Jewelpet

Jewelpet (ジュエルペット) is a toy line created by Sanrio and Sega Toys, as a joint-venture project. The toy line was originally released on January 15, 2008, focusing on animals named after jewels, birthstones and minerals, who can use magic using their eyes. Due to the success of the franchise, Sanrio and Sega Toys have plans for an overseas expansion of the Jewelpet franchise, but it is currently unknown if this expansion plan includes the United States.

The series has spawned various merchandise, as well as two anime series in Japan.

Story Arcs
The series consists of two Story Arcs, the Rinko Arc (Jewelpet) and the Akari Arc (Jewelpet Tinkle☆). Both Story Arcs focus on two human characters as well as the main Jewelpet mascot, Ruby. The stories on both story arcs are completely different but sometimes Jewelpet Tinkle makes certain references from the last season. Storyline wise, each arc has its own theme.

The current arc is the Akari Arc, focusing on the Main Female Protagonist, Akari Sakura.

Rinko Arc (Jewelpet)
In the magical world of Jewel Land, three magicians turned Jewelpets into Jewel Charms so they can travel to the magic forest by the stork with the exception of Ruby, a white rabbit who likes to goof off. But then a strong wind blew the stork and the jewels were spilled, scattering them across Takaragaseki City on Earth. Ruby, now being punished, is sent to Earth to retrieve her friends. On Earth, a student named Rinko along with her friend Minami saw a group of shooting stars, not knowing that the pets were scattered in the city they live in. After that, Rinko was on her balcony observing the night sky and saw one pink shooting star and fell into her water glass and became a Red Jewel Charm. The next day, she and her friend goes to the jewelry store to examine the jewel, but then got into a jewelry store robbery. They were saved by a boy named Keigo Taitou and saw the red jewel Rinko has. He then explained to them that he was working for a special organization which is linked to the great magicians of Jewel Land and told them about the Jewelpets and also told them that all of them were scattered all over town. Rinko accepted the offer on gather all the Jewelpets back to Jewel Land and awakened Ruby using the Jewel Pocketbook. Now teaming up with Minami and Alice, it’s now their task to gather all the Jewelpets together and take them back to Jewel Land before an evil Jewelpet named Diana finds them first. As the Series Progresses, the main heroines uncover new Jewelpets on their way. But at the same time, Dian, another Jewelpet who can use Dark Magic awakens from his Jewel Charm State. And now the heroes have to face him and the havoc and chaos that will be caused in both Jewel Land and the Human World. Will they collect all the lost Jewelpets and defeat Dian, or will he plunge both worlds into chaos and despair?

The series is set in the fictional Takaragaseki City, a setting modeled after two famous cities in Japan, Tokyo and Osaka. The series' theme is Romance, referencing to Rinko's dream on finding the perfect someone to love her with Ruby's help and mishaps.

Akari Arc (Jewelpet Tinkle☆)
In Jewel Land, Jewelpets, a group of animals who have the natural ability to use magic lived in harmony with the Magicians attending the Magic Academy to learn how to use magic with their Jewel Eyes. However Ruby, a white Japanese Hare whose magic sometimes fails, is appointed to go to the Human World to search for a partner whose feelings of her heart matches hers. But when she uses the card that the magicians give her, she is sent to the Human World by accident. There, a girl named Akari Sakura meets her on the beach on her way to school. At first, Akari can't understand her due to her Jewel Land Language, but Ruby eats a special candy so she can speak and understand human language. As the day passes, Ruby knows about her problem in school and later apologized, saying that she didn’t know Akari’s personal problems as she tries to cheer her up. As Akari accepts Ruby, a Jewel Charm appears on her hand and she realizes that she was chosen by Ruby to be her partner. After that, she decides to become a student along with Ruby as they are accepted into the Jewel Star Grand Prix. The prize is that any wish they want will be granted. Will she be a winner of the grand prix and let her wish be granted in the end, or will it just end up as one big disaster?

The series is set majorly in both Jewel Land and in the human world, more specifically Akari's hometown in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The series' main theme is dreams, a reference to Akari's dreams of winning the Jewel Star Grand Prix and making her wishes come true with the help of Ruby and Labra.

The Jewelpets
The Jewelpets are 36 magical animals named after famous birthstones, minerals and jewels. They each have a different kind of sparkling jewel for their eyes, used for casting special magic called "Jewel Flash". According to the series, They were created by the Great Magicians long ago and live in a mystical place called Jewel Land, attending a school to learn more about magic and each of them were paired by their own human partners. The Jewelpet's Magic are divided into two sides: the normal magic and the forbidden dark magic.

