UFO Baby

UFO Baby (だぁ!だぁ!だぁ!) is a shōjo comedy manga by Mika Kawamura, serialized by Kodansha in Nakayoshi between February 1998 and March 2002, and collected in nine bound volumes. The series was adapted as a 78-episode anime television series, produced by NHK and animated by J.C.Staff, broadcast between March 2000 and February 2002 on NHK's BS2 broadcast satellite network. The series was one of the top-rated anime series during its initial broadcast.

UFO Baby is about two junior high school students, Miyu and Kanata, who find and must take care of an abandoned alien baby without anyone discovering they are living together. The anime concluded before the manga did, resulting in different endings for each series. Kawamura later wrote a sequel to the manga, Shin Daa! Daa! Daa!.

Story
Miyu Kouzuki is an 8th-grade student whose parents leave for the United States to work for NASA and arrange for her to stay with their long-time family friend, Hōsho Saionji, a monk who lives at an old temple atop a hill. However, the monk himself leaves soon after for India on a year-long voyage, leaving Miyu in having to stay together in the same house with his son, Kanata.

Suddenly, the landing of a UFO which transports an alien baby, Ruu, along with his cat-like "sitterpet", Wannyā, who arrive after they were separated from their own planet, Otto, due to falling into an interplanetary worm hole, a time warp which can transport objects across several regions, planets and timeplanes. They cannot return to their home planet due to it being too difficult to reach, and Wannyā therefore requests Kanata and Miyu that they allow them to stay in their house. They agree. Miyu and Kanata learn from Wannyā that people from Planet Otto look identical to human beings, and that he himself can transform into human beings, animals and objects.

Miyu and Kanata feel a very deep love for Baby Ruu, who also cares for them deeply and likens them to his parents due to their similar looks, and often go to great lengths to help and protect him and Wannyā. As the story progresses, the group are often involved in comedic and funny situations but grow to greatly love each other. The story ends with a rescue team from outer space coming to Earth and returning Ruu and Wannyā to Otto safely and Miyu going to a boarding school alone. Though years later Miyu and Kanata reunite, get married and have a daughter named Miu. They also reunite with Wannya and Ruu.

Characters

 * Miyu Kōzuki (光月未夢)


 * Birthday: March 15
 * Age: 14
 * Blood Type: O
 * The main female character in the story is Miyu, a blonde and good-natured girl, whose parents leave for the United States to work for NASA at the beginning of the series, arranging for her to stay with their long-time family friend, Hosho Saionji, a monk who lives at an old temple on a hill but the monk leaves soon after for India for a year, leaving Miyu and his son, Kanata living together by themselves.


 * Miyu often fought with Kanata at the beginning of the series, but finds out from her mother that they were childhood friends at a very young age and starts to like him more and more. She develops feelings for Kanata as the story progresses . At first, Miyu always denies her feelings for him, but soon, she begins to realize that she indeed likes him.


 * In the manga, it's shown that Miyu and Kanata have kissed twice. In Volume 9 (Chapter 46, page 36-37), Miyu is shown that she wanted to tell Kanata her real feelings towards him but failed.


 * She also had a slight crush on Mizuki Yamamura, Mikan's younger brother because in one of the episodes when she and Kanata help Mikan in her manga there was a character which Miyu admired, she says that that is her ideal kind of guy, when she went to Mikan's apartment she met him, Mizuki Yamamura and had liked him because he is exactly like the guy from Mikan's manga. But in the manga, Hanakomachi Kurita (Momoka's older brother) has a crush toward Miyu and which makes her feel uneasy about it.


 * She feels a deep affection for Ruu, who likens her to his mother due to their similar looks. Miyu is shown as an ordinary girl with a kind and generous personality like a real mother, she is a full of smiles and is a cheerful girl but also has a soft heart that's easy to be touched.


 * In episode "Nozomu-kun Goes to the Dream World", it shown that Miyu's most important dream is to be together with her family, including Kanata's family (Mr Hoshou & Mrs Hitomi), Ruu's family and Wanya. It seems like she is very caring towards Christine, which she showed when it was the episode "The Hike of Fear", where she said to Wannya not to hurt her.


 * It revealed in Chapter 41 that Miyu was born after Kanata and they had become friend since then. Miyu's name was originally from 'Mi' - Miki and 'Yu' - from Yume which meant 'dream'.


 * At the end of the anime story, she goes to a boarding school all by herself. After school she and Kanata meet again, get married, and have a daughter, Miu. They also get reunited with Wanya and Ruu.


