The Secrets of Akko-chan (1969 anime)

**The Secrets of Akko-chan** (ひみつのアッコちゃん *Himitsu no Akko-chan*) is a 1969 anime adaptation of Fujio Akatsuka's manga.

It was produced by Toei Animation, and aired on NET (now TV Asahi) for 94 episodes from January 6, 1969 to October 26, 1970.

## Overview

According to Hiroshi Ikeda, the adaptation of the manga was developed with the aim of commercialization. As a regular mirror would be difficult to successfully sell to young girls as a toy item, the idea came to change it to a magic compact. This would wind up instrumental in the magical girl series formula, where a special transformation brooch or item would be used.

The series was given more of a dramatic touch compared to the manga, with Akko making a transformation wish that would cause more complication for herself (such as accidentally wishing herself to be deaf and mute) or winding up having to deal with intense situations. There would also be stories centered around guest characters dealing with poverty, death, and accidents.

Akatsuka had reportedly not been fond of the anime at first, but also confused on why Toei would bother to adapt a manga of his that hadn't been relevant in years. His view lightened as he took the stance that the anime would be its own story compared to the manga.

Particular changes in this adaptation would carry over to further series:

1. The Man from the Mirror Country being replaced by a Queen of Mirrors (if not the "Mirror Spirit" in here).
2. Akko's father being present.
3. The additions of Taisho, Shosho, their cat Dora, their parents, Taisho's two henchmen (Gyoro and Goma), and Akko's cat Shippona.
4. Akko's mirror compact, and her new transformation and de-transformation phrases.
5. Alteration to Moko's full name from Tomoka Ina -> Motoko Naniwa, as well as a change to the style of her eyes.
6. Alterations in the design of Moko's brother Kankichi, and that of their father.
7. Both of Ganmo's parents being depicted.

According to the screenwriter Shunichi Yukimuro, the phrases of *"Tekumakumayakon, Tekumakumayakon"* (from "technical", "magic", and "my compact") and ''*"Ramipus, Ramipus, rurururu"* ("super mirror"/*supamira* inverted) were merely placeholders in his script for the first episode and he expected them to be changed to something else in production; he was thus surprised to see they were set as the official transformation words.

This version became very popular, and was rebroadcast many times through the decades, even being aired on other channels like NTV and TV Tokyo. Unfortunately, due to the amount of rebroadcasting, the films for the ending credits after the mid-point of the show were lost/misplaced and the later episodes all use the credits from episodes 34 and 35 as placeholders.

## Staff

### Voice Cast

* Akko- Yoshiko Ota
* Moko- Sumiko Shirakawa
* Taisho, Dora- Hiroshi Otake
* Shosho- Sachiko Chijimatsu, Michiko Hirai (episodes 56, 61)
* Kankichi- Akiko Tsuboi
* Ganmo- Junko Hori, Mariko Takigawa
* Chikako- Hiroko Maruyama
* Gyoro- Junko Hori
* Goma- Kōko Kagawa, Junko Hori, Mariko Takigawa
* Papa- Ichiro Murakoshi, Koji Yada (episodes 56, 61)
* Mama- Reiko Senoo
* Sato- Osamu Ichikawa
* Moriyama- Naoko Takahashi, Kōko Kagawa
* Shippona- Sachiko Chijimatsu, Kōko Kagawa
* Mirror Fairy- Reiko Senoo, Kōko Kagawa
* Taisho's father, Moko's father- Masato Tsujimura
* Taisho's mother, Moko's mother- Terue Nanami
* Ganmo's father- Tadao Futami
* Ganmo's mother- Keiko Yamamoto

## Theme Song

### Opening theme

**"The Secrets of Akko-chan"**

Lyrics- Hisashi Inoue, Takeshi Yamamoto/Composition- Asei Kobayashi/Singer- Kyoko Okada

### Ending theme

**"Love Love Song"**

Lyrics- Hisashi Inoue, Takeshi Yamamoto/Composition- Asei Kobayashi/Singer- Ado Mizumori

## Episode List

１ ふしぎな鏡でルル…

２ レッツゴー健太くん

３ サーカス団がやってきた

４ 男の約束どうしたの

５ すてきな自転車ランランラン

６ スリルとショックで大あわて

７ ママすてきッ!!

８ コンパクトＳＯＳ

９ わたしのパパはどこ？

１０ けんか友だち手をつなげ

１１ 名探偵ナンバー・ワン

１２ 先生!!こっち向いて

１３ 別れても笑顔で

１４ コンクール作戦

１５ そのウソほんと?!

