Kingyo Chuuihou, which translates as Goldfish Warning!, is often best described by the word "demented". For those of you familiar with such shows, it can be seen as a cross between Dr. Slump and Urusei Yatsura. For those not so familiar, well...you'll just have to see and judge for yourself.

The show starts with the tail of Chitose Fujinomiya, a girl who goes from riches to rags and back and remains a snob despite it all. When her wealthy father dies, remaining debts leave Chitose almost broke, and she is kicked out of the affluent Tokai no Gakuen, or City Academy. She is left with nothing in the world but the clothes on her back and one pink goldfish named Gyopi-chan, the only memento she has of her father.

Wandering lost, she collapses on the grounds of the poor-but-happy Inaka no Chugakko (Country Jr. High School), where the students are rough if friendly, and farm animals regularly roam the school grounds and even attend class. Recovering, she enters into the school but is repelled by it's air of poverty, to which she is unaccustomed.

Her family lawyer, Tanakayama, comes in presumably to see to her welfare, but actually plots to steal her rare pink goldfish, which is extremely valuable. Caught in the act by the school's guard chicken and stopped by a student named Wapiko (the real star of the show, more on her later), he drops a safety deposit box key belonging to Chitose's late father. The deposit box turns out to contain enough deeds, stocks, and other goodies to make Chitose set for life, but instead of returning to the rich school that rejected her, she uses some of the money to rebuild the poor school into the New Country Jr. High School.

In exchange for such generosity, she appoints herself the school's chairperson of the board and student president. She then spends most of her time trying to bring a little big-city sophistication to the school and it's student body, and trying to get them to seriously compete (for her revenge, of course) against the City Academy. Naturally, she fails miserably. Future episodes center around this theme or around Chitose's attitude keeping her from just enjoying herself the way the "low-class" country students do.

The Characters:

Wapiko [The red-head]: The show's super-energetic, carefree heroine. Peppy as Project A-ko's C-ko, only more dangerous. Besides being incredibly fast, strong, and agile, she also has a terrific tracking nose and a great way with animals to boot. The animals all look up to her, and she often serves as intermediary between them and Chitose. She CAN be upset or angry, but it usually doesn't last long. Her primary in life seems to be just to enjoy it.

Gyopi-chan: Currently valued in the hundreds of millions of yen. It is eventually revealed that not only is the goldfish worth a mint, he can also fly and talk, and is especially fond of potato chips (Isn't everyone?).

Chitose [The blond]: You'd think her experience of losing it all and still being accepted by the poor school would have taught her something, but she's a slow learner in that department. She still considers herself a lady of refinement and above all the country riff-raff, even though she can and often does act wilder and cruder than any of them. She does seem to notice that these people are good characters, but rarely seems to pick up any of their better traits.

Shu [The one in a school uniform]: Short for Shuichi Kitada. The straight man of the series, he is the only person at New Country Jr. High who even comes close to a "student" as Chitose knows them. She appoints student vice-president, and he is always reffering to her as "Miss Student President", never by name. He is more the stereotypical girl's manga-type boy: serious, intelligent, gentle, slim, and handsome. He rarely if ever loses his temper, instead spending a lot of his time dealing with Chitose's. However, despite his serious character and position relative to her, he is above all a New Country student, and remains loyal to his friends there in spite of what Chitose thinks of them.

Aoi [The one with sunglasses]: The school delinquent, he is forever late to class or forgetting at least half his required class materials. He is, however, quite hansome (of course), and is not above exploiting this. If he didn't make a fool of himself so often, he'd make a pretty good romantic lead.

Yurika Sugadaira: Student President at the City Academy and Chitose's destined rival. She is forever trying to find ways to do in or absorb New Country, and would succeed more if she wasn't so infatuated with Aoi. It might also help if she got rid of Tanakayama.

Tanakayama: After the first episode he goes to work for Yurika, and spends most of his time either spying on New Country on her orders or eating at the City Academy's expence.

Takapi: Full name: Takahiro Kato. Chairman of City Academy's central committee (a position he takes very seriously) and Tanakayama's designated assistant spy. He's a good student, if a little snobby (he DOES go to the City Academy), but his spying work is hampered by a crush he has on Wapiko.

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