 * In the manga ending, she didn't transfer schools and got to stay there until she got married to Kanata and had a daughter. Even though they're already married, Miyu and Kanata are always fighting.


 * Kanata Saionji (西遠寺彷徨)
 * Birthday: December 25
 * Age: 14
 * Height: 167 cm
 * Weight: 54 kg
 * The main male character in the story is Kanata, who is among the most popular boys in his school, especially the girls, due to his good looks and cool attitude. Not only does he excel in studies, but is also good at sports. Shortly after Miyu arrives at his home, Kanata's father declares that he wishes to leave on a year long trip to India to try to find enlightenment, thus binding him and Miyu to living together in the same house. His best friend is Santa Kurosu.


 * Miyu starts attending Kanata's school and they have difficulty keeping their secret about living together, and address each other as cousins. He finds out from Miyu's mother that they were both childhood friends and starts to like her more and more and also starts to develop feelings for Miyu as the story progresses (but still teases her to mask it). His mother, Hitomi, was a good friend of Miyu's mother (Miki Kazouki), and died while he was about 3 years old.


 * Kanata never wanted to admit his true feelings for others, especially Miyu. He cares for his loved ones very much, such as his family, friends, Wanya, Ruu and Miyu. Kanata does have feelings for Miyu as he said in episode "The Weird Object That Seiya Left Behind".


 * Kanata's favorite food is pumpkin, and likes all its variants, from squash to the chips varieties. In episode "The Blackout Halloween", it is revealed that Kanata had liked pumpkin ever since he was a baby when his mother fed it to him for the first time. Ruu also calls Kanata "papa" because he looks very similar to his real father.


 * Kanata is shown as an easy-going person and doesn't like to talk very much, unlike Miyu. Even if he seems quiet and a bit cold, Kanata is actually a very loving and caring person to everyone he loves. Even though there are many romantic between him and Miyu, he often makes a joke out of it to cover his real emotions and feelings or by sticking out his tongue to her.


 * Since he was little, Kanata loved his mother very much, even though he had only known her for a short time. In the manga (Chapter 41), as Miyu and the others went back in time, Kanata went to the time where his mother was still alive. Miyu, who was wearing a yukata (given by Kanata), had the chance to meet Kanata's mother and they both were wearing the same yukata.


 * In the anime, Miyu goes to boarding school and he is separated from her. He reunites with her and marries her years later. Afterwards, they have a daughter, Miu. They also reunite with Ruu and Wannya.


 * In the manga, he confessed to Miyu after sending Ruu and Wannya back to their home and kissed her. Years later, he got married to Miyu and still live at the temple, he also had a daughter name Miu who meets with Ruu when she is 12 years old (this story is continued in Shin Daa Daa Daa.)


 * Ruu (ルゥ)
 * Ruu is an alien baby from the Planet Otto, who can levitate and perform telekinesis on objects, and who develops a deep love for Miyu and Kanata, likening them to his parents and often assisting and helping them. He uses his abilities at very inappropriate times, causing Miyu and Kanata great trouble.


 * Although he is only a baby, he can understand everyone perfectly. Ruu loved Miyu and Kanata as much as he does for his own parents, and doesn't like it when Miyu and Kanata fight, like in the episode "With Ruu-kun at The Department Store".


 * In that episode, Ruu manages to make peace between his two beloved 'earth' parents. Ruu is also shown as an ordinary baby that cries and laughs like normal babies do.


 * In order to keep the others from knowing the truth about Ruu's identity, he is referred to as Miyu's little brother although Ruu will deny that and insist on calling Miyu "mama". So he believes Miyu and Kanata are his real parents but does not learn the truth until the end of the series.


 * Wannyā (ワンニャー)
 * Wannyā, also known as Baumiao (which is a play on "Bowmeow"), is a cat-like alien "sitterpet" from Planet Otto who is entrusted to take care of Ruu and can transform into all sorts of human beings, often a blond-haired man who was once the subject of Mikan's affection and a dark red-haired woman, and all forms of animals and objects. He develops a passionate liking for mitarashi dango and often writes about the events of the progressing day in his computerized "sitterpet" diary. Wannyā often does all the cooking and cleaning in the house. He always addresses Ruu as "Ruu-chama", which is most likely a combination of sama, which shows great respect, and chan, which is used as endearment towards girls and little boys. It is possibly Wanya's way of showing both respect and endearment toward Ruu.


