I don’t watch anime anymore nowadays; I find most of the series (with the exception of Rozen Maiden, ahem) to be terribly cliche and cheesy and boring. But there -is- one series, even though it’s really childish and cliche, that still carries importance in my heart, and that is Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch.

It’s a mahou shoujo series, which means lots of cute, wide-eyed heroines with sparkly backgrounds and romance and amusing baddies that they eventually make friends with (oops spoiler?) However, that’s not the reason why it still means a lot to me. No, the reason why is that this was the the first series where I was able to truly bond with other fans and made a ton of friends (Ekuri, Josephine, Jody, Kaen, Aisasami, Sepia, many many more..) The glory days of the Mother Symphony forums spent speculating about the next turn of events, talking about all the pairings and songs and fanworks, roleplaying, ranting, just generally having fun. This is a series that contains not only a lot of cute animation and music, but memories that will last me a lifetime.

Thus, as tribute, I’m going to rewatch the entire series start to finish because… hey, I can. It’ll be a nice way to revisit the 2003 years… wow, has it really been that long since MMPPP first started? It’s been THREE years since it ended? No way!

Anyways, without further ado, MMPPP episode 1: Tears of Pearl

Have I ever mentioned I love the opening sequence for MMPPP? Taiyou no Rakuen, though not my favourite song from the series, really sets the mood for the plotline overall; a song of a starting out on a journey, inspirational and breathtaking. The sequence of animations is both nicely timed (pet peeve of mine) and provides a beautiful introductory vignette of each of the major characters

The story starts off on a very good note. It’s really common in anime nowadays to have REALLY sucky first episodes, which is just a turn-off in general, but MMPPP starts off the action right away with the introduction of some interesting questions that pop up right away. Why is Lucia looking for her pearl? Why did she come to the human world to do so? Why were her servants worried about her leaving that day? What are Nikora and Hippo hiding from her? Of course, however, like most shoujo anime’s, it starts with a bit of not-so-funny and dry stereotypical humour, such as Lucia tripping over vacuum cords or singing so off-key that it shakes the entire house. That’s slightly ironic since Lucia’s seiyuu wasn’t really a good singer to begin with, so having her sing off-key was just a bit much. I will praise her for improving GREATLY over the course of the series, though =)

For those who don’t know already, MMPPP’s initial storyline is based very loosely off of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale of The Little Mermaid. Lucia’s flashback in the first episode reflects that quite clearly, but I’m actually really happy that they didn’t end up create a dry anime version of the fairytale. I really like series that are based off of literary works but end up with a completely different storyline and characters (Romeo x Juliet is an excellent example!)

Another thing about MMPPP that totally rocks is the character development. Already from the first episode, we’re introduced to quite a few important characters, and from their first appearances, you can already get a really good feel for their characters. Kaito’s first meeting with Lucia emphasizes both his cocky and confident aura and also his softer side as he pulls out the box with Lucia’s pearl. From the first appearance of Hanon, one can already see that she’s a really energetic and carefree yet emotional girl. And of course, we can’t forget baddie #1, Izuuru =D

If there’s something that’s really cheesy about MMPPP besides walking penguins and dancing mermaids, it’s the fact that the weather changes are really cheap and sudden…

but that’s okay, because we’re at the part of the episode that’s my favourite… transformation and song! And for that, I’m going to pimp out the TCG set that I made of Lucia’s underwater transformation from my former TCG Lovely Tempest ;D

Now, the first song sequences at the beginning of Pitch (season 1) were nowhere as flashy as those used in PURE (season 2) - a screenshot from one of the PURE episodes is shown as a comparison - but the music is still kickass. Lucia’s voice is still really raw and untamed, so it sounds pretty sucky as a solo here, but thankfully it improves a LOT. The song itself is Legend of Mermaid, which remains one of my favourites to this very day.

Well, that’s pretty much a wrap for episode 1. Most of the other episodes with the exception of the finals ones are kind of in the same vein. Typical day in Lucia’s world, baddies show up to screw it up and steal the mermaids’ pearls, Lucia and gang sing their awesome songs, win the battle, and rescue everyone. Sounds very MotD-ish, but the keystone episodes (such as 13) in addition to some really cliffhanger appearances towards the ends of the episodes, are the ones that really help drive the series forward. For example, in episode 1, it’s revealed in the last 30 seconds that Hanon is also a mermaid princess. Each episode often includes some small hint or clue as to what’s to come, and that’s what keeps us watching~

Perhaps in the future I’ll talk about MMPPP’s music (which I can pretty much swear I am the biggest fan of, thank you very much - no one else has quite the complete collection like I do). Speaking of which, I still need to reupload all the complete MMPPP discography..

Oh, yes. And did I mention the awesomeness that is the Black Beauty Sisters? ;)

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 5:34 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.