UFO Baby

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UFO Baby
Screenshot of the UFO Baby anime series
Screenshot of the UFO Baby anime series
だぁ！だぁ！だぁ！
(Dā! Dā! Dā!)
Genre Romantic comedy
Manga
Author Mika Kawamura
Publisher Flag of Japan Kodansha
Demographic Shōjo
Serialized in Flag of Japan Nakayoshi
Original run February 1998 – March 2002
Volumes 9
TV anime
Director Hiroaki Sakurai
Studio J.C.Staff
Network Flag of Japan NHK-BS2, Animax
Original run 28 March 2000 – 26 February 2002
Episodes 78
Game: Dā! Dā! Dā! Totsuzen ★Card de Battle de Uranai De!?
Developer Video System
Genre Card battle
Platform Game Boy Color
Released December 8, 2000

UFO Baby (だぁ！だぁ！だぁ! Dā! Dā! Dā!?) is a manga created by Mika Kawamura, serialized between February 1998 and March 2002 in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine[1], which was later adapted into a 78-episode anime TV series, animated by J.C.Staff and produced by NHK, premiering between March 2000 and February 2002 on NHK's BS2 broadcast satellite network.[2] The original manga series was serialized between February 1998 and March 2002 in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine. It spanned a total of 9 tankōbon volumes. The anime concluded before the manga did, resulting in two separate endings for each one. After the manga was over, there was a sequel called Shin Daa! Daa! Daa! fousing on Miyu and Kanata's daughter Miu.

Contents

[edit] Story

Miyu Kōzuki is an 8th-grade student whose parents leave for the United States to work for NASA and arrange for her to stay with their long-time family friend, Hōsho Saiyonji, a monk who lives at an old shrine atop a hill. However, the monk himself leaves soon after for India on a year-long voyage, leaving Miyu in having to stay together in the same house with his son, Kanata. Suddenly, the landing of a UFO which transports an alien baby, Ruu, along with his cat-like babysitter pet, Wannyā arrive after they were separated from their own planet, Otto, due to falling into an interplanetary worm hole, a time warp which can transport objects across several regions, planets and timeplanes. They cannot return to their home planet due to it being too difficult to reach, and Wannyā therefore requests Kanata and Miyu that they allow them to stay in their house. They agree. Miyu and Kanata learn from Wannyā that people from Planet Otto look identical to human beings, and that he himself can transform into human beings, animals and objects. Miyu and Kanata feel a very deep love for Baby Ruu, who also cares for them deeply and likens them to his parents due to their similar looks, and often go to great lengths to help and protect him and Wannyā and as the story progresses, the group are often involved in comedic and funny situations but grow to greatly love each other. The story ends with a rescue team from outer space coming to Earth and returning Ruu and Wannyā to Otto safely and Miyu going to a boarding school alone.

