Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch

With a pichi pichi voice, live start!

Pichi Pichi Pitch combined two subcategories of Magical Girl -- the Magic Idol Singer (sans Older Alter Ego for once in the genre) and the Magical Girl Warrior-- in a sugary show and maturing manga that took style and substance from the original The Little Mermaid story and plunked it into a magical world of princesses battling demons.

Nanami Lucia is the new girl in town, and with her foreign name, clumsy nature and odd talking penguin friend Hippo (more of a nagging guardian than anything), she's got enough problems. Of course, she's also the regent monarch of the North Pacific Ocean, with the title of Pink Pearl Princess -- except she lost her pink pearl. And by "lost", she means "gave away", to save a drowning boy back when she was six. The boy turns out to be school idol and international competitive surfer Doumoto Kaito, and he's being targeted by the same league of sea demons that destroyed the kingdoms of the Atlantic princesses Hanon and Rina and kidnapped the Arctic and South Pacific princesses. Lucia (now with her pearl back), Hanon and Rina have to save those two, find the other two princesses that disappeared after the attacks, and navigate Lucia's love life, except, oh yeah, mermaid legend goes that confessing your identity to a human will turn you into seafoam.

Although the anime is sugary and child-friendly, and the manga was serialized in the cute Nakayoshi, the latter is a lot more dark and mature. Lucia and Kaito have a lot more subtext going on, embarrassing situations are more so (for example, in the manga, Lucia accidentally wins a beachside beauty contest when her bikini top comes undone, flashing the audience; in the anime, another girl wins and Lucia's much more modest suit is saved) and there's a bit of gore and more threatening villains.

Another thing that sets the Pichi Pichi mermaids apart from their contemporaries is the combination of the Magic Idol Singer and Magical Girl Warrior. Lucia and friends need their pearls to sing, and sing well; their singing voices can defeat the enemies, and upgrades come via new songs for their repertoires. Each girl, except for Noel and Coco, who spend most of their time in the background, also gets her own Image Song that can be used either in battle or in dramatic situations. In the second season and the second half of the first, some villains also get their own songs, and due to So Last Season, the old songs are only good for dramatic moments, making it even more like a musical.

Once licensed by ADV Films, only to be dropped a year later when they couldn't find a TV deal for the 52-episode first season. The manga is licensed and has been released in its entirety by Del Rey.

Tropes used in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch include:

