Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure (マーメイドメロディーぴちぴちピッチピュア Māmeido Merodī Pichi Pichi Picchi Pyua^?) is the name given to the second season of the anime version of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, which in turn is based from the manga series created by Michiko Yokote (横手美智子), with artwork byPink Hanamori (花森ぴんく, Hanamori Pinku). The stories in this season correspond to chapters 21 to 30 of the manga. Produced by TV Aichi, it was shown on the TV Tokyo Network from April 3 to December 25, 2004.

This season differed strongly from the first, mainly in the quality of animation, especially in the last few episodes. They also reused stock footage. The secondary trio became a source of comic relief rather than plot complications, and the series' new "twist" was that all the new villains had image songs. Finally, the themes differed in that the series focused more on the trials of losing love, losing heart (literally and figuratively), and good decisions for one person always hurting another. While the first season was loosely based on the first half of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, this season was inspired by the second half, introducing a character named Michal who filled the role of Lucia's rival.

Storyline

Sara had forgiven Tarō Mitsuki for the mistakes he made in the past (her hate for him disappeared and her black hair reverted to its orange color). But since she became such a close friend to Gaito and she wanted to share his fate for everything he has done, she decided to entrust her orange pearl to Lucia and join Gaito in his demise. The Marine World may go back to normal, but it has one less Mermaid Princess.

Enter Seira, the new owner of the orange pearl. But she's not born yet; just a spirit who appears to Lucia in her dreams. In order for Seira to be born, her heart (心, kokoro) must merge with the orange pearl. But even before this happens, her heart is stolen by an angel named Michel. Lucia (together with Hanon and Rina) must retrieve pieces of her heart, even if she will face an almost unbeatable foe.

On the other hand, Kaito and Lucia love each other more, especially that Kaito has finally figured out that she is the mermaid who rescued him seven years before. But they are about to be separated once again when Kaito bounds for Hawaii to continue searching for the truth about his identity. But while in Hawaii, a surfing accident erases all of his memories. He is found and tended by a girl named Michal who has feelings for him. Lucia has to cope with this shock and attempt to let him remember at least some of his memories, especially of her.

Along with Lucia's romantic troubles, this season also highlights Hanon and Rina's love stories. Hanon rejects a persistent suitor, but finds newfound love with him after her fixation with her music teacher, Tarō Mitsuki, ends in disappointment. The story also covers Rina's first experience of love...

Many new villains and villainesses appear, including the return of some older characters. This season also features songs for the villains as well as newer ones for the mermaids.

Songs Used in the Anime (Second season)

For songs used in the first season, especially those used again for this season, refer to the article about the first season

[edit]Opening and Ending Songs

• "Before the Moment" by Eri Kitamura (Opening Song)
• "Ai no Ondo °C" by Lucia, Hanon, and Rina (Asumi Nakata, Hitomi Terakado, and Mayumi Asano) (Ending Song)
  Translation: The Temperature of Love°C

Mermaid Songs

They were either used as song used in battle or as image songs or both.

• "Mother Symphony" by Lucia, Hanon and Rina (Asumi Nakata, Hitomi Terakado, and Mayumi Asano)
• "Mizuiro no Senritsu" by Hanon (Hitomi Terakado)
  Translation: Aquamarine Melody
• "Piece of Love" by Rina (Mayumi Asano)
• "Nanatsu no Umi no Monogatari ~Pearls of Mermaid~" by Lucia, Hanon, and Rina (Asumi Nakata, Hitomi Terakado, and Mayumi Asano)
  Translation: The Story of the Seven Seas ~Pearls of Mermaid~
• "Beautiful Wish" by Seira (Eri Kitamura)
• "Kibou no Kaneoto ~Love goes on~" by Lucia, Hanon, and Rina (with Caren, Coco and Noel in second version, with Seira in third version, and with Aqua Regina in fourth version)

(Asumi Nakata, Hitomi Terakado, and Mayumi Asano; second version also includes Ema Kogure, Satomi Arai and Ryoko Nagata; third version also includes Eri Kitamura; fourth version also includes Kumi Yamakado)
Translation: The Sound of Hope ~Love goes on~

• "Birth Of Love" by Seira (Eri Kitamura)

Also songs from the first season are used (i.e. Legend of Mermaid, KODOU ~Perfect Harmony~, etc.).

Other Songs

• "Yami no Baroque" by the Black Beauty Sisters (Miki Tsuchiya and Noriko Shitaya)
  Translation: Baroque of Darkness (In this sense, "Darkness" refers to "evil", or "contaminated", not "lack of light")
• "Ankoku no Tsubasa" by Lady Bat (Sanae Kobayashi)
  Translation: Wings of Darkness
• "Hana to Chou no Serenade" by Lanhua (Megumi Kojima)
  Translation: Serenade of the Flowers and Butterflies
• "Star Mero Mero Heart" by Alala (Masayo Kurata)
  MeroMero refers to an onomatopoeic sound that represents the feeling of being drunk.
• "Oh Yeah! Alala" by Alala (Masayo Kurata)
• "Tsubasa wo Daite" by Michel (Junko Minagawa)
  Translation: Embraced in Wings
• "Ashita ga Mienakute" by Michal (Ryoko Shintani)
  Translation: Unable to See Tomorrow

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 (七海 るちあ 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 her pearl which she used to save a boy 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 るちあ. 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 (宝生 波音 Hōshō Hanon^?)

Voiced by: Hitomi Terakado

Hanon is the Mermaid Princess of the South Atlantic Ocean and keeper of the aqua (水色 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 (洞院 リナ 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. Also she likes to show funny picture stories. 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 intendedromanization is until it is established by official sources.

Internal Links

List of Mermaid Melody Characters