Jewel Land
Jewel Land (ジュエルランド) is the homeworld of the Jewelpets and the great magicians. It is also a magical place where all Jewelpets study magic and be friends with their fellow humans and magicians. The whole place is filled with colored trees, magical gemstone bushes and crystals and the whole geography is composed to two islands: the main island and the uninhabited smaller one. Magic and Alchemy is the main education in the whole place. The notable places in Jewel Land is the Magic Academy, where all Jewelpets attend Magic Classes to study magic and alchemy, the Strawberry Cafe, a famous spot where Jewelpets get together for a snack and the Jewel Tower, on which the Four Great Witches of Jewel Land and Jewelina live.

Jewel Pocketbook
The Jewel Pocketbook (ジュエル手帳) is a pink book-like item used to cast spells and identify the certain Jewelpets that Rinko and the gang encounter. The pocketbook can also detect dark magic close by. In the earlier Episodes, it was only used to awaken Jewelpets from their "Jewel Charm" state by saying the Magical word "Puri Puri Puririn Prism! Open, Jewel Heart!", the book casts a special spell to awaken them. There are 4 buttons in the Jewel Pocketbook when opened and each combination of buttons activates a certain feature or magic. Diana possesses a darker version of the Jewel Pocketbook.

Jewel Charm
The Jewel Charms (ジュエルチャーム) are special jewels from which the Jewelpets use. Each Jewelpet has its own Jewel Charm and is considered their "sleeping" state after the magicians cast a special spell on them. The Jewelpets stay on that form until they are awakened by either Rinko or Diana. In the second season, the Jewel Charm is a symbol of a Jewelpet's bond between its human partner and is used as a magical device by the people chosen by their Jewelpet partners. The caster needs to recite magical phrases to activate its magic, while it also changes the caster's costume in the process to increase its magical potential.

Jewel Stick
The Jewel Stick (ジュエルステッキ) is a magic wand and a rumored legendary weapon of Jewel Land that comes out only once every 1000 years when the Jewel Pocketbook and the Dark Jewel Pocketbook were combined together. It was once used by a legendary magician who restored Jewel Land torn by war using its magic. Because of its supreme power, misusing it would cause disasters if it falls into the hands of the wrong person. The stick chooses Rinko as its new user after it was unveiled in Episode 26 to save everyone from a volcanic eruption by summoning Opal, the legendary unicorn Jewelpet. Ruby, Garnet and Sappie also possessed the Jewel Stick only a smaller version with different colored ribbons to distinguish which Jewel Stick belongs to either the 3 main pets. When Rinko is using the Jewel Stick, she recites the words "Kirapi Karin" to cast magic and "Puri Puri Puririn Prism! Open, Jewel Heart Evolution!" to awaken a Jewelpet from their Jewel Charm state. Ruby, Garnet and Sapphy can also use the Jewel Stick to do magic or summon a Jewelpet in Jewel Land by saying "Puri Puru Puro Puru Puri Foni, -Name of the Jewelpet-, Jewel Return!". But this can only be done when Ruby, Garnet and Sapphy were together. Three forms of the Jewel Stick exist: One by Rinko, the ones wielded by Ruby, Garnet and Sapphy (With color coded ribbons on each) and another by Dian.

Jewel Pod
The Jewel Pod (ジュエルポット) is a touch-screen like device used by the Jewelpets in Jewelpet Tinkle. Its actually be used as a magical device which transports a Jewelpet into the Human World through a magical portal. It can even send a human and the Jewelpet into Jewel Land using the same transportation, but only through a computer. It can also freeze time, making the Jewelpet and its human partner have a good time in Jewel Land until they return to Earth. Several features of the Jewel Pot can be activated by touching it like a touch screen phone, which came handy on browsing spells, using a radar to find it's human partner or another Jewelpet and stores magical items like the Rare Rare Drops and the Ble Ble Drops

Rare Rare Drops
The Rare Rare Drops (レアレアドロップ) are special candies taken by the Jewelpets to make them talk human language when they're in the Human World. It was one of the magical items stored in a heart-shaped jar and can be accessed using the Jewel Pod. Since the residents of Jewel Land have their own language, they use the drops so they can understand human speech.

Ble Ble Drops
The Ble Ble Drops (ブレブレドロップ) are special candies taken by both Jewelpets and humans to make them breathe underwater. It was one of the magical items stored in a conch shell-shaped jar and can be accessed using the Jewel Pod. However, the effects of the candies are temporary, only making them breathe underwater for only 3 hours, similar to Oxygen tanks.

