The Japanese cartoon Ciao Sabrina (original title Idol densetsu Eriko) was produced by the animation studios of Ashi Productions, under the direction of Tetsuro Amino for a total of 51 episodes lasting 24 minutes each. The series was broadcast on September 19, 1991 on Canale 5 within the transmission Bim bum bam, and was subsequently replicated on Italia 1 and Boing. From April 2011 it airs on Hiro from Monday to Friday at 9.35, 16.10 and 21.05.

Sabrina Tamura is a 12-year-old girl who goes with her parents Luciano and Milena to attend the preparation for the inauguration of the Marine Live Stage, the futuristic auditorium managed by her father, located at the bottom of the sea near the port. For the occasion, Sabrina received an elegant evening dress as a gift. The technical staff is ready to receive the president's checks and the concert for the inwish has been proven in every detail. Susy, the girl of the musical group performs in a sparkling concert, between strobe lights and laser beams, arousing the admiration of Sabrina and her parents. But when the girl shows up at the end of the concert, Sabrina feels a strange sensation crossing his stern gaze, which scares her. Sabrina attends middle school and has a passion for music, in fact she is very good at playing the piano and singing. However, the girl does not dream of becoming a professional singer, despite having all the possibilities given her father's job, this is because she is very modest and only sings for pleasure.
While leaning out of her school window, Sabrina receives a small gift containing a lipstick from her biker girl friend Roberta, who was expelled from school for her rebellious behavior.

That evening, inside her room, Sabrina has fun playing in the mirror with her lipstick, in the company of her cute little dogs, Fortissimo and Pianissimo. Contrary to their names Fortissimo is a calm and sleepy poodle, while Pianissimo is an exuberant little dog with a red cape. Sabrina also tries to wear the beautiful dress that her father gave her for the inauguration of the Marina Stage.

The girl will be accompanied by the butler Italo, while her parents in the sports car must first go to the hospital to visit a friend of theirs. Sabrina arrives at the Marine Stage, before her parents who are blocked by traffic, are worryingly late. Luciano decides to take a shortcut to be able to arrive punctually at the inauguration and during the journey, together with his wife, they recall the good memories of their youth, when they were famous rock singers. Unfortunately, due to the rain and poor visibility at night, Sabrina's parents are involved in a very serious road accident, where Luciano loses his life, while Milena remains in a coma. In that same instant Sabrina perceives a bad feeling of anguish and her chain with a pendant in the shape of a piano that she wore on her neck, suddenly breaks, as if it were a sign of destiny. After a few minutes Sabrina is informed of the tragedy and so she goes in tears to the morgue in the company of Giorgio, her father's closest friend. Rolando Tamura, Lucino's half-brother, who from CEO becomes president, takes care of Sabrina and the management of the Marina Stage, giving the sad news to the guests on the day of the opening of the venue. Rolando proves to be a greedy and unscrupulous person, who takes advantage of the situation to put his brother's rich heritage to hand. Alone and with her future prospects radically changed, now Sabrina will have to deal with the rules dictated by her uncle, even if by her side she will have her inseparable friends like Roberta and Mr. Giorgio, who will not abandon her.
Rolando is also arrogant with Luciano's employees, who however maintain their dignity and demand the same respect they have had all these years. For this reason the Italian driver quits.

Given his talent, Mr. Giorgio proposes to Sabrina to start a career as a singer, to honor the memory of her parents. He will be willing to take care of her and help her through and through. Unfortunately their conversation is overheard by the perfidious Rolando, who breaks into the room and scolds Giorgio, declaring himself ready to obtain Sabrina's custody. Giorgio reminds him that with his previous failed marriages and his wild life, he will never be able to have custody of his niece. However, Rolando is willing to do anything and decides to live in his brother's house, with the excuse of being closer to his nephew and taking care of her. Given the situation, the elderly housekeeper Ines convinces Italo to remain in service, in order to protect Sabrina from her uncle.
First of all Rolando takes away all his brother's furniture and wardrobe, because according to his way of seeing things, these would have given his niece sadness, but in reality he does it to make room for the arrangement of all his furniture from the moment that he will move into that house. A distraught Sabrina goes to the hospital to visit her mother, whose clinical conditions seem stationary and show no sign of improvement. Sabrina is comforted by a nurse who encourages her not to lose hope for her awakening from a coma.
Among them also appears an ex actress who repeats the refrain of a hit song, who sang Milena and claims to be an old friend of hers. On the notes of that song, Sabrina tries to give courage to her mother, with the hope of being able to help her in her recovery and suddenly she even has the illusion that the woman has had a small movement.

Meanwhile, the motorcyclist Roberta meets Gianluca, the shy son of Mr. Giorgio, to whom she gives a ride on a motorbike and keeps him on guard against the strict rules of the school attended by Sabrina, which does not tolerate the presence of boys nearby. Gianluca is at Sabrina's school, because together with her father they will have to take her, to go to the official opening of the Marine Live Stage.
Rolando tries to exploit the competition of the singers Susi and Max, in order to make the club's musical group to the maximum and tries to mount some gossip, about their possible relationship to advertise through the newspapers. Max is a true idol of girls always surrounded by groups of fans, who request his autograph and shower him with photos. On the day of the inauguration, everything was prepared properly and the cameras for live television are also ready. Sabrina, Giorgio and Gianluca are among the audience waiting, when suddenly, an earthquake shakes the walls of the Marine Live Stage, anchored many meters below sea level. Spectators panic, as the structure, although it is earthquake-proof, begins to float causing anyone who is not seated to lose their balance.

