Mahōjin Guru Guru

Magical Circle Guru Guru
魔法陣グルグル (Mahōjin Guru Guru)
Genre	Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Manga
Written by	Hiroyuki Etō
Published by	Enix
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Gangan
Original run	1992 – 2003
Volumes	16
Anime
Directed by	Atsushi Takada Hiroshi Kawashima Hiroshi Satô Jiro Fujimoto Shinichi Watanabe Susumu Ishizaki
Studio	Nippon Animation
Released	13 October 1994 – 14 September 1995
Anime film
Directed by	Nobuaki Nakanishi
Released	20 April 1996
Runtime	30 minutes
Anime television series
Doki Doki Densetsu Mahōjin Guru Guru
Directed by	Jun Takagi
Studio	Nippon Animation
Network	TV Tokyo
Original run	4 April 2000 – 26 December 2000
Episodes	38

Magical Circle Guru Guru (魔法陣グルグル, Mahōjin Guru Guru) is a manga by Hiroyuki Etō, which was serialized in Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 1992 to 2003. It was later adapted into an anime^[1] series on October 13, 1994.

Mahōjin Guru Guru is a light-hearted series aimed at older children; it contains occasional toilet gags and some innuendo that might startle western parents. It also is a parody of early role-playing video games (RPGs), particularly turn-based games such as the Dragon Quest games. The narrator speaks in place of the dialog in such games, and this is one of the comedy elements of the show. Often role-playing videogame-style information boxes are displayed on screen with accompanying narration in the traditional RPG style. The overall goal of the main characters, Nike and Kukuri, is to defeat Giri, the ruler of the darkness. Since the anime is based on an RPG, several side quests need to be completed before they are able to locate him.

Characters

Nike

Voiced by Fujiko Takimoto (first series), Omi Minami (second series)

Nike (pronounced Nee-kay) is the "Hero" of the show. Nike's father Bado had always wished to be a Hero but, due to the lack of any great evil to fight against, he had to give his dream up. Still, he made his son undergo hard training as a child in hopes that one day a great evil would arise and Nike could fight it. Because of this Nike is a competent, although cowardly, fighter; like Kukuri he is initially immature and inexperienced. Nike is from Jimina Mura (which translates to Plain Old Town).

Initially Nike wants to be a Wizard as he finds the thought of casting a fireball "cool", though his parents convince him to choose the Hero. He initially thinks that he is of the Hero class, as do others. It is later revealed that he is a Thief. Despite this he can use all the abilities of the Hero class, including Gallant Pose, which only a Hero can do.

Bado is Nike's father. He received a critical hit in the form of a punch the first time he held the infant Nike. After that he trained Nike to be a Hero. Right before the departs for Kodai castle he offers him his old helmet. The helmet is cracked, but Nike suggests he will wear it by tilting it to the side. Bado kicks Nike into the air and keeps the helmet saying that he looks like a gang leader.

Rena is Nike's mother. She knocks out Nike with a poison dart when he tries to flee. She cooks him a meal that resembles an adventuring map. Nike has to eat things in the proper order, which he does not, and ends up poisoned.

Kukuri

Voiced by Konami Yoshida

Kukuri is a gentle-hearted magic apprentice. She has grown under the care of Jimuna Town's old witch, who received her when she was a baby from a wandering stranger, supposedly the last member of the Migu Migu Tribe. Being the last remaining member of the Migu Migu, Kukuri learns the dark summoning magic only the Migu Migu can use known as Guru Guru; it consists of drawing circles on the ground with a staff. She is eager and shows great affection towards Nike, almost always calling him "Mr. Hero" (Yusha in Japanese). She is extremely lucky or good in several sports and games such as rock-paper-scissors and cricket. She becomes very angry when someone says anything about her appearance: When she was steaming nervously, she got very angry when Nike called her a steamed octopus; she almost killed a monster who called her fat when she was dressed up like a Meke Meke.

Old Witch raised Kukuri. She is called obaba (old hag) and cow by Kukuri. She lied to Kukuri that chocolate is poison to children to keep her from eating hers.

