Hana no Ko Lunlun

This anime is one of my all time favorites. I have recently downloaded and watched the episodes all over again; and it made me very nostalgic. What young girl wouldn't like the story of a young girl's adventure of searching for magical objects? The story is also good for teaching children the difference between good and evil. I believe this anime will remain a classic. However, there was one point that surprised me. I remember one particular episode in Hana no Ko Run Run, which was about a stage actress always playing the role of a damsel in distress, but Run Run had changed that ... actress' destiny and she was able to diversify her roles. I was really disappointed when I couldn't find that particular episode, as it was my most favorite. Other than that the whole series is quite enjoyable.

Another day, another anime that i decided to review after finishing it. And this time, it's TOEI Animation's old anime that has become a classic both in Japan and in other countries like France and Italy.

Hana no Ko Lunlun is an original anime series that aired between 1979 to 1980 by, yours truly, TOEI Animation. The studio that has been famous for many magical girl anime series. Whether it's the early days of Maho Shojo like Himitsu no Akko-chan and Mahou Tsukai Sally or the beloved 90s anime Sailor Moon or the ever-so-popular Precure series. This one is yet another example of an iconic Magical ... Girl anime series that has become a classic after so many years after it's run thanks to many countries that aired and dubbed this anime like France, Italy, Brazil, etc.

It was also known for being the first ever Maho Shojo anime to receive an english dub long before DIC Entertainment got to dub Sailor Moon. But unfortunately, only a few episodes were dubbed and never again was made more after that.

Unfortunately, nothing has been heard about this anime again until TOEI Animation and Tencent announced that the remake is in production, but as of 2022, nothing has been announced any further than that.

It's a shame really, because this anime is considered an classic by many 80s kids and fans of the show for years now. But the question remains, is it as good as many people make it out to be? That where i'll have to find out:

Now before i start reviewing the anime, i'd like to inform you that i watched the anime with brazilian portuguese fansubs by Mastercorpfansubs, which has completed the entire anime in portuguese sub. so i went with that instead of finding the japanese RAW or the english subs. While the brazilian portuguese fansub isn't perfect, it's decent enough to understand the entire anime's story and characters as a whole.

Anyway, with that said, let's get into the story:

The story starts with two talking creatures by the name of Cateau and Nouveau, who are looking around the village for a girl who would accept the offer to go on a journey with them to find the flower of seven colors. In France, they found a girl by the name of "Lunlun Flower", an orphan girl who lives with her paternal grandparents at a flower shop. In there, they went ahead and explain everything that she needs to know before going on a journey. While Lunlun and her grandparents are surprised to see two animals talking like humans, they didn't mind it too much and took a listen to what they had to say. Anyway, Cateau and Nouveau explained that they wanted Lunlun to help them find the flower of seven colors and give it to her as an award for finding it. So, on Lunlun's 15th birthday, she decided to go with them and start their journey to find the flower of seven colors, where they encounter many people through out their journey. Whether to be begged for help or as an obstacle that keeps them away from getting it. And of course there are two evil people who will become Lunlun's one of those obstacles to her journey. And that is Togenishia and Yaboki. Who rather they try to stop her from getting the flower of seven colors, they want to follow her and keep her finding it. And once she finds it, they will do anything they can to capture it just so Togenishia would become the queen. Which of course they fail at making attempts either due to Yaboki's imcompetence or people like Serge (Lunlun's crush) or any other people preventing them from making such attempts. Also, just in case Lunlun stays protected, she's given the magical pin that can allow Lunlun to transfer the flowers' powers into her pin and give her each transformation to get past through many obstacles. So yeah, it's an long story of nothing but adventures, hardships, tribulations and battle to find this one flower of seven colors.

The show is very episodic. Each episode, Lunlun and friends is met with many people who always either need help or they are there to get into trouble and it's up to Lunlun and her friends to try to resolve the problems they have. Some that have to do with the loss of their parents, others that has to do with finding a long lost friend/family member, one that was about stopping people from destroying a place they loved as kids, one that was about a teenager wanting to go on a journey to go back home to live on his own and so much more. Almost each and every story is very heartbreaking, yet wholesome to see Lunlun helping them out when needed. But of course they have to be cautious with Yaboki and Togenishia's antics that will ruin their goals and dreams. But each time they start an antic, Lunlun or another person in the episode finds a way to resolve the problems with no issues or stop both Togenishia and Yaboki from causing anymore troubles. And at the end of the episode, Serge comes in to give the person in each episode the seeds for the flowers as a thanks for helping out and understand Lunlun better. Each episode also ends with how the name of the flowers mean. Whether it's about love, care, effort, sadness, betrayal, happiness, etc.

Now that we got how the story and the format of the episode works, let's give a look at some the characters.

