Anime / Onegai My Melody

In Mari Land, a picturesque world entirely populated by Ridiculously Cute Critters, two criminals named Kuromi and Baku are imprisoned in a dungeon. One day, they obtain the Melody Key, a magical instrument with dark powers, and escape from the prison. They head to the human world in order to collect Black Notes by making people's dreams come true in horrible ways, with the eventual goal of resurrecting the Spirit of the Dark Power. Meanwhile, an acquaintance of Kuromi named My Melody is suspected of helping the two fugitives escape. She is ordered to go to the human world to arrest them and save people's dreams. My Melody arrives in Yumegaoka City and helps a junior high school student named Uta Yumeno when she falls victim to Kuromi's Melody Key. The two become friends, and My Melody starts living with Uta. After that, My Melody and Uta are involved in various troubles caused by Kuromi, but they solve them using My Melody's Melody Takt, a magical conductor's baton.

Onegai My Melody is an anime series based on the character created by Sanrio, directed by Makoto Moriwaki with Takashi Yamada as the head writer^note Kazuki Yamanobe used to be the head writer for the first 28 episodes of Season 1, and later Yamada took his position for the rest of the series starting with Episode 29. and Tomoko Miyakawa as the character designer. the series has overall four seasons with each one has 52 episodes. And there's also a Light Novel sequel, named High School~, released in 2013.

As each season of the series progresses, newer tasks fall to My Melody and her friends. In ~Kuru Kuru Shuffle!~, My Melody must collect Pink Notes while Kuromi must collect the Black Notes so they can fulfill their wishes. In Sukkiri♪, both My Melody and Kuromi are candidates to become the new Princess of Mari Land. The fourth series, Kirara★, is a prequel story taking place before them all, where a human named Kirara gets trapped in Mari Land and must team up with My Melody to collect the missing pieces of the Wishing Star so that she can return to the human world.

The anime would later get replaced by another popular Sanrio franchise called Jewelpet; speaking of which, a My Melody short film called You and I, about Kuromi trying to steal some food My Melody is cooking for a barbecue, was screened alongside Jewelpet the Movie: Sweets Dance Princess.

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Do your best reading the tropes, onegai?

• Action Girl: Mana, of the Kick Chick variety.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Some of Mari Land's residents are named this way. The most notable examples are Baku (referring to both the dream-eating Youkai and actual tapirs) and Harinezumi (hedgehog). Also, Piano-chan used to only be called Hitsuji (sheep), but was changed later.
• Alcoholic Parent:
  • Baku's dad, which puts a further strain on his already impoverished family.
    Baku: 'Bout the only prize pop could win would be one for drinkin' -zona.
  • Inverted with My Melody's dad. He's so lightweight, the smell of booze on others' breath gets him drunk.
• Aliens Steal Cable: The King of Mari Land has a TV that receives programs from Earth. It causes him to make a lot of pop culture references.
• Aloof Big Brother: Keiichi Hiiragi seems to outright despise his brother Jun.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: Like most animes around the time, the Italian dub got a theme song of its own sung by Cristina D'Avena
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: In Episode 17, when Baku asks him how he knows Kuromi, My Melody's grandfather tells him that he used to change her (Kuromi's) diapers when she was a baby. Cue a Big "SHUT UP!" from Kuromi as Baku starts chortling.
• Ambiguously Gay: The music tutor Mr. Eidaibashi is fascinated with Hiiragi (He discovered him after all), has perpetually sparkly eyes, and talks in sing-song. We never learn why.
• Angst Nuke: Kuromi's house becomes ground zero for an enormous explosion sporting Cross-Popping Veins. My Melody was inches away from Kuromi when she went off, and somehow parachuted away unhurt.
• Art Initiates Life:
  • My Melody's Melody Marks in Season 1 bring mascots or sculptures to life, and her Melody Candies change them back.
  • The Black Notes in Sukkiri can turn things as well as people into Huff-Huffs.
  • In Kirara, a wishing star fragment crashed into the art museum and brought all the exhibits to life.
• As Himself: MMA wrestler Satoru Kitaoka met My Melody in one episode. He imitated her "onegai" to distract his opponent and win a match.
• Audience Participation:
  • In the Season 1 finale, My Melody asks the audience to sing the Song of the Dream Power with everyone else.
  • In the finale of Kuru Kuru Shuffle, she asks the audience to help recite her tongue twister. When no cards flip, she offers to do it again, slower. An in-universe audience chants along with her and all the cards flip.
  • Nearly Deconstructed in Sukkiri, Kuromi and Baku ask the audience (again, in-and-out-of-universe) to share their loser auras with them for a Combined Energy Attack. Not only does the attack fail, but calling the collective audience losers made them feel bad and that almost creates another Dark Power. In the final episode, they have to apologize and ask for more help from the audience to fix this.
• Baseball Episode: Shuffle episode 7. Mana wishes the Tigers would beat their losing streak, and Kuromi puts her and friends into a game where if they could come back from a 4-run deficit and win, so would the Tigers.
• Bunnies for Cuteness: My Melody and the rest of her family are all cute bunnies.
• Baku: Baku is a tapir who has been known to eat black notes, which are basically manifested nightmares.
• Balloon Belly: Uta in Episode 26 of Sukkiri, after being forced to eat too much curry.
• Battle Aura: Parodied. Sometimes a character's aura, depicted as fire, can be seen and felt.
  My Melody: Baku-kun is on fire.
• Beach Episode:
  • Episode 19 starts with Uta's dad taking his daughters and her friends (and, unknowingly, My Melo's grandpa) to the beach.
  • Shuffle #19 and #20 as well. The first doubles as Recap Episode. The second reveals Jun can't swim.