Adaptation Dye Job: Rina's hair colours are more muted in the anime, while Seira and good!Sara have orange hair all the time instead of changing to brown as humans. Even Lucia's blonder in the anime; in the manga, her human form's hair looks more brown.
Aerith and Bob: The national origins of the names are varied and don't match up with the national origins of the people who have them. Mermaids have it worst, but the Amagi family [uh, Licht and Michal?] and Kaito's family do it too.
All Just a Dream: The New Year's episode.
Androcles' Lion: Momo-chan, animals in a few fillers.
Anime Theme Song
Animorphism: Inversion.
Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Mermaids can't harm other mermaids with their songs. Which creates a Plot Hole when Sara does exactly that.
Ascended Extra: Madame Taki and, to a lesser extent, the Black Beauty Sisters.
Bait and Switch Credits: Pure season's opening pairs up Lucia/Rihito, Michal/Kaito, Hanon/Nagisa and Rina/Masahiro. The first two aren't canon. In fact, the first is barely implied unrequited love from Rihito's side.
Beach Episode: The setting helps.
Bedsheet Ghost
Big Fancy House: Michal's and Rihito's is big and fancy. Kaito's is big, but not really fancy.
Bishonen: Several, most notably Kaito.
Bizarre Alien Biology: Mermaids get drunk off of cola in the manga.
Boobs of Steel: In season 1, Sara is not only the most well-endowed mermaid, but is also the most powerful princess.
- Lucia herself. Look how stacked she is, particularly in the manga. If that's not enough, after her life-saving upgrade at the end of the manga, it looks like she grew another cup!
Bratty Half-Pint: Yuuri, the loli of the Dark Lovers, who is seen by the others as a pest; also, Seira begins as this before she gets the pieces of her heart back.
Brown Note: Their songs are their weapons.
Busman's Holiday: Even in Antarctica.
By the Power of Greyskull: Anime only, see Invocation.
Calling Your Attacks: After a song ends, the mermaids shout "Love Shower Pitch!". In the manga [and the video games, if you get a perfect score], Love Shower Pitch is Lucia's personal attack, and the others each call out something different.
Canon Immigrant: Kura-chan, a mascot from the anime, appeared briefly in the manga. The manga also likes to use the songs from the anime.
Can't Catch Up: Caren, Noel and Coco, Anviliciously so in the anime.
Casanova Wannabe: Lucia seems to be the victim of many of these, especially in fillers and early on establishing her relationship with Kaito.
Celebrity Is Overrated: The New Year's episode.
Censor Steam: Manga-only, though; the anime just avoided the scenes altogether.
Christmas Episode
Chromatic Arrangement: It follows this so well that Hanon appears to forget the word "aqua" in the manga when she and Lucia meet up with Rina.
City of Adventure
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The Purple Harp.
Clark Kenting: Aversion.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Michal.
Clothing Damage: Kaito. Frequently in the manga.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience
Continuity Cameo: Kura-chan.
Cool Big Sis: Nikora.
Creepy Cool Crosses: Crosses are the symbol of the Panthalassa people, appearing on their foreheads when they use their powers.
Cross-Dressing Voices: Hippo, Michel, Nagisa and Lady Bat are all played by females in the original Japanese version.
Cross-Popping Veins: Complete with comedic sound effect.
Crucified Hero Shot: Near the end of the manga.
Curtains Match the Window: Every mermaid but Lucia.
Cut Himself Shaving
Cut Song: From some of the dubs and the licensed games.
Cute Shotaro Boy: The human version of Hippo.
Darker and Edgier: The manga, at least compared to the anime. Part of this is because the manga was aimed at teenagers while the anime was aimed at younger audiences. One example is Maria trying to molest Kaito at one point of the manga (the scene was cut off from the anime).
Deadpan Snarker: Hippo; early on, Caren.
Deal with the Devil: The Great One's creation.
Demonic Invaders
Demoted to Extra: Coco, Noel and Caren.
Disc One Final Boss: (Gackto in the first arc.)
Distinguishing Mark: Tarou thinks his mermaid girlfriend is distinguishable for her long hair. Too bad all mermaids have it.
Do They Know It's Christmas Time?
Dogged Nice Guy: Nagisa, although it finally pays off.
Don't Say Such Stupid Things
Doomed Hometown: Not Lucia's, actually, but most characters'.
Dramatic Wind: Used several times in the anime. ...even underwater.
Dreadful Musician: Mermaids without their pearls. Also, Luchia intended to sing to Kaito to show him that she was the mermaid, but she got too nervous and her singing resulted in this.
Drunk on Milk: Carbonated beverages get Mermaids drunk in the manga. This happens to Lucia while trying to take care of a sick Kaito. In the anime, it's replaced with a magic MacGuffin mood changer that goes haywire.
Dude, She's Like, in a Coma: Dude, he's, like, sick and half-asleep... and you're drunk.
Dude, Where's My Reward?: In one episode, Lucia saves the beachside beauty contest, which she doesn't win.
Eleventh-Hour Superpower: KODOU, Kibou no Kaneoto.
