Hikari no Densetsu

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Hikari no Densetsu
romance, slice of life
Manga
Written byIzumi Aso
Published byShueisha
MagazineMargaret
DemographicShōjo
Original run1985December 1988
Volumes16
Anime television series
Directed by
Tatsunoko Productions
Original networkANN (TV Asahi)
Original run 3 May 1986 20 September 1986
Episodes19 (List of episodes)

Hikari no Densetsu (光の伝説, lit. Legend of Light) is a Japanese

Tatsunoko Productions, directed by Tomomi Mochizuki and broadcast on TV Asahi
.

Hikari no Densetsu is a love story that it is set in the late 80s junior high school atmosphere, one of the few sports anime and manga to have dealt mainly with rhythmic gymnastics as the main subject matter. Hikari Kamijou, a young, naïve, care-free, young woman who dreams of becoming an Olympic Champion in the sport of

Diliana Gueorguieva
(a champion Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast). Although she was unconfident in her skills as a rhythmic gymnastics, she gradually shows brilliance, achieving her dreams.

Plot

The story is about Hikari Kamijou, a fifteen-year-old

Diliana Georgieva, perform and win a contest of rhythmic gymnastics. Diliana proposes to train Hikari in Bulgaria
, and Hikari accepts. She begins her training and joins her school's rhythmic gymnastics team.

At first Hikari lacks natural skill, but then she meets Takaaki Ooishi, a fellow gymnast and popular schoolmate who helps her to improve. With his support, Hikari's talent blossoms, landing her on the map of popularity along with the best rhythmic gymnast at her school, Hazuki Shiina.[1][2]

As Hikari and Hazuki begin training for the World Cup competition together, a healthy rivalry develops.[3] Hikari longs to embody Hazuki's graceful elegance, and seeks out Mao Natsukawa to help.

Mao is a childhood friend and the lead singer of a rock band, and he dreams of becoming a world-renowned

rock'n'roll
idol. Mao helps Hikari by creating music for her performances, and together they win the respect and admiration of the viewers who watch them perform.

Over the years, Mao has come to love Hikari deeply, but Hikari has fallen in love with Takaaki Ooishi. While this causes a rift in Hikari and Mao's relationship, he remains a loyal friend. When Hikari discovers that Hazuki also has feelings for Takaaki, they become rivals in sport and love. Hikari does not know how Takaaki feels about her, and worries Takaaki might fall for Hazuki because of her gymnastic talent. Hikari begins to perfect her skills, and is soon competing at the national and international level.

In the TV series, Hikari wins Ooishi's heart and we are shown a little flash forward: Hikari is an Olympic champion, Ooishi is recovering from a lesion but with Olympic expectations, Mao is working on his career as a musician and Hazuki has retired and is working with as a trainer for young children who want to be gymnasts.[4]

The end in the manga version

Hikari goes on to win a national competition, giving her the opportunity to compete at the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics. While Hikari has finally surpassed Hazuki in terms of ability as a rhythmic gymnast, their rivalry for Takaaki Ooishi's affection is still going strong.

When Hikari, Mao, Hazuki, Takaaki and rest of the athletes competing in the 1988 Summer Olympics travel to Seoul, Hikari finds out that Ooishi and Hazuki are in love and that they are set to be married. Hikari turns to Mao Natsukawa for support, but he becomes frustrated with her for ignoring his own love for her. When Mao leaves Hikari, she realizes that she has feelings for him, too. Even while he is not there to watch her compete, Hikari is determined to prove to Mao that he is an important part of her life and her success.

At the end of the manga, Hikari is competing at the 1988 Summer Olympics. While she is performing, Mao begins to sing an Italian love song, even though vocal music is banned during competitions. Despite this Hikari and Mao finish their performance, prompting applause from the crowd and their friends, Takaaki and Hazuki, who have come to see them perform. Before the winner is announced, both Hikari and Mao exit the competition arena. The manga concludes with Hikari smiling, hinting that in the end she may have not won a medal, but that she will have a bright future with Mao.

