Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch , Māmeido Merodī Pichi Pichi Picchi?) is a shōjo manga and anime series created by Michiko Yokote, with artwork by Pink Hanamori. The manga was originally published in the monthly shōjo manga anthology Nakayoshi. There are 32 chapters published (including two special stories) and are compiled into seven volumes issued by Kodansha.
Pichi Pichi Pitch is loosely based upon the old Hans Christian Andersen version of "The Little Mermaid" tale, which is about the mermaid who falls in love with a human boy, and transforms into a human to win his heart.
The anime series was produced by TV Aichi. The first season of which, composed of 52 episodes, was shown on the TV Tokyo Network from April 05, 2003 to March 27, 2004. A second season, entitled Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure, lasted for 39 episodes and was aired from April 03 to December 25, 2004.
ADV Films acquired the license to the anime on June 2004 for its North American release, but was eventually dropped due to difficulty in finding backers and securing a TV airing deal. Although the anime has not since been re-licensed for an English language distribution, Del Rey Manga acquired the rights to publish the manga for the North American audience. It began releasing the manga on April 2006 under the title Pichi Pichi Pitch: Mermaid Melody.
Lucia, Mermaid Princess of the North Pacific Ocean, sets out to land to find the boy she saved from a shipwreck seven years before the beginning of the story, the boy to whom she entrusted her pink pearl. She eventually found the boy: a surfer named Kaito Dōmoto. But as the human form Lucia assumed, named Lucia Nanami, bears very little resemblance to her mermaid form, Kaito cannot recognize her. She cannot tell Kaito who she really is; otherwise, according to mermaid folklore, she would turn into foam. So she tries to convince Kaito into figuring out who she really is (since the legend does not say anything about the other person discovering a mermaid's true identity by himself).
At the same time, Lucia has been told that a group of water creatures or suiyō have invaded the marine world and she must gather the six other Mermaid Princesses and their pearls to bring back the legendary goddess Aqua Regina to stop them. To fulfill this, she joins forces with Hanon and Rina, Mermaid Princesses who came up to dry land, use their pearls, turn into singing idols, and use their voices as an offensive.Characters
Wherever possible, the spelling of the names are taken from the English translation of the Pichi Pichi Pitch manga. Otherwise, spellings are based on those used on official merchandise, or commonly-used fan transliterations.
Main Characters
Three DVD covers showing the three forms of the main characters Lucia (blonde hair), Hanon (blue hair), and Rina (seaweed green hair): mermaid (left cover), human (center cover), idol (right cover).
Lucia Nanami (Nanami Ruchia?)Voiced by: Asumi Nakata
Lucia is the Mermaid Princess of the North Pacific Ocean, keeper of the pink pearl, and the main character of the story. She goes up to land to search for a boy she saved seven years ago. She is unaware of the danger in the marine world and of her real mission until she is told of them by her "older sister", Nikora. She is characterized by her simplicity and naïveté, but with having a strong will, typical traits of shōjo manga heroines. Her idol form is Pink Pearl Voice. Of all the mermaids in the series, Lucia's mermaid form and human form contrast the most (Lucia has dark blonde hair and brown eyes in the surface while having lighter blonde hair and light blue eyes while at sea).
* Some fans in the West still spell her name as "Luchia," due to a misunderstanding of the spelling systems of different languages. The Italian name Lucia follows Italian spelling rules, which say that "c" is pronounced as a post-alveolar affricate (the same sound that is written as "ch" in English) when it appears before a front vowel (in this case, "i"). That pronunciation is correctly represented in Japanese kana as . When attempting to transliterate the kana back into Latin characters, some people, unaware of the Italian spelling of the name, tried using the English "ch" to represent that consonant, resulting in the incorrect spelling "Luchia".
Hanon Hōshō ( Hōshō Hanon?)
Voiced by: Hitomi Terakado
Hanon is the Mermaid Princess of the South Atlantic Ocean and keeper of the aqua mizu-iro "water-color") pearl. Unlike Lucia, Hanon goes up to land to escape water creatures. She is perky and feminine, yet a bit more worldly than her friend Lucia. This worldliness is evidenced by many of her actions—especially by her romantic pursuit of her music teacher, Tarō Mitsuki. Her idol form is Mizuiro (Aqua) Pearl Voice, although the first time that it is named in the manga, she is erroneously called Blue Pearl Voice.
Rina Tōin ( Tōin Rina?)
Voiced by: Mayumi Asano
Rina is the Mermaid Princess of the North Atlantic Ocean and keeper of the green pearl. Initially she is depicted as beautiful but stern and bent on revenge for the capture of her best friend, Noel. Later, however, she evolves into a more mature character, and acts as an older sister figure to Lucia and Hanon. She seems to love plasma TVs and shows this love in many anime episodes. Her idol form is Green Pearl Voice.