• Beam-O-War: Bunny-Ears Mask's "Ikemen (Hunkalicious) Beam" vs. Baku's "Makeinu (Loser-dog) Beam-zona".
• Beauty Is Bad: Baku comes to realise that during his stint in the Hiiragi household.
• Beauty to Beast: Multiple times, people are threatened with being turned into Baku. It actually happens to Uta and Kuromi on separate instances.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Kuromi's magic can make your wish come true, but usually in a way that you never expect.
• Betty and Veronica:
  • For Uta, the plain, clumsy but faithful Kakeru is Betty; the unattainable bishonen Keiichi Hiiragi is Veronica.
  • For Keiichi, he has Uta as Betty and Kurumi Nui(Kuromi's human form) as Veronica
• Big Bad:
  • The Spirit of the Dark Power intends to remove all dreams and destroy Mari Land.
  • Kirara has a different villain in Minister Avogado, whose goal is using Sorara's power to conquer the universe.
• Big Ball of Violence: Kuromi's 5's "Special Attack: Combat Cloud."
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: One star fragment got eaten by a spider and it grew large enough to threaten to eat My Melody's parents.
• Body Horror: That time Kirara reshaped Sorara's beak into a musical whistle.
  My Melody: I may not be able to whistle, but at least I can eat.
• Book Dumb: Uta's classmate Taniguchi fails all his tests. Kuromi turns his head into a computer to make him smarter. After the magic is lifted, he begins studying even harder and slowly improves.
• Brainy Baby: The few-months-old Bako can fly, talk, fold intricate origami, and sense Black Notes. In at least the latter's case, she was possessed by Dar-chan.
• Break Them by Talking: My Melody's mom is very good at this, with her targets reacting as if an arrow stabbed them in the heart. In episode one of Shuffle, she breaks Kuromi's magic by talking down Uta's entire class for their faults.
• Breast Expansion: One episode features a girl who uses magic to make her chest bigger by "stealing" size from other girls, including their incredibly buxom tennis teacher. But it backfires spectacularly on her when she gets, shall we say, greedy. Hilarity Ensues.
• Butt Biter: A pair of alligators in Hiiragis' home security system take a liking to biting Kogure's butt. The first time, it took six months for the bite marks to heal.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: How the Star Pendants activate.
  Kirara and My Melody: Shine, Star Pendants, and make our wishes as one. My-rara Change!
  Kirara: The pretty [X], Kirara!
  My Melody: My Melo has changed, too!
• The Cameo:
  • Hello Kitty herself in the eyecatches for Onegai My Melody and Kuru Kuru Shuffle.
  • Berry and Cherry from the Cinnamoroll franchise appear in the eyecatches and as narrators in Kirara.
  • Kerropi as a cartoon mascot on a bag of snacks in Shuffle episode 9.
• Camera Fiend: Yamamoto always carries his camera around. He snaps pictures of the other students (and not himself) because he's insecure about making friends. Kuromi turns his camera into a turtle (kame, from kamera) that sucks the other students inside.
• Can't Catch Up:
  • Jun Hiiragi resents how his brother is better than him in every aspect.
  • Kakizaki also despises Keiichi for being better in every way. Even after he transferred schools and trained in the mountains, he still can't win.
• Catchphrase: Once per Episode, if anything My Melody brings to life needs encouragement, she'll just smile and say, "[X]-san, onegai? (Mr. [X], please?)"
• Cats Are Mean: Mii-chan, who repeatedly chases My Melody around town.
• Christmas Episode:
  • Episode 39: Santa lets Uta's dead mother visit the family as Koto's Christmas present.
  • Kuru Kuru Shuffle #39: Said mom sends her family prophetic dreams of Koto dying in a ski accident and is summoned to save her.
  • Sukkiri #39: Santa's reindeer refuse to pull his sleigh, so My Melody, Bunny-Ears Mask, and the Baku family deliver presents around the world.
  • Kirara #38: OK, this was a weird one. Santa's reindeer leave to steal stockings and Santa's snacks. Santa pulls his own sleigh (by surfboard), raids My Melody's fridge, then sleeps on her floor. My Melody gets him and his reindeer to make up and actually deliver presents.
• Colony Drop:
  • During a rather dangerous game Kuromi started, a meteor shaped like My Melody's head drops on Yumegaoka.
  • In Kirara, a star fragment gets flung from a tree and gets stuck in the moon. The moon turns full (and Mari Land holds an early Moon-Viewing festival), then threatens to crash into the castle.
• Combined Energy Attack:
  • A send-up to Dragon Ball Z, in the final battle of Sukkiri, all the show's losers, plus the audience, pool their loser auras into one "Make-inu Dama" the size of Mari Land. It does nothing; the king drops it on himself.
  • The King and Queen have a combined "Love-Love Beam", and Miki and Piano have a "Poem Beam."
• Comically Missing the Point:
  My Melody: Where is your mommy, Uta-chan?
  Uta: She became a star in the heavens.
  My Melody: ...AWESOME!
• Credits Gag:
  • Rumi interrupts the credits and rewinds time to undo a premature Downer Ending in the first season.
  • One episode of Kirara had a Star Fragment appear alongside the star in the show's logo. Bakujuuichirou noticed this later in the episode and rewinds the show to the start to get it.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Komadori loses things and bumps into walls. She became Class Representative hoping she could overcome this.
  Komadori: "I'm down to only two times per week in losing my glasses, and in the last two days I've only fallen down three times.
  Mana: (acknowledging her scrapes and bandages) How often did you used to fall down before?
• Cute Witch: My Melody is a stuffed bunny with a pink hood who uses Magic Music. Kuromi is herself a dark example.
• Dark Is Evil: The Dark Power wants to take all dreams from people.
• Dartboard of Hate: The only means through which Jun Hiiragi vents his resentments towards his brother.
