Hana no Ko Lunlun
Encyclopedia
, translated to English
as The Flower Child Lunlun and Lulu, The Flower Angel is a magical girl
manga
by Shiro Jinbo, focusing on a theme of flower
s in its stories. It was adapted into an anime
by Toei Animation
in 1979, and the anime was greatly successful in the West, particularly in Europe
and in Latin America
, as well as in Japan
. An edited English-language dub of a few episodes titled Angel also made this series one of, if not the first, magical girl anime works to reach the United States, well over a decade before Sailor Moon
.
A movie adaptation, Hana no Ko Runrun Konnichiwa Sakura no Sono was released in March 1980.
In 2009, William Winckler Productions produced two all new English dubbed movie versions edited from the original series titled Lun Lun the Flower Girl and Lun Lun the Flower Girl 2. Producer William Winckler, known for Tekkaman the Space Knight, wrote, produced and directed the English films, which are seen on broadband in Japan.
spirit
s and fairy
-like creatures lived in harmony with mankind, but gradually humans began to rise toward greed and cruelty and the plant spirits immigrated to another world they dubbed the "Flowern Star". However, their legacy remained in people who truly knew the meaning of love and kindness. A talking dog and cat pair, Nouveau and Cateau, were sent to Earth
to find one such person to find a magical flower, the symbol of the Flowern Star's ruling family, so that a new ruler could ascend the throne
.
In France
they meet LunLun Flower, a young orphan who lives with her grandparents who own a flower shop. In Lunlun's 15th birthday party, they ask Lunlun to join them, and she accepts. They travel all over Europe in search of the flower, helping people every step of the way.
Lunlun, Nouveau and Cateau are followed by a bumbling pair of villain
s, the selfish fairy Togenishia and her servant Yabouki, who want to steal the flower and rule the Flowern Star. Whenever Lunlun and her friends attempt to help people, Togenishia and Yabouki try to get them back on the road by force, only to fail. They're also aided by Serge, a mysterious photographer who gives the people Lunlun helps packets of flower seed
s which symbolize the lesson they've learned in the "language of flowers
." For instance, thistle
s, which signify independence
, when the son of a farmer vows to follow his own dreams and leave home.
These people all send flower seeds to Lunlun's grandfather, and in the end the magical flower is found growing in his garden from the kindness of all the people. The photographer turns out to be the prince of the Flower Star, but secedes the throne to his younger brother so he can live on Earth and marry Lunlun.
Lunlun is gifted at the start of the series with a magical pin from the King of the Flower Planet. This pin, when a flower is reflected in its mirror gives Lunlun a new outfit fit for the purpose, such as mountain climbing. About halfway through the series, the pin is broken when Lunlun falls from a branch overhanging a waterfall while trying to attract attention after being caught in the Dark Wind, Togenishia's main form of attack). While she is lost in the river, a new pin is given to her in the shape of the royal crest, with the warning that if it is ever lost or broken, her life on Earth will end and she will be unable to return to the Flower Planet. The words to activate this pin are "Fu Flay Lu Fey Lora".
In ZIV International's feature-length English-dubbed
adaptation of the series (titled simply Angel and made up of bits of various episodes) - Angel (Lunlun), Lily (Cateau), Periwinkle (Nuveau), the villains were Princess Wysteria and Ragweed, and the Prince was Stefan. In the two-episode release the dog and cat were named Cathy and Wendel, and the villains were named Malicia and Ivan.
In other European dub versions, Lunlun's name was easily Westernized into "Lulu," "Lily" or "Lydia," or other variations thereof.
English movie and original series
The largest difference falls between the English movie and the original series. In the movie, Angel/Lunlun goes to Lumia where she learns she is to marry the prince. The King relents and lets her return to Earth to her family and Stefan -although you see her in the coach with a Prince who doesn't look the same as the one she was supposed to marry. In the original series, the King passes the crown to his youngest son (in the English movie you only ever see one prince), Stefan's brother.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as The Flower Child Lunlun and Lulu, The Flower Angel is a magical girl
Magical girl
belong to a sub-genre of Japanese fantasy anime and manga. Magical girl stories feature young girls with superhuman abilities, forced to fight evil and to protect the Earth. They often possess a secret identity, although the name can just refer to young girls who follow a plotline involving magic...
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Shiro Jinbo, focusing on a theme of flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s in its stories. It was adapted into an anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
by Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
in 1979, and the anime was greatly successful in the West, particularly in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, as well as in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. An edited English-language dub of a few episodes titled Angel also made this series one of, if not the first, magical girl anime works to reach the United States, well over a decade before Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon, known as , is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team of magical girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" the magical-girl genre itself...
.
A movie adaptation, Hana no Ko Runrun Konnichiwa Sakura no Sono was released in March 1980.
In 2009, William Winckler Productions produced two all new English dubbed movie versions edited from the original series titled Lun Lun the Flower Girl and Lun Lun the Flower Girl 2. Producer William Winckler, known for Tekkaman the Space Knight, wrote, produced and directed the English films, which are seen on broadband in Japan.
