Let’s take a look at the box of my new figure purchase!
Marvelous Melmo is a character I have an appreciation for because she is one of the only lolita-characters who actually managed to grow up somehow. I don’t know about you, but as a vintage character she has class. As you’ll see in this back-of-the-box picture, her child form is holding a bottle of magic candies, but her adult form is posed like Marilyn Monroe. Considering Tezuka took his original manga design illustration style from Disney cartoons and Betty Boop, the influence on that on Marvelous Melmo is striking. Melmo’s manga has no English translation, her anime series she appears in has never been translated into English or even fan-subbed, but she does make an appearance through Tezuka’s Star System in Osamu Tezuka’s manga Apollo’s Song.
The back of the box, with more detail on the figures.
This figure was quite a find for a Tezuka-nut like me, as Tezuka goods are hard to find in Australia. When you do find them here, you have to snap up what you can. Anyway, Melmo’s a bit classier than some modern bishoujo figures, so I thought to myself “Why not! It’s Tezuka!”. Melmo actually originates from a 1960s anime and manga series intended as a sex-ed program for children in Japan, but from what I saw at the Tezuka exhibition one year I can safely say that Melmo was probably responsible as an influence on character design for quite some time, but she’s not really moe. More classy, I reckon.
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Copyright © Jacob Martin 2009. All Rights Reserved.
2 comments ↓
And like all such loli characters, she’s adorable.
First comment on the post from a girl. It appears Melmo’s classiness appeals to both genders with her non pandering appeal!
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