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...

 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....

 series by Studio Pierrot

Studio Pierrot

is a Japanese animation/animation studio, founded in 1979 by former employees of Tatsunoko Production. Its headquarters is located in Mitaka, Tokyo.The company has a simple logo of the face of a clown...

 from 1983. It went on to have five OVA

Original video animation

, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...

 adaptions and featured in other Studio Pierrot special presentations. A three volume manga was released during the original TV run, with the story written by Kazunori Itō

Kazunori Ito

is a Japanese anime screenwriter and artist who is well known for his work in the .hack Franchise and his writing for the Ghost in the Shell movie. Itō also provided the art for .hack//Another Birth. He is a member of the artist group known as Headgear....

 and art by Yuuko Kitagawa. This was the first of five magical girl anime to be produced by Studio Pierrot, and the first of these to feature the designs of Akemi Takada

Akemi Takada

is a Japanese manga artist born on March 31, 1955 in Tokyo, Japan. She is a popular anime character designer, noted for her long collaboration with director Mamoru Oshii. She graduated from Tama Art University, after which she worked for Tatsunoko Pro. She is currently a freelance manga artist with...

. In 2005, the web-poll for TV Asahi's

TV Asahi

, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....

 top-100 anime of all time saw Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel poll 82nd.

Story

Yū Morisawa is an ordinary 10-year-old girl, until she sees a spaceship floating in the sky. Carried into the ship, she helps Pino Pino find the Feather Star. In thanks for her assistance he grants her a magical wand, which allows her to transform into a 16-year old girl, for one year. She is also given two cats from Feather Star, Posi and Nega, who are to watch over her while she has magical powers. While wandering around the city as a teenager, she accidentally ends up on TV and asked to sing, which the magic enables her to do remarkably well. Using the alias of Creamy Mami, she becomes an overnight success, and is soon sought to begin a professional career as an idol under Parthenon Productions. Along the way, she also meets past residents of Feather Star and supernatural beings. In addition, she must fight against Snake Joe, a shady character of the rival LP Productions, who is always trying to steal her away and Megumi-chan, another one of Parthenon Productions' top stars.

Characters

/

Seiyū: Takako Ōta

A normal 10-year old girl, Yū harbours a secret crush for her childhood friend Toshio Ōtomo. Given the ability to transform into a 16-year old girl, she is made to fill in for the absent Megumi Ayase to sing on TV. Giving her name as Creamy Mami, she becomes an overnight hit.

Seiyū: Kaneta Kimotsuki

Kaneta Kimotsuki

is a Japanese voice actor who was born in Kagoshima.He is most known for the roles of Suneo Honekawa , Dracula , Pāyan , Iyami , Tom , Benzou Karino , Horrorman , Conductor and Jiminy Cricket is a Japanese voice actor who was born in Kagoshima.He is most known for the roles of Suneo Honekawa...

One of the two cats from the Feather Star asked to watch over Yū Morisawa while she has magical powers. His name is short for negative. Nega was the one who taught Yū the words which allow her to transform in Creamy Mami, he secretly know other magical words, but avoid telling then since Yū might end up using her powers for self gain like cheating in a surprise school test. Yū tricked him into saying the magical words to generate a pen which can answer any questions in one of the episodes. He, despite his brash attitude, really likes Yū a lot that he was even able to mistook a girl called Cassidy with her.

Seiyū: Yūko Mita

Yuko Mita

is a Japanese voice actress. She is known for playing gentle, sexy bishōjo as well as many roles of young boys. Her hobbies include tennis and skiing...

One of the two cats from the Feather Star asked to watch over Yū Morisawa while she has magical powers. Her name is short for positive. She is very supportive of Yuu and it sometimes annoy Nega. When Yū failed to transform for the first time, she suggested to use the magic wand while saying the magic words which led to a successful transformation. Her voice actress also say the titles of every episodes.

