but was eventually dropped due to difficulty in finding backers and securing a TV airing deal. While the acquisition of the license and the production of the English anime predated that of the manga, it is unknown if a release will occur. That is because as of 2009, the anime has been completely dubbed but is being held by TV Aichi.
A total of six theme songs were composed for the anime. The first opening theme, "Taiyō no Rakuen ~Promised Land~" (太陽の楽園 ~Promised Land~, lit. "Paradise of the Sun ~Promised Land~") by Miyuki Kanbe, and the first ending theme "Daiji na Takarabako" (大事な宝箱, lit. "Important Treasure Box") by Asumi Nakata, are used in the first 28 episodes. For 29th to the 52nd episodes, "Rainbow Notes♪" by Kanbe and "Sekai de Ichiban Hayaku Asa ga kuru Basho" (世界で一番早く朝が来る場所, lit. "The Place Where Morning Comes First") by Nakata, Hitomi Terakado, and Mayumi Asano, are the second opening and ending themes respectively. For Pure, the opening theme is "Before the Moment" by Eri Kitamura while "Ai no Ondo °C" (愛の温度℃, lit. "The Temperature of Love°C") by Nakata, Terakado, and Asano is the ending song.
Other music
There are also other pieces of music used in the anime, either as battle songs performed by the Mermaid Princesses or their enemies or as insert songs. All songs listed below are compiled in several character singles, soundtrack, and vocal albums (which also include the theme songs listed above):
Video games
Three video games (developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan) were released on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance console during the original run of the anime. All the games featured multiplayer capabilities, but required each player to have his or her own copy of the game in order to play.
Reception
Reviews for the English manga have been generally unfavorable. Robert Harris of Mania.com has managed to score all of its volumes Cs and below, even going insofar as to rate its 7th and final volume an F-, making it the only manga series on site to receive such a score. Meanwhile, Anime News Network's Melissa Harper managed to only review the second volume of the manga and commented that while it has good visuals, its story is too childish in some of its elements.