Trouble Chocolate

トラブルチョコレート (Toraburu Chokorēto)
Trouble Chocolate
The front cover of the first VHS.
Genre	Comedy
Anime television series
Directed by	Tsuneo Tominaga
Produced by	Hikaru Kondo Masakazu Kumabe Masatoshi Kotaka Shunsuke Harada Taro Iwamoto
Written by	Tsunefumi Harada
Music by	Moka Hiromi Kikuta Takayuki Nagasawa Avex
Studio	AIC ROBOT Hakusensha Step Visual Corporation
Licensed by	^NA Viz Media (2002-present)
Network	TV Asahi (1999-2000)
Original run	October 8, 1999 – March 24, 2000
Episodes	20

Trouble Chocolate (トラブルチョコレート, Toraburu Chokorēto) is a comedy anime produced by AIC in 1999 and is licensed in the United States by Viz Media. The series features Cacao, a student at Micro-Grand Academy studying magic. One day, while his magic class teacher, Ghana, is performing a spell to summon a tree spirit, Cacao finds and eats some chocolate, which turns out to be 200 year old magical chocolate. After eating the chocolate he becomes drunk and causes a wreck. During this, he interferes with Ghana's spell, letting the spirit, Hinano, escape. She inhabits the body of a marionette, who then moves in with Cacao.

Subsequent episodes of Trouble Chocolate have little connected storyline. Rather, the show is a parody of other anime. For example, two other characters, Murakata and Deborah, are constantly shown professing their love to each other, set to absurdly explosive special effects and backdrops, as is common (to a lesser extent) in many anime.

The dubbed dialogue in Trouble Chocolate (written by professional comedy writer Pamela Ribon and recorded by The Ocean Group) often bears little or no resemblance to the original script (as heard in Japanese and seen in the subtitles), as opposed to the normal convention of translating the words as directly as the change in lip-sync will allow.

Plot

"Cacao woke up to find a girl sleeping next to him. Unable to remember what had happened on his own and didn't get enough needed answers from Hinano, he went to school to ask his friends what had happened. He finally got the explanation of events from Prof. Ghana in term Cacao joined his wizardry class."

Characters

Cacao (カカオ, Kakao): Voiced by: Tomoki Yanagi (Japanese), Richard Ian Cox (English); The main male character of the series.

Hinano (ヒナノ, Hinano): Voiced by: Sakura Tange (Japanese), Nicole Oliver (English); The main female character of the series. She often says "You're Welcome" (じゅうぶんです, Jūbun Desu) and "Wahoo" (わっちゃ, Watcha). She will do anything she can to protect Cacao and make him happy.

Deborah (デボラ, Debora): Voiced by: Kyoko Hikami (Japanese), Venus Terzo (English); Hinano's rival and lover of Murakata.

Murakata (ムラカタ, Murakata): Voiced by: Hiromichi Kogami (Japanese), Ted Cole (English)

Truffle (トリュフ, Toryufu): Voiced by: Yasuyuki Kase (Japanese), Michael Adamthwaite (English)

Almond (アーモンド, Āmondo): Voiced by: Ikue Ōtani (Japanese), Saffron Henderson (English)

Ghana (ガーナ, Gāna) / Ganache: Voiced by: Tomohiro Tsuboi (Japanese), Michael Dobson (English); A teacher at MG Academy. He constantly attempts to teach Cacao magic.

Big Bang (ビッグバーン, Biggu Bān): Voiced by: Hidenari Ugaki (Japanese), Brian Dobson (English); A teacher at MG Academy. He is shown to have feelings for Papaya.

Papaya (パパイヤ, Papaiya): Voiced by: Shigeru Nakahara (Japanese), Ron Halder (English); A teacher at MG Academy. He dislikes Sunlight.

Matcha (抹茶, Matcha) / Green Tea: Voiced by: Yuko Sasamoto (Japanese), Saffron Henderson (English)

Azuki (小豆, Azuki) / Red Bean: Voiced by: Yumi Amikake (Japanese), Kelly Sheridan (English)

Wheat (コムギ, Komugi): Voiced by: Yumiko Watanabe (Japanese), Jocelyne Loewen (English)

Sardine (イワシ, Iwashi): Voiced by: Takako Honda (Japanese), Andrew Francis (English)

Mint (ミント, Minto): Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Janyse Jaud (English)

Theme Songs

Openings

- "C.H.O.C.O."
- Lyricist: Akio Togashi / Composer: Akio Togashi / Arranger: Akio Togashi / Singers: Sakura Tange&Kyoko Hikami

Endings

"Hey Why..." (ねぇ何で…, Nē Nande…)
- October 8, 1999 - January 14, 2000, March 24, 2000
- Lyricist: Atsushi Iwamizu / Composer: Hitoshi Harukawa, Shifo / Arranger: Hitoshi Harukawa / Singers: Rie Yoshizawa
- Episodes: 1-12, 20
"I Want to See You: Missing You - Millenium Dance version" (あなたに逢いたくて〜Missing You〜 Millenium Dance Version, Anata ni Aitakute: Missing You - Millennium Dance version)
- January 21, 2000 - March 17, 2000
- Lyricist: Seiko Matsuda / Composer: Seiko Matsuda, Ryo Ogura / Arranger: Ando Takahiro / Singers: Sakura Tange&Kyoko Hikami
- Episodes: 13-19