Seiyū: Saeko Shimazu

Saeko Shimazu

is a Japanese voice actress from Isehara. Shimazu is notable for having had voice roles in all four of the major TV anime series based on the works of Rumiko Takahashi - she played Shinobu Miyake in Urusei Yatsura, Sayako Kuroki in Maison Ikkoku, Kodachi Kuno in Ranma ½, and Abi-hime in InuYasha...

A spoiled and selfish idol who is the star act of Parthenon Productions, she feels threatened by the newcomer, Creamy Mami, and declares herself to be Mami's rival.

Seiyū: Sukekiyo Kameyama

Sukekiyo Kameyama

is a seiyū born on November 9, 1954 in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. He has played many supporting roles in Japanese television dramas. Kameyama is employed by the talent management firm Kiraboshi.-TV:*Anpanman...

Megumi Ayase's bumbling manager, he is moved to managing Creamy Mami when she joins Parthenon Productions.

Seiyū: Masahiro Anzai

Toshio Ōtomo's best friend, Midori is in love with Yū Morisawa and seeks to tell her this. Because of his bashfulness, he needs Toshio's help to do this.

Seiyū: Mika Doi

Mika Doi

, née is a veteran voice actress who was born in Sendai.-Anime:* Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple * Air Master * Aura Battler Dunbine * Canvas 2 ~Niji Iro no Sketch~...

Wife of Tetsuo, mother of Yū, Natsume works in Creamy with her husband. She used to be the leader of a motorcycle gang. Her and her husband own Creamy Crepe making crepes.

Seiyū: Akira Murakami

Husband of Natsume, father of Yū, Tetsuo works in Creamy with his wife. He used to be a member of Natsume's motorcycle gang. Tetsuo almost discovered Yû when she transformed for the first time, however she managed to trick him.

Seiyū: Yū Mizushima

Friend of Yū Morisawa and Midori Kisaragi, he falls in love with Creamy Mami after her first TV appearance. But in the end he finally understands that Mami was Yuu all long. He was in love with Yuu all this time and didn't know.

Seiyū: Seiko Nakano

An alien being, Pino Pino grants Yū Morisawa magical powers for one year in thanks for helping him find the Feather Star.

Seiyū: Kazuhiko Inoue

Kazuhiko Inoue

is a veteran voice actor from Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.-Biography:Since his debut in 1973, Kazuhiko Inoue has become one of Japan's most well established voice actors. His early roles from the 1970s include Anthony in Candy Candy, and later as Joe in the 1979 remake of Cyborg 009...

President of Parthenon Productions, he quickly recognises Creamy Mami as future sensation, and tries to make her into a star.

A boy which recently got transfeRred to Yû's school who came from a small town in Hokkaido. He seemed to be pretty rude at first, but later became friends with Yû due his huge love for cats. He says he can listen what the wind says and was one of the few people who realized Nega and Posi aren't normal cats. Mamoru at first doesn't knew many things about big cities and was annoyed due the fact Creamy Ga-Oka had such small threes. He was pretty outdated with news that he even doesn't knew who Creamy Mami was, plus when asked he thought it was a name of a crepe. Despite being a major character, Mamoru never had any real contact with Mami.

Impact and influence

Creamy Mami (1983) is known as a pioneer of the new marketing strategy, now known as “media mix”.
They used an anime to promote a new, least-known idol singer.
The real idol singer, Takako Ohta, acted as an idol singer (Creamy Mami) also in the story.
The opening theme Delicate ni Suki Shite was her first song in the real world too.
Even though Ohta was a new singer and not a trained seiyū, she voiced Yū/Creamy Mami.
The result was a great success.
The anime Creamy Mami has become famous and Ohta gained a high popularity that still exists today.
In 1999, Fuji TV's show Kaishingeki TV Utaemon had a poll to decide the most popular old TV theme song for 25-year-old audience, and Delicate ni Suki Shite was ranked first. This anime has been repeatedly broadcast over the Internet too.
As of writing (2006-08-08), people in Japan can legally watch the show on-demand for free on GyaO.

