is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series by

Koi Ikeno Koi Ikeno (池野恋) is a manga author and illustrator. She was born April 16, 1959, in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. She created Tokimeki Tonight in the 1980s and Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Nurse Angel Ririka in the 1990s, two manga series whi ...

. It was serialized in

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

Ribon is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Shueisha on the third of each month. First issued in August 1955, its rivals are ''Nakayoshi'' and '' Ciao''. Its target audience is girls roughly 8–14 years old. It is one of the best-s ...

'' from July 1982 to October 1994. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series directed by

Hiroshi Sasagawa is a Japanese creator of several anime and manga series. His name is romanized in some sources as ''Hiroshi Sasakawa''. Career Born in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, he is well known as one of creators of ''Time Bokan'' series (with ...

was adapted from the manga and was broadcast on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

from October 7, 1982 to September 22, 1983.

Plot

15-year-old Ranze Eto lives in an isolated castle in Japan with her

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

mother,

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

father, and younger brother, Rinze. Despite her lineage, she has yet to demonstrate any special powers of her own, and her parents are worried she might be a normal girl. One day, Ranze's innate power finally manifests itself when she, quite by accident, discovers that she can change herself into a

carbon copy Before the development of photographic copiers, a carbon copy was the under-copy of a typed or written document placed over carbon paper and the under-copy sheet itself (not to be confused with the carbon print family of photographic reproduc ...

of any object she bites, whether it be a person or an inanimate object like a piece of bread, and can return to her normal self only by

sneezing A sneeze (also known as sternutation) is a semi-autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth, usually caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa. A sneeze expels air forcibly from the mouth and ...

. Her parents are overjoyed, but Ranze's new powers make it difficult to continue living life as a normal teenage girl. On Ranze's first day at her new school in junior high, she meets and falls in love with the brash yet handsome young athlete, Shun Makabe. The chief problem with this is that Ranze's parents will not allow her to date a human - although there may be much more to Shun than meets the eye. On top of this, she also has a bitter rival in the pretty but spiteful Yoko Kamiya (the daughter of a

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

boss) who also likes Shun and doesn't take kindly to Ranze's intruding on her turf.

Final anime episode

Since the anime series ended years before the manga, the writers had to create an original ending. This leaves the story open-ended. In the last episode, it had Shun being discovered of a star

birthmark A birthmark is a congenital, benign irregularity on the skin which is present at birth or appears shortly after birth—usually in the first month. They can occur anywhere on the skin. Birthmarks are caused by overgrowth of blood vessels, melanocy ...

, proving that he is actually the long lost prince of the Demon World. Ranze is thrilled by the news, meaning she'll be able to marry him. However, when confronted by the King, Shun denies being the long-lost-prince and claiming the star as a

bruise A bruise, also known as a contusion, is a type of hematoma of tissue, the most common cause being capillaries damaged by trauma, causing localized bleeding that extravasates into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Most bruises occur close ...

. The King bans the Eto Family from the Demon World, until they can bring back his long-lost-son. When Shun returns home, his mother reveals that the star is actually a birthmark and he realizes that he's the true long lost prince of the Demon World, and the Eto family were right about it all along. The following morning, Shun tries to talk to Ranze about that star on the way to school, but Yoko ends up interrupting the conversation. The series closed with a special ending, with not only Ranze but the main cast dancing (in cloaks) to the ending, "Super Love Lotion".

Characters

Eto Family

() :The lead character, a 15-year-old girl, Ranze originally manifests no supernatural powers until she bites Yoko Kamiya and discovers she has vampiric powers that let her "

metamorph In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited ...

" into whatever she bites a certain way. () :Ranze's 5-year-old younger brother, he appears to not have any supernatural powers, but seems to be the only one that can tell who Ranze really is when she is transformed. () :Ranze's father, a vampire () :Ranze's mother, a werewolf () :A parrot born in the Spirit World.

Makabe Family

() :The boy Ranze loves whom she also sits next to in class. () :Shun's mother

Kamiya Family

() :Ranze's romantic rival, the spoiled daughter of a yakuza lord who also fancies Shun. () :Yoko's father. An enormous, bulky man who develops a crush on Hanae Makabe.

Others

() :Ranze's classmate who has a crush on her () :A demon who is the Prince of Spirit Kingdom. He has the ability to duplicate anything he touches. He is in love with Ranze. () :A 158-year-old demon :Ranze's middle school teacher.