• Demonic Possession: The Big Bad, Spirit of the Dark Power, has no physical form, and must possess other beings to further its goal.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Arguably the root cause of the entire series. My Melo has apparently been accidentally embarrassing Kuromi for years, and messing up her life. She has done this literally thousands of times, and most of them are the result of My Melo trying to help Kuromi.
• The Ditz: My Melody, and some inhabitants of Mari Land, in particular the elephant King.
• Dope Slap: Kuromi does this to Baku a lot.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: In the first season, My Melody's phone's ringtone is "Oto Melody". My Melo herself also sometimes hums "My Dream! My Melody!"
• Dragged into Drag: My Melody's magic leads to both sides of a soccer match playing in cheerleader outfits.
• Dream Episode: Baku gives everyone a tour of Keiichi's dreams. Unfortunately he discarded all of dreams in literal trash bags. When they're ripped open, the dreams explode out of Baku and warp the universe entirely.
• Dream Land: Mari Land is made of the dreams of the human world. The nightmares are pushed into the Black Forest where the Dark Power originally lived. As the Dark Power grows in strength, the world begins to dry up, and at full power Mari Land slowly disintegrates.
• Driven to Suicide: My Melody in the last episode of Shuffle. After reading the Kuromi Note and learning how much agony she's put Kuromi through, she offers to lock herself in a closet forever. What stops her is Kuromi herself, who wouldn't want their rivalry to end this way. She breaks free from the Dark Power's possession to destroy the closet. Aww.
• Ear Wings: All Baku can extend their ears and use them to fly. It's taught just like walking.
• Easy Amnesia: So that the magical shenanigans won't scar the fragile psyche of innocent bystanders. Done by Hedgehog-kun, who rolls them back. At the end of Shuffle, it stops working on the residents of Yumegaoka. As such, in Sukkiri, he doesn't even bother trying.
• Eating Contest: Keiichi and Kakizaki have two in one episode.
  • First, a Takoyaki-eating contest. Keiichi is slow to skewer them and loses before his first bite.
  • Then Jun suggests a "Sōmen speed-eating while cosplaying as Bunny-Ears Mask" contest. Keiichi refuses to wear the costume and forfeits.
• Eating the Enemy: Dar-chan's fate at the hands of Baku in the finale of Shuffle.
• Elopement: A Star Fragment-grown tree causes My Melody to fall in love with Baku. Her mom absolutely disagrees, as does Bakujuuichirou and Kuromi, so they decide to run away together. The tree is uprooted, breaking the spell before Baku can give her the ring.
• Energy Weapon:
  • See also Beam-O-War and Combined Energy Attack.
  • Bunny-Ears Mask's Ikemen (Hunk) Beam is usually his finishing move. Others have tried to imitate it, but aren't nearly hot enough. Or in My Melody's case, her "Ikemelo Beam" is just too weak.
  • By the finale of Season 2 nearly everyone has a beam, such as Uta's "Kachigumi^TL "Winning Team" (Poor Baku)Beam" and Kakeru's "Bukiyō de Gomen^TL Sorry for being AwkwardBeam". The Dark Power's minions are also given their own Makeinu (Losing Dog) Beams.
• Face Doodling: Kuromi draws a mustache on Kirara and tries to frame My Melody. Instead of fighting, My Melo compliments it and asks Kirara to draw one on her.
• Fanservice: Kuromi's magic sequence features a shirtless Keiichi in Season 1; a Jun in a latex devil suit in Season 2.
• Fan Disservice: ...But in the Christmas episodes, it becomes a shirtless Santa Claus.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: Because of an unscrewed spice shaker, Kuromi pours way too much spice in the curry she and Baku were cooking. Then the curry becomes a Huff-Huff and makes everyone eat it until it's gone.
• Flipping the Table:
  • A Running Gag in the Hiiragi house is that Keiichi will turn over the dining room table (and it's a long table) almost every time he and Jun sit down to eat.
    Jun: (To Uta, about Keiichi) He's so full of energy that he flips the table every morning.
  • A couple of times, Jun will try to flip his pool table on his brother, but Keiichi kicks it back on top of him.
• Forced Transformation: A frequent power given to Kuromi's victims.
  • When a ritual with the Melody Key allows its power to affect Kuromi, she needs to be the one to blow the candles involved to end the spell or she'll turn into the thing she least wants to be.
• Forgettable Character: Risu in Kirara is reimagined as oft-forgotten because he's too soft-spoken and never stands out. He enjoys those rare moments when people pay attention to him.
• Forgotten Birthday:
  • Once, no one came to Kuromi's birthday because My Melody was sick.
  • Kuromi's birthday is on Halloween, so she assumed Keiichi went to the costume party instead. He was forced to when My Melody summoned Bunny-Ears Mask. Subverted afterwards when he gives Kuromi her birthday party and dances with her.
  • Baku's birthday is February 29, and he makes sure all his friends and acquaintances know so this doesn't happen.
• Fortune Teller: Urabe. She means well, but her fortunetelling actually backfires on a lot of her classmates. Then Kuromi gets to her and she turns everyone in class into their recommended lucky items.
• Fountain of Youth:
  • Mr. Eidaibashi wished for "him" to return to his youth. Kuromi granted the wish before realizing he was referring to Keiichi, who has learned how to thwart magic. He himself doesn't age down, but almost everyone else in Yumegaoka older than Kakeru do, including Uta.
  • Kakeru wishes Uta back to before she knew Keiichi, and he still Cannot Spit It Out, while she badmouths his first-grade self.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: The school play, starring Uta as Cinderella, My Melody as Little Red Riding Hood, and Mana as the queen from "Snow White". Then Kuromi and Baku interfere and fracture it even more.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: Kirara #6. A Wishing Star piece falls in a well, and whoever got splashed by its water at the same time got switched. They also trade eyes. This happened to Baku and Sorara, and to the King and Minister Dorian.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Look carefully at the swarms of Chibi-Melos during Episode 25, and you can see the occasional mini-Kuromi and mini-Baku mixed in.
