Magical Princess Minky Momo

Momo as a pre-teen, and as a 20-year-old.

Magical Princess Minky Momo (original title 魔法のプリンセス ミンキー モモ) is a Shojo anime produced by Ashi Productions (now Production Reed), and aired on TV Tokyo in 1982-83 and a classic example of a Magical Girl story. It is known as Gigi in France, Italy, and in the English-speaking world.

The magical land of Fenarinarsa is where the characters of humanity's fairy tales dwell. But as humans lose touch with their dreams, it is in danger of disappearing. To prevent that, the king and queen send their daughter, Momo, to Earth, and task her with reviving the hopes and dreams of mankind.

Momo manifests on Earth as the daughter of a young childless couple, and brings along her dog Sindbook, her monkey Mocha and her bird Pipi. Although a pre-teen, she has the power to transform into a 20-year-old version of herself, complete with whichever skill set and outfit are appropriate for the situation at hand (nurse, police officer, etc).

Every time Momo succeeds in bringing happiness to a given person, a new jewel appears in the Fenarinarsa crown. Once the crown has 12 jewels, Fenarinarsa will return to Earth's surface.

Made at a time when the Magical Girl genre was thought to be losing its attraction for young girls (Toei Animation had been the traditional Magical Girl studio, but its last entry, Mahou Shojo Lalabel, had not done well), Minky Momo blasted a hole in that assumption and paved the way for a revival of the genre in the 1980s (which would be largely the work of Studio Pierrot). A second TV series, Magical Princess Minky Momo: Embracing the Dream (魔法のプリンセス ミンキー モモ: 夢を抱きしめて), would follow in 1991 on Nippon TV, with the title character being reincarnated into a new person. In between the two TV series, there was an OVA, La Ronde in My Dream, released in 1985.

Despite its wild success in Europe and Latin America, Momo is less well known in English; to this day, Australia is the only English-speaking nation to get the '80s TV series in full, while American fans have had to make do with the La Ronde OVA (known as Magical Princess Gigi in the U.S. and Gigi and the Fountain of Youth in the U.K.) and with four feature-length dubbed edits of the '80s TV series released on Amazon Instant Video in 2015. The '90s series has never had an English release.

This series is also notable for being an early team-up between director Kunihiko Yuyama and writer Takeshi Shudo, who would reunite 15 years later for something called Pokemon.

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Tropes used in Magical Princess Minky Momo include:

• Alternate Continuity: Subverted in the second series, when the two Momos eventually meet.
• Bittersweet Ending: In the second series, Minky Momo II's task of keeping fairy tale creatures from dying fails and they must depart from Earth. However, Momo II decides to stay with her Earth family, believing that dreams are never truly lost.
• Canine Companion: Sindbook.
• Captain Ersatz: Chibiusa of Sailor Moon has some suspicious similarities to Momo.
• Cute Witch
• Disney Death: Momo I ends up getting run over and killed by an out-of-control truck. However, she then gets reincarnated as her Earth family's real daughter. Parodied in the first episode of Excel Saga.
  • In a strange Call Back, episode 62 of the second series has Minky Momo II meeting Minky Momo I when the latter saves the former from being hit by a truck.
• Downer Ending: The original series. Momo I fails at bringing Fenarinarsa back, ultimately losing her powers and her life in the process.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: Minky Momo I.
• Dub Name Change: Momo is known as Gigi in many foreign versions of the show, including English.
• Ear Worm: The original TV series theme song, "Love, Love, Minky Momo," sung by Momo's first voice actress, Mami Koyama.
• Fan Service with a Smile: Several of 20-year-old Momo's outfits. As a flight attendant, she's a Sexy Stewardess; as a nurse, she's a Hospital Hottie.
  • Also, the nude transformation sequence in the original 1982 series. While not explicit or frontal, one can still briefly glimpse Momo's 20-year-old alter ego's nude rear end. Certainly no big deal in Japan, but not surprisingly, the English dub of the 1985 La Ronde OVA shortens this sequence to remove the rear-end shot.
• Gotta Catch Em All
• Homage: To the Japanese legend of Momotaro.
• Magical Girl: The whole point of the series.
• Magical Land: Fenarinarsa.
• Meaningful Name: Momo's name is a reference to the Japanese folk tale Momotaro, particularly with her becoming a surrogate daughter to a childless couple and having several animal companions.
• Megumi Hayashibara: She played Momo in the second series.
• Muggle Foster Parents: Though in Momo's case, she's aware all along who her real parents are, and why she's in a foster family. Her foster parents, however, have been magicked to think that she's always been their daughter.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Mami Koyama voiced the original Momo, while Momo II was played by Megumi Hayashibara.
  • Jehan Agrama voiced Gigi (Momo) in the English dub of the '80s TV series, while Rebecca Forstadt played her in the La Ronde dub.
• Rose-Haired Girl: Momo was the first pink-haired Magical Girl.
• Shout-Out: Momo's English dub name, Gigi, comes from her original English voice actress, Jehan Agrama (the daughter of Harmony Gold producer Ahmed Agrama), whose nickname was Gigi. (And just as in the original Japanese, the lead character's voice actor also sang the theme song.)
• Transformation Sequence: Whenever Momo turns into her 20-year-old self.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Momo's real parents.