| Lalabel, The Magical Girl | |
Cover of the 1st DVD box |
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| 魔法少女ララベル (Mahō Shōjo Raraberu) |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Magical girl |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Masahiro Sasaki |
| Studio | Toei Animation |
| Network | TV Asahi |
| Original run | 15 February 1980 – 27 February 1981 |
| Episodes | 49 |
| TV film anime | |
| Magical Girl Lalabel: the Sea Calls for a Summer Vacation | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Shidara |
| Studio | Toei Animation |
| Released | 12 July 1980 |
| Runtime | 15 minutes |
Lalabel, The Magical Girl (魔法少女ララベル Mahō Shōjo Raraberu), also known as Magical Girl Lalabel, is a magical girl anime by Toei Animation.
A 15 minutes long "movie" special called Magical Girl Lalabel: the Sea Calls for a Summer Vacation (魔法少女ララベル 海が呼ぶ夏休み Mahō Shōjo Raraberu: Umi ga Yobu Natsuyatsumi) was also created, it aired in Japan in July 1980.
Contents |
Lalabel is a magical girl who has a magic wand and a magic case full of magic items. She owns a kitten as a pet. She lives happily in the magic world, until the day she sees the thief Biscus stealing all the magic tools. Startled by her sudden appearance, Biscus swings his magic wand around with dismay. They fall into the human world under the influence of the wand's magic power.
While unconscious, Lalabel is found by an elderly couple, the Tachibanas. They take her home, and upon finding out that she is an orphan, decide to let her stay with them. Lalabel decides to stay until she can capture Biscus. She attends school with Teko, the granddaughter of the Tachibanas, and Toko. She slowly develops a sense of humour and pathos, and finds herself falling in love. Whenever she sees Biscus performing his bad deeds, she has to stop him. Finally Lalabel writes proverbs related to the events of the day in her diary.
Living in the human world, Lalabel discovers fascinating aspects of human beings and finds herself happy there. In the last episode, after the last battle between Lalabel and Biscus, both magic cases get empty of magic items and vanish in the air, now both of them are completely human, the villains become good ones and promise not to storm Lalabel or any of her friends anymore. Lalabel, Teko and Toko move on up to play.
The main character. She is a magical girl from the magic world. One night, while she is sleeping, her magical items wake her up, and she sees Biscus stealing 2 magical briefcases. After being pulled to Earth by Biscus, she is adopted by the Tachibanas, and decides to stay until she can capture Biscus and return home. Being from the magical world, she is very naive about Earth customs. Interestingly, her wand was made into a real life toy, the first case of magical girl merchandise.
A very fat thief and the main villain. He stole 2 magical briefcases, but after being surprised by Lalabel, he transports the two of them to Earth, losing one of the briefcases in the process. While on Earth, he shacks up with a noodle stand owner, who is as greedy and nasty as himself. He tries to swindle people with his (stolen) magic powers while trying to steal Lalabel's briefcase. He has a grey cat as nasty and horrid as himself.
The kind old couple who let Lalabel stay with them. Mrs Tachibana is the typical kindly grandmother figure. Mr Tachibana is cynical and does not like magic. After Lalabel saves him from drowning, he starts to warm up to her and her magic. He is the one who comes up with the proverbs Lalabel writes.
Granddaughter to the Tachibanas. She wears glasses.
Friend to Lalabel and Teko. Sometimes she's mistaken as a boy 'cause of her masculine outfits.
Biscus' sidekick.
The opening theme Hello Lalabel and the ending theme Mahou Shōjo Lalabel were sung by Mitsuko Horie.