Princess Felicia (1982 anime)

Princess Felicia (子猫姫ミミ - Koneko Hime Mimi) is a 1982 anime (also produced by investors in France and Canada) series created by Quebecois novelist Jean-Pierre Renard and Osamu Tezuka, who directed and adapted the anime from a manga, which in turn is based on a novel trilogy by Renard himself.

The series involves Mimi, a girl who is transported to a feline kingdom (albeit anthropomorphic) where it turns out she is actually the princess and the heir to the throne, and the numerous obstacles she faces in the kingdom.

The series was broadcast in Japan from October 2, 1982 to September 24, 1983 for 52 episodes on Nippon Television and in France from September 9, 1983 to March 1, 1985 (with the first 26 episodes' broadcast ending on February 24, 1984 and the last 26 episodes' broadcast beginning on September 14, 1984) on France 3 (then FR3) as part of its children's programFR3 Jeunesse. An animated feature film of the same name was released in 2000 by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment.

Summary
Mimi is an orphaned young girl (or is she?) who is abused by a cruel farmer until she escapes with her three friends (two cats and one dog). During her escape, she is transported to the Felician Kingdom where she turns into an anthropomorphic cat and finds out she is really the princess and the heir to the throne. What's more is that she was stolen and taken to the real world to be made into a human and given to an abusive guardian so she would not take the throne. Not only must she find out who had abducted her, but she also has to stop a conflict with a kingdom of dogs and traitorous cats as well as change the personality of a spoiled and wealthy male cat she is engaged to (from an egotistical rich cat to a respectful, kindhearted and noble cat).

Video game
An action video game was released for the Famicom Disk System by Axel Corp. on December 12, 1986 in retail, purchase at Famicom Disk Writer kiosks and in cartridge form on March 16, 1990. It was later Americanized as Princess Kittycat and released by Tradewest on November 24, 1987, although the original version was released under the title of Princess Felicia in Canada by Axel Co. Canada the same day.

International popularity
The series was a massive success almost worldwide since its first broadcast in 1982. Fans and critics have given the series (and the novels as well) credit for straying away from the traditional princess stereotypes common in many well-known works of fiction, including some Disney films. Princess Mimi not only became popular with the "furry" community, but also won the praise of male audiences, uncharacteristically for an otherwise "shojo" anime, in that she is actually a developed character, can competently fight and win a battle and never has to be rescued from anyone once she becomes the princess.

The series has become popular in its native Japan, France, parts of Eastern Europe, Germany, Spain, the Benelux region, Scandinavia, Canada (both with English and French speakers), Italy, Israel, South Korea, the UK & Ireland, Turkey, some parts of the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.

The Latin American dub is considered one of the best anime dubs by Spanish-speaking otaku and anime fans in general, with very well-chosen voice actors and great acting as well as its opening and ending theme songs performed by Chilean singer Memo Aguirre (under the alias Capitán Memo), who was also famous for performing the theme songs for the Latin American dubs of He-Man, Captain Future and Flower Child Lunlun and other shows. While the show's music, in virtually every non-Japanese release, is mostly retained, some bits of additional music were composed by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, who also composed the music for the theme songs by Memo Aguirre.

In the United States, the show and Dog Prince Epan-kun were broadcast as part of Cheez TV in the 1990's. While the two anime series of Epan-kun kept their Canadian English dubs, this show gained a American English dub, produced by Saban Entertainment, with a new theme song performed by Sonja Ball.