L'incantevole Creamy

The enchanting Creamy is a mahō shōjo anime, produced by Studio Pierrot and broadcast in Japan on Nippon Television between July 1983 and on June 1984 [1]. In Italy, where it is considered one of the most successful animated series [2], it was broadcast on Italia 1 between February and June 1985 [3]. The series also enjoys a manga transposition, distributed by Kōdansha parallel to the transmission, and four OAVs.

The enchanting Creamy (Mahō no tenshi Creamy Mami) is the first series in the saga of the sorceresses by Studio Pierrot, and is followed by Evelyn and the magic of a love dream (Mahō no yōsei Persha).

## Plot

Yū Morisawa, a lively, imaginative and full of dreams child, thanks to these qualities she manages to see a crystal ark in the sky, which very few other people in the world seem to be able to see. The PinoPino elf, from the planet Feather Star, to thank Yuu for having freed the ark from a storm of dreams, gives her a magical medallion in the shape of a compact that will allow her to do magic, which Yu will have to return after a year. The creature also leaves on Earth two creatures of his world, Posi and Nega, with the appearance of two kittens, who will watch over Yū and help her to use her new powers.

That same evening, Yu tries to use the powers of the medallion from which, according to the indications of Posi and Nega, he extracts a wand with which, through a magic formula, she finds herself transformed into a beautiful 16-year-old girl.

The following day, leaving home very early and transformed into a beautiful teenager, the girl accidentally stumbles upon the record producer Shingo Tachibana (Jingle Pentagramma, in Italy) who, struck by the beautiful girl, drags her into a program TV show to sing as a replacement for singer Megumi Ayase (Duenote Ayase) late on the lineup. This is where Yu, forced to choose a name for herself, will opt for Creamy Mami, as a tribute to her parents' crepe shop, Creamy Crêpe. The performance immediately turns out to be a success and Yū, although not at all interested in being a celebrity, in the face of the stifling prayers of the producer, will end up becoming exactly what Tachibana had in mind: a Japanese pop song icon under the guise of Creamy. Mami.

Yu begins a real double life complicated by the fact that, on pain of immediate loss of powers, he cannot reveal his double identity to anyone. She is thus forced to lie to her parents, Tetsuo (Filippo) and Natsume (Candida), and to her friends including Toshio, the boy she has always loved and who paradoxically will become the number one fan of the 'sweetest Mami'.

The story goes on at a fast pace until Christmas Eve when, during Mami's participation in the "NPB pops Festival", Toshio involuntarily witnesses the transformation of Yū into Mami: the magic wand completely loses its powers, and the girl, while managing to win a special jury prize, is distressed at not being able to go back to being Yū and have the opportunity to return home. Toshio, shocked in turn by what he saw, sets out in search of his friend and manages to reach her. Posi and Nega meanwhile try to get in touch with PinoPino by making sure that the "keeper of the ark" returns to the skies of Tokyo to pick up the two boys from the ground; the elf explains to Toshio that by discovering Mami's secret he automatically acquired the ability to make a wish: Toshio thus agrees to make Mami return to the Yu of always. Apparently the career of the mysterious singer thus seems to end, until, on the first day of the new year, Yū and Toshio are transported to the Feathered Star through the magical medallion that creates an interdimensional gap through a puddle. PinoPino secretly communicates to the boy his intent to restore magical powers to Yu, as long as he agrees to erase from his mind the memory that Yu and Mami are the same person. Toshio agrees to the removal of that part of his memory and Yu regains a new wand in the shape of a shooting star. On January 1st, Mami reappears to her audience, starting to work frantically again until she shoots two films and meeting new intriguing characters on her way.

