Hikari no Densetsu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hikari no Densetsu
光の伝説 (Legend of Light)
Genre	Sports (Gymnastics), Shōjo, Romance, music
Manga
Authored by	Izumi Aso
Publisher	Shueisha Edizioni Star Comics
Serialized in	Margaret
Original run	1986 – 1988
No. of volumes	16 (8 when reissued in Japan)
TV anime
Directed by	Tomomi Mochizuki
Studio	Tatsunoko Productions
Network	TV Asahi Déclic-Images RTL 2 Italia 1 Telecinco
Original run	3 May 1986 – 20 September 1986
No. of episodes	19

Hikari no Densetsu (Japanese: 光の伝説) is an anime and manga series by Izumi Aso about a girl named Hikari Kamijou who dreams of becoming a national rhythmic gymnastics champion. The series title translates into English as "Legend of Light" (the female lead's name, Hikari, means "light" in Japanese). The anime, produced by Tatsunoko, was not successful in Japan and was taken off the air sooner than expected (hence the count of only 19 episodes, as opposed to 26 episodes as had been planned), but it was a huge hit in European countries such as France (Cynthia ou le rythme de la vie), Germany (Die Kleinen Superstars), and Italy (Hilary); the series was also dubbed into Spanish and shown in Spain, and Latin America, titled Piruetas. The anime series was never released in the United States, likely due to the perceived lack of interest of the subject matter; in fact, even in Japan, it is one of the few sports anime to have dealt with rhythmic gymnastics.

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 The end in the manga version 2 Main Characters 3 Japanese Voice Actors 4 Episode list 5 Alternate Names of the series 6 Trivia 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

The story is about Hikari Uenaga, a fifteen year old high school girl who develops a passion for the sport of rhythmic gymnastics ever since she saw her idol perform and won a contest of rhythmic gymnastics at a young age. When she meets her idol, she proposes to train Hikari in Bulgaria when she is professional rhythmic gymnast. Hikari accepts and quickly began to train in the sport. Many years later, Hikari is training really hard to become the best rhythmic gymnast in her school. She and soon becomes a member of her school's rhythmic gymnastics team.

At first Hikari does not seem to be very good, but this soon changes when Hikari meets Takaaki Ooishi, a schoolmate who helps her in improving her abilities as a rhythmic gymnast. Ooishi is the most popular guy in school and the best gymnast of the entire school body. And with the help and support of Takaaki Ooishi, Hikari's true talents of rhythmic gymnastics come to light in one of the local tournaments between high schools. This new signs of talent that Uenaga shows on this tournament quickly put her on the map of popularity along with the best rhythmic gymnast of her school, Hazuki Shiina in the national level of competition.

Hikari begins to admire and respects Ooishi for his help and soon develops a feelings for Ooishi. During this time she has also become friends with Hazuki. A healthy rivalry develops between the two and soon they begin to admire their strengths that each other has. And while Hazuki represents the tranquility, elegance, grace, and sobriety of the sport, Hikari is the explosiveness of colorful, fresh, and energetic part of the sport. As Hikari begins to form a friendship with Shiina she begins to wish she could have Shiina's flexibility, aesthetics, and gracefulness of Hazuki. And Hazuki begins to wish she could have the potents, power, and colorfulness of Hikari.

Though Hikari doesn't show her strength in her performances, she has a natural sense of knowledge and observation when it comes to gymnastics and is able to learn the techniques better than Hazuki and with time is able to surpass her. However, there is something that Hikari needs to work on: she needs to add more grace and elegance to her performances. She is able to achieve this with the help of Mao Natsukawa.

Natsukawa is a childhood friend of Uenaga who is the lead singer of a Rock band called Mr. D. Mao, like Hikari, has dreams of his own. He dreams of becoming a rock'n'roll idol all over the world. Meanwhile he is working on his dreams, he helps Hikari achieve her dream by creating the music that Hikari uses in her performances. Together they form a very impressive duo that is able to receive the respect of the music and gymnast judges, and the admiration of the viewers who watch them perform. And while he constantly teases Hikari, he is always there for her when she needs him.