• Fun Size:
  • The Chibi-Melos. Even My Melody herself couldn't resist them.
    My Melody: You are all very cute. It's like I've got a whole lot of little sisters.
  • Kirara and Natalie, upon arriving in Mari Land, are chibified, presumably to make it easier to interact with everyone.
  • Uta and friends in Tohno's fairytale comic world are shrunk down and made a Little Bit Beastly. Mana hated everything about it.
  • A button on My Melo's Princess Mirror turns Keiichi into a stuffed animal of himself. Kuromi immediately tries to marry him. He becomes a Huff-Huff and shrinks down the bodies of every other person in Mari Land so they can't move.
• Gender Bender: Miyamae wanted to be the class Madonna that all the boys would like, so Kuromi turned Uta and the other girls in class into boys so the other boys would have no one else.
• Giant Enemy Crab: Minister Avogado's One-Winged Angel form.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel:
  • The God of Eggplants turned My Melody and Kuromi into these for people who came to visit his "shrine" on New Year's day.
  • Kuromi can't decide whether or not to help Kirara, so a My Melo Angel and Kuromi Devil talk with her. They only conflict her feelings more so she swats them both away.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Minister Dorian in Season 2 is jealous that My Melody summons nearly everyone but him. This draws the Dark Power to him and he spends the latter half of the season possessed.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Each season is a race between My Melo and Kuromi to get theirs first.
  • Season 1: They both need 100 Pink/Black Notes to awaken the Dream or Dark Power, respectively.
  • Shuffle: They each need eight notes of their color, one of each scale, to get a wish. After a wish is granted, both of them lose their notes and have to start over.
  • Sukkiri: My Melo needs Twinkle Gems and Kuromi needs Anger Gems to complete their tiaras and become the next princess of Mari Land. In this case, Kuromi has a numerical advantage.
  • Kirara is a bit different. Prince Sorara needs to collect the Wishing Star fragments so he can regain his full power. Then he and Kirara can each go home. Every few star fragments, Sorara will grant a wish to the team (Kirara's or Kuromi's) that gathered more in that span of time.
• Gratuitous English:
  • Most writing in the series is in English, with 99% accuracy. One major error was a book titled Elice In Wonderland.
  • Jun rarely goes a scene without saying something in English, sometimes then repeating himself in Japanese. He'd been living in London for five years before coming back, but admits that he's hopeless at English.
• Groin Attack: In Episode 2, the Monster of the Week is defeated by having a mouse bite his crotch. The girls are rather amused, while the boys all cringe and protest that it's no laughing matter.
• Halloween Special: And they're also Kuromi's Birthday Episodes.
  • Shuffle #31: Upset that no one remembered her birthday, she tries to ruin a costume party but is stopped by Bunny-Ears Mask, who My Melo fails to de-summon. Kuromi becomes suspicious of his identity, so she becomes Kurumi Nui to dance with him. The Hiiragis give her her much-wanted party, and Keiichi dances with her.
  • Sukkiri #31: The night before Halloween, Mr. Zou (the former king) eats My Melo's dad's pumpkin patch, including the one massive pumpkin he treasured. Dad becomes a Huff-Huff, plowing and sprouting pumpkins all over Mari Land and destroying Kuromi's party in the process.
• Honor Among Thieves: Kuromi's 5 respects Rumi-chan, who led her own biker gang in the past.
• Hostile Show Takeover: Referenced when My Melo is about to be cooked by the Monster of the Week, and Kuromi exults that "Starting next week, 'Pretty Lil' Devil Girl Kuromi-chan' will air in this timeslot!"
• How Do I Shot Web?:
  • Kuromi loses the instruction manual for the Melody Key, and has to figure out how to work it.
  • When she and Baku get a new Melody Key in Shuffle, he remembers to get the manual this time.
• Humanity Ensues:
  • Kuromi casts a spell on herself to become Kurumi Nui. It has a Cinderella-style effect, though, timed on a circle of candles. If she doesn't extinguish the last candle herself, she'll become a Baku.
  • Mana's frog Kojirou becomes human twice. He still has frog-like jumping abilities, but is also cold-blooded and nearly died because it was winter.
  • Baku finds an old bow tie of his that becomes a Huff-Huff. It changes him into a purple-haired Kakeru.
• Human Popsicle: Kirara is cryo-frozen by Minister Avogado. As the last human with a dream, she's Mari Land's Barrier Maiden, so Avogado did it to preserve the world he just conquered. My Melody restores her with hot tea.
• Humongous Mecha:
  • Kuromi attacks the New Year's festival at the castle with a Kuromi Robo. Everyone wishes for the wishing star itself to destroy it.
  • A star fragment changes the newly-opened Shopping Plaza into one. Kirara fights it by becoming a "Kirundam."
• Hunk: Tip: listen for "ikemen" in the original Japanese.
  • Bunny-Ears Mask has a "Hunkalicious Beam", which literally is his hotness focused into a ray of light.
  • Keiichi is marketed on his hunkiness. He appears shirtless on "Ike-Men" brand cup noodles.
  • After losing too many dates, Kanade wishes on Kuromi for a nice man. She turns every guy in the area from Kakeru's age up, plus Flat, Baku, and Mana(!), into hunks and takes half of them for herself.
  • Baku sees a picture of his mom with a purple-haired hunk named Ichirou and assumes he ("Bakuichirou") was cursed with the Baku Punishment. He goes on a journey to find a way to become a hunk again. Ultimately averted: He was never hunky, or human, to begin with.
