Evelyn e la Magia di un Sogno d'Amore

Evelyn and the magic of a love dream is a mahō shōjo anime, produced by Studio Pierrot and broadcast in Japan on Nippon Television between July 1984 and May 1985 [1]. In Italy it was broadcast on Rete 4 between September and October 1985 [2]. The series also enjoys a manga transposition, distributed by Shūeisha in parallel with the broadcast, and an OAV.

Evelyn and the magic of a dream of love (Mahō no yōsei Persha) is the second series of Studio Pierrot's wizarding saga, and is preceded by The enchanting Creamy (Mahō no tenshi Creamy Mami) and followed by Magica magica Emi ( Mahō no star Magical Emi).

## Plot

Persha Hayami (Evelyn, Italy) is an 11-year-old daughter, the daughter of a Japanese couple, but raised in Africa. After so many years spent in the warm continent, the girl, entrusted to her father's best friend, Professor Muroi, returns with the latter to her parents in Japan. During the return journey, the plane is sucked into a parallel dimension called Lovely Dream (Sogno d'Amore, in Italy); here the girl meets three kappas, who explain to her that their world is linked to hers through human dreams, but that nevertheless most of them cannot overcome the barrier of Lovely Dream by freezing before they come true. Only the energy of love can thaw these dreams and bring spring back to an increasingly hibernating world; the three then ask for help from the little girl who is given a magical circle with which she can collect the energy of love every time she uses it. Accepting almost involuntarily, Persia thus finds herself immersed in the hectic life of Tokyo and with the power to transform herself into a beautiful 17-year-old girl with a thousand professional skills [3].

After meeting on his way a whole series of nice characters who enrich the story with humor and local color, Persia will come to know the famous pianist Kenji Sawaki, who will discover that he is in love with his magic double; the three kappa in fact explain to the girl that every time she transforms she looks incredibly similar to the fairy-mistress of Lovely Dream: Princess Fairy. The latter fell in love with Kenji, whom she had asked to write a song, not being able to leave her world only for her selfish love for the human, locked up in a huge ice star, had fallen into a deep sleep. In order to go on collecting the energy of love and keep Lovely Dream alive, Persia is asked to exchange the two medallions that have Fairy and Kenji respectively, symbol of their bond; the girl, having set out on the pianist's footsteps, manages to reach him in extremis before his departure for America and to make the fateful exchange. From this moment on, a whole new series of more or less comic adventures began for Persia, through which the individual characters will deepen more and more; the little girl will even come to change wand after an incorrect use of her powers and to be joined by a new elf named BonBon.

Once in the spring, Fairy finally awakens and she will be able to embrace her Kenji who has returned from America, even if only for the last time: in fact, the two, belonging to different worlds, will never really be together. In the meantime, Prof. Muroi makes the decision to return to Africa permanently and his two twin nephews, Riki and Gaku (of which the latter is romantically linked to Persia), unable to leave him alone, will decide to go with him. Even Persia is thus destined to separate herself from her beloved friends, even though she vows to herself to return to Africa one day with them. Back home from the airport, Persia will also be affected by another separation, this time surprisingly: the one from the kappa and BonBon. In fact, in order not to have to say goodbye, the 4 goblins disappear secretly, leaving her the magic circle to use one last time as a greeting.

## Characters

Persha Hayami (速 水 ペ ル シ ャ Hayami Perusha ?, in Italy Evelyn)

Voiced by: Mīna Tominaga (Japanese ed.), Dania Cericola (Italian ed.)

The protagonist of the series. Grew up in the Serengeti area. Instinctive, stubborn and strong, with her slightly wild ways she seems more African than Japanese; her wild and genuine nature often leads her to use her powers in a comical and absurd way, making fun of her own role as a wizard.

Princess Fairy (プ リ ン セ ス フ ェ ア リ Purinsesu Feari ?, in Italy Princess Fairy)

Voiced by: Yōko Asagami (Japanese ed.), Dania Cericola and Lorella De Luca (censored scenes) (Italian ed.)

Magical counterpart of Persha. Initially named simply Bishōjo Persha (美女 ペ ル シ ャ? Lit. "Beautiful Persha"), later it turns out to be nothing more than the body of the princess of Lovely Dream, who "lends" her appearance to each transformation of the girl, to become a skilled professional in any activity.

Simba (シ ン バ Shinba?)

Voiced by: Daisuke Gōri (Japanese ed.), Antonello Governale (Italian ed.)

African lion. Raised with little Persia, he is her best companion in adventure. Left at the departure of Persha for Japan, the latter through magic will teleport him to his country, involuntarily transforming him into a sort of talking cat.

Kumi Hayami (速 水 久 美 Hayami Kumi ?, in Italy Betta)

Voiced by: Gara Takashima (Japanese edition), Serena Cantalupi and Renata Bertolas (censored scenes) (Italian edition)

Persha's mother. She manages the Persha Store mini-market with her husband; a kind and naive woman enough, she always seems very busy meeting the needs of her husband and daughter, but never really being able to keep up with the latter.