Rivals

Ena is a beautiful Wizard who is in love with Gail. She is dressed like a belly dancer.

Gail is a Fighter that thinks he is a Hero. Despite Gail's level, he loses most battles, even one with Nike the first time they met. Gail and Ena reveal that they usually do not have enough money to buy food as they use it to buy equipment; it is they reason they lose all the time.

Kita Kita Oyaji

Voiced by Kenichi Ogata

Oyaji (real name Udberg Eldol), or "Old Man", used to be the mayor of Kitano, also called North Town. When the town's traditional dance Kita Kita could no longer be performed because no more girls were born, he started dancing it himself. He believes that this was the result of a curse as they had commercialized the dance.

His dance is often regarded as creepy and disgusting by the other characters. He usually follows the duo of Nike and Kukuri around. He wears a hula dress and usually finds some excuse to perform his Kita Kita dance, much to Nike and Kukuri's dismay. Apparently he wants to pass on the Kita Kita dance to the next generation and is looking for trainees. In "Doki Doki Legend" it is learned he developed muscles from all the dancing and is able to defeat monsters in one punch on accident. He has enormous Hit Points (a staggering 1650 in the "Pickle of Happiness") that makes him nearly immortal and capable to sustain extreme levels of abuse (that is inflicted upon him all the time).

Others

Toma joins the party and meets Nike and Kukuri in North village where he pretends to be of the Priest class. In "Doki Doki Legend" he plays a major role in Nike's party as a Magical engineer with the ability to invent magical items. He is shown to be level 12 when Nike and Kukuri were merely 2 and 3 respectively. Toma was interested in Migu.

Migu joins the party and meets Nike and Kukuri in north village where sge pretends to be a martial artist. She tries to use sex appeal against the ratman guard at the dungeon of Mt Saw-edge but the ratman flees as she scares him. She is Zaza's sister.

Zaza joins the party and meets Nike and Kukuri in north village where he pretends to be a wizard. Zaza was interested in Kukuri. He is Migu's brother.

Juju (voiced by Yuri Amano) is a Priestess of the Purato people. In "Doki Doki Legend" she joins Nike's party as a warrior priest. Her magic comes from praying to Purato's god and proves to be a good exorcist. She appears very powerful but at an occasion^[2] seemed somehow impeded in her spellcasting when her combat Altar was broken by Gochinko's sword style and was caught off guard.

Gochinko is a sword trainer and master of so-called 'stupid' or 'queer' swordsmanship. This unique form of sword-fighting, which he teaches in a rundown and small hall specializes in making the enemy laugh to distract his attention. Gochinko places flowers on parts of his body and takes strange stances to make the enemy laugh and thus inflict great damage as he is distracted. He tries to teach Nike swordsmanship and judges that Nike is very bad at it. He is a Purato agent and serves JuJu.

Gipple (voiced by Urara Takano) is a small wind spirit who occasionally guides the duo, though he vanishes at the first sign of trouble. He can expand his cloak into a tent and store items in it. Gipple has an anthropomorphic body under the cloak and wears fundoshi (traditional loincloth). Gipple seems disgusted by any emotional or dramatic demonstration and proceeds to express this trait of his whenever possible.

La La is a woman from a magic society who helps Nike and Kukuri from time to time. She uses snake magic and is the one who gave Gipple to Nike. In "Doki Doki Legend" she falls in love with Nike's Thief mentor Sly. Nike cannot help laughing when he hears her name and hides behind a rock to avoid being noticed.

King Uruga XIII resides in Kodai castle. He is a short man with a long mustache and long black hair. He gives 800 Rin (a small amount) to Nike and Kukuri to aid their quest in defeating Giri.

Guriel is a blonde fairy with a pink tutu and a ribbon on her head. She knew the secret weak point of Kisegi Gold and was imprisoned when she told about 100 of her friends. After she was freed she left famous rice crackers as a gift. Fairy Elder, No idea faeries or nothingness faeries and Confusion faeries are others in the story.

Beegain is a sage who teaches Nike about Light magic and the Kira Kira sword.

