Anime / Kiratto Pri☆Chan

Left to Right:
First row: Maria Kanamori, Suzu Kurokawa
Second row: Mel Shido, Anna Akagi, Sara Midorikawa
Third row: Melpan, Kiracchu, Rabbily
Fourth row: Rinka Aoba, Mirai Momoyama, Emo Moegi
Not pictured: Anju Shiratori, Daia Nijinosaki, Daia, Alice Peperoncino, Eve Kagayaki, Solulu, Luluna

"Join hands and expand our follower world!! Our fabulous show's live on the air!!"

Kiratto Pri☆Chan is a 2018 arcade game with a tie-in anime created by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. and Tatsunoko Production, and the third entry in the Pretty Series, which also includes Pretty Rhythm, PriPara and Waccha PriMagi.

The series centers on Mirai Momoyama and Emo Moegi, two childhood friends who aspire to be idols. In order to do this, they use the Pri☆Chan System, a system used by celebrities and companies to upload and broadcast content that is popular among young girls, to produce their own Internet channels.

As of December 29th 2020, the first season is available on Crunchyroll, making this the first Pretty Series title to be distributed outside Asia.

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Tropes:

• Aborted Arc: Episode 26 had the appearance of the scientists of the former lab Mel used to work on. They were trying to break up Meltic StAr and have her back, with the Oshama Tricks acting as their helpers. They never get brought up again and the Tricks became recurring characters that prank for the heck of it. It doesn't help that they were only in one scene of the entire episode, aside for a slight cameo in episode 98.
• Accidental Truth: In episode 61, the Oshama Tricks prank the entire town of Kirajuku by spreading rumors saying that Meltic Star is returning from their world tour. The rumor spread through town so quickly that they thought they were in really big trouble, until it turned out that they really DID return!
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: After Nijinosaki finally got friends, Daia felt no longer needed, and such feeling turned her into her dark form.
• Always Identical Twins: Other than the hair color, Alice and Eve look quite similar to eachother.
• Amusement Park: Prichan Land.
• Arc Villain:
  • Season 1: None. Anju is the closest thing to one, though, since her winning the Next Princess Special Tournament would mean no top PriChan idol to take her place. However, her intentions for quitting PriChan weren't really for harm, and she was even looking for a replacement top idol.
  • Season 2: Daia.
    • Greater-Scope Villain: The Bugcchus.
  • Season 3: Luluna.
• Ascended Glitch: The glitched Mirai from the Pripara Switch game was so popular that they decided to turn that into a concept and incorporated it into Dark Daia!
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Emo and Anna fight all the time, but it is clear that they do enjoy eachother's prescence.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Eri. She can destroy a door by simply TAPPING it, and she can spot any suspicious activity that can damage the Akagi Corporation.
• Bookends: Intro-wise. The first opening starts with a shot of the earth that zooms into Kirajuku until hitting Mirai's face, and the final opening ends with a shot of Kirajuku that zooms out into a shot of space.
  • And speaking of the first opening, the Grand Finale of the series has a scene where Luluna and Solulu send an egg with Alice and Eve's earrings to them, and it hits Mirai's face, exactly like how the first opening's first scene has the camera hitting her.
• Captain Ersatz: Suzu's oldest brother, Michael Kurokawa is a very obvious one to Michael Jackson right down to his mannerisms and dance moves.
• Catchphrase: Mirai's is "Kiratto!" ("sparkling"), Emo often uses "Emoi" (very roughly translating to "good vibes").
• Colorful Theme Naming: The main characters' family names have the kanji for their hair color, with Momoyama (Pink) and Akagi (Red) being two examples.
• Crossover: Episode 119 (S3 E16) is a crossover with the other Pretty Series shows, mostly Aurora Dream, since Mirai is with Aira for most of the episode.
• Dark Reprise: Dark Daia's "Friend Password ~Another World~" is this for Nijinosaki's theme, "Friend Password".
• Denser and Wackier: Season 1 is about livestreaming and performing. By season 3, the show is about a virtual theme park with talking animals.