 * Christine Hanakomachi (花小町クリスティーヌ)
 * Birthday: September 2
 * Blood Type: AB
 * Often nicknamed Chris, Christine is Miyu and Kanata's pink-haired, half-French (via her mother) and insanely wealthy classmate. She is so deeply infatuated with Kanata that she becomes extremely jealous whenever she sees him with Miyu or any other girl. She often expresses her rage by demonstrating her superhuman strength by picking up large objects, such as trees and desks, to throw in the process. The moment she snaps out of one of her "episodes", she will apologize sweetly and fix whatever items she has damaged in her rampage, with tools kept in hammerspace (i.e. construction equipment).


 * Her incredible jealousy is usually meant to be comical, but is sometimes used in serious situations. Chris appears completely oblivious to her supernatural powers but she appears to be timid and friendly. Coming from a very, very rich family, among her possessions are a winter lodge and a snowy mountain. She learns of Ruu's secret very early in the manga but promises not to tell, stating that she was made fun of for having red hair and being different when she was little. However, in the anime, she does not discover his secret until the end of the series. Christine's parents are not seen in the anime; instead, her companion is a butler named Shikada ("Mr. Deerfield" in the English translation) who is dressed up as a deer. He has been doing this for Chris since her childhood in order to make her happy, due to her deep love for deers. Her favorite pastimes include skiing and horse riding.


 * Momoka Hanakomachi (花小町ももか)
 * Birthday: June 21
 * Age: 3
 * Blood Type: O
 * Christine's 3-year-old cousin. Momoka often drives along in her tiny toy tricycle and befriends Ruu, declaring that he is her boyfriend and that they are in a close relationship. Momoka has an odd grudge against Miyu, often calling her Madam or obā-chan, a title used for an elderly woman or grandmother, which in result infuriates Miyu all the time. However, she appears to like Kanata very much, at times admitting he is cute and calls him Kanata onii-chan. Momoka learns Miyu and Kanata's secret about having two aliens in their house in the episode "Momoka's Passport", where she saw Ruu fly in the sky in order to get the balloon.


 * Aya Konishi (小西綾)
 * Birthday: August 24
 * Age: 14
 * Blood Type: B
 * Aya is Miyu and Kanata's classmate who is a very good friend of Miyu and often goes shopping with her and Nanami. She has a greenish hair color that is styled in two braids. She likes school plays, which she often directs. Much to Miyu and Kanata's displeasure, some of Aya's plays or projects are extremely similar to their current life, they get annoyed sometimes when she makes Miyu and Kanata the lead roles in the play, and that is much worse when Aya develops an interest to Ruu and often features him in the plays. Aya, on occasion, has been known to start speaking French whenever she is excited. Sometimes, when she gets ideas on new plays, an orange will appear on her head, similar to Mikan's. Miyu will sometimes say she is in Mikan-mode when this happens.


 * Nanami Tenchi (天地ななみ)
 * Age: 14
 * Nanami is Miyu and Kanata's classmate. She has short brunet hair and is a very good friend of Miyu and often goes shopping with her and Aya. Nanami is usually very playful and energetic but can sometimes be easily tired after a hard task. She also has a huge appetite. She likes old school style clothes.


 * Santa Kurosu (黒須三太)
 * Birthday February 2
 * Age: 14
 * Blood Type: B
 * Santa is Kanata's best friend, who often comes up with strange ideas. He has a deep love and appreciation for old records. Miyu once thought that Santa had fallen in love with a girl, but later finds out that it was instead the girl's camera he had fallen in love with. He first met Kanata through a show named Cactus Man, named after the main heroine. Cactus Man was not very popular and was cancelled early but Kanata liked the show because he felt the heroine had more heart than other heros.  One day, as he was wearing a Cactus Man costume, he stumbles upon Santa, who also wears a Cactus Man costume.  Soon afterwards, they place their costumes in a time capsule and open it ten years later, around the time Miyu and Kanata were with Ruu and Wanya.  He has a penpal, whom he develops a liking to and vice versa. Unfortunately, she left for Germany, but not before the two meet each other in person before her departure.


 * His name is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of "Santa Claus", though this has no direct relation to his character.

In the end of the manga, he was dating an idol, Kyouko.