Hideki Hayami (速 水 英 樹 Hayami Hideki?, In Italy Pietro)

Voiced by: Akio Nojima (Japanese ed.), Antonio Paiola and Gabriele Calindri (censored scenes) (Italian ed.)

Persha's father. He runs the Persha Store mini-market with his wife; simple and honest man often tends to worry about his lively daughter who may not be able to adapt to the peaceful but tight metropolitan life.

Gōken Muroi (室井 剛健 Muroi Gōken?, In Italy Willy Muroi)

Voiced by: Yuzuru Fujimoto (Japanese ed.), Pietro Ubaldi (Italian ed.)

Best friend of the Hayami. Famous ethologist has lived a long time in Africa and took care of his two grandchildren Gaku and Riki who were orphaned of their parents after their death in a tragic car accident. An extremely intelligent man, he is also very attached to Persha whom he considers as a third granddaughter. Along with Simba, he turns out to be perhaps the most outspoken and likeable character in the series.

Gaku Muroi (室井 学 Muroi Gaku ?, in Italy Roby)

Voiced by: Keiichi Nanba (Japanese ed.), Fabio Tarascio and Massimo Di Benedetto (censored scenes) (Italian ed.)

Nephew of Dt. Muroi and twin brother of Riki. A nice, calm and sensitive 15-year-old teen is the most popular in school. Always in a quarrel with his brother, he is the more intellectual of the two, preferring manual work to sport. He will declare his feelings for Persha.

Riki Muroi (室井 力 Muroi Riki ?, in Italy Ricky)

Voiced by: Yū Mizushima (Japanese ed.), Guido Rutta and Lorenzo Scattorin (censored scenes) (Italian ed.)

Grandson of Dt. Muroi and twin brother of Gaku. Impulsive and stubborn 15-year-old teen is the opposite of his brother; very good in sports, he is the most athletic but also the most grotesque of the two. He has no real steady girlfriend, despite being romantically linked to Sayo.

Sayo Miyomo (御 友 小 夜 Miyomo Sayo?, In Italy Sheela)

Voiced by: Saeko Shimazu (Japanese ed.), Paola Tovaglia (Italian ed.)

Classmate and friend of the Muroi twins. Determined and nice, Sayo seems to prefer rough Riki to the diligent Gaku, who does not fail to unload loud punches in moments of strong jealousy.

Yoyoko Manabe (真 鍋 よ よ 子 Manabe Yoyoko?)

Voiced by: Sakurako Kishiro (Japanese ed.), Daniela Fava and Jenny De Cesarei (censored scenes) (Italian ed.)

A classmate of Persha. She has a crush on Gaku and is jealous of Persha, as she spends a lot of time with him.

GeraGera (ゲ ラ ゲ ラ? In Italy Dodo), PuriPuri (プ リ プ リ? In Italy Mila) & MesoMeso (メ ソ メ ソ? In Italy Mino)

Voiced respectively by: Shigeru Chiba, Yūko Mita and Sukekiyo Kameyama (Japanese ed.), Paolo Torrisi, Lisa Mazzotti and Federico Danti (Italian ed.)

The three creatures that help Persha in her adventure. They come from the planet Lovely Dream where they are asexual, but when they arrive on Earth they are forced to fall into the two genders becoming in the order: a boy, a girl and Ö (somewhere in between).

Norinobu (の り の ぶ Norinobu?)

Voiced by:? (Japanese ed.), Paolo Torrisi (Italian ed.)

Tōta Fuyuki (冬 木 冬 太 Fuyuki Tōta?)

Voiced by: Rika Fukami (Japanese ed.), Tullia Piredda and Lorella De Luca (censored scenes) (Italian ed.)

## Anime

The anime, produced by Studio Pierrot, consists of 48 episodes, which aired on Nippon Television from 6 July 1984 to 31 May 1985. The episodes were released first on VHS and then on DVD, while in the LD it was included as bonus a small music video titled ESCAPE!.

In Italy it was bought by Mediaset and initially announced on Italia 1 in the summer of 1985 with the name of Pelusha, but broadcast from September of the same year on Rete 4 with the final title inside the container Ciao Ciao . The series did not get, perhaps also for the choice of programming, the same success as the previous Creamy Mami, being less replicated than it.

The Italian version keeps almost all the original names of the characters, except that of the protagonist, her parents and very few others. Perhaps the real curiosity, in this sense, is precisely the original name "Persia" which in the same original adaptation was transliterated in all possible ways: it starts from "Persia", to pass to "Perusha" and "Pelsha", arriving at definitive "Pelsia" that from episode 4 is kept. There are also cuts of some scenes, such as the sequence of Roby's bathroom at Evelyn's house in episode 17, and the censorship of the entire episode 8. Yamato Video has distributed the DVDs restoring all the previously deleted scenes, including episode 8 dubbed in Italian for the occasion.