* Some fans in the West still spell her name as Lina, because the Japanese language does not distinguish the sounds "r" and "l", treating them as the same. This means that "ri" and "li" are both represented as リ, and it can be difficult to figure out what the intended romanization is until it is established by official sources.
Supporting Characters
Kaito Dōmoto ( Dōmoto Kaito?)
Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio
Kaito, the son of a pair of musicians, is an avid surfer, as well as Lucia's love interest. Though he is popular with girls, he is secretly in love with a beautiful mermaid who saved him from a shipwreck seven years ago, which killed his parents, and has yet to realize that this mermaid is Lucia. Later in the story, it is discovered that beneath Kaito's human exterior lie some distinctively un-human qualities and that he is a prince of an ancient water race and the younger twin brother of Gakuto. Kaito has a hard time when Lucia comes in her human form, because of having feelings for both her human form and her mermaid form. Kaito eventually realizes that the two are one, giving Kaito the ability to love Lucia no matter what form she is in.
Voiced by: Miyako Ito
Lucia's guardian who serves as her guide. Hippo accompanies Lucia in her search for her pink pearl, and is among those who voice disapproval of her relationship with Kaito. He is also polite, always putting , -san after every name, even when angry. In the anime, he is shown as Lucia's pet penguin. Later on, he is able to transform into a very cute human boy, as well as a creature called a Hippocampus.
Nikora Nanami ( Nanami Nikora?)
Voiced by: Eri Saito
Nikora is the virtual manager of the "petit-hotel" Pearl Piari , puchi-hoteru pāru piari?) on land, where Lucia, Hanon, and Rina work (in the manga, she is the owner of a bath house called Pearl Waters). A purple mermaid, she poses as Lucia's older sister in order to inform her of her mission. In the last chapter of the manga, it is discovered that she is seven years older than Lucia.
Madame Taki ( Taki-san?)
Voiced by: Kumi Yamakado
Madame Taki is the owner of the Pearl Piari. A fairly major character in the anime who is a fortune teller and friend to the mermaid princesses.
Tarō Mitsuki ( Mitsuki Tarō?)
Voiced by: Daisuke Kirii
Tarō is Lucia's music teacher and Hanon's love interest (she refers to him as Tarō-chan). He had met a mermaid in the past, and made a piano piece for her, not knowing what happened to her after their last meeting.
Noel (ノエル, Noeru?)
Voiced by: Ryoko Nagata
Noel is the Mermaid Princess of the Arctic Ocean and keeper of the deep blue ( ai-iro) pearl. She helped Rina escape from the sea monsters, which led to her capture. She is calm, gentle, caring, and studious (as she sometimes wears glasses on land later in the second season of the anime). She is Caren's older twin sister by about a minute at the most. Noel cares deeply for Caren, the one that she had always wanted to meet. Her idol form is Ai-iro (Deep Blue) Pearl Voice.
* In the third volume of the English manga, ai-iro was translated as indigo, but deep blue makes more sense regarding the character's colour scheme; the colours may be based on the rainbow, but Lucia is pink, not red. It is yet to be seen whether this will be corrected.
* Some refer to Noel's name as Noelle, because originally Noel is a male name, while Noelle is the female form, but the official English translation as well as the official Japanese romanization uses Noel.
Caren ( Karen?)
Voiced by: Ema Kogure
Caren is the Mermaid Princess of the Antarctic Ocean, keeper of the purple pearl, and twin sister of Noel. In the anime, she first appears as the winner of a beauty contest that the main trio enters; in the manga, she first appears to save them from the Dark Lovers. In the first season, Tarō asks her about his mermaid, and she later blames Rina for Noel's kidnapping. Even after things are straightened out, she chooses to go find Noel alone. She is Noel's polar opposite, having a mysterious personality.
Caren and Noel are twins, born on opposite sides of the Earth. When Caren finally meets Noel, she launches herself at Noel, hugging her and calling her Onee-sama, a respectful term for big sister. Even though the two had not met before, Caren cares most for Noel and would do anything to save her, even if it meant Caren having to find here on her own. While she is cold and distant in the first season, she is found to be wild, humorous, and even a bit strange in the second. Her idol form is Purple Pearl Voice.
Coco ( Koko?)
Voiced by: Satomi Arai
Coco is the Mermaid Princess of the South Pacific Ocean and keeper of the yellow pearl. She is incarcerated by the sea monsters for most of the first season, so not much is known about her. In the manga, however, she is a friend of fellow Mermaid Princess Sara. Later, she found to be playful and gentle in the manga, yet brash and outspoken in the anime. Her idol form is Yellow Pearl Voice.
Aqua Regina , Akua Rejīna-sama?)
Voiced by: Kumi Yamakado
Aqua Regina is the ocean goddess who gives the Mermaid Princesses new songs and upgrades for their gear. However, this is all that she can do alone after expending a great deal of energy thousands of years ago. She is needed to ultimately stop the sea monsters, and the seven pearls have to be gathered to summon her; Gaito/Gakuto seeks to summon her as well, so that he can use her to destroy the world. Aqua Regina later gives bands to the mermaids to upgrade their singing power; as in many magical girl series, this is signified by adding frills and accessories to their dresses. She also upgrades their microphones in the end of season one, before she is finally summoned. At the end of the manga, Aqua Regina reveals that Lucia is to be her successor.
