Esper Mami is a manga and anime from The '80s, about Mami Sakura, an Ordinary Junior High Student who one day manifests supernatural powers, including teleportation, telepathy, and telekinesis. Using these powers, and with the help of her best friend Kazuo Takahata, Mami solves mysteries and helps people in trouble.
Created by Fujiko F. Fujio of Doraemon fame. This series has a similar premise to one of FFF's previous shorts titled Akage no Anko ("Redheaded Anko"), later retitled Anko Ooi ni Okoru ("When Anko Really Gets Angry"), which is about Anko, a teenage girl who discovers her psychic powers and the dark secret of her mother's lineage, and who also poses nude for her own father.
The anime was released in France under the name "Malicieuse Kiki" with no changes except the characters' names.
Esper Mami provides examples of:
- Accidental Hero: Mami does lots of intentional heroics, but there are also times when she helps others with her powers without realizing it. This happens a lot in the chapter "Peculiar New Year".
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: Konpoco understands human speech, laughs at jokes, and can even follow complicated commands like lip-syncing.
- Art Shift: Any of Mr. Sakura's paintings of Mami.
- Athletically Challenged: Takahata likes baseball but is terrible at it, and quickly runs out of breath when mountain-climbing.
- Badass Adorable: Mami is a cute teenage girl who can take down criminals with her psychic powers. Later in the series, she can even handle multiple armed opponents.
- Berserk Button: Please never mistake Konpoco for a racoon dog.
He may look like one but he is not one, and like another Fujiko F. Fujio character, Doraemon, he always gets upset whenever someone mistakes him for a raccoon dog. He understands human speech, so don't comment on his appearance. - Book Dumb: Mami sometimes doesn't pay attention in class, and other times she can't focus because she want to spend time practicing her psychic powers.
- Bowdlerized: In the 2002 drama version, Mami is a leotard model rather than a nude model for her dad's paintings; justified cuz you couldn't get away with that in a live-action show even in Japan.
- But Not Too Foreign: Mami has European ancestors, more specifically, French. That would explain partially why she has red hair.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Mami is not shy about helping someone whose circumstance she deems desperate enough to warrant her assistance, regardless of whether the person in question is someone she knows or not. Since the ability to sense mental distress from others is one of her Psychic Powers, she finds herself imposing her presence onto a stranger in need many times.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Mami sometimes crashes into objects and other people when using her powers. She once fell down stairs right after warning Takahata to watch his step.
- Deadly Dodging: One of Mami's favorite tricks when attacked is to teleport away so that opponents collide with whatever was behind her.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: One of the ways Mami's Psychic Powers manifest comes in the form of a Dream Sequence concerning the person(s) she encounters at the time that might occur in the near future showing up in her dreams. Should the Dream Sequence in question end up with a horrible enough outcome, Catapult Nightmare is likely to ensue and cause Mami to spring into action in order to prevent the bad outcome in said Dream Sequence from happening in the first place.
- Feud Episode: Earlier into the series, there is one when Takahata finds out that Mami was the real esper and not him. He also feels down because they have been friends for a while by the time she confesses to him she was the one with the powers, so he couldn't believe she was lying to him the whole time. After some days pass, they eventually reconcile because it was never Mami's intention, and Takahata still wants to consider her his friend. After that, he serves as Mami's consultant, using his intelligence and creativity to help Mami manipulate her power effectively and efficiently.
- How Do I Shot Web?: At the very start of her powers' discovery, Mami's teleportation sometimes caused her to crash into things.
- Lethal Chef: Mami's cooking is quite literally lethal, yet she's too much of an airhead to notice that (or maybe her cohorts don't want to hurt her feeling by being honest). The first time she attempted to cook for Takahata while his parents were away, she literally passed out when tasting her soup, yet was still determined to cook for him, which resulted in him calling his parents and asking them to come home sooner. Later, when she's on a trip with Takahata and her father, she managed to learn to cook a safe meal that wasn't that bad for them from her mother beforehand.
- Mugging the Monster: Several people have tried to assault or kidnap Mami only to crash into the object behind her, get sent to a distant location, or knocked out by her telekinesis.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Konpoco (see also Pom Poko), Mami's raccoon dog-looking pet dog (meaning that he's a dog who looks like a racoon dog, but he's not a raccoon dog).
- Pocket Protector: Mami's heart-shaped brooch (actually a gadget designed by Takahata to help with her teleportation) protects her when she gets shot by a sniper.
- Potty Emergency: Mami ends up with this in Episodes 36, 40, 82, and 83. Sometimes, she overcomes this by
teleporting her pee into another person's bladder, making them rush to the bathroom for her. - Prefers Going Barefoot: Mami is very fond of running around barefoot. While out on a picnic with her father in episode 10 as he tries to paint a picture of the countryside, Mami decides to lose her shoes and socks and go barefoot, even when she needs to teleport back home to get something for her father, surprising her mother into thinking she just hallucinated, who doesn't know about Mami's powers. Unfortunately, when it's time to go home, she's forgotten where she took them off, so she really loses them. Her father jokes about her still being a little kid in that respect, but she fires back by reminding him he napped all day instead of painting his picture. Mami's also seen running across a lake barefoot in the intro of every episode.
- Psychic Powers: Mami's powers include telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, and levitation. She can also control the weather to some extent.
- Public Exposure: Completely and utterly inverted. Mami's father is a painter specializing in nude figure painting, and Mami is his favorite subject, something she is not upset by in the least. Her house (and bedroom) are filled with nude paintings of her, something of which she isn't really embarrassed about. The main male lead, however, is embarrassed enough for the both of them. The trope is played more straight later on when she poses for an artist who isn't her father, however, and feels somewhat uncomfortable about it.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Impulsive, upbeat Mami being the energetic girl while Takahata is the savvy guy, being knowledgeable and pragmatic.
- Secret-Keeper: Among the regular characters in this series, Kazuo Takahata is the only person who knows about Mami's Psychic Powers.
- Ship Tease: While Mami and Takahata mostly see each other as friends, there are hints that they have feelings for one another. Mami has considered the possibility of marrying Takahata in the future, and Takahata has gotten flustered at the thought of being romantically involved with her.
- Squishy Wizard: Physically, Mami is an average teenage girl, so she can get in trouble when she's been taken by surprise and her hands restrained.
- Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Mami handles most of the action with her powers, while Takahata comes up with strategies and solutions.
- They Would Cut You Up: Mami considered telling her family about her powers, but changed her mind when she heard about how her French ancestors were hunted as witches.
- Touch Telepathy: At the start of the series, Mami can only read thoughts clearly if she's touching the person. Later, she learns she can do it if they're both touching a metal wire (insulation does not stop the telepathy.)
- Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: Mami does a lot of her heroics after school, even late at night, so she often has trouble concentrating in class the next day.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Mami is terrified of ghosts. Even ghost stories can spook her.