[edit] Characters

Miyu Kōzuki (光月 未夢 Kōzuki Miyu)?, (Seiyū - Kaori Nazuka)
The main female protagonist in the story, Miyu is a blonde and good-natured girl, whose parents leave for the United States to work for NASA at the beginning of the series, arranging for her to stay with their long-time family friend, Hosho Saionji, a monk who lives at an old shrine on a hill but the monk leaves soon after for India for a year, leaving Miyu in having to stay in the same house with his son, Kanata. Initially disliking the idea of living in the same house with a boy, Miyu often fought with Kanata at the beginning of the series, but finds out from her mother that she was friends with him when they were both toddlers, and starts to like him more and more and develop feeling for Kanata as the story progresses. She feels a deep affection for Ruu, who likens her to his mother due to their similar looks. She also had feelings for Mizuki Yamamura, Mikan's younger brother. At the end of the story, she goes to a boarding school all by herself.
Kanata Saionji (西遠寺 彷徨 Saionji Kanata)?, (Seiyū - Yuko Sanpei)
  • Birthday: December 25th
  • Blood Type: AB
The main male protagonist in the story, Kanata is amongst the most popular boys in his school, especially the girls, due to his good looks. Shortly after Miyu arrives at his home, Kanata's father declares that he wishes to leave on a year long trip to India for enlightenment, thus binding him and Miyu to living together in the same house. Miyu starts attending Kanata's school and they have difficulty keeping their secret about living together. He finds out from Miyu's mother that they were both childhood friends and starts to like her more and more and also starts to develop feeling for Miyu as the story progresses (but still teases her to mask it). His mother, a good friend of Miyu's mother, died while he was young. Kanata's favorite food is pumpkin, and likes all its variants, from squash to the chips varieties. Ruu also calls Kanata "papa" because he looks very similar to Ruu's real father. When Miyu goes to boarding school in the finalé, he is separated from her but reunites with and marries her years later. Afterwards, they have a daughter, Miu.
Ruu (ルゥ Rū)?, (Seiyū - Mika Kanai)
Ruu[3][4] is an alien baby from the Planet Otto, who can levitate and perform telekinesis on objects, and who develops a deep love for Miyu and Kanata, likening them to his parents and often assisting and helping them. He uses his abilities at very inappropriate times causing Miyu and Kanata great trouble. Although he is still only a baby, he can understand everyone perfectly. In order to keep the others from knowing the truth about Ruu's identity, he is referred to as Miyu's little brother although Ruu will deny that and insist on calling Miyu "mama". So he believes Miyu and Kanata are his real parents but does not learn the truth until the end of the series.
Wannyā (ワンニャー Wannyā)?, (Seiyū - Chiemi Chiba)
Wannyā, also known as Baumiao (which is a play on "Bowmeow"), is a cat-like alien babysitter pet from Planet Otto who is entrusted to take care of Ruu and can transform into all sorts of human beings, often a blond-haired man who was once the subject of Mikan's affection, and all forms of animals and objects. He develops a passionate liking for mitarashi dango and often writes about the events of the progressing day in his computerized nanny diary. Wannyā often does all the cooking and cleaning in the house.
Christine Hanakomachi (花小町 クリスティーヌ Hanakomachi Kurisutīnu)?, (Seiyū - Haruna Ikezawa)
Often nicknamed just Chris, Christine is Miyu and Kanata's pink-haired, half-French (via her mother) and insanely wealthy classmate. She is so deeply infatuated with Kanata and becomies extremely jealous whenever she sees him with Miyu. She often expresses her rage by demonstrating her superhuman strength by picking up large objects, such as trees and desks, to throw in the process. The moment she snaps out of one of her "episodes", she will apologize sweetly and fix whatever items she has damaged in her rampage, with tools kept in hammerspace (i.e. construction equipment). Her incredible jealousy is usually meant to be comical, but is sometimes used in serious situations. Chris appears completely oblivious to her supernatural powers but she appears to be timid and friendly. Coming from a very, very rich family, among her possessions are a winter lodge and a snowy mountain. Christine's parents are not seen in the anime; instead, her companion is a butler named Shikada ("Mr. Deerfield" in the English translation) who is dressed up as a deer. He has been doing this for Chris since her childhood in order to make her happy, due to her deep love for deers. Her favorite pastimes include skiing and horse riding.
Momoka Hanakomachi (花小町 ももか Hanakomachi Momoka)?, (Seiyū - Chinami Nishimura)
Christine's 3-year-old cousin. Momoka often drives along in her tiny toy tricycle and befriends Ruu, declaring that he is her boyfriend and that they are in a close relationship. Momoka has an odd grudge against Miyu, often calling her Madam or obā-chan, a title used for an elderly woman, which in result infuriates Miyu all the time.
Aya Konishi (小西 綾 Konishi Aya)?, (Seiyū - Atsuko Enomoto)
