Mia and Me

Premise

The story begins when a 12-year-old girl named Mia goes to a prestigious boarding school in Florence, Italy as an exchange student. Her parents died recently in an accident. Her father was a successful game maker. Mia's aunt gives Mia a game that her father made before he died. The game is in the form of a large book called "The Legend of Centopia" (a book he read to her when she was younger) which is full of mystical rune writing that gives Mia the latest password (that has to be read backwards) that allows her to go to the magical world of Centopia. The land is full of winged elves (fairies), pans (goat-like creatures), unicorns, dragons (they do not breathe fire) and much more. Perhaps the strangest creature there is Polytheus, a snake like being with snake hair like a Gorgon. He is a trader, strictly in it for the money (though what good money is on such a world is debatable) but has done the Elves some good turns without reward, such as when he fixes their waterdome, saving them from a munc attack (Episode 23).

While in Centopia, Mia is a beautiful, winged, fairy-like, elf girl. Mia is very special because she can talk to unicorns. No one else in Centopia has that ability. She meets a unicorn named Lyria and later, her winged son (born in "The Golden Son" episode), Onchao. She befriends Yuko, a girl warrior who likes Mia but is jealous of the attention Mo pays her, Prince Mo, son of King Raynor and Queen Mayla, and Phuddle, a pan, the comic relief (though more often annoying than funny). In Season 1, with the help of oracles from the magic book, they must find all the trumptus pieces, a magic horn made by Phuddle. It was captured, broken apart and, in twenty pieces, scattered by the munculus on orders of Queen Panthea (Episode 4) as it is the one thing that can destroy the evil beings. Water from the elves waterglares shrinks munculus (a.k.a. muncs) but it is only a temporary effect.

They also have to stop the evil Queen Panthea, General Gargona and her munculus army (who ride on blue dragons and fire non venomous snakes which encircle and trap their victims) from capturing the unicorns. Panthea needs their horns as without them she becomes (even more) old and ugly (her face is always hidden by a mask). But the horns are linked to the unicorn shaped island of Centopia so every time she takes and destroys a unicorn horn, more of the island dies and vegetation and trees become desert. The "golden unicorn" Onchao is the only unicorn with wings. He can make the desert bloom again (the other unicorns can do this but less easily) and later, restore horns to unicorns who have had them cut off by Panthea. There are also four unicorns with elemental powers (earth, air, fire and water) who mostly stay out of the affairs of others but join in the final battle.

In Episode 9 the elves make friends with a baby dragon (Baby Blue) which quickly grows up and as a full sized dragon, helps them a few times. Episode 22 is the only episode that takes place at night. Mia has a wrist amulet that when charged allows her to go to Centopia and when the battery runs down, she returns to Earth till it recharges itself again (we see the recharger in Episode 25). Though she may spend many hours in Centopia, only a few minutes pass on Earth. At her school, we see cartoon effects around her and characters there, as in question marks when they are puzzled, flowers, comic characters, etc. Vincent is her friend there and learns about her ability to travel to Centopia. The stuck-up and nasty Violetta is against her. Paula starts off as a friend of Violetta but over time comes to realize how nasty and shallow Violetta is and joins Mia. She learns about Centopia in the final two-part episodes (Episode 25 and 26).

The evil ones are finally defeated (the trumptus blast turns them into flowers) with only Gargona surviving in ep 26. It is in the final pages of the book and Mia goes back to her world where it is the end of the school year, and she says she will see her friends in a few months after the summer break. According to the Panda TV site, the artwork for the land of Centopia is based on the art of Gustav Klimt. This is particularly noticeable in the robes worn by the King and Queen as well as Mo's shirt. Also Gargona is heavily influenced by Hygieia in the ceiling paintings of the University of Vienna.

In the second season Mia spends her summer holiday at grandpa Renzo's farm. There she also meets Mario who later learns about her ability to travel to Centopia. In this season there is a new antagonist named Rixel who wants to catch Onchao. Mia's bully Violetta ends up discovering Mia's secret during the second half of season 2 in "My Name is Varia", after finding a slice of Mia's Pebble bracelet which allows her to transform into an elf whenever Mia travels to Centopia. While in Centopia, Violetta pretends to be an elf named Varia to hide her true identity from Mia. As Varia, Violetta becomes one of Mia's allies joining Mia and her friends on their adventures, though is reluctant to tell them her true identity. As a result, Violetta begins to be shown in a more sympathetic light and her mother Countess Di Nola takes over her antagonistic role in the real world as her mother begins eyeing Grandpa Renzo's farm to expand the Di Nola Family estate and interferes with her Violetta's relationship with her father, Victorio.

Live action

Animation

Broadcast

In the United Kingdom, the series aired on Nickelodeon (UK and Ireland) in January 2014, Nickelodeon began airing the series in the Philippines on July 1, 2013. The series aired in Singapore on MediaCorp Okto, in Indonesia on RCTI and in Australia on Eleven. In the United States, the series is carried by Nick Jr. beginning May 3, 2014. The series is available through Netflix in many countries, since September 2014.