I just feel like Japan has too many things going on

“Oh? You wanna stop funding us? Fine, we’ll kill the pink-haired-magic-girl” what an absolute *power move*

The answer is simple god was pissed off that they ended his favorite show.

The fact that your computer kept crashing while you were trying to make this shows that the curse of Minky Momo is true.

"Could you imagine if they ended Pokemon this way?" Yes, I can, because the same Takeshi Shudo was behind the show in its early seasons, and he was even thinking about ending it like something between The Birds and Planet of the Apes (the question is if Tajiri and other people in the production team would allow it). And maybe even ending it like Minky Momo would be better than how it really went after 1999 (let the main character hop from island to island never becoming the master, and kicking all the other main characters out).

imagine you stop funding a company because you aren't getting enough money for some toys you're making and then a rumor starts about how you caused the biggest earthquake in japan

They ended a kid's anime show by killing off the main character by having her get hit by a truck? 80s anime was great

I REALLY miss this entire era of Japanese animation, there were just SO MANY GREAT and crazy shows that came out of the 80s and even the 90s. They had a style both in story and animation that you just don't see anymore. I really wish they'd bring it back.

Homura: being magical girl is suffering Momo: first time?

"My computer crashed 110 times trying to edit this video" Even talking about her is a curse.

Sir you have no idea how happy you've made me. Im 3yrs behind, but I have dug deep into my childhood memories to try and find this anime. My mom bought me one single VHS of this show somehow in like 2002 or so and i never ever could remember the name. Im almost 28yrs old and have searched for well over 15yrs for this show. I never could remember the plot or anything so IMDB'ing was impossible. Ofc Sailormoon and Sakura cardcaptor kept popping up and I was always like "NO DUDE...THIS IS A CHEAPER... OLDER VERSION!!" lol EDIT: I live in the U.S so i really have no idea how she got this tape lol

I remember watching the last episode as a really young kid. It didn't traumatize me or anything. It was just my second earliest "SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FOCK IS HAPPENING" moment in my life. The first one was when my uncle died in a traffic accident and I saw his corpse in my grandpa's house but that's totally unrelated.

Toy Company: Stops sending money Minky Momo: I'm going to end this whole country's career

how the hell did momo, a show who was just made for children entertainment, turn into a literal cursed urban legend edit: this comment is getting sm attention 😭 i worded this wrongly but i was trying to say how it was very funny to see a harmless child show become a cursed urban legend ,, i know where most urban legends come from i promise 😭

Actually Takeshi Shudo who went on to become the head writer of Pokémon, intended to kill off Ash in the first ever movie as a finale but due to the sheer popularity of the anime, the ending was re-written at the last moment (you can even see how the writing must have been hastened when Ash turns into stone and Pikachu keeps shocking him and the hints of his death are there in the first ever Japanese teaser of the film) I read somewhere that he had depression and anxiety which made him have a bad outlook towards life and he intended to portray how Ash have to move on from his "childhood" dream because they are mostly unachievable. But thankfully the writing team eventually took a different narrative after his departure and Ash is now a world champion!

I remember this being one of my favourite shows as a kid over 25 years ago. She's called "Haneen" in Arabic, which is a real Arabian name. I still listen to their opening every few years. Such golden days.

That's one way to get back at a toy company. "Hey you remember that cute magical girl you decided to abandon? Well she's dead now. She's dead and it's all your fault."

Momo is just like: "hit me with a truck again and you'll soon learn that nuclear war avoidance is a privilege, not a right."

Momo looks a little like Madoka Kaname, whose anime became associated with the most powerful earthquake in Japanese history; the 2011 Tohoku quake, which struck the day after possibly the highest-rated episode of the show first aired. Maybe it was also a victim of the Momo Curse, due to the protags' resemblence?

The ONLY reason ive ever heard of Minky Momo was through an episode of My Life as a Teenage Robot where in the beginning of the episode ( I think its the one where Jenny goes to kindergarten), he starts singing the "Minky Momo song". Pretty sure the song in that episode is completely made up, but the song definitely did get stuck in my head

You've been hit by You've been struck by Truck

Toy Company: We don't want to make toys anymore. Truck-kun: My anger won't be satisfied till the streets flood with the blood of anime protagonists.

It's so weird that this show was so influential. I lived in Japan for 10 years and I've never heard of it till now.

Minky from the term "mink" as is a mink fur coat, they're referring to how Momo's hair is "fluffy" like a mink coat, and Momo means "peach" , there is a type of Asian peach that are light pink in color. So the character's name is basically another way of saying she's like a "Fluffy Peach" Minky from "mink" a type of warm fuzzy cute animal/or it's fluffly fur, and sounds like "pink", and "Micky (Mouse)" pink+mink+micky = Minky

Japan: "Hey maybe we should broadcast this old magic girl anime." Minky Momo: "JUST LET ME DIIIE!!!"