Wugenvillia is found in Potoma Academy in the Potoma kingdom.

SteinWetts is also called Wetts.

Ardenberg and Wanchin are other characters.

Monsters

Lord Giri, voiced by: Ryūzaburō Ōtomo

Giri is the series' main antagonist. After having been sealed by Guruguru magic for 300 years (during the reign of King Uruga III) he finally returned and is unleashing his army of monsters to take over the world. Since his only weakness is Guruguru magic, he does all in his might to destroy Kukuri, the last Guruguru user in existence. He is always depicted sitting on a big armchair, completely hidden in a dark cloak with only his red eyes glowing through. In his demonic-looking hand he always holds a glass of wine.

Raid is a handsome demon-prince who is fond of Kukuri. His special name for her is "Pink Bomb," and he continually tries to split her away from Nike to fall in love with him. His magic attacks are powerful, but often involve complicated incantations and unusual results, such as gastric distress.

Ratmen are very low-ranked type of monsters. They sometimes speak in Prose.

HP: 3

Rai Rai is a flying monster that resembles a bird.

Kisegi is a monster that fights with a club or a spear, has three horns on his head and adds -sss after every sentence. Hi is somehow related to cats, as he is extremely affected by catnip.

HP: 5

Kisegi Gold is a Huge Kisegi and boss of the dungeon at Mt. Saw-edge. His weak point is to the right of the scale that's below the crest that's between the two horns that are on the back of his shoulders. He appears stupid and has ratmen write his lines. He can breathe fire, inflict double damage when enraged, and reveals that he is part Salamander. He usually fights with a huge sword.

Man eating plant is found in a room in the dungeon of Mt. Saw-Edge.

NG is a blue monster sorcerer in a death pool.

Gizaier

Darklings

Chikuri Demon is a teammate with Search Eye, and will tell lies to her enemies to cause division until they attack each other. However she loves to talk, and will often unwittingly reveal the plans of Giri.

Search Eye will scan his opponent for weaknesses then produce an illusion to lower his guard. At this point Chikuri will join the attack.

Mandoragora is a monster with a gourd shaped water menlon for a head and tree branches for legs and arms. Its torso is covered in leaves. The top of its head opens up to reveal stems and red petals. This monster was always unlucky with girls so he terrorized their village and demanded girls which he made go through hard labor. Mandoragora can shield himself with his leaves and gain protection from fire. His main attack is Black pepper spores that launch from his head. His stems can be used as limbs and wips and he his hands as claws.

Yanban is a red man-like dog with intense eyebrows wearing a grey cloak. Its located in great numbers in the fairy village mountain and fights with a woodsman axe which it sometimes throws. It also wears a funny hat with several white feathers on top and white sandals. Its bite is poisonous and deadly. The Yanban can also play with his target like a regular dog would and even lick his targets which makes them disgusted.

Lovelovella is a heart-shaped creature with long hair. Her large sparkling eyes cause her opponents to laugh, so she can use her hair to smack them while their guard is down.

Vacuum sucks in the surrounding area until its enemies are consumed. As he sucks in air, he expands larger and larger. He seems to be easily punctured.

