The fantastic travels of Fiorellino (Honey Honey) the 1981 anime series

The fantastic journeys of Fiorellino (Hanī Hanī no suteki na bōken in the Japanese original) is a manga of the shōjo genre (for girls) by the author Hideko Mizuno published in 1968 and transformed into a television anime series consisting of 29 episodes in 1981 by Kokusai Eiga-sha (Movie International Company, Ltd.). The anime was broadcast in Italy in 1983 by Italia 1 and then replicated starting from the 2000s by various local broadcasters (and in about 2018 by some national channels of the Gold TV group) with the titles of honey honey o Honey and the naughty cat and with a new dubbing. The anime was broadcast in English in the United States in 1984 as Honey Honey. It was also broadcast in various European countries and in Latin America.

History

The story begins in the city of Vienna in 1907, when the city throws a lavish birthday party for its beloved Princess Flora. The princess entertains a variety of suitors from around the world, who aspire to marry her. For the celebration there is also Phoenix, a handsome and charming jewel thief, who has the goal of stealing the precious precious stone of the princess, the “Smile of the Amazon”, which the princess wears as a ring. Phoenix notes that Flora, although famous around the world for her great beauty, wouldn't be quite as beautiful without her ring. Furious at the insult, Princess Flora drops the ring holding her gem into the cooked fish and throws it out the window, much to the shock of everyone present.

Meanwhile, a young teenage orphan named Floret (honey honey) works as a waitress. Her pet cat, Lily, observes the fish the princess has thrown out the window and proceeds to eat the whole fish, thus swallowing the ring. Since Princess Flora has declared that any of her suitors will successfully return the ring to her will become her husband, the Princess and Phoenix's suitors immediately disperse throughout the city chasing Lily and her owner, Floret (honey honey).

Phoenix reaches Floret (honey honey) and Lily and helps them hide from their pursuers. Floret (Honey) continues to tell the handsome jewel thief the story of how she was orphaned and raised in a convent, and how she made friends with Lily, who, like her, was abandoned. Phoenix then tries to persuade Fiorellino to sell him Lily, but Fiorellino, who still doesn't know Lily has swallowed the princess's ring, furiously refuses (after rejecting Phoenix's initial offer of one million dollars to ten million dollars, and then coming to his senses) and immediately flees. Fiorellino and Lily hide in the basket of a hot air balloon, which soon takes off with Phoenix and Princess Flora's suitors still on their heels. Thus begins an adventure in which Fiorellino and Lily are chased by Phoenix, Princess Flora and her suitors in various cities around the world, including Paris, New York, Oslo, London, Monte Carlo, Tokyo and Gibraltar. Along the way, Little Flower falls in love with Phoenix and tries to keep Lily out of the clutches of the selfish and vain princess.

Eventually, Flora's ring is removed from Lily's body, but that's not the end of the story. The series ends with the discovery that Fiorellino is actually the younger sister of Flora, a princess from a very small Prussian village whose name is actually Priscilla. When she was captured by a nomadic people, forcing young women to run barefoot over a pit of hot coals to see if any of them revealed a tattoo of a rose on her foot, Fiorellino was discovered to have that tattoo that they have been looking for so long. Fiorellino is captured by the evil Slag, a man who caused the destruction of his kingdom after suffering a terrible defeat. Slag takes Fiorellino to his castle in the Siberian wastelands. Fiorellino manages to escape with the help of Phoenix. Some time later Fiorellino reunites with his father, who works as a gardener for some Russian aristocrats in Moscow. Fiorellino, his father and Phoenix escape, but are sold as slaves in Constantinople. Fiorellino is sold to an Indian sultan obsessed with magic tricks. Fiorellino gets his hands on the Sultan's magic carpet, which he uses to fly to Japan and Los Angeles and finally to the climax of the show in New York. In New York Princess Flora, her suitors, Phoenix and Fiorellino's father also managed to enter the city. The final episode also involves King Kong to be shown in the series, after capturing Princess Flora when she manages to break free from the spectacle held by the princess's suitors. Fiorellino manages to save Flora from King Kong using her kind heart and sympathy. Fiorellino finally discovers why everyone wanted Lily and makes peace with Flora after their sisterhood is revealed in New York in the final episode. Fiorellino also marries Phoenix (son of the chief of a nomadic tribe). Also at the end of the final episode, Princess Flora throws the ring out of the window a second time. His servants start chasing a little dog, which this time swallowed the ring by mistake. However, they don't know that the ring was actually a fake.

Characters

Floret / Honey
Phoenix / Phoenix
Princess Flora

Episode titles

1 The smile of the Amazon / The star of the Amazon
2 Much water noise / Much water noise
3 Siesta time
4 Emergency stop
5 The arrow that kills
6 The land of cats
7 The family jewel
8 The missing ship
9 Queen for a day
10 A prince charming / Cinderella
11 The Mysterious Knight / The House in Orleans
12 A mysterious clown / The circus upside down
13 Speed, what a thrill
14 The shipwreck
15 The dungeons of the castle
16 The British spy
17 The super pastry chef
18 Adventure in the royal palace
19 Fiorellino and Robin Hood / Be back by noon!
20 The Vikings Boarding / The Secret of Honey Honey
21 Royal Palace Adventure / Honey Honey kidnapped
22 Prisoner of Slaag / Prisoner in the castle of Tangera
23 Snow Pursuit / The Great Pursuit
24 Ivan the terrible / Ivan the terrible and the father found
25 The slave market / Lili is sold
26 The flying carpet / I'll make magic
27 Flying to India
28 A hit show / The long-nosed elf
29 The Two Little Sisters / Goodbye New York, Goodbye

Technical data

Manga
Author Hideko Mizuno
Editor Kodansha
Magazine Ribon
Target shoujo
1 edition 17 - 23 December 1968
Tankōbon 2 (complete)

Anime TV series
The fantastic travels of Fiorellino / Honey Honey
Author Hideko Mizuno
Regia Takeshi Shirato, Yoshikata Nitta
Subject Massaki Tsuji, Naoko Miyake, Shun'ichi Yukimuro, Toyohiro Andô
character design Kozo Masanobe
Artistic direction Yoshiyuki Yamamoto
Music Akihiro komori
Studio Kokusai Eigasha, Toei Animation
Network Fuji TV
1st TV October 7, 1981 - May 1, 1982
Episodes 29 (complete)
Episode duration 25 min
Italian network Italia 1
1st Italian TV July 20 1983