is a Japanese

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 ...

series produced by Studio Comet, based on the

Sanrio is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the '' kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are so ...

character My Melody. The anime is directed by

Makoto Moriwaki is an anime director born in Hokkaidō, Japan. In 1982, Moriwaki founded (now known as ) with Yoshinobu Sanada, Toshiyuki Honda, and Hiroshi Fukutomi). From the first ''Doraemon'' movie produced by Shin'ei Dōga until 1989, she was in charge of ...

('' High School! Kimengumi The Movie'') and produced by Hideyuki Kachi and Kazuya Watanabe. The series was written by Takashi Yamada (''

Yumeiro Patissiere is a shōjo manga and anime series by Natsumi Matsumoto. It began serialization on September 3, 2008, in the October 2008 issue of ''Ribon''. The series ended on June 3, 2011, with a total of 12 ''tankōbon'' volumes. The manga won the 5 ...

'') with character designs from Tomoko Miyakawa. It ran on

TV Osaka is a television station affiliated with the TX Network in Osaka, Japan. The mascot character is "Takoru-kun" (たこるくん). History Television Osaka, Inc. was founded in 1981 as part of the reorganization of Tokyo Channel 12 Ltd (now TV T ...

and

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

from April 3, 2005, to March 26, 2006, spanning 52 episodes.

Story

''My Melody''

A year after the events of ''Kirara'', Kuromi and Baku are imprisoned in a dungeon in Mari Land. They make their escape with the Melody Key and the Melody Bow, but in their haste forget the instruction manuals. They flee to the human world and shortly after arriving, Kuromi discovers the power of the Melody Key, which makes wishes come true using the power of darkness. If the person who wishes enjoys the nightmare, he or she will produce Black Notes, which Baku promptly eats to store them. What neither one of them realize is that when 100 Black Notes are gathered, the Spirit of Dark Power will be revived to destroy the human world and devour all the humans' dreams. Because Mari Land is formed from the dreams of humans, even the incompetent King is able to sense danger to his people. He gives the Melody Takt to My Melody and sends her to the human world, with a mission to collect 100 Pink Notes to create the Dream Power to combat the Spirit of Dark Power. Along the way, My Melody meets a human girl named Uta Yumeno, and her world is about to change forever.

''KuruKuru Shuffle''

Set a year after Onegai My Melody, the story revolves around Kuromi and Baku's second escape to the Human World as they this time, obtained a new Melody Key and the Melody Pick, an item associated with the Spirit of Dark Power. Because of this, the King of Mari Land appointed My Melody once again to capture both fugitives and prevent the Spirit of Dark Power from resurrecting for the second time. In the human world, Uta misses My Melody and wonders what is she doing right now back at Mari Land. But then a new student named Jun Hiiragi who arrived from England into Uta's school and she notices he's Keiichi's little brother. Baku and Kuromi also arrived at the Human world also and learned that if they collected 8 black notes (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, high do) that coincides with the

Solfège In music, solfège (, ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, pitch and sight-reading of Western music. Solfège is a form of solmization, though the tw ...

scale, their wishes will come true and decided to wreak havoc into the city once more. Back at Mari Land, Keiichi Hiiragi is being judged guilty on his crimes against Mari Land and to make up for it, he must help Uta and My Melody fight the darkness but in secret or he'll be severely punished. It's up to Uta and Melody to stop the Revival of the Spirit of Dark power once again, before it's too late.

''Sukkiri''

A year after the second defeat of the Spirit of Dark Power, My Melody and her friends went back to Mari Land until Baku "dropped a bomb" in the middle of the flower field, taking out black notes all over Mary Land and the human world. After a short while, Mary Land had their "High court" and took the King off the throne. When the time came to choose the next ruler of Mary Land, a black note came into the minister, turning him into a "Huff-Huff" which is left over residue of Dar-chan. My Melody refreshed him and was chosen to be a candidate for Princess. However, she has to pass a trial by turning all of the black notes into Twinkle Gems to put in her crown. As soon as Kuromi heard this, she was over raged because she wanted to become the Princess as well, but then a very Mysterious Woman gave her an intriguing offer. Kuromi now has to collect Anger Gems and put on her crown to become the Dark Princess and rule over Mary Land. The two decides to go the human world in their separate ways and collect every black note for them to become the next ruler of Mary Land. Not knowing to everyone...that the spirit again will make its rise as he intends to plunge both Earth and Mary Land into eternal darkness.

''Kirara''

Set before the events of the Uta Arc, Mari Land is celebrating a special event which involves watching the Shooting Star on which they can grant someone's wish. In the Human World, Kirara Hoshizuki, a normal elementary girl is watching the stars that night until she was visited by the King of Mari Land, and invites her to his world. As the king takes her to Mari Land, she meets My Melody for the first time and became friends as they both watched the shooting stars. But in an unexpected predicament, the Wishing Star crashed into Mari Land and broke into pieces. Even worse, the passageway that connects back to earth is damaged as well. During the disaster, My Melo and Kirara met Prince Sorara, the prince of the star who somewhat transformed into a giant chick after the Wishing Star is broken to a million pieces and both My Melo and Kirara needs to collect all the pieces of the Wishing Star, for both Sorara and Kirara to go back to their respective worlds.