The same “media mix” approach was seen in Idol Densetsu Eriko (1989) and Idol Tenshi Youkoso Yōko (1990).
The anime version of Full Moon o Sagashite (2002) basically shares the same format too.
Another example is Lemon Angel (1987).
Using an anime to promote a singer, per se, was not really new, as there was Pink Lady Monogatari (1978),
but Pink Lady was already extremely popular at that time, so it was not that they gained popularity through the anime.

Creamy Mami set the format that would be used for future Studio Pierrot magical girl titles, and was especially influential in Fancy Lala

Fancy Lala

Fancy Lala, known in Japan as is a magical girl anime series produced by Studio Pierrot in 1998. A two-volume manga adaptation by Rurika Kasuga ran in Ribon. The original designs were created by Akemi Takada, who worked on many of the 80's Studio Pierrot series...

. Creamy Mami also stars in Adesugata Mahou no Sannin Musume, along with Magical Emi and Persia, as well as Majokko Club Yoningumi A-Kukan Kara no Alien X, with Magical Emi, Persia and Pastel Yumi

Magical Idol Pastel Yumi

is a magical girl anime series by Studio Pierrot. It was simultaneously released as a manga by Kiyoko Arai. The fourth magical girl series created by Studio Pierrot, Pastel Yumi also appears in a feature-length OVA as well as the Majokko Club Yoningumi A-kūkan kara no Alien X OVA.-Story:Yumi...

. The popularity of the series not only saw two feature-length sequels, but Creamy Mami also featured in five music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

-based productions, starting with the 1985 OVA Lovely Serenade. The second of the feature-length sequels, Magical Angel Creamy Mami Long Goodbye, began with the short animation Mahō no Tenshi Creamy Mami VS Mahō no Princess Minky Momo Gekijou no Daikessen, and where Creamy Mami battles against Ashi Productions'

Ashi Productions

is a Japanese anime studio, located in Suginami, Tokyo, Japan, known for its four magical-girl anime, especially Magical Princess Minky Momo. It was established by Toshihiko Sato and other artists on December 24, 1975 as...

 Minky Momo.

Creamy Mami's companions Posi and Nega were also parodied in Gainax

Gainax

is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as Gunbuster, The Wings of Honneamise, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which have gone on to critical acclaim and commercial success, as well as for their association with...

's 1991 OAV Otaku no Video

Otaku no Video

is a 1991 comedy anime spoofing the life and culture of otaku, individuals with obsessive interests in media, particularly anime and manga, as well as the history of Gainax, its creators. It is noted for its mix of conventional documentary film styles , with a more traditional anime storytelling...

, in which Misty May (the magical girl character created by the series' protagonist) has two lion-cub companions named Posi-King and Nega-King. (The character design for both is based on King the lion cub, a companion of the title character in Gainax's 1990 TV series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

is a Japanese animated television series inspired by the works of Jules Verne, particularly Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and the exploits of Captain Nemo...

.)

Internationalization

Magical Angel Creamy Mami was dubbed into Italian

Italian language

Italian 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...

 by Studio PV, who released it as L'incantevole Creamy from 1985-02-03. It was also broadcast 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...

 by La 5 (later on TMC, AB1 and Manga) as Creamy, merveilleuse Creamy from April 29, 1988., and more recently released in French DVD editions (French dub or Japanese language and French subtitles) by Declic Image. It was also distributed in Spain as "El Broche Encatado" in 1992.

In these countries the musical theme was the same: in Italy it was sung by Cristina D'Avena, in France by Valérie Barouille and in Spain by Soledad

The text and music were by Alessandra Valeri Manera - Giordano Bruno Martelli

The musical base was partially re-orchestrated in France and Spain, and the text was translated and adapted by Charles Level for the French version.

It was dubbed into Cantonese

Chinese language

The 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...

by a Hong Kong TV company - TVB, who released it as "我係小忌廉" (I am Creamy Mami) from 1985-1-7 showing it from Monday to Friday at 6pm, each time showed half an hour.

External links

• Creamy Magical World English (and french) site about Creamy Mami.

Official sites

• English and Japanese at Studio Pierrot.

Internet Movie Database