Dora Dora

Items

• MekeMeke Robe, a robe with high defense against Magic worn by Kukuri
• Star shard sword, Attack power 6, loaned to Nike at North village and made from Star shards mined from Mt. Saw-Edge. The sword spirit can stop time and create a miracle when its wielder is in immediate danger. However, the miracle is a surprise. Sadly, the miracle was to Level-up Kita Kita Oyaji, giving him Speed+3, Massle+2 and Beauty-5.
• Smoke shield, an incense that creates a full armor, leaving only the face exposed with little weight that protects from fire and has a good defense rating. It was given to Nike at North village.
• North village sword, inflicts 200 times more damage than a normal sword but is 200 times as heavy.
• North village armor, provides 500 times more protection than a normal armor but is 500 times as heavy.
• La-La-La shield, can deflect any physical or magical attack but is cursed and once equipped the wielder starts dancing and singing.
• Old magic staff, Kukuri's staff prior to leaving the old witch
• Guru Guru staff, or Kukuri's magic circle staff
• Protective flower Ornament, it protected Kukuri from Kisegi Gold's fire breath and broke into pieces. Nike's gift.
• Holy pot the Legendary treasure, given to Nike and Kukuri at North village as a reward for lifting the curse. A 200 year-old pot that makes tasty food without requiring fire.
• Fairy sword, a wooden short sword given by the fairies to Kukuri that summons a flyer or flag that writes "I love Hero, By Kukuri".
• Dark Weather Vane, an item that can detect Giri
• Level-up Potions, small potion bottles containing a liquid of dark color that can level up characters
• Chocolate, despite being a mundane item, chocolate has the capacity to restore Kururi's Magic points.
• Flute of Tension, a useless magical flute which, being played, causes everyone to get an eerie feeling.
• Wizard Glasses, strange-looking glasses that have the ability to see through magic illusions.
• Stealth Coin, causes user to become invisible to everyone except those using the same coin. Effects only work when coin is in mouth.
• Magic Bracelet of Earth, one of the two magic bracelets of Shugi village. It is silvery blue and glows blue when used. It can create earthquakes and its power can be used to create blue energy beams that travel along the ground. Given to Nike at the Shugi Ruins. Was taken away when JuJu used it along with the Magic Bracelet of Heaven to break the third seal.
• Magic Bracelet of Heaven, one of the two magic bracelets of Shugi Village. It is golden. It can create wings of light that can allow the user to fly. Was given to Kukuri when she leveled up at the Training Tower. Was taken away when JuJu used it along with the Magic Bracelet of Earth to break the third seal.

Spells

There are three kinds of magic in the show. Light magic, Dark magic and Guru Guru which is considered to be Dark magic at first but later revealed to be Free magic. Nike tells old witch that at first he thought that Guru Guru was something Ecchi. Guru Guru has random effects when a spell fails. Light magic has to do with controlling natural forces, Dark magic with controlling unnatural forces and creatures and Guru Guru mostly has to do with summoning. The spells cast by Kukuri gain power-ups in effects and certain changes in appearance as she increases her level and knowledge of Guru Guru.

• Manifest gas,

Guru Guru

• Lizard's tail

Requires Fire circle symbol called Tora (Kukuri mistakes it for Taura when the first time she tries to show magic to Nike and creates a strange but harmless monster). The spell attacks by conjuring a geyser of fire in the shape of a lizard's head.

• Underground Viper

Requires Fire circle symbol called Tora. The spell attacks monsters in the vicinity by burrowing under the earth and surrounding them in flame much like a fireball even if the caster is not aware of them or their location.

• Long Winded Meow

Summons a large toy with the head of a cat that meows, dispels magical powers and stuns most monsters and characters. This includes Kukuri.

• Bemu Bemu Guardian

An extremely powerful 15 level attack spell that summons a demon from hell with many eyes that shoots lightning bolts. The spell was hidden in Kita Kita Oyaji's dance making its acquisition a painful feat for Kukuri that even made a confusion fairy appear. The spell protects the caster from attacks - even before the demon has appeared - with an invisible dome.

• Summon nothingness fairy

A level two spell that summons nothingness fairies. Everything the target attempts fails and his words make no sense. The spell also provides a dome of protection prior to the arrival of the fairies in the same way as Bemu Bemu Guardian dome does.

• Smiling Giant (minor spell)

Summons a giant to stand on the horizon. He will smile at the enemy in battle. The spell lasts 3 days.

• Special Power-Up (minor spell)

This spell will power-up an ally standing in the circle. It will affect him or her randomly in one of three ways: by increasing the level of the target, increasing speed by 10, or by increasing charisma. The effects last for 3 minutes.

• Failed Spell (any unsuccessful spell)

Summons random creatures. The commemorative tenth failed spell summons Octo-Tim, who transforms Kukuri into Devil-Kukuri.

• Seal Magic Circle (minor spell)

Also called one-minute seal, this level three spell causes a large bandage to fall from the sky and immobilize the enemy. Depending on the level of the caster, the seal lasts from one minute to three hundred years, and gives the caster the chance to escape.