''High school''

Set three years after the end of Sukkiri, Uta Yumeno, now a sophomore in High school, is living a good life in the human world with her family and friends. However, back in Mari Land, Kuromi steals a dark item called Dokurobou, which contains powerful dark magic that can plunge Mary Land into chaos and again escapes into the human world with the said item. As she reaches the human world, she meets with Uta and Kakeru Kogure once more and starts to cause trouble. Luckily, My Melody comes to the human world as well and now must prevent the dark magic inside the Dokurobou from unleashing into the human world.

Characters

Interestingly, the characters in Onegai My Melody were both characters from the original character series and characters created exclusively for the anime. The denizens of Mari Land were somewhat considered "Living Dolls", in reference to Maki's phobia of cute things. Some of the characters in the series were officially added to the Sanrio canon following the show's initial run. For instance, Kuromi, who appeared in the first season of Onegai My Melody, became an official character of the Sanrio parent franchise in 2005. Several cameo characters from other Sanrio franchise appears in the anime as well. Hello Kitty appears in the eye-catches of the first and second series while Berry and Cherry appeared as narrators for the fourth series.

Music

The music for all four seasons of the anime was composed by Cher Watanabe, whose other notable works include the soundtracks of

Kinnikuman Nisei is a Japanese manga series created by the duo Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, known as Yudetamago. It follows Suguru Kinniku, a superhero who must win a wrestling tournament to retain the title of prince of Planet Kinniku. ...

The Prince of Tennis is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 1999 to March 2008, with its chapters collected in forty-two ''tankōbon'' volumes. ...

, Sensual Phrase, Idol Time PriPara,

Maken-ki! is a Japanese manga series by Hiromitsu Takeda. It was published by Fujimi Shobo's magazine ''Dragon Age Pure'', and later ''Monthly Dragon Age'', after the former magazine ceased publishing. It has been adapted into an anime series by AIC ...

and Jewelpet Kira☆Deco!.

Theme songs

Onegai My Melody

;Opening Theme * ** Lyrics: Hiroshi Yamada ** Composition: Cher Watanabe ** Arrangement: Cher Watanabe ** Artist:

Mikako Takahashi is a Japanese voice actress and J-Pop singer from Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As the ''Excel Saga'' character Mikako Hyatt, she forms one half of the voice acting duo ''The Excel Girls'' (the other half being Yumiko Kobayashi). She is employed by I ...

(

Interchannel was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. History Interchannel was founded on October 2, 1995 as an NEC subsidiary named . Its founding was a result of divisions within NEC being spun off. NEC Interchannel took over NEC Avenue's musi ...

) ;Ending Theme * (EPS 1-28) ** Lyrics: Hideyuki Takahashi ** Composition: Morihiro Suzuki ** Arrangement: Morihiro Suzuki ** Artist: MY MELODIES * (EPS 29-52) ** Lyrics: Hideyuki Takahashi ** Composition: Morihiro Suzuki ** Arrangement: Morihiro Suzuki ** Artist: MY MELODIES

Onegai My Melody ~Kuru Kuru Shuffle!~

;Opening Theme * ** Lyrics: Hiroshi Yamada ** Composition: Cher Watanabe ** Arrangement: Cher Watanabe ** Artist:

Marina Kuroki is a Japanese actress, singer and model best known for her appearances in the ''Sailor Moon'' musicals series. Career She starred in the ''Sailor Moon'' musicals as the lead role of Usagi Tsukino at the age of 12 and finished her ''Sailor Mo ...

(Index Music) ;Ending Theme * (EPS 1-27) ** Lyrics: Hideyuki Takahashi ** Composition: Morihiro Suzuki ** Arrangement: Morihiro Suzuki ** Artist: MY MELODIES (Index Music) * ''kuru kuru kuru'' (EP 28) ** Lyrics: Binzu Mameda ** Composition: Mari Konishi ** Arrangement: Mari Konishi ** Artist:

Rei Sakuma is a Japanese actress, voice actress, singer and narrator from Tokyo, Japan. She is best known in Japan for her voice work in the long running children's series ''Soreike! Anpanman''; her most famous role in the English-speaking world, however, i ...

* (EP 29) ** Artist:

Ryōtarō Okiayu is a Japanese actor and voice actor affiliated with Aoni Production. His major roles include Treize Khushrenada in '' Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'', Hisashi Mitsui in ''Slam Dunk'', Meisuke Nueno in ''Hell Teacher Nūbē'', Kunimitsu Tezuka in '' ...

