Magical Ribbon Tour

  • Summary by Philip Hacker, 2002.06.13
One day after school, Hime-chan and Daichi are part of the group playing soccer in the schoolyard. Hime-chan gets the ball, and accidentally kicks it through the open window into the library. A moment later, Hibino Hikaru comes out of the library, holding the soccer ball. It seems that the ball hit her in the head, and so, feeling guilty, Hime-chan agrees to help Hikaru clean up the mess that was made in the library when Hikaru fell over after being hit by the ball.

As Hime-chan, Daichi, and Hikaru are cleaning up in the library, they come across an ancient-looking copy of Grimm's Faerie Tales. The book turns out to be enchanted, and it reacts with Hime-chan's magic and pulls her, Daichi, Hikaru, and Pokota into itself. When Hime-chan, Pokota, and Hikaru awaken, they find themselves in a strange place, and Daichi is nowhere to be seen. A girl who looks exactly like Hime-chan's friend Mori Manami approaches them, telling them that they are in the Faerie Tale World (which is a distinctly separate place from the Magic World of which Erika is the crown princess).

The Manami lookalike introduces herself as Snow White, and tells our heroes that they are the prophecised saviors from another world who would save the Faerie Tale World from the Wicked Witch. It seems that the Wicked Witch is kidnapping all of the princes in the Faerie Tale World--including Snow White's prince! Snow White begs our heroes to rescue her prince.

Upon hearing all of this, Hikaru laughs and says "Ah hah! I've figured it out! Nonohara-san's stuffed toy is talking, and now Mori-san is Snow White! This has GOT to be a dream!"

Hime-chan is reluctant at first to fight the Wicked Witch, but when Snow White tells her that, when she saw the three meteors that showed the arrival of Hime-chan, Hikaru, and Pokota, there was also a fourth meteor that fell in the Western Forest, where the Wicked Witch's castle lies. Hime-chan and Hikaru decide that this must have been Daichi, and they resolve to rescue him.

Meanwhile, Daichi wakes up in the Wicked Witch's castle. He is skeptical at first about the Witch, calling her a crazy old lady in a weird outfit. The Witch gets angry at this and tosses him in a room with Snow White's prince, who has an uncanny resemblance to Daichi's buddy Tetsu. Snow White's prince is a very dull, flat fellow with no personality--he doesn't even have a name of his own--everybody just calls him "Snow White's prince". Daichi convinces the prince to join his escape attempt...

Returning to Hime-chan and Hikaru, they are walking along a cliff, and Hikaru starts complaining about how dumb she thinks the situation is. She says "This isn't anything like any of MY dreams. Nonohara-san, this must be YOUR dream!"

This leads to an argument, which ends with Hikaru falling off the cliff. Himeko quickly uses her Magic Pallet to reverse time to before Hikaru fell, and stops the argument before it starts.

Continuing to the west, our heroes come to the sea. The Western Forest is on the other side of the water, but there seems to be no way to cross until they meet a mermaid who offers them a rowboat. They row across the water for a while, but a storm soon rises. Hime-chan cries out to the mermaid to save her, but when the mermaid appears, she transforms into a sea serpent and attacks, saying that she is realy an ally of the Wicked Witch.

Just as it looks as though the rowboat is about to sink, the storm clears and sunlight comes streaming through, driving off the sea serpent.

"Hime-chan, can you hear me?" It seems that Erika has finally been able to find Hime-chan and make contact with her--Erika was watching when Hime-chan was pulled into the Faerie Tale World, but was unable to communicate with Hime-chan until now. It was she who had stopped the storm. Erika reveals that the Wicked Witch is really a renegade from the Magic World who had run away to the Faerie Tale World. Erika charges Hime-chan with the task of arresting the Wicked Witch and bringing her back to the Magic World. In order to catch the Wicked Witch, Erika gives Hime-chan a sealed box, which Hime-chan is unable to open. How this will help her is unknown.

After an unpleasant night in the forest (Hikaru complains about the quality of the food that they had to gather and cook themselves), they run into Daichi and the prince, who have finally managed to escape from the Wicked Witch (it is not said how they got away from her). Hikaru wants to take Daichi and the prince and run back to Snow White with them, but Hime-chan is determined to take on the witch.

Right on cue, the Witch appears. She is angry that her captives have escaped, and she transforms into a fire-breathing dragon and attacks them. Hime-chan uses the Heart Baton to enlarge a boulder to hide behind, and then shrinks the Witch's fire blast in midair.

Hikaru, Daichi, Pokota, and even the prince, who is unsure of his ability to do anything on his own, start to counterattack, throwing rocks, etc. at the Witch. Waiting for an opening, Hime-chan tries to shrink the Witch, but the Witch envelops her in a huge fireball...

When the fireball clears, Daichi runs into the blasted area, searching for Hime-chan. Surprisingly, she is unharmed, but the Witch is preparing to strike again. Just then, the box that Erika gave to Hime-chan opens itself. Inside is a rainbow-colored flower. Immediately upon seeing this flower, the Witch returns to human form and breaks down in tears.

It turns out that the flower reminds the Witch of her lost love. Her prince had gone off into the forest one day and never returned, and so, heartbroken, she had vowed that if she could not have her Prince, then neither could anybody else. This is why she kidnapped Snow White's prince.

Hime-chan asks why she hadn't tried to find her lost Prince, and the Witch admits that it never occurred to her (people who live in the Faerie Tale World show a surprising lack of initiative--maybe it comes from being stuck in their stories all the time?). The Witch says she was afraid that she might find that he was dead.

To prove to the Witch that her Prince was still alive, Hime-chan uses the Ribbon to transform into him--the Ribbon can only allow her to transform into LIVING people, not deceased people. The Witch accepts this as proof, and leaves in search of her Prince. Coincidentally, by the way, the Witch's Prince looks exactly like Gori-sensei!

Their adventure at an end, our heroes return to Snow White's castle where they receive a huge reception. As soon as it is over, they are magically returned to the library back at Kazetachi Middle School. Yawning, Hikaru wakes up and says "See? I told you it was a dream!"

End of Magical Ribbon Tour


similar web pages


Hime-chan no Ribbon
(c) 水沢めぐみ/集英社・テレビ東京・NAS・東映動画
(c) Mizusawa Megumi/Shuueisha, TV Tokyo, NAS, Toei Douga