Mamotte! Lollipop

Save Me! Lollipop
まもって! ロリポップ
Genre	Romance, Drama, Comedy. Adventure
Manga
Written by	Michiyo Kikuta
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	Del Rey Manga Tanoshimi
Magazine	Nakayoshi
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	February 2003 – July 2005
Volumes	7
Anime
Directed by	Noriyoshi Nakamura
Studio	Sunshine Corporation
Released	6 July 2006 – 24 September 2006

Mamotte! Lollipop (まもって! ロリポップ, Mamotte! Roripoppu) is a Japanese shōjo manga by Michiyo Kikuta (菊田 みちよ, Kikuta Michiyo). It serialized in the shōjo magazine Nakayoshi published by Kodansha from February 2003 to July 2005. The Mamotte! Lollipop TV anime aired from July 6, 2006 to September 24,2006 in Japan on Tokyo MX TV. It is licensed in English by Del Rey Manga in North America and Tanoshimi in the United Kingdom. There is a sequel called Modotte! Mamotte! Lollipop (もどって! まもって! ロリポップ, Modotte! Mamotte! Roripoppu), and a side-story called Milcute vs. Lollipop (ロリポップVSみるきゅーと, Roripoppu vs. Mirukyūto). The English language licenser of the anime is FUNimation Entertainment, which will be distributing it under the title Save Me! Lollipop. Funimation plans to release the anime on February 24, 2009.

Story

Nina Yamada is a junior high 7th grader who dreams about a boy who is strong, handsome, and kind enough to protect her. One day, Nina "accidentally" swallowed a Crystal Pearl that she assumed was candy. But the Crystal Pearl was the goal of a sorcery examination. Nina is the new Crystal Pearl which is targeted by many probationer sorcerers and goes on for half a year. During this whole mix up, she meets two magician boys named Zero and Ichi and comes to a conclusion that they can protect her until a potion is made to remove the Crystal Pearl from her. However, this potion will take about 6 months to complete. Even at school and at home, Zero and Ichii protect Nina where ever she goes. This is a romantic comedy shōjo manga warmed up by Zero & Ichii, the boys who protect Nina and their other rivals: examinees for the Magical Exam, such as San, Forte, Gô and Rokka. This series also has a second series called Modotte! Mamotte! Lollipop! where Nina, Zero and Ichi are in year 9 and are taking the Advanced Magical Exam.

Characters

Nina Yamada

Nina Yamada (山田二菜(ニナ), Yamada Nina)

Voiced by: Yui Shoji (Japanese); Brittney Karbowski (English)

Birthday : March 14

Blood Type : O

Height : 154 cm or 5'1"

Nina is a 7th grade girl with an aggressive character, though Nina has also a caring character, a child-like sweet teenager most of the time. She doesn't take insults very well, for example, the scene in episode 3 shows that Rokka began to insult Nina after Ichi told Rokka Nina was important to him, which made Rokka angry she began to insult her, calling her "You ugly girl! Big legs! Short legs! Shorty! Smashed nose! Fat lower-body! No boobs!" (Given the translations of the Japanese anime.) Nina reacts by cowering for a second,(in a corner) after Rokka insults her again saying has no boobs compared to hers. But Nina shows her aggressive character, but was stopped by Ichi who guarded Nina from being insulted from Rokka again.

She is targeted by many sorcerer examinees because she accidentally swallowed the Crystal Pearl which they need to pass their professional magician exam. Zero and Ichi are her guardians. Her hobby is to stretch, or do sit-ups.

Her name is similar to the Japanese word for the number "two" which is "Ni". "Na" means "name".

Nina is extremely bad at all forms of housework, but she does not seem to realize this. In the end she decides that she loves Zero. In one of the manga, Nina and Zero kiss when Heart attacked them (causing smoke everywhere)but Nina didn't know until Zero confessed it to her at the end of Volume 5. In volume 6 Nina realizes that Zero is her one true love.

