Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure

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Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure (マーメイドメロディーぴちぴちピッチピュア Māmeido Merodī Pichi Pichi Picchi Pyua?) is the name given to the second season of the anime version of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, which in turn is based from the manga series created by Michiko Yokote (横手美智子), with artwork by Pink Hanamori (花森ぴんく, Hanamori Pinku). The stories in this season correspond to chapters 21 to 30 of the manga. Produced by TV Aichi, it was shown on the TV Tokyo Network from April 03 to December 25, 2004.

This season differed strongly from the first, mainly in the quality of animation, especially in the last few episodes. They also reused stock footage. The secondary trio became a source of comic relief rather than plot complications, and the series' new "twist" was that all the new villains had image songs. Finally, the themes differed in that the series focused more on the trials of losing love, losing heart (literally and figuratively), and good decisions for one person always hurting another. While the first season was loosely based on the first half of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, this season was inspired by the second half, introducing a character named Michal who filled the role of Lucia's rival.

Contents

[edit] Story

Sara had forgiven Tarō Mitsuki for the mistakes he made in the past (her hate for him disappeared and her black hair reverted to its orange color). But since she became such a close friend to Gaito and she wanted to share his fate for everything he has done, she decided to entrust her orange pearl to Lucia and join Gaito in his demise. The Marine World may go back to normal, but it has one less Mermaid Princess.

Enter Seira, the new owner of the orange pearl. But she's not born yet; just a spirit who appears to Lucia in her dreams. In order for Seira to be born, her heart (心, kokoro) must merge with the orange pearl. But even before this happens, her heart is stolen by an angel named Michel. Lucia (together with Hanon and Rina) must retrieve pieces of her heart, even if she will face an almost unbeatable foe.

On the other hand, Kaito and Lucia love each other more, especially that Kaito has finally figured out that she is the mermaid who rescued him seven years before. But they are about to be separated once again when Kaito bounds for Hawaii to continue searching for the truth about his identity. But while in Hawaii, a surfing accident erases all of his memories. He is found and tended by a girl who has feelings for him. Lucia has to cope with this shock and attempt to let him remember at least some of his memories, especially of her.

Along with Lucia's romantic troubles, this season also highlights Hanon and Rina's love stories. Hanon rejects a persistent suitor, but finds newfound love with him after her fixation with her music teacher, Tarō Mitsuki, ends in disappointment. The story also covers Rina's first experience of love...

Many new villains and villainesses appear, including the return of some older characters. This season also features songs for the villains as well as newer ones for the mermaids.

[edit] Characters Introduced in the Second Season

The English version of the manga has just now covered the chapters that are portrayed in Pure. Therefore, these spellings are all official. For information about the main characters and those who appear in the first season, refer to the article about the first season

[edit] Major Supporting Characters

Seira (星羅?)
Voiced by: Eri Kitamura
Seira is the future Mermaid Princess of the Indian Ocean and future keeper of the orange pearl. She appears as a spirit to Lucia, taking the form of a young mermaid. When her time of birth finally came, Michel seized his chance and absorbed Seira into his body, and her birth was therefore delayed until Lucia can retrieve all the pieces of her heart contained in Michel's feathers. Every time Lucia retrieves a piece of her heart from one of Michel's fallen feathers, Seira learns something about an emotion, such as love or friendship. Once born, she is destined to become Orange Pearl Voice.
Michal Amagi (天城みかる Amagi Mikaru?)
Voiced by: Ryoko Shintani
Michal is the girl who finds Kaito after he loses his memories. She falls in love with him to the point that in Lucia's perspective, he has forgotten his mermaid love completely, and is desperate that he return her feelings. Michal also seems to be a sickly girl, collapsing to the floor every time Michel appears somewhere else.
Rihito Amagi (天城リヒト Amagi Rihito?)
Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima
Rihito is an orchestra conductor and Michal's older brother. After initially seeing Kaito and Lucia at the airport, he becomes a "bridge" for the two. He observes Kaito's progress in regaining his memories (despite his sister being around) while he checks on Lucia and comforts her as she copes with the loss of her emotional bond.
Masahiro Hamasaki (浜崎雅弘 Hamasaki Masahiro?)
Voiced by: Kiyotaka Furushima
Masahiro is a flirtatious boy who has a crush on Rina. He wears glasses, rides a motorcycle and does some amateur boxing. It is later revealed that he comes from a family running a boxing gym.
  • In the manga, he is introduced earlier (before Gaito/Gackto is even defeated) and is so mysterious that he is only known by his surname. The name "Masahiro" was not created by the animation team, but by Pink Hanamori's staff, as revealed in the fifth volume of the manga.
Nagisa Shirai (白井 渚 Shirai Nagisa?)
Voiced by: Chihiro Kusaka
Nagisa is a young boy who has a crush on Hanon. After retrieving some sheet music for Hanon, he has been wooing her ever since. Unfortunately for him, the sheet music is of the tune Tarō Mitsuki dedicated to Hanon, which only reminds her of her fixation on the much more refined and older man. Still, his resilience is to be admired, and she eventually treats him better. In the manga, he says that he is two years younger than Hanon.