Media

Manga

The manga was serialized in Japan in the weekly publication

Films comic version based on the TV series was made in the 80s was released in the country, but the images and dialogue were poor and not all the stories were covered, however it was appreciated by fans. The Italian version of the manga was titled "La leggenda di Hikari" (which literally means The Legend of Hikari) and collected in 16 small volumes with slightly altered covers from the original. Edizioni Star Comics re-released the manga series in Italy starting with the first volume released in May 2003 for the price of 3,10 Euro. The manga series was finished being released in 16 volumes in August 2004.[5] The manga has yet to be released in Germany, France, and Spain
, where the TV series was also very popular.

Anime

The anime series which was produced by

Michitaka Kikuchi, and Toyoko Hashimoto. Hisato Otaki was the art director. The Animation directors were Chuuichi Iguchi, Matsuri Okuda, Naoyuki Onda, Takayuki Goto, and Yumiko Suda. The Director of Photography was Kazunori Hashimoto and background artist was Kumiko Tada. All these people were assisted by Aso who was used as an adviser to maintain certain plot ideas and character development in the right direction.[6]

Episode list

Like many popular manga series of the time (this is still done today), Legend of Light was turned into an anime series. At the time the producers of Tatsunoko Productions had picked the manga series to produce it into an anime series. It was first aired in Japan in early 1986. At the time the manga series was still unfinished so the producers of the anime were not sure how long the anime would last since the manga was not finished. Finally they settled at 26 episodes (the average number of episodes done per anime series, at the time highest number of episodes was 52). Due to poor ratings in Japan, the series was left unfinished at only 19 episodes with the last couple of episodes wrapping up the series in a hurry and left in an open ending in late 1986. The series was aired again abroad during the

Seoul, Korea
in hopes that it would help boost the ratings of the anime series. Later on in 1988, the series was released in Europe where it was extremely successful, especially in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. In every country where the series was released, the titles of the anime episodes were changed. The episode titles of the English version are translations of the original Japanese episodes titles.

Theme songs

# Song title Episodes Notes
1 "Haato no kisetsu"
(ハートの季節)
1-19 1986 - Japanese
  • Lyrics by Goro Matsui and arranged by Eiji Kawamura.
  • Music sung by Tsukasa Ito.
  • Translation: "Season Heart."
2 "Kataomoi no hamingo"
(片思いのハミング)
1-19 1986 - Japanese
  • Lyrics by Goro Matsui and arranged by Eiji Kawamura.
  • Music sung by Tsukasa Ito.
  • Translation: "Humming of Unrequited Love."
3 "Hilary" 1-19 1988 - Italian
  • Performed by Cristina D'Avena.
  • Lyrics by Alessandra Valeri Manera.
  • Music by Carmelo 'Ninni' Carucci.
4 "Se stai con me" n/a 1988 - Italian
  • Performed by Paola Tovaglia.
  • Lyrics by n/a.
  • Translation: "If you are with me".
5 "Il vento" n/a 1988 - Italian
  • Performed by n/a.
  • Lyrics by n/a.
  • Translation: "The Wind".
6 "Quando tornerai" n/a 1988 - Italian [7]
  • Performed by n/a.
  • Lyrics by n/a.
  • Translation: "When you return".
7 "Cynthia ou le rythme de la vie" 1-19 1988 - French (translated from the original Italian song)
  • Performed by Claude Lombard
  • Lyrics by Alessandra Valeri Manera (Adapted by Charles Level)
  • Music by Carmelo 'Ninni' Carucci.
8 "Quand tu reviendras" 1-19 1988 - French
  • Performed by Jean-Claude Corbel
  • Translation: "When you return".
9 "le vent" 1-19 1988 - French
  • Performed by Jean-Claude Corbel
  • Lyrics and adaptation by Charles Level.
  • Translation: "The Wind".
10 "Si tu parles avec moi" 1-19 1988 - French
  • Performed by Claude Lombard
  • Lyrics and adaptation by Charles Level.
  • Translation: "If you speak with me".
11 "Piruetas" 1-19 1991 - Spanish (translated from the original Italian song)
  • Performed by Soledad Pilar Santos
  • Lyrics by Alessandra Valeri Manera (Adapted by Carlos Toro)
  • Music by Carmelo 'Ninni' Carucci
12 "Die kleinen Superstars" 1-19 1994 - German (translated from the original Italian song)
  • Lyrics by Alessandra Valeri Manera (Adapted into German language)
  • Music by Carmelo 'Ninni' Carucci

VHS and DVD releases

System Episodes Discs or Cassettes Features
First released
VHS 16 - 18 1
  • Original German audio and credits
  • no options or extras
Germany: 1994[8]
VHS 1 - 19 4
  • Original Italian audio and credits
  • No options or extras
Italy: Late August 2001
DVD 1 - 19 5
  • Original Japanese audio and credits
  • French subtitles
France: June 15, 2006
DVD 1 - 19 4
  • Original French audio and credits
  • Original Clip: Mister D
France: October 24, 2006

Reception

In Japan, the manga series by Izumi Aso was very popular when it was beginning to be published by

shōjo
genre.