• Disqualification-Induced Victory: Subverted. The Oshama Tricks were disqualified from the Winter Festival tournament for rigging the scores so the Miracle Kiratts could lose, but due to fan complaints, it was decided to create another game for the other teams to try and make it to the finals instead of giving Meltic StAr the default win.
• Disney Death: After her dark transformation, Daia's program suffered heavy damage, so after beating the gigantic bugcchu in episode 102 without having time to recover her strength, she fades away. Hovever, her desire to be with Nijinosaki caused a part of her to be left; her heart. Therefore, she was reborn as a smaller Daia.
• Evolving Credits: Season 1's first opening has some significant changes after Rinka starts doing concerts.
  • The third opening of said season also gets it's differences after Anju streams her final concert with Aira before retirement.
• Freddie Mercopy: Maria Kanamori's father is a man who looks identical to Freddie Mercury.
• Friend to All Living Things: Anna's charm extends to wild animals such as tigers.
• Gene Hunting: Alice's character arc in season 3. She was raised in a circus and has chosen to go to Japan to find her parents. She later joins PriChan in hopes that they might see her shows.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: Oshama Tricks, to the point that characters often misspeak their name as 'Ojama Tricks' (Nuisance Tricks). They make frequent appearances to try and steal candy and win by cheating, but their plans either don't work out or get thwarted before any major damage occurs.
• Gratuitous English: Mel uses this a lot.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Daia decides to fight the Bugcchus in episode 101 with all of her remaining energy despite her system being damaged due to her dark form, this causes her to die after the fight. She gets better, though. Well, almost better.
  • In episode 152, after they defeat the bug hole, Solulu and Luluna both abandon their bodies to become a shield against any future bug holes approaching earth.
• He's Back!: Episode 9's plot. Anna stopped doing concerts after Mel's departure from Meltic Star, and even went as far as removing any trace of them from the channel. After gaining motivation to "challenge herself" thanks to Sara's guest appearance in Miracle Kiratts' newest stream, she announces her return to the concert world, which caused the stream she announced it in to be bombed with likes instantly as the fans were screaming out that "Anna is back"! And to top it off, her re-debut song was none other than Play Sound, a duet with Sara that is a complete BANGER.
• Humanity Ensues: In season 3, once a group has received many likes on a stream, their mascot evolves into a pretty mascot, which is a mini-human version of themselves. Then, when said group makes an Illuminage Live, or when the mascot themselves makes a concert, they become idol mascots, which is even more human than their pretty mascot form.
• Humanity Is Infectious: Daia was created to be Nijinosaki's design palette's assistant avatar, and it was Nijinosaki's deep desire to be a Prichan idol like Mirai that gave her emotions and made her build a bond to her. However, said emotions, along with the fact that she doesn't know how to fully express what she feels, are also what ended up driving her to insanity.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: In season 1, Every episode's title ends with みた ("mita") in Japanese, which can be translated into English as, "We Tried (blank)", this is dropped in season 2 and instead every episode's title ends with Daia saying "~da-mon!".
• Improbable Falling Save: In episode 114, Meltic Star go up a tower to rescue their mascot, Melpan, but Anna falls from the tower in the process. Mel and Sara save her from breaking every bone in her body.
• Informed Attribute: Relatively minor but near the beginning of the first episode, Anna is described by Mirai as a famous idol with over 10,000 followers. Given how Meltic Star were touted as a powerhouse group prior to the start of the series and Anna's status as the daughter of the insanely rich Akagi Group, it's a wonder how she only had the follower count of a relatively minor influencer.
• Instant Web Hit: Plays a major role in the plot of the show. If any video on Pri☆Chan becomes this, a sparkling message that says "READY FOR LIVE" will appear on screen, enabling the person who produced the day's top video to perform.