Story
Long ago, plantPlant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
s and fairy
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
-like creatures lived in harmony with mankind, but gradually humans began to rise toward greed and cruelty and the plant spirits immigrated to another world they dubbed the "Flowern Star". However, their legacy remained in people who truly knew the meaning of love and kindness. A talking dog and cat pair, Nouveau and Cateau, were sent to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
to find one such person to find a magical flower, the symbol of the Flowern Star's ruling family, so that a new ruler could ascend the throne
Throne
A throne is the official chair or seat upon which a monarch is seated on state or ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, an instance of metonymy, and is also used in many expressions such as "the power behind the...
.
In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
they meet LunLun Flower, a young orphan who lives with her grandparents who own a flower shop. In Lunlun's 15th birthday party, they ask Lunlun to join them, and she accepts. They travel all over Europe in search of the flower, helping people every step of the way.
Lunlun, Nouveau and Cateau are followed by a bumbling pair of villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
s, the selfish fairy Togenishia and her servant Yabouki, who want to steal the flower and rule the Flowern Star. Whenever Lunlun and her friends attempt to help people, Togenishia and Yabouki try to get them back on the road by force, only to fail. They're also aided by Serge, a mysterious photographer who gives the people Lunlun helps packets of flower seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s which symbolize the lesson they've learned in the "language of flowers
Language of flowers
The language of flowers, sometimes called floriography, was a Victorian-era means of communication in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send coded messages, allowing individuals to express feelings which otherwise could not be spoken...
." For instance, thistle
Thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...
s, which signify independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
, when the son of a farmer vows to follow his own dreams and leave home.
These people all send flower seeds to Lunlun's grandfather, and in the end the magical flower is found growing in his garden from the kindness of all the people. The photographer turns out to be the prince of the Flower Star, but secedes the throne to his younger brother so he can live on Earth and marry Lunlun.
Lunlun is gifted at the start of the series with a magical pin from the King of the Flower Planet. This pin, when a flower is reflected in its mirror gives Lunlun a new outfit fit for the purpose, such as mountain climbing. About halfway through the series, the pin is broken when Lunlun falls from a branch overhanging a waterfall while trying to attract attention after being caught in the Dark Wind, Togenishia's main form of attack). While she is lost in the river, a new pin is given to her in the shape of the royal crest, with the warning that if it is ever lost or broken, her life on Earth will end and she will be unable to return to the Flower Planet. The words to activate this pin are "Fu Flay Lu Fey Lora".
Notable differences
Character name variationsIn ZIV International's feature-length English-dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
adaptation of the series (titled simply Angel and made up of bits of various episodes) - Angel (Lunlun), Lily (Cateau), Periwinkle (Nuveau), the villains were Princess Wysteria and Ragweed, and the Prince was Stefan. In the two-episode release the dog and cat were named Cathy and Wendel, and the villains were named Malicia and Ivan.
In other European dub versions, Lunlun's name was easily Westernized into "Lulu," "Lily" or "Lydia," or other variations thereof.
English movie and original series
The largest difference falls between the English movie and the original series. In the movie, Angel/Lunlun goes to Lumia where she learns she is to marry the prince. The King relents and lets her return to Earth to her family and Stefan -although you see her in the coach with a Prince who doesn't look the same as the one she was supposed to marry. In the original series, the King passes the crown to his youngest son (in the English movie you only ever see one prince), Stefan's brother.
International titles
- Flower Angel (English dub, U.K.; produced by Harmony GoldHarmony GoldHarmony Gold may refer to:* Harmony Gold , a South African gold mining company* Harmony Gold USA, an American television producer and distributor...
/Ziv InternationalZIV InternationalZiv International was a television production and distribution company founded in 1971 by Irv Holender and composer Mark Mercury. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, it distributed Americanised versions of Japanese anime series, and produced and distributed celebrity biographies...
) - Angel (English dub, U.S.; produced by ZIV InternationalZIV InternationalZiv International was a television production and distribution company founded in 1971 by Irv Holender and composer Mark Mercury. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, it distributed Americanised versions of Japanese anime series, and produced and distributed celebrity biographies...
) - Angel e a flor de 7 cores (PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
dub (Brazil)) - Ángel, la niña de las flores (SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
dub (Latin America)) - Le tour de monde de Lydie (FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
dub) - Lulu , la chica de las flores or En busca de la flor magica (SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
dub) - Lulu l'angelo tra i fiori (ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
dub) - Ейнджъл — детето на цветята (BulgarianBulgarian languageBulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
dub) - Lidia in jurul lumii (RomanianRomanian languageRomanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
dub) - Лулу — ангел цветов (RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
dub) - Lili, a virágangyal (HungarianHungarian languageHungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
dub) - Lulu, the Flower Girl (IndonesianIndonesian languageIndonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
sub) - Lulu (Filipino dub)
- Saosan, Al Zahrah Al Jamilah (سوسن، الزهرة الجميلة) (ArabicArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
dub) - Lulu i cudowny kwiat (PolishPolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
lector) - Çiçek Kız (TurkishTurkish languageTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
dub) - 꽃천사 루루 (KoreanKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
dub) - 花仙子 (MandarinChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
dub) - Zehavit (זהבית) (HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
dub) - สาวน้อยแองเจิ้ล (Sao noi Angel) (ThaiThai languageThai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
dub)
External links
- Official site by Toei