• Hot Springs Episode: Each finale, after the Dark Power's defeat, hot springs will erupt in the area. The last episode of Sukkiri is titled "Refreshed by Hot Springs!?" for this reason.
• Hurricane of Puns: Any episode focusing on Uta's father.
• I Am Not Weasel: Baku the tapir is constantly mistaken for an eggplant, since he's purple. Sometimes, he's also mistaken for a flying pig.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Sebastan has an extra strand of hair that Sebastian does not. This even applied back in their younger days
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode title ends with "...tara iina" ("I wish") in the first two seasons, "...de sukkiri!?" (Refreshed By...!?) in ~Sukkir​​i!~, and "Aryama!" ("Ohmigosh!") in Kirara.
• Impact Silhouette: Following his Evil Costume Switch, Jun seems to forget what doors and walls are.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Kuromi and Baku
• Inevitable Waterfall: My Melody and friends' rafting down a river of sand.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: The 10 minute short movie Onegai My Melody: Yu and Ai has Ruby as a Special Guest character, listening to My Melody's story about her summer barbecue with the denizens of Mari Land.
• Interspecies Romance: Side note: All of these are one-sided.
  • The most standout example is Kuromi, who is totally obsessed with Keiichi Hiiragi. Actually, she's fond of a number of hot guys.
  • Shiroyama towards My Melody. She's always on his mind, which makes him an easy target for Kuromi's magic.
  • Mana and Kojirou, her frog. He's quite protective of her, and they have kissed on-screen.
  • Played for Laughs: The king likes looking at and brushing up against human women, despite being married to a very jealous queen Rumi. Minister Dorian may tell him off, but he also likes Haruka the weather girl.
  • My Melody herself towards Usamimi Kamen/Bunny-Ears Mask. She actually thought he was a bunny and is heartbroken to learn the truth. In Sukkiri, she goes into denial and starts calling Hiiragi "Mister Bunny-Ears Senpai".
    • In Kirara, she also becomes smitten for Berry (a demon from another world) when he dresses like Bunny-Ears Mask, but didn't feel the same towards Sorara as "Soramimi Kamen".
  • Defied by Jun. When My Melody was brought up as a potential girlfriend (earning a Death Glare from Shiroyama), he dismissed it as a joke. He'd never pick her.
  • Sorara is a Human Alien turned into a baby chicken. Kuromi loves his real side ("He's so dreamy!") and My Melo loves his chick side ("He's so fluffy!"). Sorara himself crushes on Kirara, but she's afraid of chickens.
• Japanese Delinquents: Kuromi's 5 is a black-clad, noise-polluting biker gang.
• The Jeeves: Sebastian and Sebastan, the twin brother valets of the Hiiragi household.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Kakeru to Uta multiple times. He's a Tsundere, but slowly develops out of it.
  • Mana hates My Melody, but she wasn't going to leave her sick or let Uta worry.
• Jidaigeki: Sukkiri #40-41 take place in feudal Japan. Some characters' names were changed to fit, such as O-Uta, Tokugawa Keiichi, and Junbee.
• Jungle Princess: Mana's favorite movie, Beauty and the Beast in a Jungle, follows this trope and Kuromi's nightmare magic inserts her into the main character role.
• Justified Criminal: Kuromi steals bread to feed Baku's large family. She faces the punishment without the benefit of this justification.
• Kawaiiko:
  • Mana's cousin Harumi is in every way her antithesis. Aunt Kyoko wishes Mana could be as cute as her.
  • Bakujuuichirou's cuteness rivals My Melody's, to the point that he can make her swoon and nearly stopped the Big Bad with his own "onegai" until his voice broke.
• Laser Blade: Keiichi vs. Kakizaki in "a sci-fi swashbuckling showdown", initiated by the king.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: All the time; the finale in the first series has a heart-warming Breaking the Fourth Wall moment.
• Limited Wardrobe: In one episode, we are shown a collection of My Melody's pink hoods. While My Melody does own a pair of red-colored hoods, only the pink ones are seen in the anime.
• Living Toys: The Mari Land denizens are living plushies. They even sew themselves back together when torn.
• Lonely at the Top: Keiichi Hiiragi: dreamily handsome, incredibly rich, a world-class violinist, capable in the martial arts. He has no friends and no dreams.
• Love Confession: Kakeru finally spits it out to Uta in KuruKuru Shuffle Episode 41.
• Love Potion: A varient. A lightning bolt splits a star fragment in two and causes Sorara and Baku to fall for each other. The wedding was met with surprisingly positive reception, except from Kuromi and Kirara who knew something was amiss. My Melody ends it by taking the two halves out of their heads right as they're about to kiss.
• Lucky Charms Title: Season 3 is subtitled Sukkiri♪, and Season 4 is Kirara★.
• Meido: Natalie from Kirara is Sorara's maid.
• Magical Girl: The twist being that the characters that look like Mentor Mascots are the actual magical girls.
• Magical Girl Queenliness Test: The premise of Season 3.
• Magic Music: In the first two seasons, My Melody's and Kuromi's magical tools require music to charge up. There are also magical instruments, which are tied to the Dark Power.
• Mark of the Supernatural: Every human character in the anime has a natural hair color (aside from the Hiiragi brothers and Mana) but Prince Sorara, who has seafoam colored hair. It could have to do with the fact that he's from outer space.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Baku is the oldest of 14 siblings.
• Me's a Crowd: Komadori wished for a helper. Kuromi wasn't expecting to create a miniature My Melody. Said "Chibi-Melo" then begins to replicate seemingly without end, flooding the classroom.^note The whole thing is a "rabbits multiply" joke.
• Mid-Battle Tea Break: On occasion, My Melody literally has one.
  "Ahh... This tea tastes so good."
