Nurse Angel Ririka SOS
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[edit] Description
Nurse Angel Ririka SOS (ナースエンジェルりりかＳＯＳ) is an anime series about a girl, Ririka Moriya, who is told she is the reincarnation of Nurse Angel, a legendary defender of the Earth from primordial times.
She is charged by Kanou, a visitor from the parallel world Queen Earth, with locating the Flower of Life, a plant said to be practically synonymous with Life, from which can be created the Green Vaccine, the bane of an evil force known as Dark Joker which has taken over Queen Earth and has now turned its attention to our own Earth.
The Flower of Life is supposed to exist in abundance on any planet where there is life, but on Earth it is mysteriously absent and is feared extinct, and Ririka spends almost the entire series alternately searching for it (following various false leads) and lamenting the impossibility of her task, all the while trying to fight off the attacks of Dark Joker with an ever-dwindling supply of Green Vaccine which is needed to cure those who become evil after being infected by the Black Vaccine. A plentiful supply of the Flower of Life is needed to create the massive amount of Green Vaccine needed to defeat Dark Joker. However the flower is a two-edged sword as it can also be used by Dark Joker to create the Black Vaccine.
Ririka is aided by her friend and neighbour Seiya Uzaki, and later by Dewey, a Bishōnen man who as an agent of Dark Joker had originally tried to kill her, but changed sides after she saved his life. (Dewey is arguably the most popular character amongst the largely female audience of the series.)
Ultimately Ririka learns that saving the Earth may require her to sacrifice her own life, when Queen Helena's psychic sister Princess Mimina divines that Ririka's fate is inextricably intertwined with that of the Flower of Life. Unlike in many heroic stories where characters seem to put their mission before their own life without hesitation, the prospect of having to give her life is profoundly shocking to this happy ten year old girl who had looked forward to a bright future, and who only embarked on her mission at all because of a rash desire to please Nozomu Kanou, the older boy she has a crush on and who turned out to be an emissary of Queen Earth (and consort of that world's ruler, Queen Helena).
[edit] Characters
[edit] Humans
- Ririka Moriya
- the reincarnation of Nurse Angel.
- Seiya Uzaki
- Ririka's childhood friend, classmate and neighbour. He is in love with Ririka.
- Karin Mizuhara
- Ririka's boy-crazy friend and classmate.
- Anna Kazami
- Ririka's other female friend and classmate.
- Miyuki Kuwano
- A rich and snobbish bully in Ririka's class, she covets Kanou.
Ririka, Karin and Anna form one classroom clique (with Seiya a wannabe member always hovering around them), Miyuki and her sidekicks Eiko and Biko form another clique.
[edit] Queen Earth
- Queen Helena
- Ruler of Queen Earth and spiritual counterpart of Ririka with whom she has a telepathic link. (Her title is actually Helena-Oujo(=princess) but the English fansubs translate this as Queen, perhaps because she is the Number One princess of Queen Earth.[1])
- Kanon
- A citizen of Queen Earth, he is Ririka's mentor and consort of Queen Helena. Known on Earth as Nozomu Kanou (Kanou-sempai).
- Princess Mimina
- Helena's younger sister who has mind-reading abilities
- Maruru
- Mimina's fairy counsellor who is so fat he looks more like a green christmas pudding than a fairy.
[edit] Dark Joker
- Buros
- Chief baddie and leader of Dark Joker, he has been described as a personification of the Black Vaccine, being pure evil.
- Dewey
- leading agent of Dark Joker who later changes sides. He is an anime-only character.
- Keto
- another agent of Dark Joker
[edit] Production
The manga was published in 1994 by Ribon.
Story: Yasushi Akimoto
Art: Koi Ikeno
The anime was produced in 1995 by Studio Gallop for TV Tokyo and has 35 episodes.
The anime has never had an official English language release but VHS fansubs by Tomodachi were produced in 1997 and the series was partially resubbed between 2004 and 2007 by AnimeHaven using Tomodachi's translation.
[edit] Influence
- In episode 8 of Love Hina, there is a parody of Ririka's Nurse Angel transformation when Shinobu transforms into "Nurse Rurururu".
- Nurse Angel Ririka seems to have been an inspiration for Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte which features a parallel world called Vaccine World, viruses which turn people evil, and a girl who becomes a magical nurse who wields improbable weapons. Also, Komugi's familiar, Mugimaru, has a similar rotund form and speech affectation to Maruru: Mugimaru ends sentences with "-mugi" whilst Maruru ends them with "-maru".
[edit] Reviews
Click here to view Nurse Angel Ririka SOS Reviews on Anime Wiki or to add your own.
Buried Treasure - Nurse Angel Ririka — review of the series on ANN.
[edit] References
[edit] External Links
http://www.usagi.org/doi/ririka/ Hitoshi Doi's Nurse Angel Ririka pages
Ririka SOS Gateway — fansite and series guide
Nurse Angel Ririka SOS (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
Nurse Angel Ririka SOS (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
AnimeSuki: Discussion thread | Torrent listings
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