Aya is Miyu and Kanata's classmate who is a very good friend of Miyu and often goes shopping with her and Nanami. She likes school plays, which she often directs. Much to Miyu and Kanata's displeasure, some of Aya's plays or projects are extremely similar to their current life, and that is much worse when Aya develops an interest to Ruu and often features him in the plays. Aya, on occasion, has been known to start speaking French whenever she is excited.
Nanami Tenchi (天地 ななみ Tenchi Nanami)?, (Seiyū - Asako Shirakura)
Nanami is Miyu and Kanata's classmate, who is a very good friend of Miyu and often goes shopping with her and Aya. Nanami is usually very playful and energetic but can sometimes be easily tired after a hard task. She also has a huge appetite.
Santa Kurosu (黒須 三太 Kurosu Santa)?, (Seiyū - Hikari Tokida)
Santa is Kanata's best friend, who often comes up with strange ideas. He has a deep love and appreciation for old records. Miyu once thought that Santa had fallen in love with a girl, but later finds out that it was instead the girl's camera he had fallen in love with. He has a penpal, whom he develops a liking to and vice versa. Unfortunately, she left for Germany, but not before the two meet each other in person before her departure. His name is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of "Santa Claus", though this has no direct relation to his character and may be named after the capital of New Mexico, Santa Fe.
Mikan Yamamura (山村 みかん Yamamura Mikan)?, (Seiyū - Mika Kanai)
A budding mangaka (manga artist), Mikan often has a tangerine on her head(same goes for the rest of her relatives, even her pet Scottish fold cat) and is a very good friend of Kanata and Miyu, both of whom she often helps out and who have also helped her once with her manga. She has a handsome young brother, Mizuki Yamamura, who was the inspiration of one of the characters in her manga, and often helps her out. Mikan is often panicking because of her deadline and often comes to Kanata's house for consolation, having a few close calls to finding out Miyu and Kanata's secret. Mizuki pointed out that Mikan never gave up on her dream on becoming a manga artist, despite her father's wishes on her becoming a baker. So far, Mikan has shown to be a quite popular with her career. Although Mikan looks plain, stressed, even comical most of the time, she is actually very good-looking when with makeup or when she's relaxed. Her name is a play on that of the manga's author, Mika Kawamura. Interestingly, Mikan means " Tangerine" and Yama means "mountain" although the word Yamabuki means " orange-yellow".
Miki Kōzuki (光月 未来 Kōzuki Miki)?, (Seiyū - Yuko Minaguchi)
Miki is Miyu's astronaut mother who is obsessed with anything connected to outer space and is hired by NASA, along with her husband, Yu, at the beginning of the story, thus having to leave for the United States, arranging her daughter, Miyu, to live with the Saionjis. Her two childhood dreams were to have a beautiful daughter and to become an astronaut, both of which came true. She was friends with Kanata's mom ever since she was a teenager.
Yū Kōzuki (光月 優 Kōzuki Yū)?, (Seiyū - Takuma Suzuki)
Yū is Miyu's astrophysicist father who is helping his wife with her work, and is hired by NASA, along with his wife, Miki, thus having to leave for the United States, arranging his daughter, Miyu, to live with the Saionjis. He became interested in astrophysics in order to further his wife's dream in becoming an astronaut and traveling in space.
Hōshō Saionji (西遠寺 宝晶 Saionji Hōshō)?, (Seiyū - Kenichi Ogata)
Kanata's father, who is a monk and the patron of the Saionji household. He goes on a pilgrimage to India soon after Miyu arrives at the Saionji household.
Hitomi Saionji (西遠寺 瞳 Saionji Hitomi)?, (Seiyū - Sakiko Tamagawa)
Kanata's late mother, who was a very good friend of Miyu's mother, Miki, and passed away when Kanata was still a child. Her remains are buried on the Saionji Temple grounds.
Miss Mizuno (水野先生 Mizuno-sensei)?, (Seiyū - Katsuya Endō)
Miyu and Kanata's teacher, who is talented in numerous skills, ranging from cooking to ninja training.
Seiya Yaboshi (夜星星矢 Yaboshi Seiya)?, (Seiyū - Asami Sanada)
Seiya is a blonde-haired alien who visits Earth and takes a liking to Miyu, often disguising as Kanata to get close to her. He has a sister, Rui, who saved him once from being sucked into a worm hole, and has had a sheltered childhood.
Rui Yaboshi (夜星流 Yaboshi Rui)?, (Seiyū - Junko Noda)
Rui is Seiya's older sister, who greatly cares for Seiya, saving him once from being sucked into a worm hole.
The Principal (校長 Kōchō)?, (Seiyū - Naoki Bandō)
The eccentric principal of Miyu and Kanata's school, who is extremely fond of monkeys, bananas and video games, especially monkey-based ones, his fascination with the creatures stemming from his deep friendship with his monkey, Monkichi (モン吉? seiyū: Orine Fukushima), from whom he was disunited with in his childhood due to the monkey having been sucked into a worm hole, but with whom he is later reunited, thanks to the help of Miyu, Kanata, Ruu and Wannya. All forms of monkey dolls and replicas adorn his office, where he is often found playing video games, and has sometimes even set the themes of school meets to monkey-based ones.
Pepo (ペポ Pepo?)
A alien rabbit that becomes Ruu's pet after an accident falling from a truck from Outer Space later in the series. In the manga, he is all white and debuts late in volume 7.