Light Magic

• Gallant PoseThis can only be done by someone of the Hero class(although Nike has been able to use it even though he is a Thief). This spell freezes the opponent in their tracks, as they gaze at the hero.
• Zam Dien

Zaza's grandfather's name. The spell is useless, though it draws the attention of Kasegi gold to Zaza and gives time to Kukuri and Nike to counterattack.

• Fireball or Firebolt
• Light Shield A shield made by Light energy. Its color varies according to the user. The user can fly and is protected from attacks.
• Kira Kira sword A magic sword that has a large amount of strength and can shoot energy slashes. You have to be careful when forming it though, because its blade turns into whatever its energy touches. Most blades are useless, however some are useful, like the Kira Kira Old Man Sword and the Kira Kira School Cuckoo Sword.
• Wind sword
• Fire sword
• Earth sword
• Water sword
• Kira Kira Old man sword This was an accident created when Nike was trying to form the Kira Kira sword. Kita Kita Oyaji fell on Nike's hand when he was forming the sword, resulting in the Old man's energy being mixed with the sword's and the sword's tip being Old man's head. Whoever is hit by the sword is forced to dance the Kita Kita Dance.

Dark Magic

• Golden hammer

First series

The first series^[1] "Mahoujin Guru Guru" (produced by Nippon Animation) has 45 episodes. It covers the content of manga volumes 1 - 4 and some other adventures not in the manga.

After having been sealed for 300 years, the demon lord Giri reawakens and sends off his monster minions to wreak havoc in the world. King Uruga XIII decides thus to place announcements everywhere in the kingdom in search of a legendary hero who can defeat Giri. In the king's castle a competition will be held to discover who the true hero is. Forced by his parents to go to the castle, Nike first visits the witch's house, where Kukuri joins him. Together they travel around the world defeating monsters, gaining new abilities, trying to uncover the mysteries surrounding the Migu Migu tribe and making many friends while confronting enemies.

Opening themes
#	Transcription/Translation	Performed by	Episodes
1	Magic of Love	TOo'S	1-31
2	Harete Hallelujah	Okui Aki	31-45
Ending themes
#	Transcription/Translation	Performed by	Episodes
1	Wind Climbing ~ Kaze ni Asobarete	Okui Aki	1-26
2	Mou Tomaranai	Slap Sticks	27-45

Movie

In the movie,^[3] Nike and Kukuri learn of the "Pickle of Happiness", an item that will grant a wish to the one who eats it. With the help of old friends, they must beat the monsters to the Pickle and convince its guardian residing in Megalo mountain, the Megalo dragon to give it to them.

Opening themes
#	Transcription/Translation	Performed by	Episodes
	Kin no Tobira	Satomi Kihara with Radio Heart	All
Ending themes
#	Transcription/Translation	Performed by	Episodes
	Love Goes	HIM	All

Doki Doki Legend

The second series^[4] was created in 2000, six years after the original. It covers the contents of Manga volumes 5 to 11 (there are in total 16 Manga).

Nike and Kukuri receive a message from Wanchin, the old leader of the Migu Migu, who tells them they need to find the 4 elemental swords in order to defeat Giri. Thus a new adventure starts.

At the end of the manga Nike and Kukuri seal Giri, while this is not shown in the animation.

Opening themes
#	Transcription/Translation	Performed by	Episodes
	Dynamite Heaven	2Shy4U	All
Ending themes
#	Transcription/Translation	Performed by	Episodes
1	Nishi no Sora e	Spoon	1-25
2	Enjoy the party	R'OSE	26-38

Games

Published by Enix,

• Mahōjin Guru Guru (SNES)
  • Mahōjin Guru Guru (Game Boy), published by Takara
• Mahōjin Guru Guru 2 (SNES)
• Doki Doki Densetsu Mahōjin Guru Guru (Game Boy Color)

See also

• Akazukin ChaCha

References

• The anime encyclopedia: a guide to Japanese animation since 1917

External links

• Mahōjin Guru Guru (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Guru Guru @ Nippon Animation