１６ ドラがあぶない

１７ 私は目げき者

１８ こわーい地下室

１９ 嵐にとぶ白鳥

２０ 大将の独立運動

２１ わんニャン物語

２２ 野山を走れ子鹿ちゃん

２３ 落語がすきすき

２４ 10000円で大冒険

２５ 夢呼ぶパパの白い船

２６ 誕生日ご用心

２７ 友情のネックレス

２８ パパと歌おうセレナーデ

２９ 出た！とかげ女

３０ 泳げ涙のゴールまで

３１ くまとたぬきとハイキング

３２ こころとこころに歌がある

３３ くたばれ女の子

３４ あしたの花園

３５ 天才赤ちゃんこんにちは

３６ 歌よ涙を吹きとばせ

３７ れいてんの神様

３８ 白いラケットに誓おう

３９ バンザイ！ペット君

４０ 鏡の国みーつけた

４１ あたしはどうして？

４２ 白いお船で来た少女

４３ お月さまのドリームランド

４４ 夕日にとどけ天使の願い

４５ にくまれオウムがとんできた

４６ 南の島に愛の祈り

４７ アイヌの少女物語

４８ 宝の島で大騒動

４９ お山の大将　君と僕

５０ クリスマスプレゼントなーに!?

５１ 暮の裏町雪が降る

５２ 春を呼ぶ夢なんの夢

５３ マラソン大会忍者が走る

５４ 海へ流そう悲しい涙

５５ パパもママもだいきらい

５６ 怒をこめて鬼はそと！

５７ 五年一組べこのクラス

５８ 母人形の笑顔のように

５９ ゆきんこ

６０ とびだしおひな様

６１ ひとりぼっちの女王さま

６２ ワンコとニャンコのマイホーム

６３ A子はだあれ？

６４ 歓迎！金の卵さま！

６５ ダイヤル０はひとりぼっち

６６ 笑顔で送ろうパパの船

６７ ポンコツ公園の対決

６８ ウソップ物語

６９ 青空いっぱい鯉のぼり

７０ 霧の中のできごと

７１ 走れ馬っ子

７２ リーダーはあなたよ！

７３ ばくだん小公子

７４ 疑ってごめんね

７５ 海がまぶしい

７６ あの微笑みをもう一度

７７ 涙の回転レシーブ

７８ 歩くのよ！自分の足で

７９ 負けてたまるか！ワンワンくん

８０ むかしむかし話

８１ おばあちゃんがんばって

８２ 泣くな父ちゃん僕はやる

８３ 都会っ子田舎っ子

８４ 思いきり泣きたい

８５ 夢みる白鳥

８６ 明日を呼ぶ海

８７ 動物ざんこく物語

８８ お姉さん思い出すのよ！

８９ 学校一の人気者

９０ この指にとーまれ

９１ 紙芝居おじさん

９２ 逃げだした赤ん坊

９３ 親バカ、子バカの人助け!!

９４ さようなら私のコンパクト

## Overseas Broadcast and Adaptations

*See also: List of foreign dub names for characters of Akko-chan's Got a Secret!*

### Hong Kong

This series was dubbed and aired in Cantonese under the title of ***Little Mirror*** (小魔鏡) in 1979 on the channel TVB Jade.

### Italy

The series was broadcast on Mediaset's *Italia 1* from September 3, 1984 under the title ***The Magic Mirror*** (*Lo specchio magico*). Akko was renamed "Stilly", though other character names stayed the same in this version.

### Poland

A Polish version (and overdub of the Italian dub) aired in the 1980s on Polonia 1 and Super 1 under the title ***Czarodziejskie Zwierciadełko.***

### Mexico and Latin American territories

A Spanish-language dub was recorded in Mexico, and appeared there as well as being broadcast in other Latin American countries. It was titled ***The Secrets of Julie*** (*Los Secretos de Julie*).

## Merchandise and Artwork

A pop-up book based around the anime.Another pop-up book.The cover to the first 2005 DVD-BOX.The cover to the first 2014 DVD-BOX.
## References

1. ↑ This is the translation given by Toei for the title, which differs from Fujio Pro's choice.

## External Links

* Toei Animation USA licensing catalog, under "Magic Girls" (English)
* 1969 series page at Toei Animation official site (Japanese)