NG Knight Lamune & 40



"I am feeling... incredibly HotBlooded right now!!

Baba Lamune"

Our hero, Baba Lamune encounters a mysterious girl selling video games on his way home from school. When he gets back home, he starts playing the game he bought, named "King Sccacher". After playing for hours, he beats the game -- and then the girl who sold him the game comes out from the television. She introduces herself as Miruku (Milk) and asks him to save her world -- Hara-Hara World -- from a Evil Overlord. And then she promptly drags him into the TV before he could ask any question or say no... Humongous Mecha and Hilarity ensue.

NG Knight Lamune & 40 is a traditional and straight forward Young Hero Shonen series, which is quite a popular theme for the age group.

NG Knight Lamune & 40 premiered in 1990; it was never distributed by any English-language production company, despite the fact that it was dubbed in Arabic, Korean and Cantonese. The series was originally followed by 2 OVA series: NG Knight Lamune & 40 EX and then NG Knight Lamune & 40 DX. They were both aimed at an older age group than the original. In 1996, a full-fledged sequel, VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fire was broadcast. This version spawned its own OVA sequel, VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fresh -- which is both a Dork Age for the franchise and the only installment released in English (as Knights of Lamune).

Note: Not related in any way to the 2005 Lamune anime.

The Lamune & 40 franchise provides examples of:

 * Affectionate Parody: As expected since this IS written by Satoru Akahori
 * Anime Hair
 * Anime Theme Song: Both openings and endings
 * Animation Bump: The later episodes
 * Another Century's Episode: VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fire is set to appear in Portable.
 * Batman Can Breathe in Space: In fact, everyone can. The Doki-Doki Space seems to have air.
 * Big Eater: Milk
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: It's a common feature in Takehiko Ito's character designs, this also shows up in his other series, Outlaw Star, Ko Beast and Ryu Knight
 * Catch Phrase: For Lamune, it's "ORE WA IMA MOREZUNI!! NEKKETSU SHITERU!", which translates to "My blood is really boiling!! Right NOW!!", and for Da Cider, it's "Yatte yaruze!", which is a shout out to Kazuki Yao's previous role in Dancougar
 * Chisa Yokoyama: Milk
 * Edible Theme Naming: Lamune (after the Japanese soft drink), Milk, Cocoa,, Da Cider, and many more.
 * Fiery Redhead: More like "Fiery Magenta", but Milk and her Expy Parfait
 * Instant Cosplay Surprise: In the DX OVA, when Milk and Leska get enraged by Lamune and 's perverted intention to rescue two barely clothed beautiful ladies, they and their sister Cocoa pursue them  and punish them for their misdeeds.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Lamune is voiced by Takeshi Kusao, Milk is Chisa Yokoyama, Da Cider is Kazuki Yao, Leska is Naoko Matsui, and Cocoa is Sakiko Tamagawa
 * Hot-Blooded: AND HOW!
 * Hotter and Sexier: VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fresh. As a direct to video OVA, this series up the Fan Service to gratuitous nudity and far less subtle sexual references.
 * Humongous Mecha: There are of them in total. In the original series.
 * Idiot Hero
 * Kazuki Yao: Da Cider
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: The only part of the series released in English was the VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fresh, the Hotter and Sexier and Darker and Edgier OVA sequel to the VS Knight TV series.
 * Kyoko Hikami: Cacao
 * Legacy Character: VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fire has a boy named Lamunade take up the role of "Lamuness" after Lamune; the series eventually explores the history of the original Lamuness, and a future iteration of the cycle is a major plot point in Fresh.
 * Names to Know in Anime: Plenty, The original concept was created by Takehiko (Outlaw Star) Ito; Satoru Akahori wrote much of the story.
 * Naoko Matsui: Leska
 * Noodle People: Not as prominent as in CLAMP's works, but this is sort of another prominent feature in Takehiko Ito's character designs
 * Older Than They Look: Lamunedo, the protagonist of the second series looks like he's 10 (which is how old Lamune was in the first series), however Lamunedo's actually 15 and in middle school
 * Off-Model: One of the reasons why episode four is considered the worst episode of the first series
 * Pointy Ears: Basically everyone in Hara-Hara world, as well as some of the people in Doki Doki Space.
 * Sakiko Tamagawa: Cocoa
 * Shout-Out: Being a parody series, there are PLENTY of them
 * Super Robot Wars (It appears in NEO).
 * Takeshi Kusao: Lamune, as well as Lamunedo, and all of the Lamuness generations.
 * Tsundere: Milk, although this is actually one of the reasons why she's one of the most hilarious characters in this show.
 * This is also the case with Parfait in the second series
 * The late Tomoko Kawakami: Trumpet
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Parfait and Cacao, especially in the final OVA
 * Viewer-Friendly Interface: Controlling Humongous Mecha with 2 control rod? May be justified as the Target age group is low enought for that to be ok.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Da Cider, Cocoa, Cacao, and Drum
 * Yuka Imai: Drum
 * Yuko Miyamura: Parfait