The End of the World as We Know It
Everything Fades: The result of the anime making death scenes more child-friendly.
Everything's Better with Princesses: Eight of them, plus two princes.
Evil Minions: The Dark Lovers, the Winged Ones.
Evil Overlord: Gackto.
Evil Redheads: Sheshe, Izuuru, Sara, Lady Bat.
Extraordinarily Empowered Girl
Eyecatch: Usually marked with whichever character is most important to the episode.
Eyes of Gold: Coco, Sara; Seira's look more orange.
Fan Service: Mostly Kaito.
Festival Episode
Filler
Finger-Suck Healing: Kaito does this to Lucia in an early episode.
First Kiss: For each of the main heroines.
Five Races: Humans (Mundane), mermaids (Fairy), Ancients (High Men), Panthalassa and Suiyou (both High Men + Fairy).
Flash Back: Think of one instance where said flashback doesn't either contain a song, the implications of an attack song, or background music of the character singing in the present.
Four Is Death: Four Dark Lovers and four Winged Ones.
Freudian Trio: Both Hanon and Luchia have very Id tendencies, which leaves Rina the roles of both Ego and Superego to moderate them.
"Friend or Idol?" Decision: Many, many times.
Frilly Upgrade
Gender Blender Name: Nagisa, male, Makoto, male, and Noel, female.
Generic Cuteness
Ghibli Hills: The river, the beach.
Girlish Pigtails: Lucia in mermaid and idol form.
Go-Karting with Bowser: Episode 39; the main trio and the Dark Lovers play games at the hotel. The mermaids are aware of their identities.
- Episode 79; Mimi (in disguise) and the mermaids (in human form) hang out with each other. They aren't aware of each other's identity.
Gondor Calls for Aid
Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: There are bad mermaids and good Panthalassa, too.
Gotta Catch Them All: Tweaked, as the "items" are actually, in part, the characters.
Grand Finale
Gratuitous English: Pinku paaru voisu!
Green Lantern Ring: While the main effect of the Mermaid Princess' songs is to make enemies cover their ears and run away, they also do things like make force fields, reverse mind control, restore memories, make people hallucinate, and light candles.
Hair Colors: Apparently an indicator of race in the mermaid world, except for pink mermaids, who can have any hair colour; this loophole was likely invented simply for the sake of making Lucia a blonde.
"Happy Holidays" Dress: Lucia owns one.
Heart Symbol: At the end of songs.
Henshin Hero
Heroic Sacrifice: Noel for Rina, Caren for the three protagonists, Seira for everyone. None of these involve death though.
Hufflepuff House: The mermaid's kingdoms aren't given much importance.
Humanity Ensues: Hippo.
"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Hanon and Sara, later Licht and The Great One.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Tarou and Hanon both do this.
Idol Singer: All of them, as well as Lucia's [anime-only] idol Jennifer.
Ill Girl: Michal.
Image Song: Noel and Coco don't get one.
Imagine Spot: Most are from Hanon and Luchia.
In the Name of the Moon
Inconsistent Dub: The Italian dub songs. For example, Lucia's japanese image song, Splash Dream, was not given an Italian counterpart. Therefore, when a scene would call for it, the Italian Lucia would sing either Torno all'Oceano (which is actually the italian counterpart of Hanon's song Ever Blue) or a random song from their established repertoire. Which, of course, caused confusion in certain episodes, such as the episode where, for whatever reason, Hanon ended up singing Stella Preziosa (Rina's song).
Indirect Kiss
Invisible to Normals: A perk of the girls' powers is that the crowds often seem to think that they're idol singers.
Invocation: The transformation phrases in the manga, if that's what they are and not their names. The anime turns them into necessary transformation phrases.
The Jimmy Hart Version: Some songs from the Italian version sound like their Japanese counterparts; also, and importantly, Michel and Michal's songs.
Joshikousei
Jossed: The Great One is not Michal. Or Aqua Regina.
Keet: Nagisa.
The Lancer: The lance gets tossed around to most of the team, all in the hopes of making Lucia less of a ditz.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Literally in the manga.
Let's Get Dangerous: Caren, Noel and Coco in the end of the manga. Hippo gets a few of these moments in both versions.
Lighter and Softer: The anime.
The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Lanhua creates a karaoke club and Lady Bat creates a divination tent. In the same piece of land, no less. But in different episodes.
Lonely Rich Kid: Both Kaito and Michal.
Love Dodecahedron: More like a love chain: Nagisa->Hanon->Tarou->Sara<->Gackto<-Dark Lovers, and just to make things more complicated, Yuuri, one of the Dark Lovers, falls in love with Hippo.
Love Makes You Evil: The Dark Lovers and Sara. Michal is a subversion; she pulled a Face Heel Turn, but didn't turn evil.
Love Redeems: Gaito and Sara.
Love Triangle: Lucia-Kaito-Michal.
Lovely Angels: Referenced in the climax of the manga, where Caren, Coco and Noel actually get to do something!
Loves My Alter Ego
Magic Idol Singer
