Majokko Tickle
Majokko Tickle (魔女っ子チックル, Majokko Chikkuru), also known as Magical Girl Tickle or Tickle the Witch Girl, is a 1970s magical girl manga and anime by Go Nagai. Unlike Nagai's earlier Cutie Honey, Majokko Tickle is much similar in structure to Toei Animation's previous slate of magical girl series, with a younger demographic than the former. The anime television series was produced by Toei Company in association with Kaze Productions and Neomedia and animated by Nippon Sunrise. It consisted of 45 episodes and was aired across Japan on TV Asahi from March 6, 1978, to January 29, 1979. StoryChiko, a shy Japanese schoolgirl, receives a book as a gift from her father on her eleventh birthday. When Chiko opens the book, she releases Tickle (pronounced "Chikkuru" in Japanese, similarly to "Chiko"), a mischievous witch who was imprisoned inside the book for playing pranks on people. At first, Chiko doesn't believe Tickle is a witch, and tells her to prove it. Tickle delivers Chiko's scarf to her friend Miko (who had just moved to Hokkaido, and promised to be around for Chiko's birthday). Once Chiko realizes the truth, she is happy to befriend Tickle. Tickle casts a spell, and Chiko is surprised when her mother tells her and her "sister" Tickle to come down for dinner. Tickle reveals that in order to avoid awkward questions about where she came from, she will pass herself off as Chiko's twin sister. Tickle uses her powers to solve everyday problems and, of course, to continue playing tricks on people (particularly Chiko's annoying kid sister, Hina). Like other magical girls, Tickle has a special phrase she uses to cast a spell: "Maharu Tamara Furampa" (translated as "Sparkle, Twinkle, Magic will be"). Although the series is mostly light-hearted and whimsical, episodes contain a few serious themes, such as children being teased for being overweight or ugly. The series also features a reversal of expectations, as Tickle is from another world, and does things in her own unique way. CharactersLucky Pair
Family
Elementary schoolTickle's classmates
Other students
Teachers and school staff
Magic Kingdom
ProductionMajokko Tickle is the first Toei-produced magical girl series since Majokko Megu-chan, which had finished airing in September 1975. The premise of the series to feature "double heroines" (consisting of Tickle and her human "twin sister" Chiko, a "lucky pair" as described in the series) was reportedly based on the pop duo Pink Lady's performing style, involving singing and dancing in unison. The duo were tremendously popular at the time of the series's inception, with their song "Southpaw" later being utilized in an episode of the show as Tickle, Chiko, and Hina watch them perform on television. Masaki Tsuji, longtime friend of Nagai and head writer on his earlier series Devilman, Dororon Enma-kun, and Cutie Honey, contributed scripts to Tickle. Lyrics to the opening theme were written by Nagai. Animation was not contributed to by Toei's animation department themselves, instead outsourced to Nippon Sunrise. DistributionForeign dubbingThe series was dubbed into other languages and broadcast in several other countries, including Italy (Lilli, un guaio tira l'altro), France (Magique Tickle, drole de fee or "Tickle the Funny Fairy"), Turkey, and Poland (Magiczne Igraszki). In Italy, the opening theme song was an instrumental version of the original Japanese theme by Mitsuko Horie, and the Polish version (aired on Polonia 1) retains the original Japanese vocal themes, but an entirely different song was used in the French version. The Polish dub does not feature actual Polish voice actors, but simply a reading of Polish-language dialogue by a female voiceover artist over the original Japanese dialogue. A Spanish dub, titled Cosquillas Mágicas, was also aired in Spain on the Antena 3 network. The Italian, French and Spanish dubs also have completely replaced the music and effects track from the original Japanese version. Home mediaSince the copyright of the series belongs to Toei Co. Ltd. and not Toei Animation, a VHS and LD release was not possible. Additionally due to this situation, Tickle's appearance in the 1999 role-playing video game Majokko Daisakusen: Little Witching Mischiefs (which featured magical girls from Toei Animation TV series from 1966–1981, including Cutie Honey, Megu-chan, Sally, and Akko-chan among others) was not possible. The series had been released for the home video market by Toei Video in Japan in 4 DVD sets of two discs between 2005 and 2006. Anime staffSource: Anime News Network; Anime Memorial, The Anime Encyclopedia by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy
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