[edit] Anime

The TV anime series originally aired between 28 March 2000 and 26 February 2002 on the NHK-BS2 satellite TV network. It spanned a total of 78 episodes, and was directed by Hiroaki Sakurai. It was also later aired by Animax, who translated and dubbed the series into English and numerous other languages for broadcast across its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Asia.

[edit] Staff

  • Director: Hiroaki Sakurai
  • Series Composition: Tomoko Konparu
  • Script: Tomoko Konparu, Mamiko Ikeda, Miharu Hirami, Miho Maruo, Naruhisa Arakawa, Ryōta Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Sakurai, Tsutomu Kaneko
  • Episode Direction: Kenichi Kasai, Kiyotaka Itani, Kunitoshi Okajima, Wataru Takahashi, Hiroshi Nishikori, and others.
  • Character Design: Masayuki Onchi
  • Animation Directors: Masayuki Onchi, Takashi Wada, Takaaki Wada, Isao Sugimoto, Hiroko Oguri, Masumi Morishita, and others.
  • Art Director: Shichirō Kobayashi
  • Music: Toshio Masuda
  • Sound Director: Tōru Nakano
  • Sound Effects: Hiroki Nozaki
  • Sound Production: HALF H･P STUDIO
  • Production Planning: Kīchirō Okamoto→Toshio Watanabe, Isao Yoshikuni
  • Producer: Eiza Kondō
  • Animation Producers: Yūji Matsukara, Takashi Satō
  • Animation Production: J.C.Staff
  • Production Cooperation: NHK Enterprises 21, Sogo Vision
  • Production: NHK

[edit] List of episodes

Main article: List of UFO Baby episodes

[edit] Theme music

  • Heart no Tsubasa (ハートのつばさ Hāto no Tsubasa?, first opening theme)
Performed by Reika Nakajima, lyrics: Yūko Matsuzaki, composition and arrangement: Toshio Masuda
  • BOY MEETS GIRL (first ending theme)
Performed by TRF, lyrics and composition: Tetsuya Komuro, arrangement: M.I.D.
  • HAPPY FLOWER (second opening theme)
Performed by Saori Nara, lyrics: Yūko Matsuzaki, composition and arrangement: Toshio Masuda
  • Yukkuri (ゆっくり second ending theme?)
Performed by Hitomi Mieno, lyrics: Hitomi Mieno, composition and arrangement: Toshio Masuda

[edit] Game

The series was adapted into a card battle video game for the Game Boy Color, Dā! Dā! Dā! Totsuzen ★Card de Battle de Uranai De!? (だぁ!だぁ!だぁ! とつぜん★カードでバトルで占いで!??), developed by Video System, which was released exclusively in Japan on December 8, 2000.

[edit] References

  1. ^ なかよし［WEB漫画/コミック/CG・イラスト/小説の検索］. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
  2. ^ だぁ！だぁ！だぁ！. J.C.Staff. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
  3. ^ UFO BABY - Da! Da! Da!. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
  4. ^ Absolute Anime • UFO Baby. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.

[edit] External links