First we have Lunlun Flower, who is the main character of the show. While she can be a pretty tomboyish and outspoken girl who loves to have fun, she can be a nice person and does anything she can to help those in need. But she also can get pretty frustrated and even sad when a person that she's helping does something that she does not like. Whether they are lying to her about their past or trying to cause her more trouble than giving her a hand. Then you have Lunlun's friends, Cateau and Nouveau. both Cateau and Nouveau serves as Lunlun's friends to help out to find the flower of seven colors and of course as the body guards to prevent her from something terrible happening to her. They also make sure that they can sense any danger that comes around them just in case Togenishia or Yaboki don't get in their way. Speaking of Togenishia and Yaboki, they are the main villains of this anime. With Togenishia being the selfish and whiny girl who only cares about getting the flower of seven colors just to become the queen, while Yaboki serves as her servant who always plans and makes desperate attempts to get to ruin people's lives, but not once has ever worked. Their only goal is to follow Lunlun in every step she's in to find the flower of seven colors just so once she finds it, they would capture it and get Togenishia to become the queen. And then there's Serge Flowa. Who usually comes at the end of the episode to give flower seeds to the people that helped and did everything for Lunlun to find the flower of seven colors as a thanks. He also at times comes in to rescure Lunlun whenever she's in a serious danger, as well. He's also the guy that Lunlun whose she has a crush on. Each episode introduces an character that would either be troubled with issues or they are there the cause troubles. Whether they are childrens, teenagers or adults. Not gonna spoil the whole anime just to ruin the characters' arc. But i will say that my personal favorite character arc so far is the one with Darif going to africa to visit his hometown and live there forever. It's a very serious but a nice arc to see how much he wants to go there to see his hometown.

Now what about the animation? Well, it did aged well to a certain degree. Sometimes it's colorful, other times it's depressing, but for the most part, it's very beautifully crafted to the point that i'm amazed with how much detail they put to the background animation just as much as the character designs thanks to Shingo Araki's design on the characters, even for 1979 standards. Sure there are moments where the animation can look a bit weird at times, but hey, it's an old anime, we can't expect too much from the 70s to have the same high standards as today's animes. Just accept that it's an product of it's time. And a good one at that.

And now for the audio. I think the audio is nice, too. It's much clearer to listen to the characters' voices even with a few bits that could've been better. The music can also be said the same. I loved the opening theme song sang by none other than Mitsuko Horie. Who was famous for the Voltes V theme song, Candy Candy, 80s Himitsu no Akko-chan, Sailor Moon and the ending theme song of the first Jewelpet anime. Same thing with the background music. It's relaxing, it's calming and it's very well orchestrated in each and every parts of the scenes.

And as far as the voice acting goes, it's definitely nice to listen, too. Probably better in Japanese than listening in any different language. Mari Okamoto did a great job as Lunlun. Giving an really adorable and lovely voice while she was 24-5 years old at the time. She's the voice of Ai Kaminari from Yatterman and Professor Lukic from Little Witch Academia. You also have Fuyumi Shiraishi as Cateau, who is known for voicing Mirai Yashima from Mobile Suit Gundam series and Bokko from Wonder 3. Then there's Takuzo Kamiyama who did the voice of Nouveau. Not much is known about him in anime other than being the voices of Shalulu from Laputa: Castle in the Sky and the second voice of Dayon from Osomatsu-kun in 1988. Sanji Hase as Yaboki, is also the voice of Suneo's father in the lost 1973 Doraemon anime and Chang "006" Changku from the 1979 Cyborg 009 anime series. Interesting about Michie Kita is that not only she was the voice of Togenishia in this anime, but also the narrator of this anime as well. So good on her, too. Unfortunately she hasn't had much roles in a long time. The last time she ever had a role was as Hana from Natsume Yuujinchou. But she was the voice of Nello Daas from The Dog of Flandres by Nippon Animation. So there's that going with. And then there's Yuu Mizushima as the voice of Serge Flowa. Who was quite a popular choice for a seiyuu to voice in as he was the voice of other characters in other animes. Like Toshio Ootomo in Creamy Mami, Luigi in the Super Mario anime OVAs and 1986 anime movie, Takeru Myojin from Rokushin Gattai Godmars, Ryo Asuka from the Devilman 80s OVAs, Clow Reed from Tsubasa Chronicles and oddly enough, Chang Changku in Cyborg 009 VS Devilman. Strange, huh? We have to same actors who would voice both the same character in Cyborg 009 at some point in time, right? Anyway, i could go on name many voice actors that i've heard in this anime, but i'm not going that far for that. The point is, everyone did a great job at giving and lending their voices to the characters they voice in and all of them did a wonderful job.

So. What do i have to conclude here? Well, it's a great anime! I loved everything about how it focus on flowers as the core theme of the show and how the story goes. The production of the anime is pretty good for it's time, even if it aged differently. Personally, it's definitely an very underrated show. One of the most underrated and unique Maho Shojo shows that i've seen in a while. A breath of fresh air after watching that atrocity that was Tokyo Mew Mew New and that disappointing Delicious Party Precure.

I would love to recommend people to check out the anime if you're a fan of retro anime or retro Maho Shojo anime, but the problem is that only a few japanese raw episodes has been subbed into english and the rest is all in french. So i think it's best to learn japanese and go for the RAW version just to experience this cultural classic that is Hana no Ko Lunlun.

Fortunately, like i said, i saw this anime in brazilian portuguese fansub, so i'm glad that i got to see what was i missing all this time. It's something that i've never seen before. The only retro Maho Shojo anime that i was more familiar with was Creamy Mami and Sailor Moon.

But whatever the case may be, no matter what country you're from, please watch Hana no Ko Lunlun. It's one of the most beautiful and gorgeous anime that you'll ever see in your life no matter how old it is.

As for my rating, i decided to give this anime an 9 out of 10. It's not exactly always perfect, but it's nearly close to being one.

Anyway, that's my review of Hana no Ko Lunlun. My name is José Diogo. And i'll see you guys next time! ;)