Mahô no stêji fanshî Rara (1998) User Reviews

A very cute magical girl series

[killerjim4 · 8/10 · 17 May 2006]

Fancy Lala is a children's magical girl series, but it can be enjoyed by the young at heart. Miho is a ten-year-old girl who encounters two dinosaur fairies who give her a magic pen and pad. By drawing clothes on the pad and reciting some magic words she transforms into an older version of herself whom she dubs Fancy Lala. She is then scouted by a modeling agency. Soon they have her auditioning as a singer as well. Along the way Miho learns about growing up, having a crush and how hard the entertainment industry is.

I got interested in the series after seeing the trailer (the opening credits) and digging the song. The song, I discovered, is titled "La La La...When You Wish Upon Your Lips". I mistakenly assumed that Lala was a long haired girl, but actually she has short hair and sometimes wears a wig.

The second DVD has a text interview with the creators, which is best read after watching the entire series (preferably in Japanese). Some of the creators previously worked on the series Magical Angel Creamy Mami. Thanks to a enterprising penpal who no longer writes to me, I have seen the fan-subtitled versions of the first four episodes of Creamy Mami. The two shows have a few things in common, such as the lead characters transforming into older versions of themselves and becoming pop stars. Creamy Mami is more of a slapstick comedy mixed with a huge dose of fantasy. Fancy Lala is a fantasy, but is more down to earth. I like both shows, and I hope Creamy Mami gets a legit U.S. release someday, but I think Fancy Lala is better.

In any case, I highly recommend Fancy Lala. Enjoy!

Actually a decent Magical girl series in the 90s!

[Irishchatter · 7/10 · 7 August 2019]

I'm surprised but not surprised, that this series wasn't successful in Japan. I think the main reason it wasn't successful in Japan was because it was the Sailor Moon era and people might have thought it was compared to that particular show. As well, it might have copied a good bit of "Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami" (which I've yet to see) and the same studio did that series so it might've been that reason too?

Anyways this anime show was really entertaining, the characters were interesting, storyline was top notch, English Dub actors were good and I have to say, I'm very impressed with the art even it is outdated. However the soundtrack was a rather hit or miss for me so that's why I'm giving this anime a 7/10 rating.

10 year old girl uses magic pen to transform into teen model

[gjhong · 30 May 2002]

I see Bandai is going to be releasing the North American version in the summer of 2002 so I may as well tell you about this magical girl series. Fancy Lala is about an elementary school girl named Miho who likes to draw her own fashion designs. One day she gets a magic pen and pad from a pair of strange little dinosaurs. When she holds the pen and says the magic words Miho transforms into her teenage version which nobody seems to recognize as Miho. Anything drawn on the pad becomes real temporarily and Miho uses it to create clothes for her older self. For some reason she refers to her older self as Fancy Lala. Lala runs into a talent scout and that is how she becomes a model. The talent agency respects her need for privacy so they don't know where she lives and haven't met her parents and can only reach her by phone.

The stories are sweet and generally deal with the problems Miho has trying to hide her other life. There was one touching story about the consequences of trying to bring something to life with the magic pad. Another sad story was the adventure of Miho being trapped in a parallel world where no one would acknowledge her as the real Miho.

If you like Hime-chan's Ribbon you will probably like Fancy Lala too. You'll love that catchy theme song.

Magical and Romantic

[TimothyMcKann · 10/10 · 4 August 2006]

When I first saw an ad of this anime in a magazine. I have to say,that this series could be something new to me,and it was. But when I bought the first 2 volumes of this show on DVD,and the others later,I was right about this show. It was the best. It was the most romantic anime to see. My favorite character in this series are:The Mystery Man,Lala,and Hiroya Aikawa. I know that Lala has what it take to be a star.All she has to do is work hard and believe in herself. What this show tells us that dreams are the most important thing in life. We can all have a dream like Lala and Miho. They have a goal of what they want to be when they grow up.Lala's dream to become a pop star,and Miho's dream is to become a cartoonist. Another thing I liked in the show was the song "Transperence", I have to say that Lala really has what it takes to performs that song. The song is very inspiring,and beautiful. I do feel really bad in the end when Miho loses the Pen and Sketchbook,and the Dinosaur fairies going away after trying to create her another Pen and Sketchbook. The show was simply the best and truly amazing. So in closing,if you want to see someone good,and great for the family. Then this is the one anime to see. You will see what I mean.