• Karma Houdini: In episode 93, Daia, now in her glitched form, causes trouble to various Prichan streams, but after she does her concert, everyone except Nijinosaki and the Kiratts forgets about it.
• Long-Lost Relative: Alice and Eve are twin sisters.
• Lucky Charms Title: The title has a star in it so.....
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Aside from the Freddie Mercury example above, we also have Suzu's oldest brother Michael Kurokawa is very obviously based on Michael Jackson complete with his dance moves and mannerisms and looks very much like how MJ did back in the 80's.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Anna's maid, Eri has Black Bead Eyes in contrast to everyone else in the show.
• Older Than They Look: Aira and Naru are obviously older, especially considering Aira didn't look any younger on Anju's flashbacks, but they look the same as their Pretty Rhythm counterparts.
• "On the Next Episode of..." Catch-Phrase: Join hands and expand our follower world!! Our fabulous show's live on the air!!
  • In season 2, Aim to be a Jewel Idol! The Sparkling Jewels shine in Pri☆Chan! ~da-mon!
• Privileged Rival: The very popular and rich Pri☆Chan star Anna, who always tries to make things hard for the Miracle Kiratts, especially Emo.
• Put on a Bus: In the season 1 finale, Meltic Star leaves to go on a journey around the world. They later return to Kirajuku in episode 61 (S2 E10).
  • In season 2, both Daias leave to Milan, while Ring Marry and Naru leave to Broadway.
• Putting the Band Back Together: Mel rejoins Meltic Star in episode 24.
• Quest for a Wish: In season 2, the winner of the Jewel Collection will get the Diamond Coord, which can grant one wish of the wearer.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: It goes without saying, but Daia, the virtual idol, was most certainly inspired by the Virtual Youtuber craze that was happening in 2018, when the show was still at it's first season.
• Red Herring: Early season 2 puts on some hints to the virtual idol Daia being Nijinosaki in disguise, such as the Jewel Chances happening almost always when the latter is nearby, both Daia and Nijinosaki never appearing on the same scene, heck, even the fact that they share the same first name also counts as a hint! Then episode 70 reveals that this is not the case.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The mascots in season 3 in their petite mascot forms.
• Rivals Team Up: Midway through the Next Princess Special Event, Meltic Star joins the Miracle Kiratts to defeat Il'ange, thus becoming "Miracle Star".
• RPG Episode: Episode 137, where the girls become characters in an unfinished virtual RPG game to save Eve from Luluna.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The Ring Marry duo are a girl/girl example. While Suzu is aloof and more self-keeping, Maria is sweet and determined.
• Ship Tease: Enough to gain it's own page!
• Shout-Out: Early episodes of the show had background characters◊ who look very much like how South Park portrays Canadians◊ ^note  Not really surprising given South Park's popularity in Japan and the show has been referenced in numerous anime .
  • Episode 84 has a pretty obvious one◊ to Space Channel 5.
• Take Over the World: This is Luluna's goal; to spread PriChan land across the world so humanity could be under the rule of mascots.
• The Song Remains the Same: The Taiwanese Chinese dub only dubs the first 3 insert songs of the show and the first opening. Starting with Play Sound they just... give up.
• Trojan Horse: In episode 45, the Kiratts, Stars and Aira use a wardrobe to fool the guards and make their way into the Kirajuku Tower and that way ask Anju why did she decide to quit Prichan.
• Two Aliases, One Character: Subverted. Daia Nijinosaki and Virtual Daia are not the same person.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Emo and Anna both have sexy moms and their dads are more goofy and cartoonish looking than ugly.
  • This more or less averted with Rinka and Yuzuru's parents and same goes for Sara's.
• Wham Shot: During the first time watching season 2 anyone would guess that the virtual Prichan idol Daia is Daia Nijinosaki's secret identity, then episode 70 shows them talking to eachother, meaning that they're completely different characters.
• World of Technicolor Hair: A big cast full of hairs of many colors, and the surnames of the main characters from the first two seasons match with them, too!

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