Over the years, Mao has come to love Hikari very deeply although he has a hard time expressing his feelings for her. When there is tension between them, it can be seen in the way Hikari performs, but when they are united and on good terms they are invincible. Even though they have a close relationship, Hikari is in love with Oosihi, and this cause hard times in Hikari and Mao's friendship. He knows of her feelings for him, but remains by her side no matter what.

This love triangle soon becomes a love square when Hikari discovers that Hazuki has also feelings for Takaaki Ooishi. Now they are not only friends, but rivals of the sport and love as well. Hikari does not know how Ooishi feels about her, and she is always a bit nervous when he is around. She feels that, because she has yet to be the best rhythmic gymnast, Ooishi might fall for Shiina because of her gymnastic skills and talent. Hikari begins to perfect her skills she soon begins to compete at the national and international level, where she meets new rivals.

This where the manga and the anime series differ. In the TV series, Hikari wins Ooishi's heart and we are shown a little flash forward: Hikari is a Olympic champion, Ooishi is recovering from a lesion but with Olympic expectations, Mao is working on his career and Hazuki has retired and is working with children.

[edit] The end in the manga version

The manga story, however, follows a very different path. The rivalry between Hikari and Hazuki comes to an end when Hikari wins a national competition, giving her the opportunity to compete at the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics. This means that Hikari has finally matured as an athlete and that she has finally become a better gymnast than Hazuki. Hikari has finally surpassed Hazuki in terms of ability as a rhythmic gymnast, but their rivalry for Ooishi's affection is still going strong, specially when it is revealed that Ooshi has been developing feelings for both of them for some time. This is were the story of "Hikari no Densetsu --In Seoul" begins. Hikari, Mao, Hazuki, Ooishi and rest of the athletes competing in the 1988 Summer Olympics travel to Seoul. There Hikari finds out that Ooishi and Hazuki are in love and that they are set to be married.

This information brings a lot of emotional turmoil for Hikari even more when she goes to Mao Natsukawa for support and he turns her back on her, tired of always coming to sloppy seconds to Ooishi. Natsukawa is frustrated with her, since Hikari is always focusing herself on Ooishi even though she always new deep inside that Ooishi (while he was developing feelings for her at first) he always though of her as a friend or a little sister.

When Mao leaves Hikari, she begins to see how important part he is to her and how much she misses him, and realizes that she has feelings for him too. And while he is not there to watch her compete, Hikari is determined to prove to Natsukawa that he is a very important part of her life and her success, and that he is more important to her than any gymnastic competion. And together Hikari and Mao will show the world that their new found love for each other is what makes them true champions.

[edit] Main Characters

Hikari Uenaga

AKA: Hilary Kamiji (Italian dub, manga version), Cynthia Duval (French Dub, Manga version), Valentina (Spanish Dub), Mita (German Dub, manga version).

The main character of the anime and manga series. Hikari is a young energetic girl who dreams of been a great gymnast like her idol, Maria Lenova, ever since she saw her compete at a young age. She lives together with her parents and her older sister in Tokyo and she is in her first year of high school. At first her skills as gymnast do not come close to tournament material but with the help of Ooishi and Mao she is able to bring to light her true talents. And with the help and support of some friends she is able to improve her technique and become the best gymnast she can be.Through a series of life expericences and as she works hard to develop her skills she begins to realize that in life there are more important things in life than winning an Olympic medal.

Takaaki Oiishi

AKA: Willy Corbier (Italian Dub, and manga), Willie Corbier (French Dub, Manga version), Mario (Spanish Dub), Takaaki Ohishi (German Dub, manga version).

Takaaki Oiishi is one of the main male characters of the manga and anime series. He is the best male gymnast of the school and is the most popular guy in his whole school. He is very supportive of Hikari and along with Mao he helps her improve her gymnastic skills in order for her to become the best gymnast she can be. During both the anime and manga series he begins a similar journey to Hikari in the sense that he also dreams of winning the Olympics and while working on doing so he develops feelings for Hikari and Shiina, but does not know which one to choose. He also begins friendship and a rivalry between him and Mao for Hikari's attention.

Hazuki Shiina

AKA: Debbie Shina (Italian Dub, and manga), Débora Steller (French Dub, Manga version), Lilliana (Spanish Dub), Hatsuki Shiina (German Dub, manga version).