The anime was not very successful in Japan and it was taken off the air sooner than expected due to its low ratings in the country .[9] (the anime series stalled at the count of only 19 episodes, as opposed to 26 episodes that had been planned by the producers). The manga series remained popular among loyal fans and continued to be serialized through Margaret magazine until Aso ended the series at 16 volumes.

The anime series would have probably never have been released outside Japan had not been for the 1988 Olympics which were to be held at Seoul, South Korea. The 1988 Olympics featured national rhythmic gymnastic competitions, and because of that the anime series was re-aired during the Olympics in 1988.[3] During this time Tatsunoko Productions decided to release the series in Europe were rhythmic gymnastics is popular. And in an instant the anime became a huge success in every European country that it was dubbed and aired.[citation needed]

The anime series was criticized in Europe for its inability to properly show movement and for the fact that the rhythmic gymnastic performances were too short compare to real performances that can last for as far as five minutes.[10] But despite this criticism, the anime became very successful in Europe and it is still popular to this day[citation needed].

Hentai version

For a number of years during the late 1980s and 90s there have been rumors of a

OVA series from the mid and late 80s which is known for its emphasis on the story and its plot. In the second installment of the OVA series, the second episode called "White Shadow",[11] it tells the story of an aspiring gymnast that resembles the character the anime character Hikari in design. The episode also contains two male characters that resemble Mao and Takaaki. This episode was mostly ignored by fans of the manga and anime series as a parody due to its lack of reference of the series and its poor quality, texture and design.[12]
The episode was released in the United States by Excalibur Films on both VHS and DVD with the alternate name "Black Widow" with other episodes of the Cream lemon series as part of a trilogy titled: "Pandora An Erotic Trilogy - Brothers Grime Adult Cartoon Volume 3." The episode was in English and uncensored.

Notes

  1. ^ Hikari's age and name changes in the different versions of the anime: In the Italian version her name is Hilary and she is fourteen. In the German version her name is Hikari and she is thirteen. In the French version her name she is Cynthia and she is fifteen. In the Spanish version her name is Valentina and she is twelve.

References

  1. ^ Esther Forberger (2007-03-05). "Hikari - Die kleinen Superstars (Anime)" (in German). animePRO. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  2. ^ Romanesque (2007-03-05). "Cynthia ou le rythme de la vie" (in French). Romanesque. Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
  3. ^ a b Zahara Medina (2007-03-05). "Hikari no Densetsu (Piruetas)" (in Spanish). Manga Es. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  4. ^ Candy (2007-03-05). "Cynthia ou le rythme de la vie" (in French). Animez Vou. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
  5. ^ Martina (2007-03-05). "La leggenda di Hikari" (in Italian). Shōjo in Italia. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
  6. ^ Richard Llewellyn (2007-03-05). "Hikari no Densetsu". Animated Divots. Archived from the original on 2007-03-22. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  7. ^ Only Shōjo (2007-05-03). "Hilary" (in Italian). Only Shōjo. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
  8. ^ Anime no Tomodachi (2007-03-05). "Die kleinen Superstars" (in German). Anime no Tomodachi. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
  9. ^ Homme de Verre (2007-03-05). "Cynthia ou le Rythme de la Vie" (in French). Planete-Jeunesse. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  10. ^ VSpider (2007-03-05). "Cynthia ou le rythme de la vie" (in French). Vspider. Archived from the original on 2007-07-05. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
  11. ^ G-root (2007-03-05). "White Shadow (ホワイト·シャドウ)" (in Japanese). G-root. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
  12. ^ Martina Emy (2007-03-05). "Curiositá" (in Italian). Shōjo in Italia. Retrieved 2006-12-21.

External links