• Missing Mom: Uta's mother died long enough ago that Koto can't remember her, thus supplying an episode's worth of plot.
• Monster of the Week: The Melody Key in the first two seasons, the Black Notes in Sukkiri, and the Star Fragments in Kirara change people or things into these.
• Mustache Vandalism: When the king finds a picture of Haruka vandalized, he immediately blames Minister Dorian (the only other one who knew it existed, and who is currently possessed by the Dark Power). This escalates into a duel between them. Actually, Rumi-chan found and the photo and drew the beard on it.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Kuromi does not realize her nightmare magic is bringing about the end of the world until late in the series. But by then, Hiiragi's too far gone.
  • In Shuffle, she was unaware her new Melody Key had any connection to the Dark Power because two pages in the manual were stuck together.
• Mythology Gag: My Melody as Little Red Riding Hood in the school play and in a flashback. In 1989 Sanrio released My Melody no Akazukin which was a more faithful adaptation of said tale.
• Ninja: When a Wishing Star fragment lands on the Baku family's house, it becomes a Japanese castle. Kuromi, Kirara, Sorara, and My Melody dress up as ninja to slip in and steal it.
• Nobody Poops: Yes they do.
  • In episode 9, Kuromi eats too much ice cream and has a hard time pooping.
  • The Black Notes in Sukkiri are technically Baku's poop.
  • Sorara once had bad enough diarrhea that he lost most of his body fat.
• Never Bareheaded: My Melody is never seen without wearing her pink hood. Even one episode had her putting on another pair of pink hoods when she is waking up. But only her hands and are visible when putting it on.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Baku idolizes "Charapova-chan", based on tennis star Maria Sharapova.
• No-Sell:
  • Keiichi is resistant to Kuromi's magic through sheer willpower — and through visualizing himself being kissed by Baku.
  • In Shuffle, immunity to nightmare magic is part and parcel with being Bunny-Eared Mask.
• No Woman's Land: A downplayed example from the norm. In Mari Land, there's a village of all-male Baku. They marry lady Baku from nearby towns basically by catalog, as was the case with Baku's dad.
• Oblivious to Love: Uta is totally oblivious to Kakeru's feelings. Until he finally spits it out in KuruKuru Shuffle Episode 41.
• Odd Job Gods: The God of Eggplants. He's an amazingly local god.
• The One Guy: Kakeru Kogure, if you count just the main hero cast.
• One-Person Birthday Party:
  • Kuromi once fell victim to this because My Melo had a fever on that day, and everyone went to see her.
  • Kuromi tries to invoke this by holding Uta's friends and family at bay with nightmare magic so no one could attend her party. Kakeru and My Melody have to stop her.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • Hiiragi Keiichi gets one of these after he is possessed by the spirit of Dark Power near the end of the first series.
  • In Shuffle, the same thing happens to Jun and Kuromi.
• Opening The Floodgates: A variant; in Episode 50, when Uta opens the door to her house, a flood of crumpled papers pour out and bury her.
• Painful adhesive removal: In a flashback, Kuromi skins her knee and starts to cry, so My Melody puts a bandage over it. But she puts it in the wrong place and rips it off, which hurts and makes Kuromi cry some more. Then she puts it in the wrong place again, and rips it off again...and again, and again...needless to say, Kuromi writes this down in her Kuromi Note as one of the numerous things she holds a grudge against My Melody for.
• Parasol Parachute: Transportation in Mary Land, particularly between it and Earth. The umbrellas grow like flowers.
• Parental Abandonment: "Our mother left us long ago, and our father's on a business trip," Uta's younger sister tells My Melody. Mostly the former, as the dad is home often enough.
• Paper Cutting: Hiiragi's face bleeds twice in Season 1: once by a fragment of the violin he shattered, and later by Mana's punch.
• Perpetual Poverty: The Baku family. Granted even an average family would have trouble feeding 14 kids, but they mostly live on rice and pictures of food, and Baku's dad squanders most of his earnings on booze even when they can't afford milk for their newest-born.
• Playboy Bunny: Baku. Repeatedly, and with predictably disgusted reactions.
• Portal Book: Uta and friends are pulled into Huff-Huffed books twice: first Alice in Wonderland, and later The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids.
• Potty Failure: Kirara and Kuromi both wet their beds thanks to a roaming monster in Episode 10 of the Kirara season.
• Prequel: Kirara. It also takes place almost entirely in Mari Land.
• Prince Charmless: Prince Sorara from Kirara. While beautiful and popular with every girl on his home planet, Sorara's cocky, narcissistic, and cowardly. Kuromi is hopelessly infatuated with him throughout the entire season, but eventually gives up on him on the last episode.
• Prima Donna Director: Kuromi hits one of these twice. The first time, she was unwittingly put into a horror film.
• Pungeon Master: Uta's father is the master of puns.
• Punched Across the Room: My Melody tends to get smacked by Uta when trying to wake her up. The first time, she was out cold for 30 minutes. She calls it Uta's "Tossing-and-turning punch".
  My Melody: Humans are dangerous when they're sleeping.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: The wicked, hard-edged tricycle gang Kuromi's 5.
• Reclusive Artist: In-Universe. Hatako Tohno is a mangaka who moves around to escape her editor. She hides her face and hates even the subtlest noises. Eventually she wishes to really get away from it all, and Kuromi turns her into a sleeping monster in a fairy-tale land based off her own comics.
• Red String of Fate: Uta is linked to My Melody by one of these, non-romantically of course. Technically it's a rainbow-colored string, but that just makes it cooler. This connection is what allows Uta's singing to recharge the Melody Takt.
• Refusal of the Call: This is Keiichi Hiiragi's whole shtick in the second series, being forced to become a super hero as penance for his actions in the first.
