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[R1 DVD art]
AKA: 魔法の天使クリィミーマミ (Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami), Magical Angel Creamy Mami
Genre: Magical girl
Length: Television series, 52 episodes, 25 minutes each
Distributor: Currently available streaming on Midnight Pulp, Amazon Prime Video/AsianCrush and Tubitv.
Content Rating: G (nothing objectionable)
Related Series: Creamy Mami (OAVs), Creamy Mami the Movie: Long Way Home
Also Recommended: Chance Pop Session, Fancy Lala, Full Moon o Sagashite, Hime-chan's Ribbon, any other Studio Pierrot 80s magical girl show
Notes: There was a manga version based off the anime (rather than the other way around) published under the Kodansha Comics Carol line.
Rating:

Creamy Mami

Synopsis

Morisawa Yuu is a tomboyish girl who lives in the small town of Creamy-ga-Oka. One day, though, she is abducted by aliens and after returning, is granted the power to transform into an adult by saying "Pamporu pimporu pimpoppun!" She heads off to have some fun with her powers and is inevitably spotted by a talent agent looking for a new hit idol singer. Under the stage name of "Creamy Mami" (from the name of her parents' crepe shop, "Creamy Crepes"), Yuu becomes a star ... but how can she keep her secret?


Review

Anyone who knows me knows that I like shoujo anime very much, and I especially like magical girl anime (which probably comes from the fact that my first anime was Sailor Moon). I've seen lots of magical girl anime, some of it doinky (like Wedding Peach) and some of it very, very good (like Full Moon o Sagashite), but I had never, ever seen one of the Studio Pierrot 80s magical girl anime that kickstarted the "Modern Era" of magical girl anime before. So when I found some new digisubs of the Creamy Mami TV series I knew I had to see them. And so I did.

Creamy Mami isn't the first magical girl anime (that honor belongs to Mahoutsukai Sally, which was also the first shoujo anime in general), but it does have a lot of the trappings of old fashioned magical girl anime. Unlike Sailor Moon, it doesn't have the heroine using her powers to fight evil, nor does it have a team of magical girls (that concept was actually started by Sailor Moon). Instead it has a heroine who simply uses her powers for the heck of it, usually becoming an idol singer or an actress or a model in her transformed form, with the powers expiring after a year. Although this plot is a little cliched nowadays, I was still able to enjoy it.

Since this is an old-fashioned magical girl anime, Creamy Mami has two mascots, Pigu and Mogu, who take the form of plushies. If you have ever seen Full Moon o Sagashite, I suppose you could say they are like Takuto and Meroko. They do the usual mascot things such as warning Yuu not to misuse her powers, and not to tell others about them. Yuu herself is your Typical Shoujo Heroine, energetic but very naive, and as usual in these sorts of things she has a boyfriend who is in love with Mami, but not Yuu herself.

As for the animation ... well, this was done in the early 80s, so the character designs are a bit old-looking, especially Mami's, with her, um, very 80s-idol hairstyle. The color is also a bit faded, since the show is so old, but fortunately it doesn't look like the colors were mixed in a toilet bowl (unlike a more recent Studio Pierrot anime, Naruto). I said once that there are three kinds of Studio Pierrot animation quality: The Good, The Bad, and The Doinky. I suppose the animation in Creamy Mami can be considered a bit good considering it was done in the early 80s and all. The music is also a bit dated and very representative of typical J-pop idol songs in this time period ... especially the OP.

Overall, doinkies liked Creamy Mami. It's not the "Best Anime Ever", and it might seem very cliched today, but at least it's better than Wedding Peach ...

A good glimpse into exactly what magical girl anime were like back in the 80s. Add a star if you can't get enough of magical girls, and subtract two stars if you despise magical girls or you hate old anime. Jennifer Berman

Recommended Audience: This anime was intended for little girls, so aside from a brief panty shot in the first episode when Yuu is being lifted up into the spaceship, it's OK for little kids of all ages.



Version(s) Viewed: digital source
Review Status: Partial (5/52)
Creamy Mami © 1982 Studio Pierrot
 
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