 * Nozomu Hikarigaoka
 * Birthday: August 8
 * Age: 14
 * Blood Type: B
 * According to himself, he is Kanata's rival. Nozomu is a classmate of Miyu and Kanata with blonde hair. He has a pet bird named Okame who helps him in distributing his roses to the girls. He debuts in the first episode of the second season. Because he was continuously stalking Miyu, she begins to think that he was an alien only to find out later that Nozomu was interested in Kanata.


 * In the end of the manga, Nozomu become a magician with his bird, Okame.


 * Mikan Yamamura (山村みかん)
 * A budding mangaka (manga artist), Mikan often has a tangerine on her head(same goes for the rest of her relatives, even her pet Scottish fold cat) and is a very good friend of Kanata and Miyu, both of whom she often helps out and who have also helped her once with her manga. She has a handsome young brother, Mizuki Yamamura, who was the inspiration of one of the characters in her manga, and often helps her out. Mikan is often panicking because of her deadline and often comes to Kanata's house for consolation, having a few close calls to finding out Miyu and Kanata's secret. Mizuki pointed out that Mikan never gave up on her dream on becoming a manga artist, despite her father's wishes on her becoming a baker. So far, Mikan has shown to be a quite popular with her career. Although Mikan looks plain, stressed, even comical most of the time, she is actually very good-looking when with makeup or when she's relaxed. Her name is a play on that of the manga's author, Mika Kawamura. Interestingly, Mikan means " Tangerine" and Yama means "mountain" although the word Yamabuki means " orange-yellow".


 * Miki Kōzuki (光月未来)
 * Birthday: July 4
 * Blood Type: A
 * Miki is Miyu's astronaut mother who is obsessed with anything connected to outer space and is hired by NASA, along with her husband, Yu, at the beginning of the story, thus having to leave for the United States. She arranges her daughter, Miyu, to live with the Saionjis. Her two childhood dreams were to have a beautiful daughter and to become an astronaut, both of which came true. She was friends with Kanata's mom ever since she was a teenager.


 * Yū Kōzuki (光月優)
 * Birthday: April 4
 * Blood Type: O
 * Yū is Miyu's astrophysicist father who is helping his wife with her work, and is hired by NASA, along with his wife, Miki, thus having to leave for the United States. He arranges his daughter, Miyu, to live with the Saionjis. He became interested in astrophysics in order to further his wife's dream in becoming an astronaut and traveling in space. In episode 40, it is said that Yu had met Miki when they were in college and had asked her to join the astronomy club.


 * Hōshō Saionji (西遠寺宝晶)
 * Birthday: June 16
 * Blood Type: B
 * Kanata's father is a monk and the patron of the Saionji household. He goes on a pilgrimage to India soon after Miyu arrives at the Saionji household. He appears to be very irresponsible. In episode 40, it is explained that he had met Hitome when she had visited the temple and had asked him to take a picture of her and her friends. The two had began a long distance realtionship with one another shortly after until Hitome had graduated from high school and the two were reunited. He appears to have loved her very much because he will begin to burst in tears when he tries to remember her and speak of her ever since her death, making it difficult for Kanata to learn about his mother.


 * Hitome Saionji (西遠寺瞳)
 * Kanata's late mother, who was a very good friend of Miyu's mother, Miki, and died when Kanata was still a child. Her remains are buried on the Saionji Temple grounds. She appears to be a very kind and beautiful person.  When she was in college, she encouraged Miki to continue her dream of becoming an astronaut when Miki had believed she was not fit to be one.


 * Miss Mizuno (水野先生)
 * Miyu and Kanata's teacher, who is talented in numerous skills, ranging from cooking to ninja training.


 * Seiya Yaboshi (夜星星矢)
 * Seiya is a blonde-haired alien who visits Earth and takes a liking to Miyu, often disguising as Kanata to get close to her. His kind can read minds through a touch of the hand. He first appears in episode "The Mysterious Boy, Yaboshi Seiya" and after touching Miyu's hand had read her mind and wanted to take Ruu with him to planet Sharaku, his home planet to appear on a television program because people from planet Otto were rare, but after reading Miyu's hand, he understood that Ruu was precious to her and Kanata and stopped his pursuit of him. He has a sister, Rui, who saved him once from being sucked into a worm hole, and has had a sheltered childhood. His surname, Yaboshi, means night star.


 * Rui Yaboshi (夜星流)
 * Rui is Seiya's older sister, who greatly cares for Seiya, saving him once from being sucked into a worm hole. Seiya appears annoyed with her, but truly cares for her like in episode "Sister comes to Saionji".  She also works at the cafeteria at the Space Police Force.


