Mirmo!

Mirmo de Pon!

Cover art for the first volume of the manga series Mirmo!, by Hiromu Shinozuka
ミルモでポン!
(Mirumo de Pon!)
Genre Magical girl, romance
Manga
Written by Hiromu Shinozuka
Published by Shogakukan
English publisher
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Ciao
Original run July 2001 – December 2005
Volumes 12
Anime television series
Directed by Kenichi Kasai
Studio Studio Hibari
Licensed by
Viz Media, ShoPro Entertainment
Network TV Tokyo
Original run April 6, 2002 – September 27, 2005
Episodes 172

Mirmo de Pon! (Japanese: ミルモでポン! Hepburn: Mirumo de Pon!) is a manga series written by Hiromu Shinozuka and serialized in Ciao magazine from July 2001 through December 2005. It was also published in twelve collected volumes by Shogakukan. The manga series was awarded the 2003 Kodansha Manga Award and the 2004 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.[1][2] The series was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. Four months later, the show aired in Japan for the first time.

An anime series named Wagamama Fairy: Mirumo de Pon! (わがまま☆フェアリー ミルモでポン!, Selfish Fairy: Mirmo de Pon!) by Studio Hibari was adapted from the manga. It premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 6, 2002, and ran for 172 episodes until September 27, 2005. The anime series is also licensed by Viz Media for an English language release in North America, and by ShoPro Entertainment, as Mirmo!.

Plot

Season 1

The main protagonist is a love fairy named Mirumo (Mirmo in the English version). Kaede Minami (Katie Minami in the English version) is a cheerful and energetic eighth-grader who is shy around her male classmates, which makes it difficult for her to date. One day, on her way home from school, she walks into a mysterious shop and buys a blue cocoa mug. When she arrives at home, she peeks into the bottom of the mug and discovers an engraved note which says, "If you read this message aloud while pouring hot cocoa into the mug, a love fairy ("muglox") will appear and grant your every wish." The skeptical but curious Kaede follows the directions and announces her wish to date Setsu Yuuki (Dylan Yuki in the English version), her crush. Mirumo arrives. At first she is afraid of him but later understands that he is a muglox. Kaede soon finds out that Mirumo prefers eating chocolate and creating mischief over helping Kaede.

Mirumo is a prince of the muglox world. Horrified at the prospect of having to marry Rirumu (Rima in the English version), his princess bride-to-be, Mirumo escaped the muglox world. Hot on his heels, however, are Riruma, Yashichi (Yatch in the English version) the bounty hunter, Murumo (Mirumo's brother), and many other muglox as well. The villains of the first season are the Warumo gang, a gang of criminals who plan to overthrow the Marumo kingdom. Though they are villains, they actually aren't evil; they just pull childish pranks and faint after hearing an evil plan.

Season 2

In this season a new transfer student named Saori comes to Kaede's school. The villain Darkman, created by the darkness in human hearts, tries to resurrect himself. He influences the minds of Akumi and the Warumo gang. Sesion magic is introduced for two-person magic, with each person combo producing different magic. Darkman controls Saori and uses her flute to control peoples' emotions. He is then defeated by Golden Mirumo, the outcome of three person sesion magic. With the help of Nezumi/Rato, he is resurrected until the muglox's four-person session magic gives Saori the power to defeat Darkman. The two worlds are separated until reunited by the muglox and their partners' friendship. Saori goes to Germany to study music with Akumi as her new partner.

Season 3

In this season a robot octupus, Tako, convinces the gang to look for the legendary seven crystals which are drawn out by different emotions. After all are collected, the gang faces seven trials. Mirumo must pass these tests for the crystals to unite and form a pendant. Tako steals it to save his girlfriend and his land. In the end, they succeed and Tako becomes king of crystal land.

Season 4

Two new characters, Koichi and Haruka, are introduced. Koichi has a crush on Kaede, and Haruka is Setsu's childhood friend who wants to be a cartoonist. Her partner Panta is a ghost muglox. Thanks to Azumi, Kaede and Koichi kiss. Also, Koichi confessed to Kaede after Kaede had a whole day of helping him confess to his crush that she didn't know was herSetsu starts to fall in love with Kaede, and Koichi realizes that he is not right for Kaede and gives up on her. After Haruka tells Setsu she loves him, he chooses her over Kaede. Haruka realizes Setsu's true love is Kaede and gives up on him. Setsu tells Kaede he loves her and they become a couple; Kaede's wish is fulfilled. Mirumo has to leave in one hour or something terrible will happen, which the Warumo gang make so. Mirumo loses all memories of Kaede and turns into a rabbit. Kaede brings his memories back and he turns back to normal.

Characters

The main characters of Mirmo! are mugloxes, or love fairies, and four human teenagers. The muglox Mirmo has been assigned the task of granting Katie Minami's wishes, though he spends most of his time eating chocolate and running away from Rima, a female muglox assigned to Dylan Yuki, the boy Katie is infatuated with. Yatch, Mirmo's muglox archrival, is assigned to Azumi Hidaka, a girl who also loves Dylan and is jealous of Katie. Mirmo's brother, Murumo, is assigned to Kyle Matsutake, a boy who falls in love with Katie. The muglox fairies use musical instruments as their magical tools. Later on in the show two new characters, Koichi Sumita and Haruka Morishita, enter the race of love for Dylan and Katie's hearts. They get their very own muglox partners as well – Papii and Panta.

Media

Manga

Mirmo! was published by Shogakukan in Ciao magazine from 2001 to 2006 and collected in 12 tankōbon volumes.

Anime

The series was adapted as a 172-episode anime series broadcast in Japan on TXN from April 2002 through September 2005.

Music

Thirteen CD soundtracks and character song compilations have been released for the Mirmo series. One was released by Toshiba-EMI, four by Tri-M, and the rest by Konami. In addition, Konami released two drama CDs for Mirumo.

Video games

Seven Mirumo video games have been created and released by Konami on a variety of platforms.

Reception

The manga received the 2003 Kodansha Manga Award and the 2004 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.[1][2] The anime also received TV Tokyo's award for top-rated new program in 2003.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 過去の受賞者一覧 : 講談社漫画賞 : 講談社「おもしろくて, ためになる」出版を (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 小学館漫画賞: 歴代受賞者 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2007-08-19.

External links