Lalabel


Lalabel, also known as Lalabel, The Magical Girl or Magical Girl Lalabel, is a magical girl anime television series by Toei Animation. It aired from 15 February 1980 to 27 February 1981 on TV Asahi.
A 15 minutes long "movie" special called Magical Girl Lalabel: the Sea Calls for a Summer Vacation was also created, it aired in Japan in July 1980.
Although Eiko Fujiwara is often credited as the "creator" of the series, Lalabel was actually an original Toei Animation creation, and Fujiwara drew the spin-off manga published by Shogakukan. Masaki Tsuji was brought on board as the series' head writer, but due to various circumstances he scripted only the first episode, and the remaining episodes were given to a rotation of four other writers.
Lalabel would be the last magical girl anime created by Toei Animation until the 1988 remake of Himitsu no Akko-chan. Toei producers believed that girls in the target demographic for series like Lalabel demanded romantic adventures more than magical girl shows, and thus the series that followed in Lalabel's time slot was the non-magical-girl series Hello! Sandybell, which featured many of the same staff. In the meantime, other studios, particularly Studio Pierrot, would assume the magical girl mantle that Toei had abandoned.

Story

Lalabel is a magical girl who has a magic wand and a magic case full of magic items. She owns a kitten as a pet. She lives happily in the magic world, until the day she sees the thief Biscus stealing all the magic tools. Startled by her sudden appearance, Biscus swings his magic wand around with dismay. They fall into the human world under the influence of the wand's magic power.
While unconscious, Lalabel is found by an elderly couple, the Tachibanas. They take her home, and upon finding out that she is an orphan, decide to let her stay with them. Lalabel decides to stay until she can capture Biscus. She attends school with Teko, the granddaughter of the Tachibanas, and Toko. She slowly develops a sense of humour and pathos, and finds herself falling in love. Whenever she sees Biscus performing his bad deeds, she has to stop him. Finally Lalabel writes proverbs related to the events of the day in her diary.
Living in the human world, Lalabel discovers fascinating aspects of human beings and finds herself happy there. In the last episode, after the last battle between Lalabel and Biscus, both magic cases are emptied of magic items and vanish, rendering both of them completely human. The villains reform and promise not to bother Lalabel or any of her friends anymore. Lalabel, Teko and Toko move on up to play.

Characters

The main character. She is a magical girl from the magic world. One night, while she is sleeping, her magical items wake her up, and she sees Biscus stealing two magical briefcases. After being pulled to Earth by Biscus, she is adopted by the Tachibanas, and decides to stay until she can capture Biscus and return home. Being from the magical world, she is very naive about Earth customs. Her wand was made into a real life toy, the first case of magical girl merchandise.
A very fat thief of and the main antagonist. He stole two magical briefcases from the magical realm Lalabel lived in, but after being surprised by Lalabel, he transports the two of them to Earth, losing one of the briefcases in the process. While on Earth, he shacks up with a ramen stand owner, Hokiba, who is as greedy and nasty as himself. He tries to swindle people with his magic powers while trying to steal Lalabel's briefcase. He has a grey cat as nasty and horrid as himself.
The kind old couple who let Lalabel stay with them. Mrs Tachibana is the typical kindly grandmother figure, and made Lalabel's signature pink dress. Mr Tachibana is cynical and does not like magic. After Lalabel saves him from drowning, he starts to warm up to her and her magic. He is the one who comes up with the proverbs Lalabel writes.
The granddaughter of the Tachibanas and a friend of Lalabel. She wears glasses and pigtails. She lives with her grandparents due to her parents working overseas.
Friend to Lalabel and Teko. Sometimes she's mistaken as a boy because of her masculine outfits. Together she and Teko form the typical "tomboy and girly-girl" duo seen in many early magical-girl series.
Biscus' sidekick. Very often involved in Biscus' swindling schemes and runs a ramen stand. He is characterized by a leaf attached to his cowlick.
The rich girl in Lalabel, Teko, and Toko's class. She has a snobbish attitude towards Teko and Toko and uses her privilege to get her way. Lalabel saved her from being hit by her father's construction vehicles that were ignoring a sidewalk Lalabel and friends use to get to school, just so he could speedily finish a major project in town.

International titles

The opening theme Hello Lalabel and the ending theme Mahou Shōjo Lalabel were sung by Mitsuko Horie.