Episode list

#	Title	Original airdate
1	"First Trouble" / "In Comes Trouble" "Fāsuto Toraburu" (ファーストトラブル)	October 8, 1999
.
2	"Science Special Investigation Club Depart!" / "Meet the S.M.A.T." "Kagaku Tokusō Butai Bu Shutsudō!" (科学特捜部隊部出動！)	October 15, 1999
.
3	"Mega-Rich Transfer Student" "Tenkōsei wa Mega-Ritchi" (転校生はメガリッチ)	October 29, 1999
.
4	"MG Academy Hungry Panic" / "Hunger Panic" "Emu Jī Gakuen Hangurī Panikku" (ＭＧ学園ハングリーパニック)	November 5, 1999
.
5	"The Strongest and Invincible Love Love Couple" / "The Greatest Love of All" "Saikyō Mutekina Rabu Rabu Kappuru" (最強無敵なラブラブカップル)	November 12, 1999
.
6	"Would You Like Matcha and Azuki?" / "Kitty-Kat Kalamity" "Matcha to Azuki wa Ikagaka na?" (抹茶と小豆はいかがかな？)	November 19, 1999
.
7	"The 34th School Contest" / "Athletic Supporters" "Dai Sanjūyon-kai Gakuen Kontesuto" (第３４回学園コンテスト)	December 3, 1999
.
8	"The Target is the Magic User" / "...And Called it Macaroni" "Tāgetto wa Mahō Tsukai" (ターゲットは魔法使い)	December 10, 1999
.
9	"Horrible - Bathtub Doll Incident" / "Bathing Beauties" "Kyōfu - Yubune Ningyō jiken" (恐怖湯舟人形事件)	December 17, 1999
.
10	"Run, Express Messenger-kun!" / "Wait, Mister Postmen" "Hashire, Hikyaku-kun!" (走れ、飛脚くん！)	December 24, 1999
.
11	"Magical Digging War" / "Love at First Sight" "Majikaru Horehore Taisen" (マジカルホレホレ大戦)	January 7, 2000
.
12	"Conquest Girl Mint" / "It Was Mint to be" "Seifuku Shōjo Minto" (征服少女ミント)	January 14, 2000
.
13	"Deborah VS Mecha-Deborah" "Debora VS Meka-Debora" (デボラＶＳメカデボラ)	January 21, 2000
.
14	"Encounter With Nushi" / "The Monster of Lake Micro-Grand" "Nushi Tono Sōgū" (ヌシとの遭遇)	February 4, 2000
.
15	"The Mysterious Pencil-kun" / "The Incredible Mister Pencil" "Fushigi na Penshiru-kun" (不思議なペンシルくん)	February 11, 2000
.
16	"Explosion! Bomb Granny of Love" / "Granny's Surprise" "Bakuretsu! Ai no Bomu Bā-san" (爆裂！愛のボム婆さん)	February 18, 2000
.
17	"Mini Mini Adventure" / "A Small Problem" "Mini Mini Adobenchā" (ミニミニアドベンチャー)	March 3, 2000
.
18	"Hinano, Burning in Club Activities!" / "One of us" "Hinano, Bukatsu ni Moeru!" (ヒナノ、部活に燃える！)	March 10, 2000
.
19	"Hinano, Gets Confessed to!" / "Hinano Gets a Secret" "Hinano, Kokuhaku Sareru!" (ヒナノ、告白される！)	March 17, 2000
.
20	"You're Welcome, Hinano!" "Hinano, Jūbun Desu!" (ヒナノ、じゅうぶんです！)	March 24, 2000
.

Reception

THEM Anime Reviews gave Trouble Chocolate two stars, saying that it's "At best, worth a rental, but only if you've seen everything else at Blockbuster".^[1]

Mania.com gave the first North American Trouble Chocolate DVD a B+ for audio, a B for video, a B+ for packaging, a C for its menu and a B for its extras.^[2]

digitallyOBSESSED! gave the first North American Trouble Chocolate DVD a B for style, a B- for substance, a B+ for image transfer, a B+ for audio transfer and a D for extras.^[3]

References

↑ "THEM Anime reviews 4.0 - Trouble Chocolate". THEM Anime. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
↑ "Mania.com Reviews Trouble Chocolate". Mania.com. 2002-11-11. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
↑ "digitallyOBSESSED! reviews - Trouble Chocolate #1". digitallyOBSESSED!. 2002-11-18. Retrieved 2014-07-23.

External links

Official website (Japanese)
Trouble Chocolate at Allcinema (Japanese)
Trouble Chocolate at IMDb
Trouble Chocolate at TV.com
Trouble Chocolate (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia