Nurse Angel Ririka SOS

Mangaka: Yasushi Akimoto & Koi Ikeno
Pub. Date: 1995
# of Vols.: 4

TV Series: 1995 (35 Episodes)

4th grader Moriya Ririka has just turned 10 years old in episode 1 (it's her birthday). But not only that, her typical school day starts with excitement as a transfer student named Kanou arrives at the White Dove Academy. Much to the president of his fanclub's dismay, Kanou takes a great interest in Ririka. He gives her a present, which turns out to be an ornamented box housing the Angel Cap (a magical nurse's hat) that Ririka will be able to use to transform into the Legendary Nurse Angel. Ririka's best friend and neighbor, Seiya, is quite jealous at the attention between the two and does not like at all that Ririka seems to have a thing for the older student. But trouble strikes, and the Nurse Angel comes to the rescue, especially when it is Seiya who's in danger. He'd protect Ririka at all costs, being very devoted to his friend and crush.

Ririka learns that Kanou is really from the planet Queen Earth, which was a beautiful and peaceful planet just like this Earth until the Dark Joker came, bringing illness to the animals, people, and world itself, leaving it a wasteland. In order to save the Earth from the same fate, she must find the flower of life for the green vaccine. There is also a hinted at connection between Ririka and Queen Helena (ruler of Queen Earth) as Ririka is told she resembles her.

Like many magical girl shows, this one is centered around the power of love and healing, and also has motifs of the angelicness of young girls (ones in a savior motif anyway). The use of imagery combined of the nurse and angel is an old and common one. Nurses are many times referred to as "angels" or the "angels of the battlefield" in cases such as the real-life nurses Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale. These women persevered, healed, and tended to the wounded and sick at any cost. Ririka has this kind of role. Too, Seiya's father is a doctor and Ririkia's own grandmother a retired nurse. Growing up around everyone with this kind of life, she naturally found herself picking up doctoring tips and becoming on her way to being a nurse herself in all probability in the future. So, like many magical girls who find their transformed state mirrors an unconscious dream or the quality of their personality, Ririka's other self is a nurse, albeit a magical one.

As mentioned, nurses historically and culturally have been given the label of "angels" for their efforts to tend those in need through love and dedication. Here it's taken a step further, and Ririka is taken on one level to be almost a literal angel. At least, there is something magical involved. Like Maron (Jeanne) and Meimi (Saint Tail), Ririka prays before her transformation, and her power is prayer from her heart. Prayer is traditionally communication with a deity, though here it is not a religious gesture or connotation, but a spiritual one. Unlike, the aforementioned heroines, Ririka does not work for God, instead her prayers are a spiritual boost, a way to reaffirm spiritual guidance of the power inside her.

Her theme colors are pink and gold with hearts for the pins, brooches, pouch, and ring (the exception is the kind of flower/four-leaf clover shaped brooch at her shoulder). Additional items are the bracelet at her wrist which is the first item to appear in her transformation and the Nurse Healing Pen which Kanou gives Ririka in ep. 4 (this is a handy little instrument to quickly cure minor wounds and headaches; think of an epipen carried for anaphylactic patients, etc).

There is a strong link in this series between the feminine and earth/nature. This idea is discussed a bit more under the pages of Genre. The planet most like Earth in another universe is called Queen Earth (this of course implies ideas like Mother Earth, Gaea, etc.). This connection of the feminine is further alluded to in Nurse Angel Ririka's introductory speech: "The Bright Light of the Ages! The spirit of the voice of the earth, Nurse Angel. The spirit has sent me!" And as the earth needs cleansing from pollution and protected, Ririka as a nurse cleanses this and works to heal the natural world as well.

Magical Companion
Herb-Ririka's dog, named from medicinal plants

Magical Phrase
Holy Power! Holy Prayer! Be here!-to transform, sometimes said in combination w/ putting on cap
Sparkle medication! Wake Up!
Angel View Up!
Angel Shine Scroll!
Angel Aid Bomb Beam!
Angel Ring Force Shield!

Magical Items
Angel Cap
Angel Baton
Angel Ring
Nurse Healing Pen