[edit] Antagonists

Michel (ミケル Mikeru?)
Voiced by: Junko Minagawa
Michel is the angel who launched a personal vendetta against the Mermaid Princesses after learning their relations with the human world. Although he is strong enough to resist any song the Mermaid Princesses would dish out against him until the finale, he is cursed with a weak body. He steals both Kaito's memories and Seira's heart in order to keep himself alive.
Fuku (フクちゃん Fuku-chan?) - a super deformed
Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi
Fuku is an angel with the head of a boy and the body of a bird. He's Michel's "right hand man," as well as his messenger to his servants, but at times orders around even Michel. He turns out to have a larger role later in the story.
The Great One (あの方 Ano kata?, him/that gentleman)
Voiced by: Hajime Iijima
A spirit in the form of a flame atop of Michel's castle, he guards it for him. At one point, Fuku-chan claims that his words are Michel's words, and Michel's are That One's words, and That One's are God's words. He has a higher authority than Michel and has a strange relationship with Fuku-chan, where it is unclear who is in charge. During the final battle, it is revealed that he is, like Michel, a pawn...
Lady Bat (レディバット Rēdī-batto?)
Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi
Lady Bat calls himself "The wings of love and pleasure." Michel's vampire-like servant. His song hypnotizes the listeners into his spell so he could "bite" the person while they are asleep. There is certain controversy about his real gender, especially among fans in the West; in the manga, Lady Bat is actually a man wearing women's clothes. He is also strong enough to bring the Idol-formed Princesses back into Mermaid-form.
Lanhua (蘭花 Ranfa?, pronunciation not to be confused with that of Galaxy Angel's Ranpha Franboise)
Voiced by: Megumi Kojima
Lanhua calls herself "The wings of desire and contentment." Michel's butterfly-like servant. She can divide into a dozen smaller versions of herself (which really do not look harmful or dangerous; in fact, very cute) to play a tune that makes the listeners dance until they die. She is called Ranfa and Lang Fa in some merchandise, but the translators for the manga followed the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of her name and called her Lanhua.
Alala (あらら Arara?)
Voiced by: Masayo Kurata
Alala calls herself "The wings of dreams and decadence." Michel's fairy-like servant. She sings two songs in the anime; a peppy song that shoots stars at the Princesses and a sugary sweet song that makes men cheer for her. In the manga, she can make people (or at least a Mermaid Princess) dream about anything she wishes, including nightmares. Her name seems to come from the Spanish words La ala, when switched would be "Ala la", together making Alala. La ala means the wing.

(Michel also resurrected the Black Beauty Sisters and made them his servants. To know more about them, refer to the article about the first season.)

[edit] Episode List

See: List of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch episodes

[edit] Songs Used in the Anime (Second season)

For songs used in the first season, especially those used again for this season, refer to the article about the first season

[edit] Opening and Ending Songs

  • "Before the Moment" by Eri Kitamura (Opening Song)
  • "Ai no Ondo °C" by Lucia, Hanon, and Rina (Asumi Nakata, Hitomi Terakado, and Mayumi Asano) (Ending Song)
    Translation: The Temperature of Love°C

[edit] Mermaid Songs

They were either used as song used in battle or as image songs or both.

  • "Mother Symphony" by Lucia (Asumi Nakata)
  • "Mizuiro no Senritsu" by Hanon (Hitomi Terakado)
    Translation: Aquamarine Melody
  • "Piece of Love" by Rina (Mayumi Asano)
  • "Nanatsu no Umi no Monogatari ~Pearls of Mermaid~" by Lucia, Hanon, and Rina (Asumi Nakata, Hitomi Terakado, and Mayumi Asano)
    Translation: The Story of the Seven Seas ~Pearls of Mermaid~
  • "Beautiful Wish" by Seira (Eri Kitamura)
  • "Kibou no Kaneoto ~Love goes on~" by Lucia, Hanon, and Rina (Asumi Nakata, Hitomi Terakado, and Mayumi Asano)
    Translation: The Sound of Hope ~Love goes on~
  • "Birth Of Love" by Seira (Eri Kitamura)

Also songs from the first season are used (i.e. Legend of Mermaid, KODOU ~Perfect Harmony~, etc.).

[edit] Other Songs

  • "Yami no Baroque" by the Black Beauty Sisters (Miki Tsuchiya and Noriko Shitaya)
    Translation: Baroque of Darkness (In this sense, "Darkness" refers to "evil", or "contaminated", not "lack of light")
  • "Ankoku no Tsubasa" by Lady Bat (Sanae Kobayashi)
    Translation: Wings of Darkness
  • "Hana to Chou no Serenade" by Lanhua (Megumi Kojima)
    Translation: Serenade of the Flowers and Butterflies
  • "Tsubasa wo Daite" by Michel (Junko Minagawa)
    Translation: Embraced in Wings
  • "Star Mero Mero Heart" by Alala (Masayo Kurata)
    MeroMero refers to an onomatopoeic sound that represents the feeling of being drunk.
  • "Oh Yeah! Alala" by Alala (Masayo Kurata)
  • "Ashita ga Mienakute" by Michal (Ryoko Shintani)
    Translation: Unable to See Tomorrow

[edit] Changes from the Manga

  • Like the first season, the anime was made more child-friendly than the manga on which it is based. Provocative scenes between Lucia and Kaito were changed or cut, as was Michal's final act of desperation to keep Kaito from returning to Lucia; in the manga, she begins to undress in front of him with tears in her eyes, but in the anime, she only begins to dance around with him trying to convince herself that everything is perfect. Either way, Kaito walks out the door and returns to Lucia.
  • Along this vein, the story was made less violent, especially regarding the gory death of a few major villains, who were now simply turned into light and absorbed.
  • In the anime, Kaito regains his memories far later than he does in the manga.
  • The anime has many filler episodes.
  • The role of the secondary trio (Caren, Noel and Coco) is changed to that of comic relief. They become far less serious and detached, and just want to have fun in the human world. The silent Caren and sweet Coco especially become more flirty and carefree, a stark contrast to their manga and first season personalities.
  • Hamasaki is given a first name and is introduced in this season rather than the previous one.
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