Jewel Stone
The Jewel Stones (ジュエルストーン) are magical jewels that the Jewel Star contestants obtain to distinguish their magical improvement in the Magic Academy. Each Jewel Stone is star-shapped has different colors and collecting them while studying in Jewel Land can level up their magic ranking as well as their Jewelpets. In addition, when 12 jewel stones were collected, the person is qualified for the Jewel Star Grand Prix by default.

Jewel Games
The Jewel Games (ジュエルゲーム) is a forgotten tradition of the Jewelpets that started in ancient Jewel Land, on which magic is not yet known. There are two teams available and each team needs to beat on a certain Jewelpet, then a battle is done according to the rules. The winner can obtain the hoped one from the loser side. The Jewel Games were banned in Jewel Land after the Ancient Age, but only Diana and Dian knows how the rules and mechanics were done but with a few modifications:


 * The teams must bet on their certain Jewelpet or human who will compete.
 * The players must select a Battle Card. The battle card the player picked is how the battle will be done. For example, in episode 37, the Jewel Game battle is done is some sort of group dance idol performance, on which the most number of audience wins.
 * Magic is allowed to be used in the battle.

The Jewel Games were decided by the Judge, and he decides who wins or loses.

Rare Rare
Rare Rare (レアレア) is a Jewel-Landian's term for anything human-related. It's stated that Rare Rare World is actually the Human World, on which Akari lives. Everyone in Jewel Land referred to the humans in this word and terms, especially the high class magicians of the Magic Academy. The name Rare Rare Drops comes from this term.

Jewel Star Grand Prix
The Jewel Star Grand Prix (ジュエルスターグランプリ) is a special contest when all of the contestants gather 12 Jewel Stones from their magical study in Jewel Land. The contestants compete in magical battle and the winner will obtain the title "Jewel Star", while giving her/him a magical crown that can grant three wishes to the winner. The first Jewel Star Grand Prix was first held inside Jewelina's Castle while the winner of the last Grand Prix is Judy and her Jewelpet Prase.

Jewel Star
The Jewel Star (ジュエルスター) is a title given to the winner of the Jewel Star Grand Prix. She/He wears a special crown of the same name, which is blessed by Jewelina's magic and it will grant 3 wishes from the winner. The person who last became the Jewel Star is Judy and her Jewelpet Prase 12 years ago before Akari and Ruby met.

Badest
The Badest (バッデスト) is a forbidden item with contains all the dark magic created from negative emotions of all human beings. According to legend, the dark magic has been sealed away into the book by Jewelina's powerful magic and been locked away, fearing that it's power may cause destruction to both worlds. Rumors believed that the key to the item has been locked away in the forbidden room in the Old Schoolhouse, in which no Jewelpet nor human can enter. Both Yuma and Alma's birthmarks are considered keys on unlocking the key. According to Episode 36, the book resides in one of the orbital rings outside Jewel Land's atmosphere, stating its in space. In Episode 37, the Badest is actually a sword and Alma used the key with Angela's Jewel Charm to unlock the item.

The Badest is sealed again in Episode 38 after the combined magical efforts of Akari, Miria, Sara, Leon, Nicola and their Jewelpets.

Merchandise
Before the anime series began airing in 2009, Sega Toys collaborated with Sanrio to release a line of plush toys featuring the characters from the series in 2008. Each plush Jewelpet contains a password to access the Web-Gurumi website, a special site in which the customer "adopts" this pet in the virtual world, similar to Webkinz's Webkinz World website. Like Webkinz, if the user doesn't have the password, the user may not get access to the website. Accounts expire within one year, unless another Jewelpet toy is bought, and that animal added to the user account. These similarities stirred both Ganz and Sanrio/Sega Toys in a controversy due to the same concept on the toys. However, the three companies never give any comments about it.

As the series became popular in Japan, its merchandise extended to stationery, school supplies, bags, raincoats, umbrellas, lunch boxes and even toy replicas of the Jewel Stick and Jewel Pocketbook. A Trading Card Game spinoff was then released by Bushiroad, the creators of the Weiß Schwarz and Alice X Cross Trading Card Games. Both the starter set and booster packs were released on July 30, 2009.

As of 2010, the Web-Gurumi website is now replaced by a newer site, Jewelpet Online.