* (EP 30) ** Artist:

Azusa Kataoka , previously known as , is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer from Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Some of her major roles are Nagisa Saitou in ''Squid Girl'', Sakura Nankyoku in ''Penguin Musume'', Uta Yumeno in ''Onegai My Melody'', Koton ...

and the Dream Defense Girls * (EP 31) ** Lyrics: Hiroshi Yamada ** Composition: Cher Watanabe ** Arrangement: Cher Watanabe ** Artist:

Junko Takeuchi is a Japanese actress and voice actress employed by Ogipro The Next Co. Inc. & BQMAP. Taking a well-trod path by many voice actresses, she often voices young male characters with generally very quirky and goofy personalities. One of her most wel ...

* (EPS 32-52) ** Lyrics: Hideyuki Takahashi ** Composition: Morihiro Suzuki ** Arrangement: Morihiro Suzuki ** Artist: MY MELODIES (Index Music)

Onegai My Melody Sukkiri♪

;Opening Theme * (EPS 1-27) ** Lyrics: Hiroshi Yamada ** Composition: Cher Watanabe ** Arrangement: Cher Watanabe ** Artist:

(Index Music) * (EPS 28-52) ** Lyrics: t@28 ** Composition: Cher Watanabe ** Arrangement: Cher Watanabe ** Artist: Nanakana ;Ending Theme * (EPS 1-27) ** Lyrics: Nagae Kuwahara ** Composition: corin. ** Arrangement: corin. ** Artist: Nanakana * (EPS-29-52) ** Lyrics: Hiroshi Saito ** Composition: Shintaro Itou ** Arrangement: Shintaro Itou ** Artist: MY MELODIES

Onegai My Melody Kirara★

;Opening Theme * ** Lyrics: Takashi Ifukube ** Composition: Seiichiro "Ruffin" Sugiura ** Arrangement: Seiichiro "Ruffin" Sugiura ** Artist: Yuka Uchiyae ;Ending Theme * (EPS 1-27) ** Lyrics: Takashi Ifukube ** Composition: Seiichiro "Ruffin" Sugiura ** Arrangement: Seiichiro "Ruffin" Sugiura ** Artist: Yuka Uchiyae * (EPS 28-51) ** Lyrics: UZA ** Composition: UZA ** Arrangement: ROUND4 ** Artist:

Kōki Miyata is a Japanese voice actor who works for 81 Produce. He was formerly credited as . He made his radio CM narration debut on 2 March 1993. Filmography Anime * '' Nintama Rantarou'' (1993), Kanzaki Samon * '' Trigun'' (1998), young Vash the Stamped ...

and

Izumi Kitta is a Japanese voice actressIzumi Kitta's official blog
(Ameblo). Accessed: January 23, 2013

* (EP 52) ** Lyrics: Hideyuki Takahashi ** Composition: Cher Watanabe ** Arrangement: Cher Watanabe ** Artist: Friends of Mary Land

Sequels

Four official sequels were produced and each coincide with their respective story arcs. The first sequel, ran from April 2, 2006, to March 23, 2007. The second sequel, ran from April 1, 2007, to March 24, 2008, as a segment on Anime Lobby. ''Sukkiri'' was followed by a third and final sequel, , which ran from April 6, 2008, to March 29, 2009. before being replaced by

Jewelpet is a Japanese media franchise and toy line created in 2008 as a joint venture between Sanrio and Sega Toys, produced by the third character designer of Hello Kitty, Yuko Yamaguchi and illustrated by the character designer of Cinnamoroll, Miyu ...

in its timeslot. On February 5, 2012, Sanrio announced that a theatrical short named ''Onegai My Melody: Yū & Ai'' was in the works and would be released alongside the first ''Jewelpet'' film, '' Jewelpet the Movie: Sweets Dance Princess'' as a double feature. A light novel titled , serves as a continuation of the franchise, and was released by PHP Interface under the ''Smash Bunko'' label on March 8, 2013.

Reception

Although it only aired in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Thailand, and the Philippines, ''Onegai My Melody'' was positively received among fans of Sanrio's character franchises, and has garnered a cult following. On December 11, 2011,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

-based anime distributor

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

(now owned by

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

) set up a forum on its website gauging consumer interest in potential anime acquisitions. One title requested was the first ''Onegai My Melody'' series.

References

External links

''Onegai My Melody'' official website

''Onegai My Melody ~Kuru Kuru Shuffle~'' official website

''Onegai My Melody Kirara★'' official website
!--Japanese--> * {{Studio Comet 2012 anime films 2013 Japanese novels Animated television series about animals Aniplex Comedy anime and manga Japanese children's animated comedy television series Japanese children's animated fantasy television series Light novels Anime and manga about parallel universes Magical girl anime and manga Romance anime and manga Sanrio characters Animated television series about children Television series about parallel universes Animated television series about rabbits and hares Television series about shapeshifting