Honey Honey no Suteki na Bouken

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Honey Honey no Suteki na Bouken (Honey Honey's Wonderful Adventures) is a shoujo manga by Eiko Mizuno published in 1966 and made into a 29-episode anime TV series in 1981 by Kokusai Eiga-sha. The anime was released in the English language in the United States as Honey Honey and also broadcast in various European countries and in Latin America.

1 Story
2 Anime distribution
3 Anime staff
4 External links

[edit] Story

The story begins in the city of Vienna in 1907. It is the birthday of the nation's idol, Princess Florel (also known as Princess Flora in foreign versions of the anime), and she is entertaining a variety of suitors from around the world who have come to propose marriage. Also on hand for the celebration is Phoenix, a handsome, gentlemanly jewel thief who has his eye on stealing the princess's precious gemstone, the "Smile of the Amazon." Upset with Phoenix's brash manner, Princess Flora then drops the ring holding her gemstone into a cooked fish and throws it out the window, to the shock of everyone present.

Meanwhile, a young teenaged orphan named Honey Honey (also known as Fiorellino in Italian, Pollen in French, and Favos de Mel in Portuguese) is working as a waitress. Her pet cat and constant companion, Lily, spies the fish that the princess threw out the window and proceeds to eat the entire fish, thus swallowing the ring. Since Princess Flora has declared that whichever of her suitors successfully returns the ring to her shall become her husband, the princess's suitors and Phoenix immediately fan out all over the city pursuing Lily and her owner, Honey Honey.

Phoenix catches up with Honey and Lily and helps them hide from the princess's suitors. Honey proceeds to tell the handsome jewel thief the story of how she was orphaned and brought up in a convent, and of how she befriended Lily, who, like her, was abandoned. Phoenix then tries to persuade Honey to sell Lily to him, but Honey furiously refuses and flees. Honey and Lily hide in the basket of a hot-air balloon, which soon lifts off with Phoenix and Princess Flora's suitors still in hot pursuit. Thus begins an adventure in which Honey and Lily are pursued by Phoenix and the princess's suitors to various cities around the world, including Paris, New York City, Oslo, London, Monte Carlo and Gibraltar. Along the way, Honey falls in love with Phoenix and discovers something about her past that will change her life forever.

[edit] Anime distribution

The anime version of Honey Honey, produced by Kokusai Eiga-sha (Movie International Company) and animated by Toei Animation's studios in South Korea, lasted 29 half-hour episodes and was broadcast across Japan on the Fuji TV network from October 1981 to May 1982. The production staff included many anime-industry veterans, including screenwriters Masaki Tsuji (Attack No. 1, Devilman, Cutey Honey, Astro Boy) and Shun'ichi Yukimuro and directors Takeshi Shirato (Devilman, Cutey Honey, Space Battleship Yamato) and Minoru Hamada.

Dubbed into English by Modern Programs International, the anime series aired in the United States on the CBN cable network in 1984 and was also partially released on home video by Sony. The series was much more popular in Europe, where it was broadcast in Italy as I Fantastici Viaggi di Fiorellino (1983), in France as Pollen (1989), and in Poland as Miodulinka. The Honey Honey anime likely achieved its greatest success in Latin America, dubbed into Spanish for airing in Mexico and other territories, and released in Brazil in Portuguese, where the series, which began airing on SBT in 1987, was extremely popular.

Enoki Films U.S. currently holds the American license to the anime series.

[edit] Anime staff

Original Story: Eiko Mizuno
Executive Producer: Juzo Tsubota
General Director: Takeshi Shirado
Episode Directors: Takeshi Shirado, Masakazu Yasumura, Yoshimichi Nitta, Minoru Hamada
Script: Masaki Tsuji, Shun'ichi Yukimuro, Tomohiro Ando
Character Designs: Kozo Masakoe, Yoshiyuki Yamamoto
Key Animation: Yasuhiro Nakura
Animation Director: Takeshi Shirado, Akira Okuwara
Music: Akihiro Komori
Broadcaster: Fuji TV (October 7, 1981-May 1, 1982)
Production: Toei Animation (Korea) for Movie International Co., Ltd. (Kokusai Eiga-sha)