In volume seven of Modotte! Mamotte Lollipop, as an adult of twenty two years, she is depicted with shorter hair and lives in the magic world. She later on accepts Zero's proposal of marriage.

Will

He is a professional wizard who came in the middle of the wizard test to give a mid-term exam to Zero and the others. He kidnapped Nina and the examinees have to save her. He stole Nina's voice and gave Zero and Ichi the option to give up the test to get Nina's voice back or, to give up Nina's voice to pass the test and, Zero and Ichi combined their attacks towards each other to capture Will and defeat him. Therefore, all the examiners passed the mid-term test and Nina got her voice back

He has a pet cat named Aquamarine that can talk. It is the familiar of the gem that was used for his exam.(an aquamarine)

Rill

Voiced by: Cherami Leigh (English)

A professional wizard that has blonde hair. Around Volume 5, he comes to the human world to give Nina the potion that would get the Crystal Pearl out of her. He can also see the future and saw that Nina would drink the potion even though she said she wouldn't because she didn't want to leave Zero and Ichi. In the anime, his name is changed to Riru.

He has a pet raven named Ruby that can talk. It is the familiar of the gem that was used for his exam.(a ruby)

Pearl

When Nina drank the potion to get the Crystal Pearl out of her, the pearl would always come back to her even though she gave it to Zero and Ichi and soon, hatched into a "familiar" of the pearl. He is named after the pearl, like Aquamarine and Ruby were named after their gems. It is like a mini blue dragon that breathes fire and talks. Zero would bother Pearl by calling his horns "ears" since they look like ears. Pearl likes Ichi better because Ichi doesn't make fun of its horns and gave Pearl a collar.

For Pearl to grow bigger, Pearl must absorb the magical powers from Nina but, (as Nina is just an average human), he would always complain that he'll never grow bigger. To do so, he needs to impart revelations.

The examinees

Zero

Zero (ゼロ, Zero)

Voiced by: Miki Ōtani (Japanese); Eric Vale (English)

Birthday : August 10

Blood Type : B

Height : 160 cm or 5'3"

Zero has aqua blue hair and is left handed. He also enjoys eating chocolate and meat while he dislikes eating peppers and other people who are after the crystal pearl. He is very obnoxious and often insults Nina by calling her a "baka" or "boke" meaning a fool or an idiot. However, he truly wants to protect her but he never really shows it. His specialty is "destruction magic". He is in love with Nina but, has to go away because the exam was over. However, he later came back, saying "You better not cheat on me." In one manga, he says that Nina is the only girl he wants to protect in the world when his magic was taken away.

Also, he has a catchphrase: Viva choro, Okay! He says this instead of just "okay". Viva is a Spanish exclamation, "choro" is basically "easy" in Japanese, and okay, is okay. The author tries to fit this catchphrase into each volume once.

His name means "zero" in Japanese as well. In the last volume, when he is twenty three, he proposes to Nina and she accepts.

Ichi

Ichi (イチイ, Ichi)

Voiced by: Ryota Nakamura (Japanese); J. Michael Tatum (English)

Birthday : November 11

Blood Type : AB

Height : 175 cm or 5'9"

He is kinder than Zero and is kinder to Nina and acts much more grown-up. He had a rough past, but opened up more ever since that day he met Zero, approximately three years ago. His specialty is "defense magic".

His name means "one". He has brown hair. He is two years older than Nina.

In volume 6, he admits that he is in love with Nina. In a side story in the last volume, ten years into the future, he marries Rokka when he realizes he is in love with her.

The competitors

Forte Sheared

Forte Sheared (フォルテ・シェラルド, Forute Sherarudo)

Voiced by: Noriko Namiki (Japanese); Greg Ayres (English)

His specialty is hypnotism and he can control enemies by playing his flute. He is from a noble family in Magic Society. His partner, San, is his cousin. Forte is also usually ruled over by San, often resulting in petty arguments between the two. He is often forced by San to cross-dress. It was also noted in an extra story that he is the only person to see San cry.