Media

Manga

There are 30 volumes in the original release of the manga series in Japan. In 2006, they sold 26 million copies, making ''Tokimeki Tonight'' the sixth best-selling shōjo manga. *Volume 1, *Volume 2, *Volume 3, *Volume 4, *Volume 5, *Volume 6, *Volume 7, *Volume 8, *Volume 9, *Volume 10, *Volume 11, *Volume 12, *Volume 13, *Volume 14, *Volume 15, *Volume 16, *Volume 17, *Volume 18, *Volume 19, *Volume 20, *Volume 21, *Volume 22, *Volume 23, *Volume 24, *Volume 25, *Volume 26, *Volume 27, *Volume 28, *Volume 29, *Volume 30,

Tokimeki Midnight

In 2002, a second manga series called ''Tokimeki Midnight'' (ときめきミッドナイト, "Exciting Midnight"), also by

, began serialization in

's magazine ''

Cookie A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, n ...

''. The manga is an alternate retelling where the roles are reverse. The series completed in 2009 at nine volumes.

Tokimeki Tonight Sorekara

On May 26, 2021, a sequel, ''Tokimeki Tonight Sorekara'' (ときめきトゥナイトそれから, "Exciting Tonight and Then"), which takes place after the third arc where Ranze and Makabe's daughter Aira saves the world from crisis and centers on the lead protagonist Ranze as her 40s, began serialization in ''Cookie'' magazine starting from July 2021 issue.

Anime

A 34-episode anime television series adaptation, directed by

and produced by

Group TAC was a Japanese animation and computer graphics studio located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and founded in 1968 from former Mushi Pro staff. They worked on movies, videos, TV shows, and commercials, and contributed to all stages of the process, including p ...

and

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

, aired in Japan between October 7, 1982 and September 22, 1983 on

. Its opening theme is "Tokimeki Tonight" and its ending theme is "Super Love Lotion". Since Group TAC closed its doors as a studio, Toho has been the sole rights-holder of the series.

Episode list

# ''Ranze Eto's Secret'' (October 7, 1982) # ''Door to The Demon World'' (October 14, 1982) # ''Bathroom Crisis'' (October 21, 1982) # ''A Small Friendship'' (October 28, 1982) # ''Ranze goes to the Demon World'' (November 4, 1982) # ''Foggy Night Romance'' (November 11, 1982) # ''Beware the Cultural Festival'' (November 18, 1982) # ''Love, Camera, Action'' (November 25, 1982) # ''Tamasaburo's Love'' (December 2, 1982) # ''The Invisible Girl, Miel'' (December 9, 1982) # ''Birthday of the Full Moon'' (December 16, 1982) # ''Eh?? Ranze's Wish'' (December 23, 1982) # ''White Sweethearts'' (January 6, 1983) # ''I saw it!! Ranze is a Tanuki!'' (January 13, 1983) # ''Sorry for the Nudity'' (January 20, 1983) # ''Love of The Young Runner'' (January 27, 1983) # ''Fickle Magic Teacher'' (February 3, 1983) # ''Title Match of Love'' (February 10, 1983) # ''The Sentimental Giant'' (February 17, 1983) # ''Chaos! Too many Ranzes!'' (February 24, 1983) # ''Love Letter from E.T.'' (March 3, 1983) # ''Panic! Pajama Game'' (March 10, 1983) # ''Sand's Love Story'' (March 17, 1983) # ''Ardent Love! Great War in the Demon World'' (March 24, 1983) # ''The Transformation is seen! Shun must die'' (March 31, 1983) # ''Execution Battleship! Space Wars'' (April 28, 1983) # ''Clash! Rocky VS Shun'' (May 5, 1983) # ''Stretching Angel, Hunter of Love'' (May 19, 1983) # ''Shock! Future Encounter'' (June 9, 1983) # ''The Prince's Order of Assassination '' (June 16, 1983) # ''The Migratory Bird Returns'' (June 23, 1983) # ''Venture! Island of Sweethearts'' (July 7, 1983) # ''Tokimeki Folklore Comic'' (July 28, 1983) # ''I Love you! I Love you! Love Triangle!'' (September 22, 1983)

Reception

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

, Justin Sevakis said the anime was "a thirty year-old comedy that's still funny, with a setup that's still plausible and interesting, and animation that's still serviceable".

References

External links

* {{Hiroshi Sasagawa 1982 anime television series debuts 1982 manga 1983 Japanese television series endings 2002 manga Group TAC Anime series based on manga Nippon TV original programming Romantic comedy anime and manga Fiction about shapeshifting Shōjo manga Shueisha franchises Shueisha manga Supernatural anime and manga Vampires in animated television Vampires in anime and manga Television series about werewolves Anime and manga about werewolves