is a Japanese TV drama and

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

series created and illustrated by

Mitsuteru Yokoyama was a Japanese manga artist born in Suma Ward of Kobe City in Hyōgo Prefecture. His personal name was originally spelled , with the same pronunciation. His works include ''Tetsujin 28-go'', '' Giant Robo'', ''Akakage'', ''Babel II'', '' Sall ...

, the creator of ''

Tetsujin 28-go , known as simply ''Tetsujin 28'' in international releases, is a 1956 manga written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who also created '' Giant Robo''. The series centers on the adventures of a young boy named Shotaro Kaneda, who ...

'' and '' Giant Robo''. The TV drama tells the story of Comet, one of the princesses of the Triangle Nebula who came to Earth in search for the missing prince. The manga is first serialized in

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The fol ...

's monthly ''

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

'' magazine from July to November 1967, marking as one of Japan's first Magical girl series produced.

Plot

The story revolves around Princess Comet, a twelve-year-old girl who is also the princess of the Harmonica Star country of the Triangle Nebula. She was meant to meet the prince of the Tambourine Star country at a ball, but the prince ran away to Earth instead. As it turned out, Comet is sent to Earth to find him, though she has no idea what he looks like. "He will be known by the twinkling in his eyes" is the only clue she was given to the prince's identity. Once she travels to Earth, Comet falls in love with the people she meets there as well as the planet itself, quickly becoming attached to life on Earth. Meanwhile, Princess Meteor learns of Comet's plans to find and marry the prince, so she arrives on Earth in search of the prince, planning to marry him before Comet gets the chance. Both princesses are sent to Earth along with a companion. Comet's companion is a little puppy with a star at the end of his tail named . Meteor's companion is a round, purple bird named . Unbeknownst to Comet, her Aunt Spica also lives on Earth and had visited Earth before, deciding to stay there and get married herself. Aunt Spica's pet is , a white rabbit with a tiny heart on her tail. The main plot is Comet's tale about her journey to Earth, the people she meets, and her journey to find the prince. The series is set in

Kamakura, Kanagawa is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

Characters

* Comet (voiced by Aki Maeda in the anime adaptation)

Media

TV Drama

The original Japanese live-action drama was broadcast by

Tokyo Broadcasting System formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...

in two seasons. The first season aired from July 3, 1967, to December 30, 1968, with a total of 79 episodes. The second season aired from June 12, 1978, to September 24, 1979, with a total of 68 episodes. Both seasons were dubbed into

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and broadcast within Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica and other

Spanish-speaking countries The following is a list of countries where Spanish is an official language, plus a number of countries where Spanish or any language closely related to it, is an important or significant language. Official or national language Spanish is the o ...

, first season in the 1970s and second season in the 2000s. Additionally, two actresses (

Yumiko Kokonoe Yumiko Kokonoe (九重佑三子, born 21 March 1946) is a Japanese actress and singer. Her most notable role was the protagonist of the series '' Comet-san'' filmed by Tokyo Broadcasting Corporation (TBS). 79 episodes of Comet-san were produced ...

and

Kumiko Ohba Kumiko (くみこ, クミコ) is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kumiko can be written using different kanji and can mean: *久美子, "forever, beauty, child" *空見子, "sky, see, child" *公美子, "public, beauty, child" * ...

) from the dramas appear in the later anime versions. Bundled with the anime version, the TV drama provides various modules of daily life-related scenarios for the audience, especially the fans of the two actresses that played the main character.

Manga

The Manga adaptation was serialized in

's monthly

from July to November 1967, illustrated by

Anime

An anime adaptation of the drama series titled was animated by

Nippon Animation is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City. Nippon Animation is known for producing numerous anime series based on works of ...

, directed by Mamoru Kanbe of ''

Cardcaptor Sakura , abbreviated as ''CCS'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. Serialized monthly in the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from May 1996 to June 2000, it was also published in 12 ''tankōbon'' ...

'' and written by

Akira Okeya Akira may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Akira'' (franchise), a Japanese cyberpunk franchise ** ''Akira'' (manga), a 1980s cyberpunk manga by Katsuhiro Otomo ** ''Akira'' (1988 film), an anime film adaptation of the manga ** ''Akira'' (vide ...

of '' Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team''. Character designs were done by Kazuaki Makida, who later contributed to the characters designs of '' Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch''. The series premiered on

TV Osaka is a television station affiliated with the TX Network in Osaka, Japan. The mascot character is "Takoru-kun" (たこるくん). History Television Osaka, Inc. was founded in 1981 as part of the reorganization of Tokyo Channel 12 Ltd (now TV T ...

and

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

from April 1, 2001, to January 27, 2002, with a total of 43 episodes. It was also later aired by

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

, which translated and dubbed the series into English and other languages for broadcast across its network in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South and Southeast Asia. The Anime adapts both the live-action dramas closely with close involvement with Yokoyama himself in redesigning the characters and including new concepts. The anime has four theme songs. The first opening song is titled by

Nayu Nibori Bangkok Malay, also referred to as Bangkok Melayu or Nayu, is the local variant of Malay spoken by ethnic Malays living in Bangkok and its surrounding areas. It arose from the intermingling of the Malay community from Southern Thailand and slow ...

and the second is by

Shizuka Nakayama is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Shizuka can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *, "quiet/calm" *, "quiet/calm, flower" *, "quiet/calm, fragrance" *, "quiet/calm, flower" *, "quiet/calm, excellent" *, " ...

. The first ending theme is titled by

Saeko Chiba is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She grew up in Tokyo and married on her birthday in 2007. She is contracted to the Space Craft Produce. Biography Chiba took up ballet at a young age with ambitions of becoming part of Takarazuka Revue. ...

and the second ending titled by Sayuri Tanaka. The music is composed by

Moka Moka () is a village in Mauritius located in the Moka District, the western part of the village also lies in the Plaines Wilhems District. Since 1967 it forms part of Constituency No. 8 Quartier Militaire and Moka. The village is administered by ...

, who later composed the soundtrack of ''

Elfen Lied is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Lynn Okamoto. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's '' Weekly Young Jump'' from June 2002 to August 2005, with the 107 chapters collected into twelve ''tankōbon'' volumes. ''Elfen ...

''.

Episode list

Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san runs 24 minutes per episode and has 43 episodes.

References

External links

TV Osaka website

TOHO's Official website
* {{SynergySP 2001 anime television series debuts Japanese drama television series Japanese television series with live action and animation Magical girl anime and manga Mitsuteru Yokoyama Nippon Animation