Forte is often called "For-chan", so his name (distantly) means "four". His name has another meaning. He plays the flute, so he must look at a music sheet before playing. And on a music sheet, "forte" means "play loud".

San Sheared

San Sheared (サン・シェラルド, San Sherarudo, romanized as 'Sun' in the English language manga)

Voiced by: Momoko Saitō (Japanese); Monica Rial (English)

She is an innocent, but sometimes cruel girl. Her specialty is summoning; she can summon lots of extraordinary things like cats with extremely long legs, oversized flying fish, or snakes that are as long as whatever. San has extremely strong magic power, but she was hated by her family from when she was very young, and was thought as 'cursed' when she was a child. Her mother died from an illness from when she was a child and thus was blamed for her mother's death. San only trusts Forte who always had been protecting her. Her name is San, which is the Japanese word for "three".

Rokka

Rokka (ロッカ, Rokka)

Voiced by: Sakura Nogawa (Japanese); Luci Christian (English)

She is a 5 year old girl, but she can transform into a 14 year old grown-up lady. She fell in love with Ichi when she was lost in strange city and he found her. When Nina first saw her kiss Ichi, she was upset, not knowing she was just actually 5 years of age. Rokka often tries to do harm to Nina, once turning Nina into a baby so Zero and Ichi could not recognize her. She also had prepared a love potion to cast on Ichi, but Nina accidentally poured the potion into a pot full of curry by mistaking it as salt and made everyone except for Ichi and Rokka fall in love with her.

Her name sounds like a feminine version of "roku", the Japanese word for "six". Ten years into the future, Rokka is still in love with Ichi. He asks for her hand in marriage and she accepts.

Go

Go (ゴウ, Gō)

Voiced by: Yukari Kokubun (Japanese); John Burgmeier (English)

His specialty is phantom magic. He is a servant of Rokka and always watching over her. He is the only person who can chide Rokka. His name literally means "five". In POP5, It is revealed that Gō collects bonsai trees and it is his treasure.

Nanase Akatsuki

Voiced by:Sean Michael Teague (English)

Another examinee. At first Nina thinks he is a girl, but later discovers he likes to cross dress. He hates Zero for revealing his true identity as a boy in their magic cram school. He is partnered with Yakumo. When Nanase and Yakumo first met, Yakumo also mistook Nanase for a girl when he helped him from other teasing kids. Nanase also declared this would be the 'Age of pretty boys.' It is also known that in volume 4, that Nanase came back home from training with Yakumo and he heard that he had a fan club of boys thinking that he was a girl. They thought that Yakumo was going out with Nanase-chan and they were doing bad things to him such as dogs chasing him, making pits so he would fall in and hurt himself, and leaving trash on the floor so he would trip and fall. He received a letter later that day from Nanase's fan club to break up with Nanase. He was furious, and when he started to beat up Nanase, his fan club found out that he was a boy and then they disbanded.

Yakumo Ishi

Voiced by: Todd Haberkorn (English)

Another examinee. He is partnered with Nanase. He likes Nina, which annoys Zero and Ichi. He "kidnapped" Nina once with Nanase and took her to a beach, thus continuing the Mamotte! Lollipop beach chapter.

Toto

Voiced by: Anthony Bowling

Another examinee. The partner of Kuku. They are the 9th and 10th examinees. He has a crush on Kuku, but Kuku used to loved Zero. Toto then stopped Kuku from casting a spell and told her he knew exactly how it felt to love someone who loves someone else. After, Kuku and Toto went back to the Magical World, and then fell in love with one another.

Kuku

Voiced by: Colleen Clinkenbeard (English)

Another examinee. The one who encounter Nina while Nina is rushing to school. She is actually a girl and the fiancee of Zero. When she saw Nina and Zero together, she thought Zero was cheating on her,and she turned them both into animals (Nina-squirrel and Zero-dog). After, she turned the whole school into animals. She called off the engagement and spell when she realized Toto loved her and she developed the same feelings.