Magic Music
Magical Girl
Man Behind the Man: Fuku is the devious mind behind the events of Cure, not Michel.
Market-Based Title: The Italian version.
Masquerade
Meganekko: Noel and Mimi both wear glasses they don't really need at certain points in the anime.
Merchandise-Driven: Why do you think the E-pitch looks like an E-kara?
Mermaid Problem: Never addressed, but a particular scene in the manga really makes you wonder.
Mid-Season Upgrade
Mineral MacGuffin: A pearl isn't a mineral, but it is generally considered a precious stone.
Monster of the Week: Beginning of the second season.
Multinational Team: With every mermaid princess coming from a different ocean.
Music for Courage: Done at least twice in the series.
Musical Assassin: The villains who get to sing. And Yuuri with her piano.
My Significance Sense Is Tingling: The mermaids can feel when each other is in danger. Kaito can only feel Luchia.
Nakama
Name's the Same: Kana Ueda, Sara's seiyuu, also voices a ninja-loving genius hacker named Sara Matsunaga.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Episode 27; By refusing to accept the trio's help, Caren gets captured.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Episode 69; Sheshe and Mimi send a crab to fight the mermaids, but it ends up saving them by disabling Lanhua's powers.
No Export for You: Averted: we've got the manga in North America, and other countries have it, the anime and sometimes the licensed games. The reason the English-speaking world hasn't got the anime is because TV wouldn't take it, not because of lack of trying on either side of the anime industry.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: Except that most of the fansubbed episodes have the wrong names and make mistakes a kid could spot, and not even half the series is subbed yet. Keep Circulating the Raws. Or just read the manga.
No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Michel does this once, but it's Gackto who loves pulling these on his captives.
No Romantic Resolution: At the end, all the couples are set. There is one little problem though: Nagisa and Masahiro still don't know they're dating mermaids. Which means Hanon and Rina can't just come and go when duty calls and hope for a stable relationship. Lucia doesn't have this problem because Kaito knows.
No Social Skills: Luchia at the beginning.
Nonhuman Lover Reveal: Inverted, subverted and used straight.
Non-Human Sidekick: Hippo... That is, if he isn't in his human form.
Not So Harmless: Fuku.
Obstructive Code of Conduct: No confessing to humans.
Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: "Pure"
One-Gender Race: Mermaids.
Only Child Syndrome: Either it's this or they're all sisters. Mermaid biology is weird.
Only One Name: Too prevalent to count.
Ordinary High School Student: As far as main characters go, only Nagisa, Masahiro and Kaito's buddies really count. And if you're reading the manga, exclude Masahiro.
Our Mermaids Are Different: The mermaid's tails look more like fabric costumes than actual fish tails.
Overtook the Manga: Especially prevalent in the second season.
People Jars: What Gaito uses to keep the mermaids.
Perky Female Minion: Yuuri and Eriru, and Alala to a much lesser extent (she's perkier, but less of a minion.)
Perpetual Molt: Michel. Used as a plot device.
Personality Powers: Maria and the Winged Ones.
Petting Zoo People: Two anglerfish, one bat, one butterfly and another insect of some sort.
Pillar of Light: Panthalassa's powers often manifest as this.
Pimped-Out Dress: Their idol singer costumes.
Post Episode Trailer
The Power of Friendship
The Power of Love
The Power of Rock
Pretty in Mink: One of their costume sets.
"Previously On..."
Prophetic Names: Lucia, Michel and Michal.
Puberty Superpower: At the age of 13. Lucia missed this date because she didn't have her pearl, so it was postponed to one year later.
Quirky Household: The hotel.
Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Dark Lovers.
Rainbow Motif: The seven mermaid princesses happen to be themed after the seven colors of the rainbow... more or less. Lucia's pink replaces red.
Rapunzel Hair: All mermaids out of civilian form.
- Sara, Caren, Rina and Seira still have it in civillian form.
Real Time
Rebellious Princess: Lucia and Sara - for different reasons.
Redemption Equals Death: Gaito and Sara. Sheshe and Mimi.
Rescue Romance: Lucia and Kaito.
Rhythm Game: Two of the licensed GBA games.
Royals Who Actually Do Something
Run the Gauntlet: One Pure episode had the Big Bad's minions do something like this, although the heroines went past 4 (of the 5) enemies without having to sing at them. The first was merely bypassed, the second was struck down by a bowling ball (how it got there is beyond me), the third was repelled by the fact he smelled of curry, and the fourth let them pass after being threatened to be beat up (He was about a third their height).
Say My Name
School Play: The Little Mermaid, at that. Hilarity Ensues when Lucia is cast as the main mermaid.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The Panthalassa and Michel.
Sealed Good in a Can: The villains of the first arc, due to redemption.