• Revenge Before Reason: Kuromi is motivated by the imagined slights and grievances, often very minor, she has suffered thanks to My Melody - she keeps a thick notebook on these. Given Melody is such a clueless Ditz, most of the grievances are better off laughed away.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: My Melody and all the inhabitants of Mary Land. Not surprising since My Melody was created by Sanrio.
• Running Gag:
  • Baku's resemblance to an eggplant is commented on by several characters, much to his indignation.
  • The Yumeno family gains new neighbors, only for them to move out soon due to Kuromi and/or Melody's antics.
• Schoolmarm: Rare Male Example. In Kirara, the school has Mr. Shimauma as its only teacher and Baku as the janitor.
• Scary Stinging Swarm: In the first episode of Kirara, Kuromi tells a story about an unfortunate picnic mishap that eventually led to her disturbing a beehive and getting stung.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Baku's journey to discover how to undo the Baku Punishment. The scroll he found is for an unrelated curse, made even more worthless when the God of Eggplants tells him that he was never human to begin with.
• Shapeshifting Lover: Kuromi assumes human form to romance Keiichi Hiiragi.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Kakeru can't express his feelings to Uta, and though Everyone Can See It, he still won't admit the truth.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Keiichi behaves awkwardly when Uta brings him to a Greasy Spoon; he even tries to pay the bill with a Black American Express Card.
• Shipper on Deck: All of Uta's and Kakeru's friends want to ship them, including Jun, who has the hots for Uta himself. It's also basically Flat's entire character.
• Shirtless Scene:
  • Whenever Kuromi opens a Dream Door in the first series, we see shots of Keiichi playing the violin while shirtless.
  • When he's about to begin playing the Song of the Dark Power in the series 1 finale, Keiichi just takes his shirt off first for no reason.
• Shout-Out:
  • When the King is sending My Melo off on her quest, he refers to her as "Pretty Bunny Soldier My Melo" and "Earth Defense Bunny My Melo." My Melo later remarks that the King had been watching a lot of Earth TV shows at the time.
  • In episode 8, Mana rapidly hits her punching bag in frustration while shouting "ORA ORA ORA...!!"
  • When Baku goes on The Quest to learn how to undo the Baku Punishment, the God of Eggplants dresses his team up Journey to the West style: Baku as Bajie/Pig, Uta as Monk Sanzang, My Melo as Wukong/Monkey King (powers included), Kuromi as Wujing/Sandy, and Jun as the horse.
  • Some of Kirara's transformations include Indy Kirara and Kirundam.
• Show Within a Show:
  • Kikuchi quotes various in-universe TV dramas as pick-up lines while looking for a girlfriend. He's an aspiring actor-to-be.
  • Berry and Cherry are fans of an action cartoon called Usamimi Kamen GO GO. If the King and Queen have seen it too, it would explain where they got the "Bunny-Ears Punishment" from.
• Sibling Rivalry: Among Keiichi and Jun Hiiragi, and among their respective valets.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: One downright creepy, unnamed pair appear occasionally in the series. They always fall victim to Kuromi's mischief.
• Sick Episode: My Melody gets sick and blows her nose on Uta's handmade handkerchief. When Uta becomes a Huff-Huff over it, My Melody is too weak to focus and can't summon anyone she wants.
• Smashing Watermelons: A seed-spitting watermelon Monster of the Week in Kirara. Kuromi turns Baku into a sword and cleaves it in half blindfolded.
• Stock Footage: Kirara has a completely different animation style, but that doesn't stop them from reusing the shot of My Melo's "Onegai" from previous seasons anyway.
• Summon Magic:
  • Kuru Kuru (Spinning) Shuffle is named for this. When using the Melody Mark, My Melo's takt spins around an assortment of spinning cards and she picks a random one to summon. She can also add and remove cards, and somehow summon herself. Later she gets an upgrade allowing her to summon two people, but only if she can perfectly recite a certain tongue twister.
  • In Sukkiri, she can summon anyone she wants provided she can draw their likeness on a card. She's a Terrible Artist and thus needs the Melody Crayons to help her.
• Tarot Motifs: The cards in the Melody Compact in Shuffle feature the summonable residents of Mari Land in different tarot poses (borrowed mainly from Episode 32 of the first season, where Urabe's tarot deck turns into them). Notable is Rhythm as "The Fool," the King as "The Hanged Man," the Queen as "The World," the Prime Minister as "The Hermit," Bunny-Eared Mask as "The Star," and My Melo herself as "The Magician." A few are even minor arcana - Bako is the "Four of Swords," Sheep Mask the "Three of Cups," and Santa Claus the "Ace of Pentacles."
• Tarzan Boy: Once in Sukkiri, Jun got on the wrong plane bound for Africa. He appears on the news a few days later having turned wild, and Uta and friends go to change him back.
• Tastes Like Disdain: In "I Wish She Could Become My Melody!", Baku runs away from home after Kuromi is mean to him, and My Melody offers to let him stay with her at Uta's house. While everyone is having dinner, a very angry Kuromi comes to get Baku back, and My Melody offers her a cupcake.
  My Melody: Now, now, Kuromi-chan, would you like to have some cake too?
  Kuromi: (appearing to calm down) Oh? That looks tasty, don't it. Down the hatch...! (throws cupcake on the floor) No! You expect me to eat this?! (starts shaking My Melody like a maraca) Why the heck should I hafta eat some of My Melo's cake?! Don't be ridiculous!
• Title Theme Drop: The theme songs can sometimes be heard as background music. During Season 1, a sped up version of the opening theme was used in some early episodes as winning-battle music. In Episode 1, when Kuromi and Baku used My Melody as a trampoline to escape, it was also heard.
• Title Theme Tune: All the theme songs mention My Melody by name.
• Toilet Humor: My Melo and Kuromi have both been farted upon more than once.