Yeah shes a magical girl, they just didn’t mention its black magic

Harmony Gold's version of Minky Momo might still be lost media, but Crunchyroll just uploaded the subbed Japanese version today. Just saw the first episode. I'm in South America, so I'm not 100% sure it's available in NorthAmerica, but it should be. Will finaly get to experience the curse first hand! And yes, everybody here knows her as Gigi. This is a great channel. Hope you can upload more content soon! Greetings from Chile

Found this channel a few days back and I have been so intrigued by these videos. I love finding things I didn't know existed that look like I coulda stumbled apon them scrolling the TV early 4 am by waking up in accident. Old TV was amazing sometimes.

It's called Gigi in french and they didn't air the followup to her death, leaving the french youth traumatized. Absolute gold

I walked into my house and found my sister watching Minky Momo. I snorted mockingly and at that exact moment my mother tripped in the kitchen and almost shanked herself with the knife she was cooking with..... I never disrespected Mistress Momo again.

There's a very easy way to tell the 2 Momo apart, the original (called sky Momo) has the star hairpin, while the sequel (called sea Momo) has the heart hairpin I don't get Shudo's mindset, was he trying to guilt trip the toy company, who probably thought: What do I care if you choose to kill off your own main character, it's no sweat off our backs.

My parents loved this show when they were kids and they showed me and my sister an episode of this once when we were younger. Little did we know about how it ended... 😬

"Minky Momo even got a release in America! That's right! It aired right after the season premiere started and you wouldn't guess which day Toonami decided to air Minky Momo... that's right, September 11, 2001..."

Imagine remaking the series? “We are considering cancelling your show” Writers: do you really want to take that risk?

The joke you made about Minky Momo growing up to be Haman Karn was hilarious. I love Zeta Gundam and seeing the series get referenced brings me joy.

Everything comes together now! the truck the isekai the crushed dreams of magical girls

"Saving the world doing the basic magical girl stuff" At the same time, she destroys a missle and transform it into loving hearts. Holy shit

"Momo needs to stop Peter Pan from childifying all the people, stop a war from between every nation on Earth, and have a dogfight for good measure. I know this sounds boring but..." wut?

The only reason I know this anime is bc of the song Rurus Suicide Show on a Livestream, where it talks about Roro, a girl from Japan, who committed suicide by jumping off a building. She was known for running across busy streets, jumping from high buildings to other high buildings, and her livestreams full of comments telling her to off herself.

I had so many tapes with that kid explaining the tracking!! I was just thinking about it the other day, what a trip to have it pop up here!

"But it was so traumatizing that it is said that Minky Momo's energy leaked into the real world where it manifested as an actual event" *I am going to SHIT MY PANTS that is so insane*

I was six when I watched that show. I was in love with her. I remember every time I got to choose what to draw, I would draw her. It was awfull when she died, I cound't understand. Then she came back, but it wasn't her, it was something like "this would have happened if she would have lived, but don't forget she's dead". I had many nightmares about it. I don't remember when I stopped drawing her. Many years later I remembered Gigi again, and I ask my friends if they knew her, but nobody knew who she was. And I repeated: the girl with pink hair, who transformed into profesional growned women, and died hit by a truck. I tought I was crazy. Until I discovered my 1° Grade school notebook at my grandma's attic and effectively, it had drawn Gigis all over it. So she was real. When Internet became a thing Gigi was one of the first things that I looked for. 0 results the first times. Years later I found out her original name was Minky Momo, and could download a couple of pictures. And after that more information become available. Thanks for explaining why the hell I lived traumatized all my childhood. I don't know if I feel better now, hahaha.

The two momos have different color hair. Idk if everyone else can see it, but classic has a redder hair color, new one has a bubble gum pink hue. It’s a subtle difference, and not everyone can see color that clearly. They should have made the colors more accentuated.

Loved this it was great!

Imagining Minky Momo's energy materialize into the real world causing natural disasters is scarier than Nora's constant frame skips and the Laughing Salesman's smile. Good luck Minky Momo.

"And then she turns into Blackjack." Yeah, it's a classic.

Wonderful documentary, thanks! This is fascinating!

Wow! Childhood memory unlocked! My sister had several of these toys, like I strongly remember a plastic necklace thing just like the one from this show. She kept it with her (original) My Little Ponies and Popples things. We were both 80's kids in the US, no clue how she got them.

Toy Company: "Momo gotta make more money." Shudo: "Then I diagnose her with dead."