Hazuki is the main rival of Hikari in the manga and anime series. She is the best gymnast in her school were she, Hikari, Ooishi, and Mao go to and is seen as the person with the most amount of potential for the 1988 Seoul Olympics in Korea. Through the series she becomes good friends with Hikari, but as Hikari begins to improve her skills as a Gymnast, Hazuki begins to fear Hikari's abilities and during this time a healthy rivalry between the two is formed. Hazuki has always been confident about her abilities thanks to the complements she gets at school from her teachers and classmates. She like Hikari also develops feelings for Ooishi and becomes a rival for Hikari for his attention. In the anime it is seen as Hikari won Oosihi's heart, but the story was not completed in the anime. In the manga the rivalry between two for Ooishi's attentions continues even stronger. Near the end of the manga series it is also shown that she remains strong and travels to Korea to support Hikari while she competes.

Mao Natsukawa

AKA: Federico (Italian Dub, and manga), Frédéric (French Dub, Manga version), Coque (Spanish Dub), Doi (German Dub, manga version).

Hikari's childhood friend best friend and the leader of a band called Mr. D. Very little is known of him, in the anime and manga series his family is never shown and the only things that are seen clearly is that: he is an old childhood friend of Hikari, that he goes to the same school as she, Ooishi, and Shiina, and that he is the lead singer of Mr. D. In the series his is like the rest of the main characters: he has dreams to become a Rock'n'Roll superstar, he supports Hikari in her dream and his emotional feelings are linked to the emotional feelings of Hikari, Ooishi, and Shiina. He is always there for her, helping her by supplying his music to her performance while he works to get a record deal in the music industry. One side note: Mao appeared first in the anime and them in the manga, and while in the anime it seems that Ooishi has won Hikari's affection, the rivalry in the manga series between Mao and Ooishi still continues.

[edit] Japanese Voice Actors

• Hikari Uenaga - Tsukasa Ito
• Yoshiaki Ooishi - Nobuo Tobita
• Bazuki Shiina - Michie Tomizawa
• Miyako Kamijou - Hiromi Tsuru

[edit] Episode list

Main article: List of Legend of Light episodes

[edit] Alternate Names of the series

• Cynthia ou le Rythme de la Vie (French)
• Die Kleinen Superstars (German)
• Hilary (Italian)
• Piruetas (Spanish)
• Legend of Light (English)
• Legend of Hilary (English)
• Tale of Hikari (English)
• La Legenda de Hilary (Spanish)

[edit] Trivia

• Mao Natsukawa, the musical partner of Hikari appeared on anime first, and then on manga.
• The series was taken off the air before the end of its projected 26-episode run.
• Despite the fact that the series was not successful in Japan, it became a huge hit in European countries (especially in France, Germany, and Italy where the series has been recently released on DVD and the manga series has been reissued).
• Hikari's age and name changes in the different versions of the anime: In the Italian version her name is Hilary and she is fourteen. In the German version her name is Mita and she is thirdteen. In the French version her name she is Cynthia and she is fifthteen. In the Spanish version her name is Valentina and she is twelve.
• In Italy an animanga version based on the TV series was made in the 80s, but the images and dialogue were poor. However it was appreciated by the fans of the series.
• In eighth volume of the manga series the author makes a parody of popular 80s singer Cyndi Lauper by drawing Hikari with the same hairstyle, skirt, and posture that the singer had on the She's So Unusual album cover.
• The anime series was aired during the Seoul Olympics.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) Hatena Diary
• (Italian) Hilary page at Only Shojo Note: Hilary is the Italian title.
• (Italian)Fan site
• (English)Extra information
• (Italian)Shoujo Love
• (French)Extra Information
• (English)Legend of Light Stats
• (English)Fan Sub TV Network Information
• (French)Series Information
• translated version
• (Polish)Hikari no densetsu Information
• (Spanish)Anime: Hikari No Densetsu
• (Spanish)Telecinco possibility
• (German)pictures and review of the series
• (French)List of episodes
• (French)Entry song
• (French)Information and Review
• (French)Overall Series Information
• (French)Cynthia ou le rythme de la vie Resume
• (German)Overall Information from multiple Websites
• (English)Manga from Japan