Eleven

Voiced by: Kimberly Whalen (English)

An examinee that has red hair. She is partnered with Twelve, a blue haired examinee. They can predict love by asking someone multiple questions then, find who their soul-mates are based on the answers. It is "predicted" that the one Nina loves is Ichi but then, later on, it is "predicted" that Nina will marry Zero. Eleven and Twelve made their first appearance in Volume 3.

Twelve

Voiced by: Chris Burnett (English)

An examinee that has blue hair and is paired up with Eleven. They can "predict" a person's soul-mate. Made first appearance in Volume 3 with Eleven.

Tomi

Voiced by: Scott Freeman (English)

An examinee with the power of fire. He is paired up with Iyo which happens to be a monster. Made his first appearance in Volume 4. Examinee 13.

Iyo

Voiced by: Sonny Strait (English)

A monster that is paired up with Tomi. Strange enough, examinee 14.

Fifteen

Voiced by: Kelley Johnson (English)

The older sister of Sixteen and has the power of ice. She has long blue hair. Made her first appearance in Volume 4 and was teaming up with Tomi and Iyo causing "Flame Blizzard".

Sixteen

Voiced by: Carrie Savage (English)

The younger sister to Fifteen. She has short sky blue hair. Her first appearance was in Volume 4.

King

The leader of a group of thieves. A long time ago, he and his twin sister Queen lived in a happy kingdom until one day, the kingdom was attacked by a monster called Joker. He planned on capturing the familiar (the pearl) to use his strong magical powers to free Queen, but ever since he found out that Nina Yamada is a powerful witch with magical powers, he wanted to capture Nina so he can absorb her magical powers into the picture that the Queen has been sealed into in order to free her.

Queen

King's twin sister. Her kingdom got destroyed and thus, she has been sealed into a painting. She can move and talk in the picture only by magical treasures. To unseal her, she needs treasures too. Except lately, the seal is breaking. But, in order to truly free her, she needs some kind of magical power thus, why King and his crew are trying to capture Nina.

Heart

A girl with short hair (used to longer hair) that wears bikini-like clothing and throws explosive hula-hoops. She tried to make Nina eat a poison apple when Nina's class was doing the Snow White play.

A member of King's crew.

Spade

A man with glasses. He has a long spade earring. He absorbed Zero's magic powers into a bottle in Volume 6 because he said that those who are in the way of capturing Nina will be eliminated and Zero was trying to make it up to her for being a jerk saying that her chocolate sucked on valentines day... (she had made it herself with Rokka and San). Spade thought of Zero as an annoyance and took away his powers.

A member of King's crew.

Clover

A cute little boy that trapped Nina, Ichi, Rokka, Go, Forte, and San inside a box. They couldn't leave until they found the person their special someone. They couldn't get out of that box until they were emotionally connected to someone in that box. Like when San and Forte touched each other when they were looking for each other, they just disappeared and Nina was wondering if they escaped from the box. Since Zero didn't get captured, Ichi told her to think of him as her "number one", as they were falling off a cliff and then Ichi kissed her and they escaped from the box Clover had trapped them in. Once they got out, Ichi sort of confessed his feelings for her, saying that he loved her.

Member of King's crew. He was born under the lucky star.

Diamond

A woman who wears a sort of "police" outfit. She is overprotective of Clover and once summoned snakes to bite Nina so Nina's TRUE wizard powers can release. After the bite, for a day or so, when ever Nina "wished" or "hoped" for something, it came true. Diamond was telling Spade that it only lasted a day or two because it caused physical stress.

Music

• Opening Theme:"Poppin' Heart ha Hitotsu Dake?" by Clover
• Ending Theme: "Kyun-Kyun-Panic" by MOSAIC.WAV

External links

• FANTASTIC WORLD - Michiyo Kikuta's website
• Mamotte! Lollipop (anime) Official web site
• Mamotte! Lollipop at Anime News Network
  • Mamotte! Lollipop (anime) at Anime News Network
  • Modotte! Mamotte! Lollipop at Anime News Network
• Funimation's Save me! Lollipop Web Site