Anime 0725
Minky Momo (82)
I was trying to watch a bunch of old magical girl shows and a few other kids anime from the 80’s and 90’s. The only shows I have a ton of hours on are the weekday afternoon and saturday morning dubs we got and of those it’s mostly DBZ, Pokemon, Digimon. Of the shows I picked up, Minky Momo was the biggest surprise. I started this project going in expecting what I got from Studio Pierrot shows I tried to start. Much sillier and out-there with its comedy. If Creamy Mami would have an episode where things happen and are just brute force solved by her singing, Momo would go sillier and somehow make it feel more right. It also was not as in-your-face advertising as the little bit of pretty cure I’ve seen. It was cartoony. It was wild. It was fun. Fairly good weekly format. Wonderful acting and characters I ended up liking quite a lot. It also had fewer issues than I’d expect from a show of this vintage, going into 80’s anime sometimes throws a racist caricature or something and I think there’s only one, maybe two, one-off issues like that. I could see people older than the kids the show’s main viewership actually enjoying this. I can imagine my grand-aunt actually enjoying watching this, at the very least not asking to change the channel (ignoring it’s in Japanese with subs, she wouldn’t have been able to read that).
Minky Momo is a princess from the fantasy world of Fenarinarsa which has fairy tale characters and other magical people. It once used to be on earth but now floats above earth. Her goal is to make people happy to get jewels for some reason that once it fills a crown will bring Fenarinarsa back to earth. What hijinks ensue are the result of her practically being an alien or sorts. She doesn’t understand some basic human things. She can solve problems quickly with magic but isn’t always the best at it. She transforms into an adult of some profession who is vaguely 18 years old but maybe looks older or is older for some professions. After all, she lands on Earth and hypnotizes a busy childless couple who run a veterinarian/pet shop into thinking she’s their daughter. As she goes around trying to make things go well, they don’t. Her earth Mama is a funny but head strong woman and episodes featuring her are a treat. Everyone is well acted but Mami Koyama’s Momo is just the stand out. Her young momo voice is as cartoony as someone might want from Arale’s VA. Her adult momo voice keeps up with every silly moment and every dramatic moment. If I rewatched enough shows to actually pull off a “top 100 anime” this has a good chance at being top 25.
Magical Emi
The other magical girl show I finished so far this year, but that’s probably because it’s only 38 episodes (compared to the 50 or 60 something some other long-ish kids shows get). I actually was losing drive on this one, but knowing the end was in sight I pushed through. Also helps that Emi’s design has been stuck in my head for decades at this point. Ever since I dug into magical girl shows ages ago and saw that magician lady look she’s been sitting there influencing OC designs and other things. I think i first read about her on a Geocities or Angelfire page. Mai Kazuki is from a line of magicians, and looks up to her magician grandparents and a legendary magician called Emily Howell. A fairy named Topo gives her the power to become a teenage magician called Magical Emi. As Emi she can do work with her grandparent’s magical troupe but keeps it a secret. When the show is focusing on Mai becoming Emi as a shortcut instead of actual training it’s actually very interesting. It’s a fun show when dealing with Mai/Emi’s interactions with the adults and juggling everything. Her crush makes some sense. However, there’s a lot of episodes that I’m not sure kids would find entertaining? could be a generational gap, sure. Just some drama episodes that feel like a special PSA episode. Lots of Mai being a frustrated kid that can be a good tool for helping kids through frustrating situations in life they don’t understand and can’t properly communicate. Other times it’s Mai being a frustrated kid because that’s what she’s doing this week. There are also times where the show tries to be very mysterious about fairies, magic, and other supernatural things. Now that it’s been a few weeks since I watched the last episode, few of the fantastical mystery episodes really stuck with me as fun or interesting. There was always something holding each one back, sometimes the animation. Sometimes music. Magical Emi for a lot of its run is TV that is on. It’s there. For as much Emi is influencing one of my OCs, now that I’m actually going back to them and using them like characters in things I want to make cuz I like myself a little more now, Nothing is really sticking with me as that memorable. Oh, Shigeru Chiba’s voice is unforgettable and this show has a quite a few moments where they let him go wild. Also worth noting that a lot of the team on this also did the R18 version of Dream Hunter Rem and early on there’s some obvious clues(cameos). This also means that as the show started they either just finished or were finishing R18 Rem, then went back to make the non-porn version during Emi’s broadcast and production. It took her until episode 32 to get a different song to play, so almost every episode you heard the OP again inside the episode.
Love Live! Sunshine S1 rewatch
oh this was so much gayer than I remembered, maybe I’m mixing some original LL stuff in my memories. I couldn’t remember enough details about the characters other than Yohane so I rewatched it before going into Yohane the isekai and later lovelive. I’m sure I watched S2 for both LL and LLS but I’m going there next or maybe just jump into the newer stuff.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou OVA and YKK: Quiet Country Cafe OAV:
Rewatched them because I watched Ocean Waves and the director of that directed Quiet Country Cafe. Also, there’s a domesday duplicator dump of the original OVA’s 2nd disc. Was good to revisit them. The digipaint era of the 2nd one didn’t bother me as much now. Was just a good relaxing companion to the comic.