Hime-chan no Ribbon (1992-1993)
This old anime is such a pleasant surprise! I didn't expect I'd love this anime this much!! Waaaiii~~ ♥♥♥
When I just became a SMAP fan back in 2002-2003, I looked around for this anime to no avail, Hime-chan no Ribbon, after I found out that Tsuyoshi voiced a character named Hasekura-sempai in this anime, and SMAP sung the themesongs. Just recently I found out that the complete eps of this anime is now available online, so I decided to watch it.
I was thinking of checking out just the episode where SMAP made an appearance, but I got hooked and watched from the beginning. Well, the story is like this...
Plot Summary: Erika, the princess of the Magic Kingdom has come to Earth in order to find a human girl who looks just like her. That girl turns out to be Himeko Nonohara, a tomboy's tomboy. Erika must give Himeko a magical item she has created in order to prove her worth as a successor to the crown. Himeko must test this item, a hair ribbon that allows her to transform into any other person she sees, to see if it is worthy. The series follows Himeko's adventures and her budding romance with Daichi, the boy who discovers her secret. --Anime News Network
I thought I wouldn't be interested in an anime that is obviously made for kids, but I ended up loving it, lol. The characters are really lovable. Himeko and her family are adorable. I love the fact that her father is a film director and her mother is a novel writer. I'm not interested anymore in the heroine-fighting-devils type like Sailor Moon (though I was a big fan when I was 10), so I guess what got me hooked is the fact that Hime-chan no Ribbon is more like a "daily life drama." I love all her romance stories, her friendship with her friends, her rivalry with Hibino. They're all just packed in such a cute and sweet way, that makes me smile if not laugh in every episode. The voice actors really did a great job too, that makes me love the characters more. To my surprise, Tsuyoshi's character, Hasekura-sempai didn't make much appearance, and he was just a supporting character that appears once in a while. Although he did appear alot in the beginning as Hime-chan's first love, her big crush.
And then comes Daichi, the boy who discovers her secret. I really love Himeko and Daichi's friendship and romance, I love their bickering and ways of handling their hidden feelings for each other. Such a cute junior highschool love story. Parts when Himeko transforms to other people, provides the humor and comical scenes. Some of the humor in this anime made me laugh out loud too, not just smile. But my favorite magic is her ability to shrink herself to a Thumbelina size, hahaha... I always love that one. Hibino as Himeko's love rival who always chasing after Daichi provides humor too, though sometimes she can be seriously annoying, you can't help to find her lovable too at times, haha. You just need an annoying character like her.
The only thing that was poorly created was the Magic World, imo. I don't like the parts when they were transported to the Magic World, cause the world were just poorly created, it's really too bad.
I'm loving this anime from the beginning to the end that I even feel sad to know it's only 61 episodes, I wanted more! If you have kids, nephews or nieces, I recommend you watch this anime together with them. This anime is really cute at it's max!
The opening themesong is Egao no Genki by SMAP which suit the story so much, I listen to Egao no Genki in a different way now! The three ending themesongs were all sung by SMAP too. Ep1-31 was Burabura sasete (Egao's coupling song) which I don't like, lol. Ep32-53 was Hajimete no Natsu, one of my favs! Ep54-end was Kimi wa Kimi dayo.
I guess this is one of SMAPxTVTOKYO projects as bestfriends, lol. SMAP and TV Tokyo were really bestfriends back then.
I'll upload this anime to SmapxMedia later (it has English subs).