Fushigina Merumo

English Title: Marvelous Melmo
Mangaka: Osamu Tezuka
Pub. Date: 1970
# of Vols.: ?

TV Series: 1971 (26 Episodes)

This series seems to have been aimed more towards both boys and girls when it was created, but because of its nature I felt it should be included for reference and to give a broader understanding of what's been done in the genre.

Description of the manga from official Tezuka Osamu website:
"A fantasy story for kids featuring a girl named Melmo, who can change her age as she wishes by eating special candies. Melmo's mother dies in a traffic accident, leaving young Melmo and her younger brother Totoo. Anxious Melmo's mother in heaven asks God to prepare some magical candies, and hands them to Melmo. There are two kinds: Melmo can grow 10 years older to become any sort of adult she wishes by eating a blue candy. By eating a red one, she can become 10 years younger. Using these miracle candies, Melmo disguises herself as a nurse, schoolteacher, policewoman, and overcomes troubles together with her brother Totoo. The name of the heroine, Melmo, is derived from the word "metamorphose," meaning "transformation.""*

From Shoujo and General, a description of the anime:
"It was broadcast in 1971-72, created by Ozamu Tezuka and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, who also did the story boards. The story is about a little girl named Melmo, who has some magical pills that can change her into an adult version of herself, or into various animals. Her transformations into animals are rather unique, however, because of the way that they happen. Melmo takes a couple of pills and retrogresses into a baby. Then she turns into a fetus and eventually a fertilized cell, which then redevelops into whatever animal she wants to be. She needs the pills to go through the reverse process and become a little kid again."**

One use of the animated version seems to be to illustrate also the growing up process, to serve in an educational capacity as well. Tamaki Saitou in the article The descendants of "Fighting Young Girls" says: "Fushigina Merumo", an original anime by Osamu Tezuka, enlightened sexual education, but as the girl licked an amazing candy and transformed into an adult woman, the nature of "transformation" was highlighted; "Transformation" of girls perheps is nothing short of an "accelerated growth process."+

*http://en.tezuka.co.jp/manga/sakuhin/m078/m078_01.html
**http://users.powernet.co.uk/shoujo/tvdb/tvdb281.htm
+http://people.cornell.edu/pages/kf49/animeObserver/translations/ APA001_DecendencyFightingBeauty_P2.htm