Seashell Bra: Colour-coded, too!
Secret Identity
Sexy Coat Flashing: In episode 11, Hanon does this... to Luchia. She's actually just showing off her new bikini.
Shirtless Scene: Frequently happens to Kaito in the manga.
Shoujo
Shrines and Temples; Rina is a miko in the manga.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Both sets of twins.
A Simple Plan: Hello, Filler.
Sixth Ranger: Five of them, actually, not counting Kaito.
So Last Season
Spell My Name with an "S": The early fansubs made a lot of spelling errors regarding the names, but some fans still like to say the wrong names and even start debates over it. The most popular ones are Lucia/Luchia/Ruchia, Rina/Lina, Gackto/Gakuto/Gaito (With the last one being anime Canon), Noel/Nuil/Noelle, Michel/Mikeru, Michal/Mikaru and Lanhua/Ranfa/Ran Fa/Lang Fa.
Spirit Advisor: Seira to Lucia.
Star-Crossed Lovers: The mythical mermaid, who, apparently, eventually said Screw Destiny to the Obstructive Code of Conduct and went off with the human anyway; also, Sara and Tarou, who weren't quite so lucky.
- Let's not forget Yuuri and Hippo. Made even worse by the fact that Hippo was making a fuss over the mermaids falling in love with humans - and Yuuri is a sea witch!
Steven Ulysses Perhero: Lucia.
Stock Footage: Songs.
- It doesn't just limit to songs. Transformation sequences, even normal scenes - especially those between Kaito and Lucia, contain Stock Footage.
Suspiciously Apropos Music
The Sweat Drop
Talent Show Version: The songs are all cut down to 1 minute or so.
Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Sara, Caren, Rina.
Team Spirit
Theme Tune Cameo
Theme Twin Naming: Gackto says his true name is Gakuto, with some of the same kanji from Kaito's name, when he reveals that they are twins. Even with the name Gackto, he matches Kaito, as they're both named after popular singers. In the anime, this was just changed to having Gackto's name be Gaito all along, getting rid of the Hollywood Spelling issue as well as downplaying his status as a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo of Gackt.
There Is Another: the Amagi family is half-Panthalassa.
They Fight Crime
This and That: Hanon and Kaito both use the euphemism, to a very flustered Lucia.
Throwaway Country
Title Montage: Last episode.
To Become Human
Token Yuri Girls: The Black Beauty Sisters.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Rina and Hanon.
Transformation Sequence
Transformation Trinket: Pearl shells.
Translation Correction: In the manga, the Black Beauty sisters invocation is "It's a show time!". This is corrected in the anime and in all translations of the manga.
Trippy Finale Syndrome
Trope Overdosed
Umbrella of Togetherness: In one episode, Kaito and Lucia were to share an umbrella, but Gaito (disguised as Kaito) almost kidnaps her. Kaito sees this and assumes she just went off with another guy, which sparks an argument between him and Lucia.
Villain Episode: On several occasions.
Villain Override: Fuku.
Villain Song
Water Is Air
Weasel Mascot: Hippo.
West Coast Team: Coco, Caren and Noel in the second season.
What Could Have Been: It was to be set in the pirate days, with Kaito as a pirate. The only heroic mermaids were Lucia (then named Lyre), Hanon and Rina. The villains were also merpeople and were only Izuuru, Gaito and Sara.
What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: The religious imagery in Lucia's name.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Averted; the "lame" power is shared by most of the protagonists, and those with the "cool" power rarely ever actually get to fight.
White-Haired Pretty Boy: Gackto and Michel ^[1].
Winged Humanoid: Michel and his followers.
Word Salad Title: "Mermaid Melody" is obvious, "Pichi Pichi" is the onomatopoeia for a fish splashing and also describes Lucia's happy personality, "Pitch" is another musical reference.
Worthy Opponent: Yuuri. Later, Sheshe and Mimi.
You Are Worth Hell: Sara and Gackto in the end of the first arc.
You Can't Fight Fate
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Played straight with mermaids; averted with humans. While mermaids' hair can be of any color in the spectrum, humans' hair in the series is always a normal shade of black, brown, or blonde. And when the mermaids change to human form, their hair becomes a normal human shade, or at least a much more muted version of its true color.
- Nagisa and Masahiro (humans) also have blue and green hair, respectively, to match the mermaids they fall in love with.
You Have Failed Me...: Sheshe and Mimi are consumed by Michel because of this.
You Know the One: In order to make this seem less awkward, "that person" was changed in the English manga to "the Great One". This is especially convenient, because it's referring to a man, and both Jossed theories put female characters in the position.
Yuppie Couple: The schoolgirls are always the same.

Love Shower Pitch! Would you like an encore?

↑ they were gray and green-haired, respectively, at least in the anime

[1] they were gray and green-haired, respectively, at least in the anime

[1]