• Title Drop: Said by My Melody in Kuru Kuru Shuffle Episode 36.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Dar-chan can't possess My Melody.
  Dar-chan: GYAHHH! W-what is the inside of this creature's heart MADE of?!
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Kuromi, often fading into fantasy sequences involving Keiichi (sometimes Jun) and in Kirara, Sorara.
• Transformation Trinket: The Star Pendants in Kirara allow Kirara to change into whatever she needs to be. My Melody also changes, but not in a noticeable or useful way.
• Translated Cover Version: Kirara's Christmas Special features Japanese covers of "Winter Wonderland", sung by Kuromi, and a Kirara/My Melo duet of "Jingle Bells".
• Trapped in Another World: The premise of Kirara. After Kirara comes to Mari Land, Sorara crash lands and destroys the trumpet to the human world. They're both stranded until the horn and Wishing Star can be fixed.
• Trapped in TV Land: Early in Sukkiri, a kid's gaming shoes (The console was based off the Wii) become Huff-Huffs and drag him into his soccer game, and he starts pulling other people into the game to beat them.
• Trash of the Titans:
  • One of the Yumenos' neighbors kept trash in his house, even sleeping in his car that he somehow got inside. After his mom forced him to clean up, he moved out.
  • Jun's room is really messy. My Melody was excited at the chance to clean it. In another episode Sebastian and other house servants come in wearing hazmat suits to clean up.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Happens to Kuromi and Baku occasionally when they both get defeated.
• Two-Teacher School: The only teachers who appear with any regularity are Uta's class teacher, the female teacher he has a secret crush on, and the flamboyantly fruity music tutor.
• Underdogs Never Lose: In at least four instances, a bottom-tier athlete/team wins against all the odds (The "Tiger" baseball team; a girl soccer team; a pro wrestler; and Kakeru)
• Undying Loyalty: Baku and Kuromi's 5, both to Kuromi. They may test her resolve sometimes, but always follow her lead.
• The Unintelligible: Piano the lamb, said to be the greatest poet ever, only ever bleats.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Jun's first crush Sophie, prompting a Big "OMG!" from him.
• Unwitting Pawn: Kuromi in the first two series, Jun in Season 2. Neither are aware of the Dark Power's true intention
• Urine Trouble: Baku's baby sister Bako pees on Kuromi in one episode.
• Valentine's Day Episodes:
  • Shuffle #46: Keiichi receives enough chocolates from his fangirls to feed a large city. Jun sells chocolates to unlucky single guys, while Baku stockpiles their make-inu auras. My Melody also made chocolates for all the boys in Uta's class, but forgot Shiroyama who was late (and has actual feelings for her).
  • Sukkiri #46: When Baku's housemates at Maison de Underdog get Valentine's chocolates, he becomes a Huff-Huff and steals them, plus Kuromi's 1:1 chocolate model of herself she made for Keiichi.
  • Kirara #45: Residents of Mari Land give each other octopi (sometimes living!) instead of chocolate for Valentine's day. While fishing, Kirara and Kuromi get attacked by the legendary Heart Octopus. And when My Melody gives her biggest octopus (meant for Bunny-Ears Mask) to Bakujuuichirou, a star fragment falls on her mom's head and she forces them into an idol contest.
• Vanity License Plate: Hiiragi's limo's plate is "MOTEX2".^Translation "Mote-mote" is Japanese slang for "popular (esp. with the ladies)"
• Verbal Tic: Baku adds "zona" to the ends of all his sentences. The Monsters Of The Week also sometimes have a Verbal Tic relating to whatever their theme is. This is why the Spirit of the Dark Power is known as "Dar-chan."
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Sorara saw Baku in the shower (The Peeping Tom thought he was Kirara) and turned blue in the face. Cut to a field of flowers and violin music.
  Berry: Sorapi-chan has gotten into a situation we can't show on TV at this time.
• Wacky Racing: What should have been an ordinary race in Mari Land turns crazy after the trophy becomes a Huff-Huff and offers a wish for winning. Standout moments include My Melo turning her car's wheels into rabbit legs and a whale swallowing and blowing out the King and Dorian.
• Weather Manipulation: Haruka wished for her weather forecasts to be right for a change. In response, Kuromi gives her this power.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Mana has a severe phobia to cute things, which puts her in some unpleasant situations with My Melody.
• Wingding Eyes: Spiral eyes (Also seen in both Sukkiri and Kuru Kuru Shuffle openings) mostly appear in the show along with the blank eyes.
• Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: My Melo once fell off Baku and died of fright mid-fall. After Baku recovers her body from a tree, the soul comes back.
• Yandere: Kuromi, for both Keiichi and quite possibly My Melody. In almost every episode, she says she will gather Black Notes for Keiichi, something that involves turning the dreams of the depressed, the hopeful, and the occasional kindergartner into horrific nightmares, and at the end of Season 1 seems quite willing to let the world be destroyed if it means Keiichi will like her. The only reason she joins up with My Melo is to save him. As for My Melo, she apparently wanted to be friends with her when they were little, then made it her life's mission to destroy her. The judge of Mari Land even states that her obsession is one of the main reasons she's being locked up.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: Invoked in Season 1 finale, when My Melody needs a whole year of training to avert The End of the World as We Know It.
• Youkai:
  • Baku's name has a double meaning. He's a tapir, but he also can smell and eat nightmares like the Baku of myth.
  • During Kirara, the king sends all of Mari Land on a wild goose chase when he sees a Tsuchinoko in the courtyard. Bakujuuichirou bonds with him and returns him to his Kaiju-sized dad.
  • Pierre, a boy who was sweet on Kirara in one episode, was a (still Bishōnen) Kappa in disguise. He can also fly by spinning the dish on his head.

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