Love Me, My Knight
Plot summary. "Ai Shite Knight" is set in Osaka and tells the story of Yaeko "Yakko" Mitamura, an 18-year-old girl working in her father's Okonomiyaki restaurant. One day Yakko meets a little boy named Hashizo and his odd cat Juliano. Hashizo had lost both parents when still a baby and has been brought up by his elder brother Go. Go Kato is the lead singer of the emerging rock band "Bee Hive." When Yakko meets Go and his friend and "Bee Hive" member Satomi Okawa, an unexpected series of events and a tangled  romance unfold. The main narrative of "Ai Shite Knight" is essentially a love story, but has interesting and innovative elements introduced to it by Kaoru Tada, most notably the portrayal of the Japanese music scene in the early '80s. In creating characters such as Go, Satomi and their band "Bee Hive", Tada was inspired by well-known bands of the time such as "The Stalin", "Novela", "Primadonna" and "44Magnum." Tada also plays with sexual provocation and sexual ambiguity, mainly embodied by the character of "Kiss Relish" vocalist Kazuma Kataoka/Sheila, although these elements were considerably toned down in the anime  version of the story. Media. Manga. The manga is available in English through BookWalker and Kindle. Anime. The anime version of "Ai Shite Knight" was produced by Toei Animation in 1983–1984, for a total of 42 episodes directed by Osamu Kasai, a veteran Toei director. The "Ai Shite Knight" anime presents some significant changes in the storyline and modifications in the characters' stories, and covers only one part of the story narrated by Tada in the manga. It was developed to target a younger audience than that of the manga with some aspects toned down and simplified. Famous voice actress  and pop idol Mitsuko Horie provided the voice of Yakko in the anime. Isao Sasaki was the voice of Go, Katsuji Mori of Satomi, Takeshi Aono of Shige-San, and Yūko Mita of Hashizo. Masa Amamori provided the voice of Juliano. Mitsuko Horie also sang "Koi wa Totsuzen" ("Love is sudden"), the song featured in the opening credits of each episode. Episode list. 1. "The Boy, the Cat, and the Cool Guy" (March 1, 1983) 2. "Juliano the Misogynist" (March 8, 1983) 3. "Too early for a kiss" (March 15, 1983) 4. "The Destined Rock-n-Roll" (March 22, 1983 ) 5. "Go and Yakko's Wedding Figurine" (March 29, 1983) 6. "Midnight Platonic Love" (April 5, 1983) 7. "The Maiden Falls in a Love Triangle" (April 12, 1983) 8. "Forgotten Love Song" (April 19, 1983) 9. "The Illusion of a Kiss" (April 26, 1983) 10. "The Birthday Present of Love" (May 3, 1983) 11. "Farewell, Mr. Go" (May 10, 1983) 12. "The Jigsaw Puzzle of Love" (May 17, 1983) 13. "The Freeway of Sadness" (May 24, 1983) 14. "A Nocturne of Love and Loss" (May 31, 1983) 15. "Hashizo's Been Kidnapped" (June 7, 1983) 16. "Long Live Rock and  Roll" (June 14, 1983) 17. "Juliano's A Jolly Good Fellow" (June 21, 1983) 18. "Yakko's Rainbow-Colored Scat" (June 28, 1983) 19. "Hashizo's Birthday" (July 5, 1983) 20. "Lonely Little Boy in the Dark of Night" (July 12, 1983) 21. "Go! Go! Bee Hive" (July 19, 1983) 22. "The Long Beach at Dawn" (July 26, 1983) 23. "A Steamy Kiss Amongst the White Birches" (August 2, 1983) 24. "A Duet in the Heart of the Storm" (August 9, 1983) 25. "Summer Festival Samba" (August 16, 1983) 26. "Hot Vocals on the Lakeshore" (August 23, 1983) 27. "A  Passionate Exchange" (August 30, 1983) 28. "Yakko's First Kiss" (September 6, 1983) 29. "Baby, I Love You" (September 13, 1983) 30. "A Love Song Beneath the Starry Sky" (September 20, 1983) 31. "The Return of the Wedding Dolls" (September 27, 1983) 32. "A Wedding of Love and Sadness" (October 11, 1983) 33. "My Lonely Heart" (November 1, 1983) 34. "A Prelude to Parting" (November 8, 1983) 35. "The Broken Rhythm Machine" (November 22, 1983) 36. "The Flame of Love: Fire!" (November 29, 1983) 37. "Lullaby of Paris" (December 6, 1983) 38. "Melody For A Little Star" (December 13, 1983 ) 39. "Rock 'n Roll Cupid" (December 20, 1983) 40. "A Snow-Colored Ballad" (January 10, 1984) 41. "The Lovers' Concerto" (January 17, 1984) 42. "Wedding Bells for Mr. Go" (January 24, 1984) Music. The main reason why the anime version of "Ai Shite Knight" is particularly famous is because it features, for the first time ever, original songs within the episodes, a plot device which will be very successful in subsequent anime series such as Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami and – more recently – Nana. The songs were performed by "Bee Hive" and the rival band "Kiss Relish" and they popular  enough to be released in a companion album. Joe Hisaishi, who has composed the music for Hayao Miyazaki's movies, collaborated with composer Nozomu Aoki in writing and arranging the songs. The original songs featured in the anime are: Performed by "Bee Hive" Performed by "Kiss Relish" A collection of all the original songs are featured in an album called "Debut-Bee Hive", which was produced in Japan immediately after the end of the anime series. Subsequently, a tribute album titled "Aishite Night - Hit Kyoku Shu "Yakko, I Love You"" was also released, and it included the opening and closing  songs of the series, as well as tribute songs for the various characters arranged on some of the background music used throughout the anime. Internationalization. The anime also became extremely popular in Europe with the title "Rock'n'roll kids" in Germany, "Embrasse-moi, Lucile" and "Lucile, Amour et Rock 'n Roll" in France, and "Kiss me Licia" in Italy, as well as "Bésame Licia" in Spanish. The anime series was so popular in Italy that it spawned a successful domestically produced Italian live-action teen soap opera, which ran for 145 episodes through four series ("Love me Licia," "Licia dolce Licia ," "Teneramente Licia," and "Balliamo e cantiamo con Licia") on Italian TV from 1986 to 1988. Cristina D'Avena, who performed the Italian theme song to the anime series, played Licia (Yakko) in the live-action version. Versions of the songs in several languages also exist because of the popularity of "Ai Shite Knight" outside Japan. In Italy, Switzerland, Malta and Slovenia, "Bee Hive" became teenagers' idols, especially when the live action sequels to "Ai Shite Knight" were aired and featured new songs performed by the band, which were awarded even gold and platinum status. The "Bee Hive" members in the live  action series were: Manuel De Peppe, Marco Bellavia and Giovanni Colombo left for the third season, so three new characters were introduced: Marco Bellavia returned for the fourth and final season.