Arriving close to the end of the year granted by PinoPino, Yū is informed by Posi and Nega that Mami will disappear exactly on the evening of June 30, and this forces her to struggle to manage to decline the long-term commitments that Tachibana wants to set for her. However, Mami manages to get the big concert for her first year of her career to be set for June 29th, right in the great central racecourse where the little girl had received magical powers. Having reached the fateful day, Mami sings all her songs giving the best of herself and proposing, in a stadium full of people, a fantastic show. With only one song missing at the end of his performance, however, PinoPino calls the girl back to the ark to get the medallion back, as Toshio, in the meantime, has managed to recover his memory. Only thanks to the pressing requests of Posi and Nega, but above all of the public claiming his idol despite a pouring rain, PinoPino agrees to let Mami sing his last song. Accompanied by wonderful magical-special effects created by the same ark, but which people think are the work of the same director, the magical girl sings the song of her dand ending the performance with a farewell farewell to his audience, under the astonished eyes of the producer Tachibana, the manager Kidokoro and the entire staff unaware of the reason for that greeting. After saying thanks to everyone once again, Mami disappears in a rainbow of lights, leaving an indelible memory and an immense melancholy. The animated series ends with the image of Yū and Toshio who, after seeing the ark start again, go away in the rain.

## Characters

The main characters

Yū Morisawa (森 沢 優 Morisawa Yū?) / Creamy Mami (ク リ ィ ミ ー マ ミ Kurīmī Mami?, In Italy only Creamy)

Voiced by: Takako Ohta (Japanese ed.), Donatella Fanfani / Cristina D'Avena (singing) (Italian ed.)

The protagonist of the series. Curious, lively and altruistic 10-year-old girl, with "quicksilver on", as her father defines her, is the "desperation" of her mother who always sees her too tomboy. She has always had a crush on her playmate Toshio, whom she has known since they were little. The ideogram of the protagonist's name corresponds to the meaning of kindness. Creamy Mami is Yū's magical counterpart. By chance he becomes "the magic angel of the song"; no one knows and will have to know his true identity.

Toshio Ōtomo (大 伴 俊 夫 Ōtomo Toshio?)

Voiced by: Yū Mizushima (Japanese ed.), Raffaele Farina (Italian ed.)

14-year-old boy, childhood friend of Yu and a huge fan of Creamy Mami. Although he struggles to admit it even to himself, he actually has feelings for Yu.

Midori Kisaragi (如月 み ど り Kisaragi Midori?)

Voiced by: Masahiro Anzai (Japanese ed.), Enrico Maggi (Italian ed.)

Toshio's best friend and classmate. Nice big boy in the flesh and very shy, he would like to win Yū's heart, but in the end he decides to give up because he understood that Yu is in love with Toshio, but in spite of everything he decides to remain his friend.

Posi (ポ ジ Poji?) & Nega (ネ ガ Nega?)

Voiced by: Yuko Mita and Kaneta Kimotsuki (Japanese ed.), Lidia Costanzo and Graziella Porta (Italian ed.)

Two alien creatures from the planet Feather Star (Feathered Star) with the appearance of kittens, the first white and pink with blue eyes, the second white and teal with pink eyes. They have the task of helping Yu in the use of his powers. "Posi" and "Nega" mean respectively positive and negative, reflecting the individual characters: sweet consoling the first and irascible pessimist the second.

PinoPino (ピ ノ ピ ノ Pinopino?)

Voiced by: Seiko Nakano (Japanese ed.), Gianfranco Gamba (Italian ed.)

A goblin-alien from the planet Feather Star that empowers Yu.

Other characters

Natsume Morisawa (森 沢 な つ め Morisawa Natsume ?, in Italy Candida Morisawa)

Voiced by: Mika Doi (Japanese ed.), Milena Albieri (Italian ed.)

Yū's mother, who runs Creamy Crêpe with her husband; youthful, romantic and sporty at the wheel, he is often irascible. She seems to be the real head of the family at home.

Tetsuo Morisawa (森 沢 哲夫 Morisawa Tetsuo ?, in Italy Filippo Morisawa)

Voiced by: Akira Murakami (Japanese ed.), Enrico Carabelli (Italian ed.)

Yū's father, who runs Creamy Crêpe with his wife; placid, jovial and a little careless, he is very often subjected to the impetuous decisions of his wife.

