Marvelous Melmo

Lore & Background

Marvelous Melmo centers on Melmo Watari, a nine-year-old girl whose mother is killed in an auto accident. While in Heaven, the mother is granted one wish: that Melmo may grow up more quickly to care for her younger brothers, Totoo and Touch. The mother visits Melmo as a ghost and gives her a bottle of candy from God. The blue candy turns Melmo into a 19-year-old version of herself; the red candy returns her to childhood. Combining both candies first turns her into a fetus, then into an animal of her choosing. In the anime, Melmo's clothes do not grow with her, often resulting in shredded or skin-tight clothing, leading to frequent panty shots. In the manga, her clothes change into whatever she desires.

Reader's Guide

Marvelous Melmo holds a unique place in anime history as one of the first magical girl series to incorporate overt sexual elements, such as panty shots, while also aiming to educate children about sex and evolution. Osamu Tezuka intended the series to function as introductory sex education and Darwinist education, which limited its broadcast to Japan and Italy. The series sparked controversy among Japanese parents, who found it difficult to answer the questions it raised. Despite this, the series has endured, with a 1998 renewal version airing on satellite and later on Tokyo MX. The manga and anime are closely aligned, with several manga stories adapted for television. Melmo also appears in other Tezuka works, notably in the Black Jack manga and Apollo no Uta.

Did You Know?

• The name 'Melmo' is derived from 'metamorphose'.
• Melmo's brother Totoo spends much of the series as a frog after eating a red and a blue candy.
• In the final episode, Melmo gives birth to a baby girl in whom her late mother's spirit resides.