Sara's servant (, Bāya?)
This old woman only appears in the manga. She is Sara's servant and guardian from childhood, and worries about Sara's involvement with Gakuto. However, Sara treats the woman like garbage and refuses to listen to her. The old woman therefore helps the princesses in secret to atone for what her ward has become. She is actually at the root of the incident that caused the events in the story.
Antagonists
Gakuto ( Gakuto?)
Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio
Gakuto is the leader of the sea monsters who is bent on taking over the marine world. He is always depicted drinking wine, and wearing black. His resemblance to Kaito made the latter a subject of initial ire by Rina. He is known in the anime as Gaito (ガイト). (There is no definite reason for the name change, but one obvious reason is to distinguish him from J-Pop star Gackt, whose name is spelled the same way in katakana. In the Del Rey manga translation, his name is spelled Gackto in order to emphasize the comparison between the character and the singer.) He is in one episode turned into Kaito and seems to get feelings for Lucia's human form.
The Dark Lovers (Dāku Rabāzu?)
Gakuto's four female followers who serve him in exchange for his love for them. There are composed of the following:
Izuru (Izūru?)
Voiced by: Sayori Ishizuka
Izuru is the most mature of the four, she has the power to control waves and marine beasts and has the ability to create dragons from water. She is also the most obsessed with winning the heart of Gakuto.
Eriru ( Eriru?)
Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka
Eriru is the one with the multiple personality disorder. At one phase, she is cute, beady-eyed, and acting as if she were antsy (spinning around and never saying any normal speech). In another phase she can speak correctly and is more observant of her surroundings. In her third phase, when threatened (or when she spins around), she becomes scary, her eyes glow red, and she changes her voice accordingly.
Maria ( Maria?)
Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi
Maria is the one closest to Gakuto in terms of love. She is also very cruel at times, and sometimes seems to see Gakuto more as a boy-toy than a love prospect. She has the power to make and/or manipulate ice and snow.
Yūri ( Yūri?)
Voiced by: Chieko Honda
Yūri is the youngest-looking of the four. She has the ability to control people and objects, especially with the use of her music and, if any, a nearby piano. Although Yūri is loyal to Gakuto, his continued treatment of her as a child leads her to a star-crossed relationship with Hippo, i.e. his human form.
The Black Beauty Sisters: Mimi and Sheshe (Screenshot from eyecatch)
Black Beauty Sisters ( Burakku Byūtī Shizutāzu?)
They're composed of the red-wearing older sister Sheshe , Shisutā Sheshe?, Voiced by: Miki Tsuchiya) and the blue-wearing younger sister Mimi ( Shisutā Mimi?, Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya). Gakuto hires them after the Dark Lovers' failed attempts to capture the Mermaid Princesses. These two have the ability to sing tunes more powerful than the songs the Mermaid Princesses themselves sing, although in the anime and the second arc of the manga, the Princesses manage to get strong enough to overpower them. Though Gakuto turned them back to their original forms (two angler fishes), they were brought back in the second season. Their group name is usually shortened by fans to BBS.
Sara ( Sara?)
Voiced by: Kana Ueda
Sara is the Mermaid Princess of the Indian Ocean and keeper of the orange pearl. She joins Gakuto in his quest to take over the marine world after an incident bestowed her a dark power, turning both her orange hair and her orange pearl pitch black (though her eyes stay orange) and destroying her own kingdom.
That incident was a proposed rendezvous with Tarō, her secret human lover, in which he never showed up. (In the manga, he actually arrived before, but Sara's guardian found out about the relationship and insisted that he leave, convincing Sara that he had abandoned her.) In a fury, Sara unleashed a wave of power, destroying her kingdom and causing the wave which killed Kaito's parents and from which Lucia saved Kaito. In the manga, her villain name is Black Pearl Voice and she transforms into an idol in a black dress reminiscent of a diva.
However, in the anime, she does not transform until she turns good, and instead has the power to sing offensively in a humanoid, amphibious form like the villains and mermaid idols, with or without her E-pitch. In the end, she decides to join the other mermaids as is her duty. She, herself, seals the gate to Gakuto's castle in the book because it's her duty and she unsealed the gate after her kingdom was destroyed.
In the TV show, Aqua Regina seals the gate and Sara goes with Gaito because she loves him. The manga shows that she goes with him because she realizes that he is the one that needs her the most and that what he did was partly out of love for her and the want to make her happy. She also appears in the second season as a spirit, informing Lucia of the future Orange Pearl Voice and offering her assistance where she can. Sara is also seen singing with the other mermaid princesses in the very last episode of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure.