Shingo Tachibana (立 花 慎 悟 Tachibana Shingo ?, in Italy Jingle Pentagramma)

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese ed.), Antonello Governale (Italian ed.)

The president of Parthenon Production, Mami and Megumi's music label. Typical neurotic producer with great ambitions, sometimes a bit narcissistic, he is always the victim of huge slaps from Megumi, due to his greater attention to Mami.

Megumi Ayase (綾 瀬 め ぐ み Ayase Megumi ?, in Italy Duenote Ayase)

Voiced by: Saeko Shimazu (Japanese ed.), Lisa Mazzotti / Cristina D'Avena (singing) (Italian ed.)

Creamy Mami's colleague-enemy. Always in love with her producer Shingo, but little paid, as she prefers Creamy.

Hayato Kidokoro (木 所 隼 人 Kidokoro Hayato?)

Voiced by: Sukekiyo Kameyama (Japanese ed.), Antonio Paiola (Italian ed.)

Mami and Megumi's manager, he is most often referred to simply as "manager Kidokoro" (木 所 マ ネ ー ジ ャ ー Kidokoro manējā?). Constantly subjected to the wrath of Shingo, he is as bungling as he is likeable.

Mamoru Hidaka (日 高 守 Hidaka Mamoru?)

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

A classmate of Yu. A child from Hokkaidō, he still seems to be able to listen to the signals of nature as he grew up in one of the Japanese regions that remained untouched by modern life and tied to his traditional tastes.

Joe Snake (ス ネ ー ク ジ ョ ー Sunēku Jō ?, in Italy Joe Serpe)

Voiced by: Takashi Nakaki (Japanese ed.), Federico Danti (Italian ed.)

He is an unscrupulous journalist trying to find out Creamy Mami's true identity; eventually he will redeem himself by marrying a good girl and setting up a Japanese street food kiosk (probably okonomiyaki) with her.

## Anime

The anime, produced by Studio Pierrot, consists of 52 episodes, which aired on Nippon Television from 1 July 1983 to 29 June 1984. The series was created to promote Takako Ohta, a teenage idol singer, who is represented in the 'homonymous character, to which among other things he lends his voice; the opening theme is in fact his real debut single [4]. This proved to be a great success and the work is considered the pioneer of a marketing strategy, the "media mix" [5]. The episodes were released first on VHS and then on DVD and Blu-ray; starting from August 2006, they are available on demand on the GyaO platform.

In Italy it was purchased by Mediaset and was broadcast on Italia 1 [3] from 5 February to 1 June 1985 as part of the I Cartonissimi (spin-off of the broadcast Bim Bum Bam). The series achieved considerable success, and was subsequently repeatedly replicated. On 1 July 2013, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary, the first three episodes on Boing were exceptionally proposed, despite the fact that the series was not scheduled [6] [7].

The Italian version does not present serious censorship and retains almost all the original names of the characters, with the exception of Shingo Tachibana (changed to Jingle Pentagramma), Megumi Ayase (Duenote Ayase), Natsume Morisawa (Candida Morisawa), Tetsuo Morisawa (Filippo Morisawa) and Joe Snake (Joe Serpe). For the name of the protagonist, however, only "Creamy" was used, which was actually the adjective (creamy, very sweet), instead of the real name, Mami. Yamato Video distributed the DVDs collected in two box sets, while De Agostini released the single discs on newsstands in 2008.

## OAV

In addition to the television series, 4 OAVs were produced from 1984 to 1986, two of which were also broadcast in Italy. They came out on DVD long after their production, included as a bonus in the release of the series BOXES. Creamy Mami also appears in Mahō no tenshi Creamy Mami VS Mahō no princess Minky Momo: Gekijō no daikessen, a short released on June 15, 1985 in which she appears alongside Minky Momo in the series The magical world of Gigi, in Adesugata Mahō no san- nin musume, 1986 medium-length film together with Persha and Magical Emi, and in Majocco Club: Alien X - Terror from dimension A), a 1987 team-up in which the other three heroines of Pierrot are also present (Evelyn, Emi and Sandy ).