Anime
An anime adaptation of the series, titled Jewelpet was produced by Studio Comet and premiered on April 5, 2009 on TV Osaka and TV Tokyo, replacing Onegai My Melody Kirara★ in its initial timeslot. The series also recently aired in Taiwan on YOYO TV, and premiered as part the Boing programming block on the Telecinco television network in Spain in April 2010. A second series, titled Jewelpet Tinkle☆ (ジュエルペット てぃんくる☆) began airing on TV Tokyo on April 3, 2010.

The character designs of the Jewelpets and the human characters were handled by Tomoko Miyakawa in the first season. Yukiko Ibe, character designer of Nanatsuiro Drops handles the human character designs for the second season of the series, while Miyakawa remains the character designer for the Jewelpets.

Music
The series' music is composed by Shiro Hamaguchi and directed by Takuya Hiramitsu in season 1 and Yoshikazu Iwanami in season 2.

DVD release
Media Factory and Marvelous Entertainment released several volumes of the first season on separate Region 2 DVDs in Japan. All seventeen volumes have been released, the first 16 has 3 episodes while the last volume has 4 episodes. The second season gained its Region 2 DVD release, only this time in a magazine format. Three Volumes were already released so far, each containing some bonus footages from Sanrio Puroland events as well as some few bonuses like High Definition support.

Manga
Two manga spinoffs were created, and are both serialized by Shogakukan. Each were published during the airing of the anime series. The first one was serialized in the Shōjo Magazine Pucchigumi with illustrations by Mako Morie in 2009. The first series ended in the same year. The second manga series was then serialized in the Shōjo Magazine Ciao in February 2010 with illustrations and story by Sayuri Tatsuyama under Sanrio and Sega Toys' permission. The second manga series is tied in with the second season.

Games
Four video games were also made to tie in with the toy and anime franchises, three were for the Nintendo DS and one was for video game arcades in Japan.

Jewelpet: Cute Magic Fantasy
Jewelpet: Cute Magic Fantasy (ジュエルペット かわいい魔法のファンタジー) is a Rhythmic Music Game for the Nintendo DS developed by MTO and published by Sega released on April 30, 2010. The game utilizes the Nintendo DS console in a horizontal layout and uses the DS Stylus to navigate through the game. Magic sessions were also utilized by the stylus as well, letting the player touch the flowers appearing on the screen to successfully synchronize with the music. Wi-Fi Connection is also available, allowing online gameplay with other players.

Jewelpet: DS Magic Kirapi Kariin
Jewelpet: DS Magic Kirapi Kariin (ジュエルペット 魔法のDSキラピカリーン☆) is a Rhythmic Music Game for the Nintendo DS and the second of the Jewelpet DS games series developed by MTO and published by Sega released on December 17, 2009. It's the sequel to Jewel Pet: Cute Magic Fantasy and the game is based on the Jewelpet anime itself. The gameplay is like the first game but with major additions such as adding the microphone feature, character voices from the anime and VS Magic sessions. Interactions with your Jewelpet is introduced in this game.

Jewelpet: The Glittering Magical Jewel Box
Jewelpet: The Glittering Magical Jewel Box (ジュエルペット キラキラ魔法の宝石箱) is a Puzzle game for the Arcades developed and published by Sega. Officially released in 2010, The game uses collectible cards that can be linked into the game and the main objective is to collect jewels to gain several bonuses. The gameplay is in the style of Columns, considering it as an arcade style spiritual sequel.

Jewelpet: Let's play Together in the Room of Magic!
Jewelpet: Let's play Together in the Room of Magic! (ジュエルペット 魔法のお部屋でいっしょにあそぼう!) is a Life Simulation Game for the Nintendo DS and the third of the Jewelpet DS games developed by MTO and published by Sega, released on August 5, 2010. Unlike the past two games, the third one utilizes the Nintendo DS console in a vertical layout and is based on the Jewelpet Tinkle anime. It has a different gameplay style, which departs from the first two sequels and has a few improvements made in the gameplay such as improved interactions with your Jewelpet, accessories for the Jewelpet characters, mini-games and newer magic sessions.

Events
Several musicals were held in Sanrio Puroland, featuring the four main Jewelpets, Ruby, Sapphy, Garnet and Labra. Some of the musicals also feature other Sanrio characters.

Reception
According to the Bandai Child Questionnaire for Children's favourite cartoon characters from 0–12 years, Jewelpet mainly appealed to children aged from 6 to 8 and it managed to enter in 3rd place in the ranks of the survey due to its popularity with girls. Anime wise, The first Jewelpet anime ranked 7th in the Kanto Video Research, from December 27, 2009 to January 3, 2010 after airing Episodes 39 and 40.