Fancy Lala, previously titled in English as Fancy Lala, the Magic Stage or the original Japanese, 魔法のステージ・ファンシーララ (Magical Stage・Fancy Lala) is the fifth entry of Studio Pierrot's Magical Girl series. It was broadcast in 1998 on TV Tokyo for 26 episodes.
One day, nine-year-old Miho Shinohara is given two stuffed dinosaurs by a stranger. The stuffed dinosaurs come to life and present her with a magic sketchbook and pen. Within limits, and subject to varying degrees of control, she can draw in the sketchbook and bring the drawings to life. Miho can also transform into a teenage girl, whom she names Fancy Lala. Fancy Lala is scouted by Yumi Haneishi, the president of the talent agency Lyrical Productions, and begins the long road to stardom.
This entry of the Pierrot Magical Girls franchise is a heavily revised version of the one shot OVA, Harbour Light Story Fashion Lala.
Tropes:
- Art Initiates Life: The magic sketchbook does this, though Miho usually settles with conjuring clothes for her outings as Lala. In episode 8, she tests out its limits, creating a compact to replace the one she borrowed from Chisa and lost (worked fine), a CD (the CD player only read scratches), a camera (only the outside was constructed, and no innards were made with it), and a kitten (it manifested as a statue, but became the real thing overnight after time in the moonlight). It's also discovered that all objects created by the sketchbook disappear when she uses the incantation for transforming back from Lala. In addition, when Lala falls unconscious from a fever, she immediately turns back to Miho (and her drawn clothes disappeared one by one as her consciousness faded). Thankfully, she was at home at the time, so nobody figured out her secret. She never really explores the scope of the sketchbook's powers beyond this.
- By the Power of Grayskull!:
- In Japanese: "Toki no kioku ni omoi wo komete, ima, Fancy Lala ni karei naru seichou!" ("Bringing my thoughts into the memory of time, grow now magnificently into Fancy Lala!")
- In English, Mog claims it's "With all my heart to the memories of time, I grow up!", but Miho replaces the last three words with "I will become the spectacular Fancy Lala!".
- Dub Name Change: In the English version, Pigu's name has been changed to Pog, probably because Pigu sounded too much like the word Pig.
- Girlish Pigtails: Miho and Miki. The former loses these when transforming.
- Grail in the Garbage: At the first episode, Miho first finds Pigu and Mogu at a toy store when they attach themselves to her book bag. After she was briefly accused by the store clerk for supposedly stealing them, the Mystery Man shows up to pay for them and ger her out of trouble.
- Luminescent Blush: On the first episode, Pigu experiences this while seeing Miho change into her first adult clothes. Mogu is quick to cover his eyes upon hearing him moan. Later, after transforming for the first time, Lala gets a subdued version of this after looking under her shirt, and seeing how developed her older body is.
- Magical Incantation: When conjuring items from the sketchbook, Miho is supposed to say "Loose and baggy!" before putting the cap on the pen. She also used this incantation once to transform back from Lala.
- Magic Idol Singer: Just like Yu Morisawa/Creamy Mami before her. Unlike Mami however, she's far less involved with any other supernatural beings apart from Pigu and Mogu, and maybe the Mystery Man.
- The Masquerade: As per the norm. One person does find out at the last episode, though, but it doesn't matter since by then, Miho lost her magical items.
- Mysterious Protector: The Mystery Man.
- No Antagonist: Not a trace of villainous people is present throughout the entire show.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Mogu and Pigu, the stuffed dinosaurs.
- Our Fairies Are Different: Mogu claims she and Pigu are magical fairies, despite their dinosaurian look.
- Older Alter Ego: The 15-year-old Lala to 9-year-old Miho.
- Precocious Crush: 9-year-old Miho has a crush on 19-year-old Hiroya.
- Potty Failure: At one point in her childhood, Chisa ended up wetting her bed, and then pinned the blame on Miho. Miho herself finds this out somehow later.
- Sexy Mentor: Hiroya Aikawa serves as Lala's mentor on her road to becoming an idol.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Miho and Akiru, though Miho isn't that much of a tomboy. She's just more vocal than Akiru, who is normally rather reserved.
- Toy Disguise: When not transformed into any of Lala's accessories, Pigu and Mogu assume this. In fact, they kept this charade at first in front of Miho in the first episode even as they talked behind her back before she threatened to throw them out with the garbage.
- Transformation Trinket: The pen, which is decorated with a small clock whose hands spin forward during each Transformation Sequence.
- Trapped in Another World: Pigu and Mogu claim to come from the World of the Memories of Time, only to end up trapped on Earth somehow. They ask Miho to let them stay with her until they can return, and in exchange they will grant her some magic. Evidently, they managed to return there near the end, though they never got to say goodbye to Miho before doing so.