This was Truck-Kun's first ever role, look how young he was

love this thank you

I just wanna say, this video has been in the top of my watch later playlist despite the fact I've watched it multiple times I've seen all the times you've changed the thumbnail, it's very funny lol

"I guess after isekai'ing a magical girl with a truck, you can get away with anything" I'm ded

Minky Momo is legendary here in Latin America because the horrific "ending" that traumatized an entire generation of small tv viewers. Here it was called "Las Aventuras de Gigi" and because of never explained reasons, the last season of the show was never dubbed in spanish, so the "run over by a truck" IS the last episode of the series! That's right, for all the little latinos viewers, the final fate of cute Gigi/Minky Momo was dead by a truck! Only decades later, by the dawn of the Internet era, many grown up latinos viewers finally they got to know there was one extra season of never dubbed episodes of the original series and that their beloved magical girl was actually alive and well. You can read the comments section of any latino spanish dubbed videos of "Gigi" on KZfaq and it looks like a PTSD therapy group, still reeling from the shocking "finale" and needing a hug.

This was actually solid! Good stuff.

YOOOO Thank you for reminding me of this anime!

"It was harmony gold, try to figure out what they were doing in the 1980s" Cocaine. If it's the 80s it was cocaine.

It’s like those old japanese stories where someone died and all their nagative emotions got sealed in a sword or building, except the negative emotion was so powerful that Minky Momo entering the airwaves created a natural disaster.

I always come back to this video, this show really feels like a phenomenon

What an amazing store. Lost content is so fascinating, everyone just assumes everything gets saved forever somewhere in some big archive but I really isn't so certain

Fun-fact: in the My life as teenage robot episode, “I was preschool dropout” Brad sings the Miki Momo theme song

The funny thing about this is that the head writer on the show, Takeshi Shudo, eventually got to be the head writer of Pokémon up until mid-to-late Johto. Had Pokémon not been the cash cow that it is today, he might have killed Ash Ketchum in the same manner. EDIT: After two years of this comment being up, I'd like to mention that he said that Ash couldn't become the Pokémon master because the show would end. And it made me think of an ending for Pokémon where Ash dies after winning the Alola League Tournament: While running out of the stadium, Ash doesn't look where he's going and gets hit by Truck-kun. Every companion he's ever had, every rival he's been on good terms with, the one-offs that reappeared in specials, and even the Team Rocket trio visits his hospital bed. Pikachu goes through a depressive episode and offers himself up to be taken by Team Rocket, but they decline because it just doesn't feel earned. No plot contrivance, no legendary Pokémon comes in to save the day, we just get to witness Ash's life flash before his eyes as he dies happily, his life fulfilled. That would've been my ideal finale, a real tear-jerker.

OMG Kenny, I Cannot Believe A Western Man Talks About One Of My Favor Cartoons From Japan ! 😱😱😱😱 My most favor one is " 魔法の妖精ペルシャ " , it freed me from a very boring high school life (in Taiwan) and it still influences me in some way. The theme song, " 見知らぬ国のトリッパー " so greatly matches the storyline. Do you happen to have any vidéos about " 魔法の妖精ペルシャ " ???? (Please say yes ! 😉😉😉😉)

CrunchyRoll just added this to their lineup and I had to make sure you were notified because upon seeing the title, I had flashbacks to seeing your video. XD

Even creepier was the episodes where out of revenge she got esp powers and was ready to hurt people . First dark magical girl anime.

That Earthquake warning after the last episode must have been terrifying

Fun fact: i remember watching this show when I was young (and this was already in the 2000's). It passed on TV in Portugal. But i barely remember, and i did have an impression something heavy happened in the anime. The truck scene and i remember an episode with both Minky Momos which also felt spoky for me, but i cant remember why.

Good luck, Minky Momo! I had heard of Princess Gigi, but had no idea how deep the rabbit hole went. I’ll definitely have to watch the Japanese versions now.

Fun fact: "Momo" is one way to say "Pink" (among other things) in japanese, so its possible for Minky Momo's name to be translated as "Minky Pinky" and im gonna refer to her as such from now on

Me, watching this video: "The curse can't be real!" Minky Momo: *Destroys Japan with Typhoon Hagibis*

I used to see that very pink haired character around in my childhood, yet I never knew her name. That girl sure is a curse with the earthquakes and double lost media. It's like her magic managed to enter our realm.