 * The Principal (校長)
 * The eccentric principal of Miyu and Kanata's school, who is extremely fond of monkeys, bananas and video games, especially monkey-based ones, his fascination with the creatures stemming from his deep friendship with his monkey, Monkichi (モン吉), from whom he was disunited with in his childhood due to the monkey having been sucked into a worm hole, but with whom he is later reunited, thanks to the help of Miyu, Kanata, Ruu and Wannya. All forms of monkey dolls and replicas adorn his office, where he is often found playing video games, and has sometimes even set the themes of school meets to monkey-based ones.


 * Pepo (ペポ)
 * A rabbit-like alien that becomes Ruu's pet after an accident falling from a truck from Outer Space later in the series. In the manga, he is all white and debuts late in volume 7.


 * Akira Kijyou
 * Birthday: September 28
 * Blood Type: AB
 * Akira is Kanata's childhood friend who appears in episodes 33 to 34. She has long black hair and her eyes are sort of purple. Kanata made a promise to her that they would watch the sunset together at Fantasy Park which was made true when she visited him because his father was on a business trip. Akira has a crush on Kanata which was seen in their conversation in the Ferris Wheel. She said to herself that "there is no one I like in America" when Kanata told her that the sunsets must be beautiful in America.
 * In the manga series Kijyou wanted to see what Miyu feels for Kanata by giving Kanata a fake kiss.


 * Kurita Hanakomachi
 * Birthday: June 21
 * Blood Type: O
 * Debuts only in the manga in chapter 15. Kurita is Momoka's older brother who falls in love with Miyu at first sight. Kurita looks like a geek or a nerd. Kawamura Mika, the author, describes him as "because he is always wearing those plain glasses, he seemes to be a plain yet innocent boy". Kanata describes him as someone who expresses his feelings obviously. When Kurita's glasses were taken off accidentally, Miyu sees that he is a handsome boy.

Anime
The TV anime series originally aired between 28 March 2000 and 26 February 2002 on the NHK-BS2 satellite TV network. It spanned a total of 78 episodes, and was directed by Hiroaki Sakurai. It was also later aired by Animax, who translated and dubbed the series into English and numerous other languages for broadcast across its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Asia.

Staff

 * Director: Hiroaki Sakurai
 * Series Composition: Tomoko Konparu
 * Script: Tomoko Konparu, Mamiko Ikeda, Miharu Hirami, Miho Maruo, Naruhisa Arakawa, Ryōta Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Sakurai, Tsutomu Kaneko
 * Episode Direction: Kenichi Kasai, Kiyotaka Itani, Kunitoshi Okajima, Wataru Takahashi, Hiroshi Nishikori, and others.
 * Character Design: Masayuki Onchi
 * Animation Directors: Masayuki Onchi, Takashi Wada, Takaaki Wada, Isao Sugimoto, Hiroko Oguri, Masumi Morishita, and others.
 * Art Director: Shichirō Kobayashi
 * Music: Toshio Masuda
 * Sound Director: Tōru Nakano
 * Sound Effects: Hiroki Nozaki
 * Sound Production: HALF H･P STUDIO
 * Production Planning: Kīchirō Okamoto→Toshio Watanabe, Isao Yoshikuni
 * Producer: Eiza Kondō
 * Animation Producers: Yūji Matsukara, Takashi Satō
 * Animation Production: J.C.Staff
 * Production Cooperation: NHK Enterprises 21, Sogo Vision
 * Production: NHK

Theme music

 * Heart no Tsubasa (ハートのつばさ)
 * Performed by Reika Nakajima, lyrics: Yūko Matsuzaki, composition and arrangement: Toshio Masuda


 * BOY MEETS GIRL (first ending theme)
 * Performed by TRF, lyrics and composition: Tetsuya Komuro, arrangement: M.I.D.


 * HAPPY FLOWER (second opening theme)
 * Performed by Saori Nara, lyrics: Yūko Matsuzaki, composition and arrangement: Toshio Masuda


 * Yukkuri (ゆっくり)
 * Performed by Hitomi Mieno, lyrics: Hitomi Mieno, composition and arrangement: Toshio Masuda

Game
The series was adapted into a card battle video game for the Game Boy Color, Dā! Dā! Dā! Totsuzen ★Card de Battle de Uranai De!? (だぁ!だぁ!だぁ! とつぜん★カードでバトルで占いで!?), developed by Video System, which was released exclusively in Japan on December 8, 2000.