Although the security officers try to calm the spectators, they try in every way to get out of the security doors. Rolando, not caring about the problem, intends to keep the show going, but Susi and Max refuse to sing until the situation has stabilized and the danger for the spectators has ceased. Rolando urges the technicians to put an end to the problem, but before everything returns to normal, it will take some time. Meanwhile, people are tired of waiting and try to break down the security doors. The situation threatens to degenerate and Giorgio proposes to Sabrina to sing to calm the furious spectators: only in this way will it be possible to save the inauguration and pay homage to the Tamura couple. Sabrina in prayer addresses her father directly, who in an appearance on stage invites her to overcome fear and sing.
To the general amazement of all including Rolando, Sabrina takes the stage and begins to play the keyboards and sing, while Giorgio invites the technicians to turn on the stage lights. Sabrina collects the interest and admiration of many people, including Max who does not hesitate to show his satisfaction in front of Susi, visibly jealous. Meanwhile, at the sound of the music, people begin to get distracted and turn their interest, no longer to the emergency door to break down, but to the sweet Sabrina who sings a melodious song. The technicians decide to record the broadcast and the spectators return to their seats to watch the show. At the end of the song Sabrina is acclaimed and applauded by the audience, with great satisfaction from Giorgio, happy with his intuition as a talent scout. Rolando is also very happy, not for the same noble purposes as Giorgio, but because he understands that the girl can be exploited to earn money behind him. The recording of the broadcast is broadcast and all viewers have the opportunity to admire Sabrina's talent, including: the mysterious former actress, the motorcyclist Roberta and Daniela, her classmate.

The following day Rolando is attacked by journalists who ask for explanations on the technical problems related to the earthquake and on Sabrina's performance, but the rude businessman ignores him, shielding himself with his bodyguards. Sabrina at school receives Daniela's compliments and is recognized by passersby on the street, even if she continues to be modest. The only consolation is to be able to visit her mother, to confide all her experiences and fears.
Leaving the hospital, she meets Roberta, who offers her a ride on a motorbike to take her home.
Housekeeper Ines shows Sabrina three star-shaped pendants she managed to find during the move, along with her parents' wedding photo album. Sabrina has the opportunity to look at those beautiful photos and remember the figure of her father. Among the pages he finds a musical score of a song entitled “Locomotion dream”. Reading the stave, Sabrina begins to sing and discover the beauty of that new melody, which Luciano had composed for her, on the occasion of her birth. Her uncle Rolando enters the room and tells her about his next professional debut in the entertainment world. Sabrina has no intention of being a singer, since the pain of losing her father is still strong, but Rolando insists that her father would be happy to see her perform on stage. Rolando also places the burden of debts on Sabrina, which her father had for the realization of the Marine Stage and the hospital expenses of her mother. Burdened by these feelings of guilt, the girl is forced to sing, in order to earn the necessary money, unaware that the proceeds from her performances will only go into her uncle's pockets.

He begins to make contacts to make Sabrina debut in the entertainment world, as a true rock star. For this reason he has a reason to conflict with Susi, who is afraid of being replaced by the girl, to whom she will have to give her first lessons. Susi is not afraid of Rolando's arrogance, who has no intention of sending her away, as she is still a singer too precious for her purposes, but Susi quits because she doesn't want to have anything to do with that greedy character.
Rolando through Simonetta, Susi's mother, then decides to call other dance and singing teachers, to prepare Sabrina for her debut, but to achieve this, she will prevent him from attending school for a month.
The singing teacher proves to be very severe and never misses an opportunity to scold Sabrina, at every slightest mistake, forcing her to grueling tests. So does the demanding dance teacher, who makes her try the dance moves repeatedly, ad nauseam.
After a few days of rehearsal, given her innate artistic talent, Sabrina convinces the singing teacher of her qualities, while she can do nothing to be appreciated by the dance teacher, who exhausts her exhausting tests, until the girl falls exhausted causing a wound in hand, after breaking the gym mirror. In reality, the woman has made arrangements with Simonetta, intent on nipping Sabrina's career in the bud and wants to make her desist from her artistic aspirations.
Meanwhile at school, everyone begins to worry about Sabrina's inexplicable absence, including her teacher who instructs her classmate Daniela to deliver her a letter. Daniela is terrified at the idea of ​​confronting Rolando's bodyguards, posted at the entrance to the house, but is supported by Roberta, who decisively knocks out the two thugs who prevented her from entering Sabrina's house, but she can do nothing against the others who force her to flee with her motorcycle. Mrs. Ines is worried about the way in which Sabrina is treated, forced to try the grueling dance exercises, with the wound in her hand, so she telephones Mr. Giorgio so that he can come to her aid. As happened before, the bodyguards prevent Mr. Giorgio from entering, but Roberta comes to his aid and devises a plan: while Mr. Giorgio distracts the guards from the main gate, she enters the secondary door and manages to enter the room by Sabrina. Roberta takes Sabrina by the hand and, supported by Ines, invites her to run away from home to reach Giorgio's car that will take her to a safer place, far from her uncle. The bodyguards chase them, but they are hindered by Roberta who, aboard her motorcycle, sends the “gorilla” car off the road. Reading the score that his father had written for Sabrina, Giorgio understands that Luciano would have been happy with Sabrina's debut in the world of music and the girl is convinced of this too. Finally Sabrina is free to decide on her life, supported and protected by her friends, but Rolando and Simonetta, her terrible antagonists, will do everything to make her life impossible and achieve their evil goals. Together with Susi and Max they will form the Idol musical group, but strong contrasts will arise between them dictated by sentimental and professional reasons.

Gianluigi Piludu
04/05/2011

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All characters and images of Ciao Sabrina are copyright Ashi Productions and are used here for cognitive and informative purposes.

Video by Ciao Sabrina