Title - "Hime-chan no Ribon"
Alternative title(s) - "Hime-chan's Ribbon"
Genre(s) - Comedy, mah
shjo and drama
Based on a 1991 manga by Mizusawa Megumi-sensei, which also ran under Ribon (obviously), "Hime-chan no Ribon" which is one of those series that is almost impossible to hate. How can you hate a series this spirited? You tell me.
Anyway, the anime of "Hime-chan no Ribon" came out a year afterwards and Toei was the studio behind it. It follows the life of a 13-year old girl named Nonohara Himeko or Hime-chan as her friends call her. In some far away magical land, a land in which the people looked the same, but had opposite personalites, she was given a ribbon with magical powers by the princess of the land and her mirror self, Erika to conduct some sort of test. It gave the stuffed animal she liked, Pokota, life. Later on, she is given powers to do other magical tasks like making a double of herself.
Of course, there are rules to abide by. She can't let people that are not really close to her know about it for one. Otherwise, the powers will be taken away from her and there are tasks much worse that that. Oh and since I don't say this a lot, this is suitable for the family.
Fun - 9
What I like about this series is that the characters, even the side characters, are developed rather well, and they all have wonderful seiy
to back them up, which I have mentioned earlier. I like the character interactions and what can I say? The characters are a joy to watch.
Of course, it's a shame the magical kingdom can't perform some kind of spell to get rid of the series's only flaw. There were money issues. With this in mind, the last several episodes are recap episodes. This slowed the process of any development in the end, but if are able to tolerate them, I can assure you that the wait is worth it.
Life - 9
Grab a ribbon and tie your collection tight. Real tight. You'll keep this for a long time.
Story - 8
With what I said up to this point, there should be a story that's fine and dandy, right? I wish. Review what I said earlier.
Audio - 10
Chances are that if you have watched anime in Japan for a long time or if you have received fan subs in the early days, this is one of the first anime series in which you have heard some of your favorite voice actors right now. You have people like 
tani Ikue-san playing as Hime-chan and Erika, Koyasu Takehito-san playing as Arisaka Sei/Sei Array, a character in the magical world, Shiratori Yuri-san as Aiko, Hime-chan's sister and such. I have nothing much else to say here other than the music being great.
Art - 10
For a series made in 1992, the animation is very bright and spectacular. The characters are designed rather well. None of the characters had any boring designs, except for the mean people, but then again, that's okay. =P
Overall - 9
In the end, the characters and the atmosphere offset the flaws. "Hime-chan no Ribon" reminds us the wonders of fantasy. There is no question that this is a good series for me to step back from the hardships of reality. I would recommend "Hime-chan no Ribon" to anyone. Ike ike! Go go! Jump!
+
Charismatic animation, spiffy characters and seiy to back those characters up, nice mix of magic and reality, this is about as light-hearted as a series can get.
-
Money problems towards the end hurt it a bit.
Date of creation - 12/12/03
Last update - 8/10/04