Popular 1980s Magical Girl Anime Might Get a Revival

Magical girl fans might have some good news later this year – and this time it’s not Sailor Moon. According to rumors, an established 1980s magical girl series has a new anime project in production.

The information comes from SugoiLITE and FUCE00, two social media accounts specializing in leaks – so there is a good chance this is true, and an official announcement might drop soon.

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According to the information, a new Minky Momo anime project is in the works right now. There is no further information regarding what this new series is about (if it is a new series, it could be a reboot), neither any release window nor announcement window.

What Is Minky Moko About?

Minky Momo is a magical girl anime series created by Takeshi Shudo and produced by Ashi Productions. It originally aired in 1982-1983 in Japan.

In the story, Momo is the princess of Fenarinarsa, the land of the dreams in the sky. However, the kingdom is in danger – since humans are losing their abilities to dream and hope, her fairy tale-like kingdom might disappear.

Her parents decide to send her to Earth to make humans regain their hopes and dreams. With her magical abilities, she transforms into a grown-up version of herself and takes many roles/professions (from police officer to veterinarian) to solve problems and bring happiness to those in trouble.

While this might sound cute, Momo is mostly known for two things: earthquakes and the fact that the main character dies during the series. The first one is because a big earthquake occurred when the last episode aired in 1983. When the series re-aired in 1994-1995, the final episode was broadcast on the same day that the 1995 Kobe earthquake happened. Minor earthquakes occurred when the series was airing, but the 1983 and 1995 ones unfortunately caused many damage and fatalities – fans make jokes, but these were serious and tragic events.

The second one is because the toy company that sponsored the series decided to pull their sponsorship due to poor toy sales (despite good audience rates), and, as a protest, the animation team changed the story, making Momo die after being hit by a truck carrying toys – she reincarnates as human and the series continues for a few more episodes.

A second series was later produced in the 1990s, featuring a new Momo as the main character, this Momo is from the land of Marinarsa.

Minky Momo was first released in English as The Magical World of Gigi by Harmony Gold (creator of Robotech) – this version, dubbed in English, aired in Australia. The character is known as Gigi in some other countries.

The Revival of an Old Project?

Actually, this could be an old project. Back in 2006, Takeshi Shudo stated he would like to make a new television series. In 2009, AshiPro announced a new production, but no information has been released ever since – Shudo’s unexpected death in 2010 likely froze the production.

While information about this planned series has been released to the public, there have been rumors that the 2005 Miracle Dream Minky Momo manga by Yamabe Yoshina is based on a planned anime project – it features a third Momo, the princess of Leafinasa (transliteration not official). It’s likely the manga was based on drafts of the project that AshiPro was producing in 2009.

Other options include a reboot, a commemorative movie, or a third anime series different from the one that was originally planned.

Source: X (formerly Twitter), (2)