So, fun fact pertaining to Takeshi Shudo also being head writer of the Pokemon anime for a while: According to iMDB, "While working as head writer of Pokemon (1997), Shudo had envisioned an ending to the animated series where the Pokémon would rebel against their trainers, with Pikachu as the lead and Meowth as the mouthpiece." So he really was gonna try to traumatize another generation of kids lol

Covid-19 happened after someone watched the last ep of Minky Momo

Lol random recommend for this yt n checked it out. It was pretty interesting~ had to comment about the tracking thing. I actually came across a few VHS in my childhood that had the tracking explanation. It never bothered me cause it was an easy fix, and never thought much of it. Now I know why they did it so thanks 🤣 I think a lot of the VHS tapes my mom would get were originally anime. I was blown away when I found out The Last Unicorn, which I saw when I was 5 (now 33), was originally animated by a Japanese company. Same with the 1970's version of The Little Mermaid, Panda and the Magic Serpent, Scamper the Penguin, Wee Wendy, and a few others I can't think of. I was blown away and realized why I loved anime so much when I grew older watch what Toonami and Adult Swim had to provide, and why most other things even now don't quite compare to that "Golden Age" era of anime and cartoons. Thanks for the video it was entertaining for something I haven't ever heard of til now!

And now all 63 episodes of the original Minky Momo series are up on Crunchyroll. When I noticed, it made me think of this video so I came to rewatch it. I'd forgotten this was one of Takeshi Shudo's projects… explains a lot, really.

4:05 it's a bit ironic that you said that if they would have ended Pokemon this way, fans would have rioted. Takeshi Shudo, the writer for both Minky Momo and the Pokemon anime was originally planning to end on a darker note with the Pokemon rebelling against their trainers.

it all sounds like it's from a creepypasta

This was interesting to learn. I never heard of this series until now.

I'm fairly sure the most important magical girl anime that almost nobody amongst modern western audiences heard of (unless you're from Poland like me when in the 90s the newly created private TV stations after the fall of Soviet occupation would air all the old animes cause they were cheap) is Majokko Megu-chan

Roro chan died with a Minky Momo reference in one of her usernames. This 80's anime really is unlucky....

A man named Kenji Iwamura got lost and died in a mountain while hiking. A tape recorder was found with 2 tapes. 1 being his cry for help and the other was a soundtrack from this anime. Unlucky.

i remember watching this as a kid and the ending kept me awake at night for weeks

Great video, Thanks

"I don't know what they were doing, good music tho" He just described the 80s

Don't forget the case of the mystery SOS in Japan. A hiker got lost, and was only found because of a large SOS on the ground near them that they didn't make. Then further investigation found the five year missing remains of another hiker who was partially identified from the cassettes with Minky Momo and Macross music they had in their stuff. And THAT person didn't have the means to make the SOS either.

That's absolutely bonkers. Kind of makes me want to see more batshit unexpected turns in anime nowadays. You know, something like a childhood friend actually winning in a rom com

This was Great! I love finding out about behind the scenes Dirt in any Media productions. Downside is, now I have to break away from my Film Noir obsession to see at least One "Minky MoMo" . Speaking of almost Lost Media, you should do coverage of the Earliest Asian Anime I ever saw. In movies it was "Alakazam The Great" with the voice of Frankie Avalon as the hero. At one point listed as one of the WORST cartoon movies ever listed. (Which was hyperbole) I saw it as a kid in a theater in 1960 & was enchanted with the minimalist abstract backgrounds and strange animated movement tracking. And on Television in 1967 I stumbled across a black and white show, "The Amazing Three" (Also called "The Wonder Three" in other markets) which may have been an early Pokemon character inspiration. Very wierd Cartoon of three Animal/Aliens cruising around fighting evil in a giant rolling Wheel with a window in its hub. Oddly engaging in spite of its limited Anime style.

Jesus: dies and is resurrected after a few days Minky Momo: dies and Japan is immediately struck by natural disasters And they say God doesn't pick favorites Edit: I saw my fuck up and I blame autocorrect

I originally thought this was an Anime about a magical girl who, despite her best efforts, is overwhelmingly unlucky. This....this is WAY better.

This was really enjoyable

Brazil mentioned 🇧🇷 Nice video btw

Toy company : *stop sending fundings for Minky Momo* Ashi Production : I'm gonna do a pro gamer move

The whole "truck crashes into main character, changing his life" thing in anime started with Astro Boy.

That was great. Especially the mel-burn shout out! Naur way

They showed this in my country in the 80’s as Gigi, I remember this! Trinidad & Tobago, Caribbean. I guess the single station used to get a lot of Australian TV shows so I guess that’s how we needed up seeing it.

"Hey it's a magical girl show, they're not really known for their stories." *The Precure Franchise throws it's collective head back and laughs like that seagull meme*

Okay, who said Minky Momo's name 3 times in front of the mirror at the beginning of the year?

11:40 oh my god, the space toon logo 💀 it bring back memories

What I learned today: Japan has a lot of earthquakes

"You either die as Minky Momo, or you live long enough to become Haman Karn." - Red-haired Char.